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Fiction A to Z September 2019
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What it is: the story of a beekeeper, Nuri, and his artist wife Afra at three periods: the golden, peaceful years; fleeing Syria after the death of their son; and their struggle to make a new life in Britain. Nuri's dream: to reunite with his cousin Mustafa and reestablish their beekeeping business. For fans of: heartwrenching, human stories told by engaging narrators.
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The setting: the theocracy Gilead and free Canada, fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid's Tale. What happens: three female narrators describe their pasts and how they eventually intertwine into a united, suspenseful present. Try these next: Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed or The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh – both, like The Testaments, tell stories of multiple women in near-future dystopias characterized by disturbing power imbalances between men and women.
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What it is: the story of a complex mother-daughter relationship and the daughter's fight against injustice in her male-dominated workplace. What happens: Cassie Hanwell moves across the country to take care of her mother Diana, now blind in one eye, ten years after Diana left Cassie and her father on Cassie's sixteenth birthday. (Something Cassie hasn't exactly forgiven her for.) The move makes sense after her career as an Austin firefighter is derailed by a man who assaulted her. But in Boston, she is the firehouse's only female firefighter – and she's having trouble following her rule against falling in love with a coworker. About the author: This book follows Katherine Center's breakout hit, How to Walk Away, in which Cassie has a cameo.
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What it's about: four young women from different backgrounds – Lainey, a mixed-race adoptee; Alice, a star athlete from an upper-crust white family; Ji Sun, from extraordinary wealth in Korea; and beautiful Margaret, from working-class Missouri – are thrown together as suitemates at a prestigious university. An intense friendship quickly develops that follows the women through their college years and beyond as they deal with complicated moral questions. For fans of: Celeste Ng and Kristan Higgins Reviewers say: "Ames delicately weaves together a story dedicated to the intensity of friendship" (Booklist), a "memorable look at the moral gray areas that govern our choices" (Kirkus)
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Starring: London stylist Amber Green, recent transplant to New York City. What happens: unable to get a job due to her visa status, Amber works on improving her social media presence. She quickly gains thousands of followers – because she inadvertently shamed a prominent, balding fashion mogul and connected herself with an alleged Nazi sympathizer. Series alert: this is the sequel to Rosie Nixon's The Stylist.
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| Green by Sam Graham-FelsenWhat it's about: It's 1992, and sixth-grader Green is one of the few white students at Boston's Martin Luther King Middle School. After Marlon, a studious black kid from the housing projects nearby, stands up for him, a friendship is born. It's strong enough to weather the typical middle school problems, but it may not be strong enough to survive their differences -- or the increasingly bigger problems they face.
For fans of: stories about interracial friendships (and the strains they come under) or coming-of-age stories told by imperfect but likable narrators. |
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| The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee JohnsonFeaturing: naive teacher Molly Niccol, who's a mid-year replacement English teacher at a privileged Bay Area high school, and several of her students, all affected by a classmate's suicide.
Read it for: the shifting perspectives; the intensity of adolescence; the dark side of privilege.
Reviewers say: "this bleak, potent picture will scare the pants off readers" (Library Journal). |
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| How to Be Safe by Tom McAllisterWhat happens: Not long after high school teacher Anna Crawford is suspended for a classroom outburst, a shooting at the school leaves dozens dead and wounded. And Anna becomes a person of interest.
Why you might like it: Though the novel's catalyst is a horrific event that is all too common in the U.S., the violence is mainly off the page, Anna is a character who encourages empathy, and the trenchant observations that follow are an indictment of gun violence.
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| John Woman by Walter MosleyWhat it's about: a young man's reinvention of himself as a student and professor after his participation in a violent crime requires a new identity.
What happens: John Woman lands at a liberal college in the Southwest as a professor of deconstructionist history -- that history is found in the details not written down. And he finds that, ultimately, his own hidden history will be discovered.
Read it for: the characters; the exploration of how history shapes us. |
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| Dear Committee Members by Julie SchumacherWhat it is: a sly and satirical novel told entirely through the acidic letters of one overwhelmed college professor, who claims that the demands of academia require more letters of recommendation than published work.
Any other complaints? Budget cuts, staff eliminations, favoritism, and other small indignities find their way into the professor's endless stream of comical, frank, and sometimes passive-aggressive letters.
For fans of: Aaron Thiel's similarly biting, college-set Ghost Apple. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Demarest Free Public Library |
90 Hardenburgh Ave. |
Demarest, New Jersey 07627 |
(201) 768-8714 |
demarestlibrary.org |
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