Book Brunch 
October 2025 
Jill's books
The Comic Book History of the Cocktail: Five Centuries of Mixing Drinks and Carrying on by David Wondrich
The Comic Book History of the Cocktail: Five Centuries of Mixing Drinks and Carrying on
by David Wondrich

A graphic novel history of the cocktail-from prehistoric wassail to our current boozy renaissance-featuring 20 recipes by drinks historian, Daily Beast columnist, and award-winning author David Wondrich--Provided by publisher.
Twice by Mitch Albom
Twice
by Mitch Albom

What if you got to do everything in your life --twice? The heart of Mitch Albom's newest novel is a stunning love story that dares to explore how our unchecked desires might mean losing what we've had all along.When he is eight years old, Alfie Logan discovers the magical ability to get a second chance at everything. He can undo any moment and live it again. The one catch: he must accept the consequences of his second try--for better or worse.He grows up correcting his mistakes and saving himself from adolescent embarrassments. He even takes foolishly dangerous risks, just to see what it's like to come close to death, before tapping back to safety.Eventually, Alfie turns his gift to his love life, studying his crushes and going back to make himself more appealing. In time, he falls deeply in love with Gianna, the woman he believes is the one. He seems to find contentment.But as the years pass, Alfie's eye begins to wander. Which is when he learns a lone caveat to his power: once he undoes a love, that person can never fall in love with him again. Knowing if he gives into to temptation, he will risk losing what he has with Gianna, Alfie makes a choice that changes his life forever.The book begins many years later, after an ailing Alfie is arrested for allegedly cheating and winning millions at a casino roulette wheel. As a curious detective interrogates him, he slowly uncovers Alfie's incredible story, and its most unlikely conclusion.In Twice, America's favorite storyteller, Mitch Albom, is at the top of his powers. A love story that is enchanting, probing, and clairvoyant in matters of the heart, Twice will make you think, weep, and overflow with love from beginning to end.
John Candy: A Life in Comedy by Paul Myers
John Candy: A Life in Comedy
by Paul Myers

The definitive biography of John Candy--a heartwarming portrait of one of comedy's most beloved and enduring stars. INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER Reading this book was like reconnecting with an old friend. I laughed, I cried, I didn't want it to end. --Judd Apatow A thoughtful, thorough and entertaining portrait of one of the funniest people ever. --Marc Maron From his humble beginnings in sketch comedy with the Toronto branch of Second City, to his rise to fame in SCTV and Hollywood film classics like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Great Outdoors, and Uncle Buck, John Candy captivated audiences with his self-deprecating humour, emotional warmth, and gift for improvisation. Now, for the first time since Candy's tragic death, bestselling biographer Paul Myers tells the full story of the man behind the laughs. Drawing on extensive research and exclusive interviews with many of Candy's closest friends and colleagues, including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Steve Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, and many more, John Candy: A Life in Comedy celebrates the comedian's unparalleled talent, infectious charm, and generosity of spirit. Through ups and downs, successes and failures, and struggles with anxiety and self-doubt, Candy faced the world with a big smile and a warm demeanour that earned him the love and adoration of fans around the world.
Carpet Diem: Tales from the World of Oriental Rugs by George Bradley
Carpet Diem: Tales from the World of Oriental Rugs
by George Bradley

A colorful tour through the enthralling world of oriental carpets and its unusual characters that is also an honest and often humorous meditation about beautiful objects and our impulse to collect them.One day, the prizewinning poet George Bradley happened to take note of a carpet that had lain beneath his feet for decades. Carefully studying its weave and pattern, he was astonished by its complexity and allure. He became suddenly fascinated, and his newfound curiosity about oriental rugs sent him on a thrilling adventure, introducing him to a little-known realm in which beauty, artistry, business, and history collide.Carpet Diem chronicles Bradley's exploration of the world of oriental carpets, one in which he falls in love with a variety of captivating rugs and learns about the cultural background of the people who made them. A journey from innocence to experience, this entertaining account includes his encounters with the dealers, collectors, scroungers, restorers, and connoisseurs who inhabit an exotic and sometimes shady milieu. As he brings together his own story with those of these characters, he also tells some of the history of what is one of the world's great art forms. Like Scheherazade, Bradley spins tale after tale about the sorts of gorgeous textiles found on the floors of mansions across Europe and America, in the portraits of Titian and Vermeer, in the faraway caves of Central Asia, and in bespoke shops of Manhattan, the Hamptons, and Westport, Connecticut.A narrative that combines the mesmerizing storytelling found in The Arabian Nights with the pilgrimage into history that unfolds in The Silk Road and the dramatic compulsion to possess rare elegance that propels The Orchid Thief, Carpet Diem is an unusual and charming memoir that testifies to the intricate beauty woven into our world.Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Vianne by Joanne Harris
Vianne
by Joanne Harris

Secrets. Chocolate. A touch of magic. On the evening of July 4th, a young woman scatters her mother's ashes in New York and follows the call of the changing winds to the French coastal city of Marseille. For the first time in her life, Vianne feels in control of her future. Charming her way into a job as a waitress, she tries to fit in, make friends, and come to terms with her pregnancy, knowing that by the time her child is born, the turning wind will have changed once again. As she discovers the joy of cooking for the very first time, making local recipes her own with the addition of bittersweet chocolate spices, she learns that this humble magic has the power to unlock secrets. And yet her gift comes at a price. And Vianne has a secret of her own; a secret that threatens everything...--Provided by publisher.
Julie's books:
The Graceview Patient by Caitlin Starling
The Graceview Patient
by Caitlin Starling

Misery meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers in this genre-bending, claustrophobic hospital gothic from the bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence. Margaret lives with a rare autoimmune condition that has destroyed her life, leaving her isolated. It has no cure, but she's making do as best she can - until she's offered a fully paid-for spot in an experimental medical trial at Graceview Memorial. The conditions are simple, if grueling: she will live at the hospital as a full-time patient, subjecting herself to the near-total destruction of her immune system and its subsequent regeneration. The trial will essentially kill most of, but not all of her. But as the treatment progresses and her body begins to fail, she stumbles upon something sinister living and spreading within the hospital. Unsure of what's real and what is just medication-induced delusion, Margaret struggles to find a way out as her body and mind succumb further to the darkness lurking throughout Graceview's halls-- Provided by publisher.
The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards
The Wasp Trap
by Mark Edwards

So clever and fresh with a wild and incredibly satisfying twist at the end. --Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author A dinner party in a beautiful Notting Hill townhouse turns into a sinister game as six old friends are forced to spill their darkest secrets...or else. Six friends reunite in London to celebrate the life of their recently deceased ex-employer, a professor that brought them together in 1999 to help build a dating website based on psychological testing. But what is meant to be a night of bittersweet nostalgia soon becomes a twisted and deadly game. The old friends are given an ultimatum: reveal their darkest secrets to the group or pick each other off one by one. It soon becomes clear that their current predicament is related to their shared past. The love questionnaire they helped develop in 1999 for the dating site was also turned into a tool for weeding out psychopaths: The Wasp Trap. This experiment and the other tragic events of that summer long ago may help reveal the truth behind a killer hiding in plain sight. Alternating between the past and present with a colorful ensemble of characters, The Wasp Trap is a fast-paced and twisty thrill ride that is perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Alice Feeney.
Buckeye: A Read with Jenna Pick by Patrick Ryan
Buckeye: A Read with Jenna Pick
by Patrick Ryan

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY - A mesmerizing (People) novel that weaves the intimate lives of two midwestern families across generations, from World War II to the late twentieth century.A glorious sweep of a novel.--Ann PatchettCaptivating.--The New York Times Book ReviewA once-in-a-decade novel . . . I fell in love with these characters.--Jenna Bush HagerOne town. Two families. A secret that changes everything.In Bonhomie, Ohio, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. Cal's wife, Becky, has a spiritual gift: She is a seer who can conjure the dead, helping families connect with those they've lost. Margaret's husband, Felix, is serving on a Navy cargo ship, out of harm's way--until a telegram suggests that the unthinkable might have happened.Later, as the country reconstructs in the postwar boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie--but nothing stays buried forever in a small town. Against the backdrop of some of the most transformative decades in modern America, the consequences of that long-ago encounter ripple through the next generation of both families, compelling them to reexamine who they thought they were and what the future might hold.Sweeping yet intimate, rich with piercing observation and the warmth that comes from profound understanding of the human spirit, Buckeye captures the universal longing for love and for goodness.
Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker
Awake: A Memoir
by Jen Hatmaker

From Jen Hatmaker--beloved New York Times bestselling author and host of the For the Love podcast--comes a brutally honest, funny, and revealing memoir about the traumatic end of her twenty-six-year-long marriage, and the beginning of a different kind of love story.At 2:30 a.m. on July 11th, 2020, Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of twenty-six years whispering in his phone to another woman from their bed. It was the end of life as she knew it. In the months that followed, she went from being a shiny, funny, popular leader, to a divorced wreck on antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds parenting five kids alone with no clue about her own bank accounts. Having led millions of women for over a decade--urging them to embrace authenticity, find radical agency, and create healthy relationships--this seemed nothing less than total failure.In Awake, Jen shares for the first time what happened when she found herself completely lost at sea--and how she made it to shore. In candid, surprisingly funny vignettes spanning forty years of girlhood, marriage, and parenting, Jen lays bare the disorienting upheaval of midlife--the implosion of a marriage, the unraveling of religious and cultural systems, and the grief that accompanies change that you didn't ask for.And, drawing on all her resources--from without and from within--Jen dares to question the systems beneath the whole house of cards and to reckon with the myths, half-truths, and lies that brought her to this point.More than one woman's story, Awake is a critical analysis of the story given to all of us: the story of gender limitations, religious subservience, body shame, self-erasure. With refreshing candor, Jen explores a midlife renaissance--grieving what's lost, cherishing possibility, and entering the second half of life wide awake.
Good Spirits by B. K. Borison
Good Spirits
by B. K. Borison

Good Spirits is an absolute knockout. A new Borison book feels like coming home in the best way. She's truly in a league of her own. -- Hannah Grace, New York Times bestselling author of IcebreakerThe USA Today bestselling author of Business Casual, B.K. Borison is back with a whimsical new holiday romance--this time with a magical twist--that will have everyone falling in love with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Now in Large Print!He's the Ghost of Christmas Past. She's not exactly Scrooge.Ghost of Christmas Past Nolan Callahan intends to spend this holiday haunting like every other--get in, get out, return to his otherwise aimless existence as a ghost awaiting the afterlife. But when he's faced with Harriet York, the sweetest assignment he's ever had, he suddenly finds himself wishing for a future.Harriet York has no idea why she's being haunted. She's a good person--or, at least, she tries to be. A people pleaser to her core, she always does what's expected of her. But as she and Nolan begin to examine her past, they discover there are threads that bind them together-- and realize there might be more to moving on than expected.With the deadline of Christmas Eve fast approaching, will they find the key to their futures in each other's pasts? Or will they stay firmly in the present, indulging in their unexpected, spirited connection?Filled with magic, mayhem, and cozy holiday charm, this swoony romance is B.K. Borison's best yet!
Attendees recommend:
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton

Cry, the Beloved Country is a beautifully told and profoundly compassionate story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set in the troubled and changing South Africa of the 1940s. The book is written with such keen empathy and understanding that to read it is to share fully in the gravity of the characters' situations. It both touches your heart deeply and inspires a renewed faith in the dignity of mankind. Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic tale, passionately African, timeless and universal, and beyond all, selfless.
Small things like these by Claire Keegan
Small things like these
by Claire Keegan

In a small Irish town in 1985, coal merchant and family man, Bill Furlong, while delivering an order to the local convent, makes a discovery that forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.
The Wives of Los Alamos by Tarashea Nesbit
The Wives of Los Alamos
by Tarashea Nesbit

The haunting . . . impressive (NYTBR) national bestseller--imagining the untold human history of the making of the atomic bomb.
Heart the Lover by Lily King
Heart the Lover
by Lily King

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERLily King has written another masterpiece. This book overflows with her brilliance and her heart. We are so lucky. --Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time TomorrowFrom the New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers comes a magnificent and intimate new novel of desire, friendship, and the lasting impact of first loveYou knew I'd write a book about you someday.Our narrator understands good love stories--their secrets and subtext, their highs and free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the simple rules.In the fall of her senior year of college, she meets two star students from her 17th-Century Lit class: Sam and Yash. Best friends living off campus in the elegant house of a professor on sabbatical, the boys invite her into their intoxicating world of academic fervor, rapid-fire banter and raucous card games. They nickname her Jordan, and she quickly discovers the pleasures of friendship, love and her own intellectual ambition. But youthful passion is unpredictable, and soon she finds herself at the center of a charged and intricate triangle. As graduation comes and goes, choices made will alter these three lives forever.Decades later, the vulnerable days of Jordan's youth seem comfortably behind her. But when a surprise visit and unexpected news bring the past crashing into the present, she returns to a world she left behind and must confront the decisions and deceptions of her younger self.Written with the superb wit and emotional sensitivity fans and critics of Lily King have come to adore, Heart the Lover is a deeply moving love story that celebrates literature, forgiveness, and the transformative bonds that shape our lives. Wise, unforgettable, and with a delightful connective thread to Writers & Lovers, this is King at her very best, affirming her as a masterful chronicler of the human experience and one of the finest novelists at work today.
Dial a for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Dial a for Aunties
by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Sutanto brilliantly infuses comedy and culture into the unpredictable rom-com/murder mystery mashup as Meddy navigates familial duty, possible arrest and a groomzilla. I laughed out loud and you will too.--USA Today (four-star review) A hilarious, heartfelt romp of a novel about--what else?--accidental murder and the bond of family. This book had me laughing aloud within its first five pages... Utterly clever, deeply funny, and altogether charming, this book is sure to be one of the best of the year!--Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Beach ReadOne of NPR's Best Books of 2021! One of PopSugar's 42 Books Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2021! What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family? You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue! When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the California coastline. It's the biggest job yet for the family wedding business--Don't leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!--and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie's perfect buttercream flowers. But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy's great college love--and biggest heartbreak--makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
by Jesse Q. Sutanto

A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery from the bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties.Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady--ah, lady of a certain age--who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing--a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands.Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?
The Ex-Boyfriend's Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee by Saki Kawashiro
The Ex-Boyfriend's Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee
by Saki Kawashiro

What ingredients do you need to cure a broken heart? This soul-nourishing comfort read is for anyone who has loved and lost--and wants to love again. Twenty-nine-year-old Momoko has been tragically dumped. She thought her boyfriend was her soulmate. She believed he was going to propose. Instead, he broke things off at a love hotel. So Momoko does what many broken-hearted people do--she gets incredibly drunk. So drunk that she passes out in a nearly empty café. When she awakens, she's eager to tell her story to anyone who will listen and pours her heart out to a curious manager and the sole other customer in the café, a Buddhist monk in training. As Momoko describes how she doted on her ex and how he loved her cooking, the manager decides to indulge her by allowing her to slip into the kitchen and cook up her former beau's favorite dish: a warm, delightful butter chicken curry. As Momoko finishes telling her story, she realizes that this combination of cooking and sharing has stopped the flow of her constant tears. And the manager has a brilliant idea. What if they started doing this regularly, inviting patrons to share stories about heartbreak while cooking dishes that held significance in their relationships? Thus, an unconventional therapy group, the Ex-Boyfriend's Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee, is born. Based on the author's viral heartbreak story, this is a charming novel (with recipes) about a woman who uses the power of a warm meal to bring together the fellow lonely hearts in this small suburb of Tokyo.
The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick
The Book Club for Troublesome Women
by Marie Bostwick

Margaret Ryan never really meant to start a book club--or a feminist revolution in her buttoned-up suburb.By 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan is living the American woman's dream. She has a husband, three children, a station wagon, and a home in Concordia, one of Northern Virginia's most exclusive and picturesque suburbs. She has a standing invitation to the neighborhood coffee klatch, and now, thanks to her husband, a new subscription to A Woman's Place, a magazine that tells housewives like Margaret exactly who to be and what to buy. On paper, she has it all. So why doesn't that feel like enough?Margaret is thrown for a loop when she first meets Charlotte Gustafson, Concordia's newest and most intriguing resident. As an excuse to be in the mysterious Charlotte's orbit, Margaret concocts a book club get-together and invites two other neighborhood women, Bitsy and Viv, to the inaugural meeting. As the women share secrets, cocktails, and their honest reactions to the controversial bestseller The Feminine Mystique, they begin to discover that the American dream they had been sold isn't all roses and sunshine--and that their secret longing for more is something they share.Nicknaming themselves the Bettys, after Betty Friedan, these four friends have no idea that their impromptu club and the books they read together will become the glue that helps them hold fast through tears, triumphs, angst, and arguments--and what will prove to be the most consequential and freeing year of their lives.The Book Club for Troublesome Women is a humorous, thought provoking, and nostalgic romp through one pivotal and tumultuous American year--as well as an ode to self-discovery, persistence, and the power of sisterhood.
Julia: A Novel Inspired by the Extraordinary Life of Julia Child by Heather B. Moore
Julia: A Novel Inspired by the Extraordinary Life of Julia Child
by Heather B. Moore

Julia leaves behind a privileged life in California to join the OSS during World War II, decoding covert messages and aiding the Allied effort. Amid her far-reaching missions, she meets Paul Child, whose love leads her to postwar Paris. There, Julia Child's daring pursuit of French cuisine transforms her into a culinary trailblazer and icon, forever changing the way America cooks--
Lady Flyer by Heather B. Moore
Lady Flyer
by Heather B. Moore

Based on a true story and set against the backdrop of WWII, a young woman's love of flying becomes an epic fight for identity and equality. In the quiet town of Houghton, Michigan, sixteen-year-old Nancy Harkness discovers a passion that ignites her heart in ways she never expected. The arrival of barnstormer pilots brings more than just the thrill of their daring stunts; it brings the promise of adventure. Nancy vows she will be a pilot someday. Years later, as the dark clouds of World War II gather on the horizon, Nancy's dreams take a new and daring turn. With unwavering determination, she envisions a squadron of female pilots. Yet, her path is far from clear. The male-dominated world of aviation pushes back, determined to keep women out of the skies. But Nancy isn't alone in her quest for equality. Jackie Cochran, a formidable aviatrix and Nancy's rival, has her own dreams and ambitions for women in aviation. As they both navigate the turbulent skies of a nation at war, their destinies intertwine in a story of rivalry, respect, and competition--
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
The Woman in Me
by Britney Spears

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice--her truth--was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey--and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears's groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love--and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.--
Female Fantasy by Iman Hariri-Kia
Female Fantasy
by Iman Hariri-Kia

A love letter to romance readers that is in turn chaotic, sexy, and addictively joyful A playful romp and ode to all who believe in true love and happily-ever-afters.--Kirkus, STARRED ReviewJoonie has two great loves. Writing fanfic about her favorite fantasy romance series and swooning over its hero, Ryke, a broody, impossibly perfect merman. No real-life boyfriend has ever come close. Why settle for ordinary when your fictional crush is...well, an impossibly hot, impossibly wonderful Ryke?But then Joonie discovers a secret: Ryke was inspired by a real man. And she's determined to find him. Cue a whirlwind road trip, complete with her brother's aggravatingly hot best friend at the wheel, clumsy kidnappers, psychics, and her fiercely loyal fanfic crew. He doesn't believe in love. She refuses to believe in anything else. And neither is ready for the sparks that start flying.Filled with crackling banter, laugh-out-loud chaos, and swoony heat, Female Fantasy is an unapologetic ode to the romance genre and the readers who love it. Perfect for fans of Ali Hazelwood, Emily Henry, and B.K. Borison.Clever, delightfully chaotic, and a total joy to read -- Lyla Sage, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Wild and WrangledMakes me feel like I'm floating on champagne bubbles. Decadent and dreamy, this one is for the romantics. -- B.K. Borison, New York Times bestselling author of First-Time Caller
Heartwood (a Read with Jenna Pick) by Amity Gaige
Heartwood (a Read with Jenna Pick)
by Amity Gaige

The best thriller of 2025. --The Boston Globe * Genius. --The Washington Post A literary thriller of the highest order (Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Couple), Heartwood takes you on a gripping journey as a search and rescue team race against time after an experienced hiker mysteriously disappears on the Appalachian Trail in Maine. In the heart of the Maine woods, an experienced Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing. She is forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis, who has vanished 200 miles from her final destination. Alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping. At the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement community, becomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie's disappearance may not be accidental. Heartwood is a gem of a thousand facets--suspenseful, transporting, tender, and ultimately soul-mending, (Megan Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning) that tells the story of a lost hiker's odyssey and is a moving rendering of each character's interior journey. The mystery inspires larger questions about the many ways in which we get lost, and how we are found. At its core, Heartwood is an unputdownable (Real Simple) and redemptive novel, written with both enormous literary ambition and love.
A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
A Tangle of Knots
by Lisa Graff

A National Book Award nominee! The magic of Savvy meets the complexity of When You Reach Me in this blithe magical puzzle, --The Wall Street Journal Told in multiple viewpoints, A Tangle of Knots is a magnificent puzzle. In a slightly magical world where everyone has a Talent, eleven-year-old Cady is an orphan with a phenomenal Talent for cake baking. But little does she know that fate has set her on a journey from the moment she was born. And her destiny leads her to a mysterious address that houses a lost luggage emporium, an old recipe, a family of children searching for their own Talents, and a Talent Thief who will alter her life forever. However, these encounters hold the key to Cady's past and how she became an orphan. If she's lucky, fate may reunite her with her long-lost parent. Lisa Graff adds a pinch of magic to a sharply crafted plot to create a novel that will have readers wondering about fate and the way we're all connected.
Chelmsford Public Library
25 Boston Road
Chelmsford, Massachusetts 01824
978-256-5521

http://www.chelmsfordlibrary.org