January 2021 - Staff Reading Suggestions
AMERICAN DAUGHTER
by Stephanie Thorton Plymale
Di Grumhaus's pick:

Like Educated and The Glass Castle, American Daughter is an emotionally searing and ultimately uplifting memoir of a troubled mother-daughter relationship and a meditation on home and what it means to survive, to rise above, to heal, and ultimately, to forgive.
THE LIAR'S DICTIONARY
by Eley Williams
Molly Forlow's pick:

An exhilarating and laugh-out-loud debut novel from a prize-winning new talent which chronicles the misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world.
PEOPLE LIKE HER 
by Ellery Lloyd
Morley Vahey's pick:

In this deeply addictive tale of psychological suspense, Ellery Lloyd raises important questions about technology, social media celebrity, and the way we live today. People Like Her explores our desperate need to be seen and the lengths we’ll go to be liked by strangers.
PERESTROIKA IN PARIS 
by Jane Smiley
Susan Phillips's Pick:

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author: a captivating, brilliantly imaginative story of three extraordinary animals–and a young boy–whose lives intersect in Paris.
WHAT COULD BE SAVED
by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz
Di Grumhaus's Pick

When a missing son and brother is found after more than 40 years, a family must confront the secrets that defined their lives for decades. Alternating between past and present, What Could Be Saved is an unforgettable novel about a family shattered by loss and betrayal, and the beauty that can exist even in the midst of brokenness.
THE DIVINES
by Ellie Eaton
Kristen Starr's Pick:

Moving between present-day Los Angeles and 1990s Britain, The Divines is a scorching examination of the power of adolescent sexuality, female identity, and the destructive class divide. Exposing the tension between the lives we lead as adults and the experiences that form us, Eaton probes us to consider how our memories as adults compel us to reexamine our pasts.
THE WIFE UPSTAIRS
by Rachel Hawkins
Laura Capstick's Pick:

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?
THE PROPHETS
by Robert Jones Jr.
Kathy Petray's Pick:

A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.
THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah
Morley Vahey's Pick:
(releases February 2, 2021)

In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman who will discover the best in herself in the worst of times.
THE EAGLES OF HEART MOUNTAIN
by Bradford Pearson
Beth Mynhier's Pick:

The impeccably researched, deeply moving, never-before-told tale about a World War II incarceration camp in Wyoming and its extraordinary high school football team—for fans of The Boys in the Boat and The Storm on Our Shores.
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