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Clara Reads Proust
by Stéphane Carlier
A tender and witty coming-of-age story about the power of literature to inspire new beginnings, peppered with a cast of quirky characters and a unique heroine. Clara is a hairdresser at Cindy Coiffure, a sleepy French salon with an identity crisis. Her relationship is fizzling out. Her tanoholic boss Madame Habib worships Jacques Chirac and talks longingly of her days in Paris. The highlight of the week was when the dishy technician came to repair the display cabinet. And now Madame Ľvy-Leroyer wants to go blonde. Clara can't help but wonder if there's more to life . . . Everything changes when a customer leaves behind the first volume of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. As Clara reads, she discovers a whole new world, leading her to strike up an unexpected friendship. And slowly but surely, she will work out who she wants to be.
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| This Strange Eventful History by Claire MessudTouching on themes of identity and home, this buzzy book by an award-winning author follows an uprooted French Algerian pieds-noir family and their descendants as they move around the world between 1940 and 2010. "Brilliant and heart-wrenching" (Kirkus Reviews), this novel was inspired by the author's family. Read-alikes: The Art of Losing by Alice Zeniter; My Beloved Life by Amitava Kumar; French Braid by Anne Tyler. |
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| Sandwich by Catherine NewmanRocky, her husband, her two kids, and her mom and dad have been going to the same Cape Cod rental for 20 years. This year, things feel different as Rocky navigates hot flashes, aging parents, nostalgia for her kids' youth, and old secrets in a funny, fast-paced, and moving novel that's perfect for beach reading. Read-alikes: Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore; A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi; Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. |
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| Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'ConnorManod is 18 years old in 1938 when a whale washes up on her remote Welsh island, drawing outside attention, including that of two Oxford ethnographers who want to study the 12 island families. Happy for a connection to the wider world, Manod agrees to help, a move she may regret. For other reflective and atmospheric novels, try Clear by Carys Davies or A Northern Light in Provence by Elizabeth Birkelund. |
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| Enlightenment by Sarah PerryIn 1997 Essex, England, Thomas Hart is a secretly gay newspaper columnist and the godfather of 17-year-old Grace Macaulay. As the Comet Hale-Bopp approaches, he becomes enamored by both the sky and an old letter related to a ghostly legend, while Grace falls for a local boy in a novel that "magnificently evokes the wonder of the cosmos" (Publishers Weekly). Read-alikes: The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan; The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick. |
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| Bear by Julia PhillipsIn Washington's San Juan Islands, two 20-something sisters work dead-end jobs and care for their dying mother. They talk about a future on the mainland, but when a bear suddenly shows up, one sister sees danger, while the other sees a magical beacon of hope, leading to the unraveling of their plans in this unsettling tale. Read-alikes: The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes; The Blue Window by Suzanne Berne. |
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| Fire Exit by Morgan TaltyCharles Lamosway grew up on the Penobscot Reservation with his mom and Native American stepdad, but had to leave when he was 18 since he isn't Native. Now nearing 60, he attends AA meetings, helps his mom who has dementia, and looks across the river from his home to the reservation, keeping an eye on his secret daughter and wondering if he should tell her who he is. Read-alikes: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters; There There by Tommy Orange. |
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| Cinema Love by Jiaming TangIn 1980s China, gay men safely meet at the Workers' Cinema in Fuzhou, where ticket seller Bao Mei tries to protect them. But when Old Second's relationship with married Shun-Er is discovered by Shun-Er's wife, it results in Shun-Er's suicide, and eventually, the rest of the characters moving to New York City in this acclaimed debut that also covers the 1990s and 2020s. Read-alikes: The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang; Bad Habit by Alana Portero. |
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Sipsworth : a novel
by Simon Van Booy
Moving back to the English village of her childhood after the loss of her husband and son, reclusive widow Helen Cartwright, whose only wish is to die quickly and without fuss, becomes a creature of habit until a chance encounter with a mouse sets her on an unexpected journey.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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