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Celebrate Pride Month in June
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Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily AustinDarcy's life turned out better than she could have ever imagined. She is a librarian at the local branch, while her wife Joy runs a book binding service. Between the two of them, there is no more room on their bookshelves. Rounding out their ideal life is two cats and a sun-soaked house by the lake. But when Darcy receives the news that her ex-boyfriend, Ben, has passed away, she spirals into a pit of guilt and regret, resulting in a mental breakdown and medical leave from the library. When she returns to work, she is met by unrest in her community and protests surrounding intellectual freedom, resulting in a call for book bans and a second look at the branch's upcoming DEI programs. Through the support of her community, colleagues, and the personal growth that results from examining her previous relationships, Darcy comes into her own agency and the truest version of herself. Read-alike: Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly.
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Almost Life by Kiran Millwood HargraveErica and Laure meet on the steps of the Sacré-Coeur in Paris, 1978. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her PhD at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman. The moment the two women meet, the spark is undeniable, but their encounter turns into far more than a summer of love. It is the beginning of a relationship that will define their lives and every decision they have yet to make... Try this next: Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue.
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The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis HallTwins Tessa and Theo are roots of the same tree, in tune with one another's every thought and desire. As World War II takes hold across Europe, both are eager to do their part. Theo is recruited by the RAF and disappears into the skies, while Tessa jumps at the chance to join the Special Operations Executive, devoted to spying and sabotage behind enemy lines. Two years later, Theo comes home. Tessa does not. Theo, wounded, broken by the loss of his fellows and his sister, is indefatigable, angry, driven, a clandestinely gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal--and he will pay a price for pursuing answers about Tessa's fate. Decades later, PhD candidate Edie is deep into her research on the Special Operations Executive during the war. When she finds Theo in London, they form an unlikely partnership, and together they finally uncover the truth about Theo's beloved sister--a truth that stretches back to the summer Tessa spent in France before the war had even begun. Read-alike: The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer.
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That's What Friends Are forby Wade RouseTheodore Copeland has created a fabulous life in the desert oasis of Palm Springs, where he shares a fabulous pink mid-century home with three fabulous friends: Barry, a former actor still clinging to his youth, his hair, and the memory of the dream role that killed his career; Ron, an uprooted Christian from the Midwest with a big heart but no one to give it to; Sid, who, after coming out late in life, has never found love. Teddy is the caustic, unspoken leader of The Golden Gays--the foursome's monthly drag tribute to The Golden Girls. Despite their foibles and bickering, they have turned their golden years into a golden era. But the harmony of their desert enclave becomes a carousel of emotional baggage when Teddy's estranged sister, Trudy, shows up on their doorstep, her dramatic teenage granddaughter in tow. For fans of The Guncle by Steven Rowley.
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On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah ScholfieldWhen Judith Rice fled her childhood home, she thought she'd severed her abusive mother's hold on her. She didn't have a plan or destination, just a desperate need to escape. Drawn to the forests of southern Georgia, Jude finds shelter in a house as haunted by its violent history as she is by her own. Jude embraces the eccentricities of the dilapidated house, soothing its ghosts and haints, honoring its blood-soaked land. And over the next thirteen years, Jude blossoms from her bitter beginnings into a wisewoman, a healer. But her hard-won peace is threatened when an enigmatic woman shows up on her doorstep. The woman is beautiful but unsettling, captivating but uncanny. Ensnared by her desire for this stranger, Jude is caught off guard by brutal urges suddenly simmering beneath her skin. As the woman stirs up memories of her escape years ago, Jude must confront the calls of violence rooted in her bloodline. Try this next: The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro.
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Missing Sam by Thrity UmrigarOne night after a party, old grievances surface between married couple Aliya and Sam and the night ends badly with a heated argument. Sam goes for a run early the next morning to clear her head--and doesn't come back. Aliya reports her wife missing, but as a gay, Muslim daughter of immigrants, she can't escape the scrutiny and suspicion of those around her. Scared and furious and feeling isolated as strangers and acquaintances alike doubt her innocence, Aliya makes one wrong choice after another. She must fight to prove her innocence in the public eye even as she is torn between her fear that Sam is dead and her desire to find and save her wife. But is safety ever truly possible for them? Try this next: My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa.
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Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month in May
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One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter1941, Emilia Romagna. Lili and Esti have been best friends since meeting at the University of Ferrara; when Esti's son Theo is born, they become as close as sisters. There is a war being fought across borders, and in Italy, Mussolini's Racial Laws have deemed Lili and Esti descendants of an 'inferior' Jewish race, but life somehow goes on--until Germany invades northern Italy, and the friends find themselves in occupied territory. Esti, older and fiercely self-assured, convinces Lili to flee first to a villa in the countryside to help hide a group of young war orphans, then to a convent in Florence, where they pose as nuns and forge false identification papers for the Underground. When disaster strikes at the convent, a critically wounded Esti asks Lili to take a much bigger step: to go on the run with Theo-- Read-alike: Shadows of Berlin by David R Gillham.
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The Hitch by Sara LevineOpinionated Rose Cutler is excited to watch her six-year-old nephew Nathan and feed him vegan food while his parents vacation in Mexico. But things go bad when Rose's Newfoundland dog kills a corgi at the park, leading Nathan to proclaim the corgi is actually alive, its soul melded to his own. As Nathan acts strangely, Rose wonders if he might be right in this darkly humorous, offbeat tale. For fans of: Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson.
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The Lost Girl of Craven County by Emily MatcharA decade into the Great Depression, Millicent Green is a twenty-five-year-old old maid living with her marriage-obsessed mother and domineering older brother in the stiflingly small Jewish community of New Bern, North Carolina. Smart and prickly, she's struggling to find her place in the world following the loss of her beloved younger brother, and with him, her dreams for the future. One humid August day, Millie is sent to run an errand and discovers a young woman unconscious on the ground. This mystery woman, mute and without identification, will upend Millie's life. Together, they set out on a quest that will lay bare some of the twentieth century's most shameful episodes. Read-alike: Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow.
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Night Night Fawn by Jordy RosenbergIn a cluttered rent-controlled apartment in the middle of Manhattan, Barbara Rosenberg - old world yenta, committed homophobe, accomplished jazzercizer - is terminally ill, high on opioids, and writing the story of her life. Forget about her late husband, her career as the receptionist for an Upper East Side plastic surgeon, and her failed aspirations to be an actress. What she really wants to talk about are her unhinged thoughts on gender, Karl Marx, Jewish diaspora, and her two great disappointing loves: an estranged trans son and a long lost best friend whose betrayal haunts Barbara still. As she descends further into delirium and illness, Barbara's theories get wilder, and her circumstances put her on a crash course with these intimates once again. Try this next: All My Mother's Lovers by Ilana Masad.
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Effingers by Gabriele TergitGabriele Tergit's Effingers is a novel both epic and intimate as it chronicles the lives and fates of three generations of a German- Jewish family. Beginning from 1878--the year after the narrative of Buddenbrooks ends--and ending in 1948, we follow the Effingers, a family of modest craftsmen from southern Germany, who are joined through marriage to two families of high-society financiers in Berlin, the Goldschmidts and the Oppners. The Effingers soon rise to prominence as one of the most important German industrialist families in Berlin, but with the outbreak of World War I, they fall on hard times, and must then navigate the tumultuous changes of the Weimar Republic-- Read-alike: The Short End of the Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig.
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I Don't Know How to Tell You This by Marian ThurmRachel is part of a close Jewish family whose lives are marked by significant emotional challenges, including the painful recognition that her beloved husband is slowly being diminished by memory loss, and the past trauma of her mother-in-law, a prickly Holocaust survivor who, in old age, continues to struggle with her grief. Rachel's career as a judge and the power she wields in her courtroom offer an intimate look at a woman navigating what is still, in the 21st century, a profession most often dominated by men. Try this next: This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman.
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Leave Your Mess at Home by Tolani AkinolaThe Longe siblings are really botching their parents' American Dream. Sola Longe, eldest daughter, estranged from the family, is secretly back home in Chicago for the first time in a decade. She's a newly single and recently disgraced influencer trying to quietly put her life back together again. The other three Longe siblings aren't doing much better. Anjola is in love with her best friend, who just got engaged to someone else; Karen, a college junior and the baby of the family, is grappling with her sexuality and self-image; and Ola, the golden child with a baby of his own on the way, is questioning his marriage and how to raise a Black son in America. Sola's unexpected return sets them on a crash course towards each other, and when the four siblings find themselves together again at their Nigerian immigrant parents' Thanksgiving table, a decade's worth of secrets and a lifetime of resentments explode to the fore. Read-alike: The House of Plain Truth by Donna Hemans.
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| You & Me and You & Me and You & Me by Josie Lloyd and Emlyn ReesStuck in a rut after 25 years of marriage, Adam and Jules discover that the old mixtapes they made for each other allow them to travel back in time. Tempted to make changes to their past selves to create a better present, they unintentionally create ripple effects that could tear them apart for good. Co-written by married couple Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees, this affecting romantic time travel novel is perfect for fans of The Second Chance Cinema by Thea Weiss. |
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| The Complex by Karan MahajanIn late 20th-century India, a prominent Delhi family inhabit an apartment complex built after Indian independence by their famous politician ancestor. Arguments, affairs, and assaults occur as a young couple return from the United States and an uncle's political star rises. Also, as readers know from the start, one family member murders another. "Beautiful and unforgettable...masterly," raves Kirkus Reviews. Read-alike: The Parted Earth by Anjali Enjeti. |
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| A Good Animal by Sara MaurerHigh school senior Everett never wants to leave Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He embraces tradition and dreams of running the family sheep farm like his father and grandfather. Then he falls hard for newcomer Mary, who's lived all over the country with her Coast Guard dad and plans to attend art school in California. Rooted in its rural locale, this lyrical, bittersweet debut movingly explores first love. Try this next: Go as a River by Shelley Read. |
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The Counting Game by Sinéad NolanSouthwest Ireland, 1995: Two children go into the woods. Only one comes out. When thirteen-year-old Saoirse Kellough goes missing, panic grips a rural Irish community. Saoirse is not the first girl to disappear in the forest, rumored by locals to be haunted, and the only witness--her troubled younger brother, Jack--refuses to speak. Saoirse went missing when they were playing the Counting Game, a ritual believed to ward off evil, and Jack has sworn to protect the forest's secrets. Freya Hemmings, a psychotherapist still healing from a loss of her own, is brought in to help investigators break Jack's silence. As the race to find Saoirse alive accelerates, the search threatens to unravel a family facing the unthinkable. Everyone is a suspect, and the closer Freya and Jack become, the more danger they find themselves in. For fans of: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore.
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The Left and the Lucky by Willy VlautinEddie Wilkens is a workaholic house painter in his early forties. His wife has left him to her regret, and his main employee, Houston, is a loafer and scoundrel who barely shows up for work. Unassuming and self-reliant, Eddie is thoughtful man who rarely gets angry, despite life's frequent provocations, but he is ruled by a guilt that he has carried for nearly twenty years. Next door, a woman and her two sons move in with her frail and aging mother. The youngest boy, Russell, eight-years-old, is quiet and small for his age and lives in constant terror of his increasingly lost and troubled fifteen-year-old brother, Curtis. As their mother struggles to keep the family together and the grandmother's health begins to faulter they find themselves unable to protect Russell and themselves from Curtis's cruelty, which threatens to explode in frenetic violence. Though neither knows it, Russell and Eddie will become each other's saving grace. Try this next: A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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