| Stay with me by Ayobami AdebayoDespite cultural pressures for her husband to take a second wife, Yejide knows that Akin would never do so. Until, after four years of failing to conceive a child, he does. Mimicking Nigeria's unstable political system, their marriage falters. Under the intense pressure to provide a child, both husband and wife keep secrets from the other in their efforts to save their relationship. Told in alternating chapters from both characters' perspectives, and taking place in the late 1980s and 2008, this is an "emotionally powerful first novel" (Library Journal) that captures both the agony of infertility and the turmoil of life in Nigeria. |
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| The heart's invisible furies by John BoyneIn 1945, Cyril Avery was born to an unmarried teenager (the book opens with a dramatic scene in a rural Irish church that sets this up with relish) and adopted by a wealthy if rather eccentric Dublin couple. As readers, we visit Cyril every seven years, as he grows and comes to terms with his homosexuality in a violently repressive Ireland, flees his home country, and falls in love. With richly drawn characters, plausibly life-altering choices, and an absorbing, often humorous writing style, The Heart's Invisible Furies may well appeal to fans of John Irving's work (it is, in fact, dedicated to him). |
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The chalk artist
by Allegra Goodman
A chalk artist, who thinks nothing of erasing his work, and a teacher, who believes that things are meant to last, forge a romance marked by her father's virtual reality company and a student who is obsessed with video games
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Gravel heart
by Abdulrazak Gurnah
When his beloved Uncle Amir, a senior diplomat, offers him an escape, lonely teenager Salim, escaping a house full of secrets, struggles to find a foothold in a hostile city in Zanzibar, and to understand the darkness at the heart of his family, must face devastating truths about those closest to him—and about love, sex and power.
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Woman enters left
by Jessica Brockmole
A 1950s movie star is in search of answers after she inherits the estate of a screenwriter she didn’t know and is shocked when she discovers a box of old photographs showing the writer with her deceased mother.
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Lies the mushroom pickers told: A novel
by Tom Phelan
"Part human comedy and part mystery, Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told is an enthralling, masterful story about what holds a village together and what keeps people apart. When journalist Patrick Bracken returns to Gohen, the Irish village where he was born, he knows the eyes of the townspeople are on him. He has come home to investigate two deaths that happened decades earlier when he was a child, deaths that were ruled accidental. But Patrick knows - and believes the whole town knows - they were murders. He knows because he and his best friend, Mikey Lamb, were witnesses. And so Patrick goes to see eighty-year-old Sam Howard, the lawyer who conducted the inquest into the death of missionary priest Jarlath Coughlin. As he questions Sam and Sam's vibrant, loving, gossipy wife, Elsie, he seeks acknowledgment of a cover-up and an explanation of why the Protestant establishment would help conceal a crime among Catholics. During their give-and-take-about this and the nearly simultaneous shotgun death of Lawrence Gorman (aka Doul Yank) - what emerges from their collective memories are a pungent, wry portrait of village life in Ireland and a tangle of human relationships, some twisted and some that show our better side"
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Focus on: Fathers & Fatherhood
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| The precious one by Marisa de los SantosTaisy Cleary has long been estranged from her father, a demanding college professor, ever since he abandoned his family for a new one decades ago. So when he calls from his deathbed, asking her to visit (and ghostwrite his memoirs), she is surprised -- but agrees. Both Taisy (age 35) and her half-sister Willow (16) have pretty strong preconceptions of each other (and view each other as rivals for their father's attention), and the novel is as much about their burgeoning relationship as it is about their father. Character-driven and moving, The Precious One features authentic, well-developed characters. |
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| Winter Street by Elin HilderbrandWinter Street was bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand's first Christmas novel, but there are now four of the holiday-oriented series set in Nantucket (the latest, Winter Solstice, will be published this October). This one begins with a family reunion at Kelley Quinn's inn, which is upset by the personal dramas of his four adult children and his wife's infidelity -- with Santa, no less (or, OK, the guy who's played him for years at the inn). Dramatic but heartwarming nevertheless, this family-oriented tale is a good one to save for the run-up to Christmas. |
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| China rich girlfriend by Kevin KwanCrazy Rich Asians introduced readers to the over-the-top lifestyle of unimaginably wealthy Chinese expats. In China Rich Girlfriend, an impending wedding brings together the disparate (and in some cases, unknown) elements of the bride's and groom's families. Specifically, future-mother-in-law Eleanor shows up with bride Rachel's heretofore unknown birth father. But that's only one of many high-drama sub-plots; there are makeovers, potential betrayals, and gossip galore. And it's hard to ignore the top-notch dialogue and detailed depictions of lavish spending. If you've read and enjoyed both, pick up the 3rd, Rich People Problems, which was published earlier this year. |
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| Two by two by Nicholas SparksNicholas Sparks is known as an author whose work will tug at your heartstrings, but his stories tend to be built around (successful) romantic relationships. That's not the case here. Not only does Two by Two centre on the love of a father for his child, but the relationship between the parents seems to be falling apart. So be warned when you open this one -- you may be reaching for a hanky, but this tearjerker is different than the romantic ones Sparks is known for. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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