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Mass Book Award Honorees and Award Winners March 2023
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Master of poisons : {a novel}
by Andrea Hairston
The righthand man to the lord of the Arkhysian Empire and a young woman training to be a powerful sorcerer work together to save their homeland from the poison that is eating farmlands and fouling drinking water..
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News from heaven : the Bakerton stories
by Jennifer Haigh
Portraying the close-knit community of Bakerton, Pennsylvania through a series of interconnected stories, the author, exploring themes of regret, redemption and acceptance, depicts unforgettable characters from different generations shaped by dreams and plagued by disappointments.
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The human zoo : a novel
by Sabina Murray
"Filipino-American Christina "Ting" Klein has just travelled from New York to Manila, both to escape her imminent divorce, and to begin research for a biography of Timicheg, an indigenous Filipino brought to America at the start of the twentieth century to be exhibited as part of a 'human zoo.' It has been a year since Ting's last visit, and one year since Procopio "Copo" Gumboc swept the elections in an upset and took power as president. Arriving unannounced at her aging Aunt's aristocratic home, Ting quickly falls into upper-class Manila life-family gatherings at her cousin's compound; spending time with her best friend Inchoy, a gay socialist professor of philosophy; and a flirtation with her ex-boyfriend Chet, a wealthy businessman with questionable ties to the regime. All the while, family duty dictates that Ting be responsible for Laird, a cousin's fiancé, who has come from the States to rediscover his roots. As days pass, Ting witnesses modern Filipino society languishing under Gumboc's terrifying reign. To make her way, she must balance the aristocratic traditions of her extended family, seemingly at odds with both situation and circumstance, as well temper her stance towards a regime her loved ones are struggling to survive. Yet Ting cannot extricate herself from the increasingly repressive regime, and soon finds herself personally confronted by the horrifying realities of Gumboc's power. At once a propulsive look at contemporary Filipino politics and the history that impacted the country, The Human Zoo is a thrilling and provocative story from one of our most celebrated and important writers of literary fiction"
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The book of form and emptiness
by Ruth Ozeki
When he begins hearing voices one year after his fathers death, 13-year-old Benny Oh, seeking refuge in the library, meets a colorful cast of characters, including his very own Book, a talking thing, who narrates Bennys life and teaches him to listen to the things that truly matter.
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The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Díaz
Living with an old-world mother and rebellious sister, an urban New Jersey misfit dreams of becoming the next J. R. R. Tolkien and believes that a long-standing family curse is thwarting his efforts to find love and happiness. A first novel by the author of the collection, Drown. .
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Hold me down
by Clea Simon
Back in Boston to play a memorial for her late drummer and best friend, Gal, a middle-aged musician, launches her own informal investigation after her friends widower becomes the main suspect in the murder of an attendee.
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The yellow bird sings
by Jennifer Rosner
A mother who goes into hiding when Nazis begin arresting Jewish citizens in Poland considers an impossible choice while struggling to keep her 5-year-old daughter, a musical prodigy, from being overheard. By the award-winning author of The Mitten String.
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The emperor's children
by Claire Messud
Three friends on the verge of their thirties--beautiful, sophisticated Marina Thwaite, daughter of a noted journalist; Danielle, a quiet TV producer; and Julius, a cash-poor freelance writer--make their way through New York City, until Marina's idealistic, college-dropout cousin, Bootie, arrives to complicate all of their lives. Reader's Guide available. .
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A kiss from Maddalena
by Christopher Castellani
One of the few remaining men in the village of Santa Cecilia during the Second World War, Vito Leone falls in love with the daughter of the town's most powerful family despite their disapproval and seeks to prove himself when Germany seizes control
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Separation anxiety : a novel
by Laura Zigman
A once-promising childrens book writer navigates the humbling realities of middle age and dysfunctional family life while pursuing well-intentioned but increasingly disastrous changes. By the author of Animal Husbandry. .
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People of the book : a novel
by Geraldine Brooks
Offered a coveted job to analyze and conserve a priceless Sarajevo Haggadah, Australian rare-book expert Hanna Heath discovers a series of tiny artifacts in the volume's ancient binding that reveal its historically significant origins. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March.
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Survivor song : a novel
by Paul Tremblay
When Massachusetts is overrun by a rabies-like virus that is incurable an hour after infection, a soft-spoken pediatrician navigates apocalyptic obstacles to get a vaccine to her eight-months pregnant friend. By the award-winning author of Growing Things..
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On earth we're briefly gorgeous : a novel
by Ocean Vuong
A first novel by the award-winning author of Night Sky with Exit Wounds is written in the form of a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read about the impact of the Vietnam war on their family.
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The resisters : a novel
by Gish Jen
Enduring life on the margins in a near-future world ruthlessly divided between the employed and unemployed, a once-professional couple give birth to an athletically gifted child, whose attention by the government compels her mother to challenge societys foundations.
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Libertie : a novel
by Kaitlyn Greenidge
Coming of age as a free-born Black woman in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson struggles against her mothers medical aspirations for her when she finds herself more drawn to a musical career that could compromise her autonomy..
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Saint X
by Alexis Schaitkin
When a brief but fateful encounter brings her together with one of the men originally suspected of killing her sister, Claire, hoping to gain his trust and learn the truth, forms an unlikely attachment with this man whose life is forever marked by the same tragedy. Illustrations.
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A head full of ghosts
by Paul Tremblay
The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when 14-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of what at first seems to be acute schizophrenia, a condition which only gets worse, leading them to believe it's actually demonic possession, as they become the center of a reality TV show. .
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The chalk artist : a novel
by Allegra Goodman
A disarming chalk artist who thinks nothing of erasing his dazzling work and an idealistic teacher who believes that things are meant to last forge an unlikely romance marked by her powerful father's virtual reality company and a brilliant but unstable student who is obsessed with video games. By the award-winning author of The Cookbook Collector.
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The unmade world
by Steve Yarbrough
Follows the emotional consequences of an a tragic accident on a snowy night outside of Krakow by an American journalist and a businessman turned petty crook amidst the political changes, economic collapses and armed conflicts of the past 10 years.
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The boy in the field : a novel
by Margot Livesey
Saving the life of a young boy, three siblings find their bond challenged by their parents' troubled marriage and their respective efforts to identify the boy's attacker, manage a new relationship and search for a birth parent. .
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Impersonation
by Heidi Pitlor
Professional ghostwriter and single mother Allie Lang gets more than she bargained for when she is hired to write a biography for Lana Brebana powerhouse lawyer, economist and advocate for womens rights with designs on elected office. .
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The smash-up : a novel
by Ali Benjamin
Upended by his wife’s newfound activism, a once-successful businessman begins questioning everything in the face of scandalous allegations and a naïve houseguest. By the author of the National Book Award finalist, The Thing About Jellyfish.
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Something wild : a novel
by Hanna Halperin
"Told in alternating perspectives that deftly interweave past and present, Something Wild is a magnetic, unflinching portrait of the bond between sisters, as well as a psychologically acute exploration of the legacy of divorce, the ways trauma reverberates over generations, and how it might be possible to overcome the past"
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The trouble ball : poems
by Martín Espada
This new collection of poems from the Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Republic of Poetry describes everything from a pilgrimage to the tomb of Frederick Douglass to an encounter with the swimming pool at a torture and execution center in Chile.
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Mayflower : a story of courage, community, and war
by Nathaniel Philbrick
A history of the Pilgrim settlement of New England challenges popular misconceptions, discussing such topics as the diseases of European origin suffered by the Wampanoag tribe, the fragile working relationship between the Pilgrims and their Native American neighbors, and the devastating impact of the King Philip's War. By the author of Sea of Glory. 450,000 first printing.
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How to make a slave and other essays
by Jerald Walker
"Personal essays exploring identity, family, and community through the prism of race and black culture. Confronts the medical profession's racial biases, shopping while black at Whole Foods, the legacy of Michael Jackson, raising black boys, haircuts that scare white people, racial profiling, and growing up in Southside Chicago"
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Demagogue : the life and long shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy
by Larry Tye
Draws on unprecedented access to personal and professional records and recently unsealed transcripts to share insights into McCarthy’s complicated personality and contradictory views, tracing his wartime heroics and the rise of his controversial anti-communist campaigns. .
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Against silence / : Poems
by Frank Bidart
"An urgent new collection from Frank Bidart, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Bidart writes of the cycles we cannot escape and the feelings we cannot forget"
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Winter recipes from the collective
by Louise Glück
The 2020 Nobel Prize winners haunting new book is the voice containing all of our lifetimesall the worlds, each more beautiful than the last..
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Believing : our thirty-year journey to end gender violence
by Anita Hill
"From the woman who gave the landmark testimony against Clarence Thomas as a sexual menace, a new manifesto about the origins and course of gender violence in our society; a combination of memoir, personal accounts, law, and social analysis, and a powerful call to arms from one of our most prominent and poised survivors. In 1991, Anita Hill began something that's still unfinished work. The issues of gender violence, touching on sex, race, age, and power, are as urgent today as they were when she first testified. Believing is a story of America's three decades long reckoning with gender violence, one that offers insights into its roots, and paths to creating dialogue and substantive change. It is a call to action that offers guidance based on what this brave, committed fighter has learned from a lifetime of advocacy and her search for solutions to a problem that is still tearing America apart. We once thought gender-based violence--from casual harassment to rape and murder--was an individual problem that affected a few; we now know it's cultural and endemic, and happens to our acquaintances, colleagues, friends and family members, and it can be physical, emotional and verbal. Women of color experience sexual harassment at higher rates than White women. Street harassment is ubiquitous and can escalate to violence. Transgender and nonbinary people are particularly vulnerable. Anita Hill draws on her years as a teacher, legal scholar, and advocate, and on the experiences of the thousands of individuals who have told her their stories, to trace the pipeline of behavior that follows individuals from place to place: from home to school to work and back home. In measured, clear, blunt terms, she demonstrates the impact it has on every aspect of our lives, including our physical and mental wellbeing, housing stability, political participation, economy and community safety, and how our descriptive language undermines progress toward solutions. And she is uncompromising in her demands that our laws and our leaders must address the issue concretely and immediately"
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Rosemary : the hidden Kennedy daughter
by Kate Clifford Larson
Based on information contained in Rose Kennedy's diaries and correspondence, as well as exclusive family interviews, the author describes the plight of a woman forgotten to history, who was intellectually disabled and kept hidden by the family after she received a lobotomy at age 23. .
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Full dissidence : notes from an uneven playing field
by Howard Bryant
An impassioned meditation on injustice in America examines the fundamental inequities behind the countrys most divisive issues, explaining how a normalizing of authoritarianism in todays political arenas is undermining freedom and democracy for everyday people.
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The smallest lights in the universe : a memoir
by Sara Seager
An MIT astrophysicist must reinvent herself in the wake of tragedy and discovers the power of connection on this planet, even as she searches our galaxy for another Earth.
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Under a white sky : the nature of the future
by Elizabeth Kolbert
"The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity's transformative impact on the environment, now asking: After doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it? That man should have dominion "over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. So pervasive are human impacts on the planet that it's said we live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert takes a hard look at the new world we are creating. She meets scientists who are trying to preserve the world's rarest fish, which lives in a single, tiny pool in the middle of the Mojave. She visits a lava field in Iceland, where engineers are turning carbon emissions to stone; an aquarium in Australia, where researchers are trying to develop "super coral" that can survive on a hotter globe; and a lab at Harvard, where physicists are contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere in order to reflect sunlight back to space and cool the earth. One way to look at human civilization, says Kolbert, is as a ten-thousand-year exercise in defying nature. In The Sixth Extinction, she explored the ways in which our capacity for destruction has reshaped the natural world. Now she examines how the very sorts of interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation. By turns inspiring, terrifying, and darkly comic, Under a White Sky is an utterly original examination of the challenges we face"
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Travels with George : in search of Washington and his legacy
by Nathaniel Philbrick
Written at a moment when Americas founding figures are under increasing scrutiny, the author, retracing George Washingtons journey as a new president through all thirteen former colonies, paints a picture of 18th-century America as divided and fraught as it is today. Illustrations.
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