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New and Featured eAudiobooks July 2026
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Beginning Middle End
by Valeria Luiselli
From the beloved, award-winning author of the modern classics Lost Children Archive and Tell Me How It Ends comes her most powerful and page-turning novel yet: the tale of a mother and a daughter starting over, searching for a new story. A beautiful, maybe perfect, novel. --Tommy Orange, author of Wandering Stars This story begins when a mother and her daughter take off on a trip. It is a summer of rapidly changing winds, volcanic rumbles, and sudden tempests. They've landed in Sicily, near the ancient ruins where the mother's grandmother worked long ago on an archaeological dig. The narrator's marriage has collapsed, her mother is losing her memory, and her daughter is on the threshold of adolescence, starting to ask difficult questions and form complex memories. How do you begin again? the narrator wonders, pondering her family line. How do you begin again if you got the beginning wrong? While the mother tries to figure out how to reconstruct their lives as a duo--cooking meals side by side, reading out loud to each other, playing chess, bickering and making up--her daughter takes the reins of the story, and their journey soon becomes a quest for origins, not just to the familial past across continents, languages, and generations, but also farther back, to a mythical and even geological past. Beginning Middle End evolves into a road novel of exquisite tenderness, spanning four generations of women. In their travels through Sicily, mother and daughter cross paths with the island's migrants, storekeepers, and elders, and also its volcanoes, its winds, and its waters. Weaving myths, ancient philosophy, and natural history with fleeting moments of contemporary life, the unforgettable characters in this novel take us on a journey across time, and confront some of life's primary questions: How do stories shape our children's memories and imagination? How do we situate ourselves deeply in the world while accepting our transience in it? How are a family's memories made and what happens when they disappear? Warm, funny, and poetic, this novel is an ode to imagination and possibility in dark times.
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Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground
by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
The son of Weather Underground radicals tells the story of a childhood on the run and a half-century of revolutionary struggle in America.Zayd Ayers Dohrn was born underground. His parents were fugitives after a decade fighting the US government; his mother was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. All his life, Dohrn's parents said his birth marked a clean break with violent revolutionary struggle, but in this explosive memoir, he discovers that story wasn't entirely true.This masterpiece of personal and social history brings us inside an infamous family and their lives underground. Drawing on exclusive interviews, declassified FBI files, and long-hidden letters, photos, and diaries, Dohrn tells a new story of radical resistance, including revelations about the Weathermen's bombing campaign, their secret alliance with the Black Liberation Army, and the dramatic prison break of Assata Shakur.Reckoning with the emotional damage the Weathermen inflicted on their victims, their children, and themselves, Dohrn's unflinching memoir explores the roots of radicalism and asks how a young person survives when the place they feel safestwith their familyalso puts them in danger.
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On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear
by Julia Angwin
A New York Times BestsellerINVALUABLE. A CLASSIC OF OUR TIME. Everybody should read it. --RACHEL MADDOWA deeply reported manual about how anyone can defy an authoritarian - based on original interviews with more than 100 dissidents, activists, and theorists across the world.The United States is only the latest country to face a leader who wields fear as a weapon, punishes political enemies, disappears people off the street, and undermines free and fair elections. Today nearly three out of four people on earth live under authoritarianism, the highest rate since the late 1970s.But even under repressive conditions, each of us holds the power to help defeat autocrats. Based on their acclaimed The New Yorker essay So You Want to Be a Dissident?, veteran reporter Julia Angwin and political strategist Ami Fields-Meyer give us a captivating - and profoundly hopeful - guide to courage in an age of fear.Meet a student from Hong Kong who risked everything for democracy. A mom in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas who broke with the political movement that raised her. Cairo twentysomethings who staged a gutsy stunt to help bring down a dictator. A mild-mannered immigrant fighting to save a landmark U.S. civil rights law. People throughout the United States and across five continents who faced serious risks for dissenting in their workplace, their community, or their country. On Courage is the story of how they did it anyway - and how you can do it, too.Blending rich, previously untold narratives with history, spirituality, and movement research, Angwin and Fields-Meyer deliver a highly accessible book full of practical lessons - an inspiring resource for anyone, anywhere, who feel the walls of history closing in on them. On Courage is a roadmap to political courage and a powerful case for how taking personal risks can help save the free world.
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Sex Diaries: Real-Life Stories of Non-Monogamy and Polyamory
by Alyssa Shelasky
These captivating, all-new anonymous accounts, compiled by Alyssa Shelasky, in the style of her New York magazine column, pull back the curtain on non-monogamy, answering questions like: How does it really work? Who's taking care of the kids? And who's making breakfast? Featuring an introduction by Esther Perel, renowned psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of Mating in Captivity A HARPER'S BAZAAR MOST ANTICIPATED SUMMER READ This glorious, never-before-published collection of diaries will delight, tantalize, console, amuse, and inspire. May they enlarge our understanding of sexual freedom and enhance our relationships, regardless of how we define them.--Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author of Group A sixty-seven-year-old woman keeps a collection of well-endowed lovers in various corners of the world; a restaurant owner is jolted back to life when she gets illicit messages from a married man; an artist attends an overwhelming sex party, only to find themselves feeling reinvigorated after they get to role play as a rock. Some diarists are just beginning to question their relationship with monogamy; others have been polyamorous for a long-time. Some accounts are graphic and dishy, while others focus on the search for lasting connections that feel genuinely liberatory. Every single one is strikingly honest and authentic, inviting us to relish the types of stories we hear in secret--the desires and fantasies that get whispered about to trusted confidantes, or relegated to the pages of a diary. Sex Diaries lets us peek inside those pages, offering a singular, panoramic view into the world of polyamory, and an unforgettable ode to love, lust, longing, and desire.
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Yes, Chef: A Romance Novel
by Grace Reilly
Steamy, romantic, and deliciously fun Yes, Chef is a delectable morsel of a summer romance and will keep you coming back for seconds. -B. K. Borison, #1 New York Times bestselling authorA tempting new romance from USA Today bestselling author Grace Reilly, in which a down-on-his-luck chef and a determined social media maven strike a reluctant deal to bring a beloved restaurant back to life. If you can't take the heat...get out of the kitchen.After a public meltdown in the dining room of one of Manhattan's most elite restaurants, Chef Jack Hartman is back in his South Florida hometown. Angry, grieving, and saddled with the unwanted storefront his late mentor left him, his life is spinning out of control. And that's before Poppy Winfield--the bubbly, infuriating daughter of his former boss--shows up at his dock.Poppy needs to escape. From her family, her ex-boyfriend, and her reputation as someone who has never taken anything seriously. But more than that, she wants to prove herself--and she has just the plan to do it. Unfortunately, that plan involves Jack Hartman, the most arrogant, intimidating man she's ever had the pleasure of throwing a shrimp at.Poppy proposes a deal: they work together to open a revamped version of his mentor's restaurant. Jack will handle the menu, and she'll use her social media influence to sell the hell out of its grand opening. If she and Jack can make it a success, it'll be a ticket for them both to return to New York.Jack is intrigued, but only on his terms: If Poppy's going to do this, she must learn the ropes of the business. From him.As sparks fly both in and out of the kitchen, Poppy and Jack are left wondering, could they be a perfect pairing? Or is this whole experiment a recipe for disaster?
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Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth--And What to Do about It
by Samuel Moyn
A leading social critic identifies our least-discussed major crisis, and sets out to solve it. As Americans debate President Biden's infirmities and President Trump's erratic behavior, we've neglected the bigger problem before us: a massive transfer of power and wealth to the oldest among us, and the curtailment of the prospects of the young. In Gerontocracy in America, the historian and social critic Samuel Moyn offers a piercing diagnosis of our age divide and its consequences. Even apart from the presidency, in legislatures, businesses, and the courts, the average leader's age has risen dramatically. The elderly predominantly fund campaigns and dominate their agendas, often with the intent to block any challenge to their status. The tax code is rigged on their behalf, as is an economy geared to sheltering financial and housing assets. The United States was founded on the promise of generational renovation but has become an increasingly febrile country of old men. But it doesn't need to be this way. With understanding and wit, Moyn shows how elder power can be dismantled. With strong safety nets in place, mandatory retirement ages can be established. The early transfer of assets between generations could be encouraged and young voters can be granted more voice. In such a world, the elderly themselves would be freed from power games to confront the existential opportunities of aging, while the young would find their path to starting out in life unblocked at last.
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The Roanoke Girls
by Amy Engel
After her mother's suicide, fifteen-year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin Allegra on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother's mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran--fast and far away. Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too?
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Make Nice
by Ryan Effgen
Sandwich meets The Wedding People in this irresistible comedy of manners as three generations of a family--a snail scientist, a soon-to-be divorc e, her teenage daughter, a hapless con man, and their feckless patriarch--descend on a ritzy Lake Michigan vacation island. Engaging and charming, perfect for your own summer vacation.--Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hotel Nantucket When the Pickford siblings arrive at The Grand Hotel--a nostalgic tourist paradise of horse-drawn carriages, muddled cocktails, and white sweaters on the tennis court--they have every intention of spending the long weekend making nice. Pete, the nation's foremost expert on gastropods (mollusks), is keen to wade around the lake in search of a rare and exciting Carthusian snail. Viv, reeling from the secret revelation that her husband is gay, is determined to put on a brave face for her daughter. And Corey, a charming, handsome grifter, has lucked into five pounds of cocaine he plans to sell to the first dumb rich guy he can find. But when Pete falls for the alluring mother of a local kid, when Viv's daughter gets up to teenage trouble, and when Corey finds the wealthy guests less interested in party drugs than golf clubs and waffle cones, the long weekend of family bonding veers into disaster. Why did their father bring them to this cushy island resort in the first place? And why does Corey, the biggest screw-up of them all, seem to be the only one who knows the truth? As secrets spill, old flames are fanned, and an innocent snail is crushed beneath the unrelenting heel of a hiking boot. In a story that is as sneakily wise as it is absurdly funny, Ryan Effgen's debut shows how sometimes the people who bring out your worst--your family--can also be the ones to bring you out of your shell.
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Laws of Love and Logic
by Debra Curtis
A STUNNING DEBUT NOVEL FROM JENNA BUSH HAGER'S NEW VENTURE, THOUSAND VOICES A woman finds herself torn between her first love and her devoted husband in this extraordinary debut novel that asks the question: Can one heart hold two great loves? A magnificent, spellbinding love story.--Clare Leslie Hall, New York Times bestselling author of Broken Country In the serene town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Lily Webb is deeply in love with a charismatic boy, a college-bound quarterback whose spectacular athletic talents are matched only by his fierce devotion. But their dreams of a life together are cut short when his passionate protectiveness leads to an irrevocable choice--one that tears them apart and leads Lily down a path of heartbreak from which she may never recover. Lily already knows the sting of loss, beginning with the death of her mother, a tragedy that left deep scars on both her and her gifted younger sister, Jane. Jane seeks escape in the abstract world of mathematics and quantum mechanics--when she can keep the demons that fuel her addictions at bay. As the years pass, Lily buries her twin griefs deep in her heart, finding solace and a new beginning with Marshall Middleton, a renowned ornithologist whose love is as steadfast as the migration patterns he studies. Yet the shadows of her past linger. When the boy who was once everything to Lily reappears in her life, she struggles with questions around that terrible night in high school. Can she reconcile the wild wonderment of her first love with the comfort and safety of her second? Laws of Love and Logic explores love's enduring power and the human spirit's capacity for forgiveness and redemption.
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Country People
by Daniel Mason
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK - NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A year in the life of a family as they strike out into the unknown (aka Vermont)--a witty and gorgeous (The Guardian) novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason, the bestselling author of North Woods Charming . . . a prescription for summer amusement that takes immediate effect . . . There's so much fine, freewheeling observation and pillowy erudition here, it's tempting just to sink in.--The New York Times Miles Krzelewski is a devoted husband, a doting father beloved for his outlandish bedtime stories, and the proud owner of a truffle-hunting dog in a land with no truffles. He is also a bit lost, twelve years late with his PhD on Russian folktales and increasingly haunted by a sense that he's become a disappointment to his family. So when his wife, Kate, accepts a visiting professorship at a prestigious college in the faraway forests of Vermont, he decides that this will be the year to finally move forward with his life. But Miles is a man of many enthusiasms, one who possesses, in Kate's words, a great capacity to fall in with anyone, anywhere. And no sooner does he arrive than he finds himself entangled with a cast of characters as colorful as those of any of his folktales, from a ghostly tree surgeon to a scythe-mad biochemist, from a Shakespearean temptress to a photographer of snowflakes obsessed with chronicling, on thousands of index cards, the world's delusions in an Inventory of Wrong Ideas. The new friends, the enchanted woods, the histories: sure, no PhD, but all good fun. Until Miles stumbles upon a bizarre--perhaps ridiculous--local legend, which, he soon suspects, might not be just a legend after all. Joyous, absurd, and life-affirming, Country People is a luminous exploration of marriage and parenthood, the nature of belief and the power of stories, and the ways in which we find connection in an increasingly fragmented world.
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Pleasure: The Reclamation of My Body
by Emma-Louise Boynton
Pleasure explores why so many women feel disconnected from their bodies and from sex, and what it takes to change that.
Part memoir, part cultural investigation, the book traces Emma-Louise Boynton's journey from being unable to orgasm and battling a years-long eating disorder, to rebuilding her relationship with sex, desire and intimacy.
The story begins in the sex therapy room, where Boynton first discovered that her struggle with bulimia was deeply entangled with her experience of sexual numbness. From there, Pleasure expands outward - drawing on expert interviews, cultural analysis and immersive research (including four days on a porn set) - to reveal that this rupture between women and their bodies is not a personal failure, but a systemic one.
From narrow ideals around desirability and sexist narratives about aging, to the policing of women's pleasure, and the emotional alienation of app-based intimacy, Boynton interrogates the forces that teach women to mistrust their bodies and perform rather than feel their pleasure.
Crucially, Boynton offers a clear and practical roadmap for rebuilding desire, confidence and connection. Provocative, intimate and timely, Pleasure reframes women's relationship to sex and embodiment, arguing that reclaiming pleasure is not indulgent, but essential.
Inspired by her own experience doing sex therapy, Sex Talks exists to engender more open and honest conversations around typically taboo topics: sex, gender and the future of intimacy.
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Beloved as We Are: Building a Congregational Culture of Disability Inclusion
by Barbara F. Meyers
A powerful and much-needed collection that blends personal stories and resources to help members of liberal religious congregations foster accessible and inclusive communities for disabled people. In Beloved as We Are, community minister and mental health advocate Barbara F. Meyers and disability justice activist Shelly Rohe invite members of liberal religious congregations into the ongoing work of creating accessible and inclusive communities for disabled people and their loved ones. The book brings to the forefront the experiences of disabled people in Unitarian Universalist communities through personal stories, revealing both moments of healing and belonging and the emotional and spiritual harm caused by exclusion, insufficient accommodations, and ableism. Recognizing the wide spectrum of disability, including non-apparent and progressive conditions, Meyers and Rohe equip readers to move beyond good intentions. They include a detailed history of disability within Unitarian Universalism and resources about disabled identities, ableist language, disability justice, and more. They provide practical tools for congregations to assess their own communities and identify priorities for change. Meyers and Rohe encourage proactive, accountable allyship, noting that accommodation and inclusion are not just about physical or technological changes, but leadership opportunities, social engagement, pastoral care, and representation. Every congregation has work to do around ableism and this work is never finished. Beloved as We Are offers both a call and a companion for communities committed to living their values more fully.
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Adams Morgan Fugue
by Alex Fardon
A retired lawyer, an unlicensed contractor, and an ex-ballplayer walk into a bar . . . and transform their neighborhood.
With a dark secret weighing heavily on his conscience, former government lawyer Oliver Bartholomew teams with two buddies to perform random acts of kindness in their Adams Morgan, DC, neighborhood. Sid is a brash but tender-hearted contractor who recently lost everything but his shorts in a comically botched remodel. PJ is a former pro baseball player pining for the magic he once felt at the plate. The Squad meets at Gary's Bar & Grill and grapples with everything from mistreated dogs to broken school windows.
But when a ruthless investor fund threatens to drive the neighborhood's beloved pizzeria from business, the men are utterly stumped by their new mission-that is, until Oliver's old college flame, Rose, arrives for what was supposed to be a day visit. Now, bolstered by Rose's bighearted spirit and real-world savvy, the Squad must rally their neighbors to action. And Rose and Oliver must discover if, despite the tragedy that drove them apart long ago, they are meant to be together after all.
For fans of Fredrik Bachman, Kent Haruf, and Virginia Evans, Adams Morgan Fugue is a neighborhood love story, an uplifting and often funny novel of friendship, community, and second chance romance that celebrates the revolutionary power of showing up for the people around you.
To save the world, begin at home.
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Paste Jewels
by John Kendrick Bangs
John Kendrick Bangs's Paste Jewels offers a sparkling collection of short stories steeped in American humor and social satire. This volume delves into the heart of domestic fiction with a distinctly satirical eye, examining the everyday lives and societal quirks of its time. Bangs, a master of American humor, crafts tales that are both witty and insightful. The stories in Paste Jewels provide a window into a bygone era, exploring social dynamics with a lighthearted yet pointed critique. Readers will find themselves chuckling at the clever observations and timeless situations presented in these meticulously restored pages. Experience the enduring appeal of classic satire through the uniquely American lens of John Kendrick Bangs.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
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The Bridge - Elias and the Secret of Reality
by Bernd Schweikart
The Bridge is a quiet and profound journey into the nature of reality, consciousness, and human existence. Through the story of Elias, an engineer driven by logic, the reader is invited to explore deeper questions about life, truth, and the power of awareness. This book is not a doctrine, but an invitation to reflect, to observe, and to awaken.
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Roller Coaster
by Peter Searle
Roller Coaster is a powerful, heartfelt journey through the life of Peter Searle-a story of resilience, reflection, and the pursuit of meaning. Set against the backdrop of Denver's iconic amusement parks, young Peter confronts his deepest fears, finding comfort in his mother's love while haunted by dreams and the belief in alien forces. Amid the chaos of a turbulent household ruled by a controlling uncle, Peter clings to moments of joy and the grounding influence of his grandfather, whose moral strength and faith shape Peter's emerging values. The loss of this guiding figure becomes a catalyst for Peter's inner transformation. Through vivid memories, cosmic wonder, and emotional struggles-including battles with blindness and cancer-Peter's life becomes a testament to endurance. As he matures, he uncovers beauty in the everyday and strength in legacy, striving to reconcile trauma with purpose. Infused with humor, nostalgia, and emotional depth, Roller Coaster captures the highs and lows of a life shaped by childhood wonder, family complexity, and the enduring hope for something greater. This is the first installment of Peter's story-a compelling exploration of how one man learns to rise above adversity and embrace the unpredictable Roller Coaster of life.
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Mexican Gothic
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes a reimagining of the classic gothic suspense novel, a story about an isolated mansion in 1950s Mexico-and the brave socialite drawn to its treacherous secrets.
He is trying to poison me. You must come for me, Noemí. You have to save me.
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She's not sure what she will find-her cousin's husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She's a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she's also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin's new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi's dreams with visions of blood and doom.
Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family's youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family's past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family's once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.
And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.
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Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus
#1 GLOBAL BESTSELLER WITH MORE THAN 8 MILLION COPIES SOLD - Meet Elizabeth Zott: a gifted research chemist, absurdly self-assured and immune to social convention (The Washington Post) in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show. - STREAM ON APPLE TV+ This novel is irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel (The New York Times Book Review) and witty, sometimes hilarious...the Catch-22 of early feminism (Stephen King, via Twitter).A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with--of all things--her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking (combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo. Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.
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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
by James McBride
THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - A NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY WINNER OF THE 2024 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRIZE FOR AMERICAN FICTIONFROM ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2024 NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR/FRESH AIR, WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORKER, AND TIME MAGAZINE ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023 A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel . . . Charming, smart, heart-blistering, and heart-healing. --Danez Smith, The New York Times Book Review We all need--we all deserve--this vibrant, love-affirming novel that bounds over any difference that claims to separate us. --Ron Charles, The Washington Post From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah's Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe's theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe. As these characters' stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town's white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community--heaven and earth--that sustain us. Bringing his masterly storytelling skills and his deep faith in humanity to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride has written a novel as compassionate as Deacon King Kong and as inventive as The Good Lord Bird.
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Plainfield Area Public Library 15025 S. Illinois St. Plainfield, Illinois 60544 815.436.6639papl.info |
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