Miss Morgan's Book Brigade
Miss Morgan's Book Brigade

Author: Janet Skeslien Charles

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2024-04-30

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1668010348

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The New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the “captivating, richly drawn” (Woman’s World) The Paris Library returns with a brilliant new novel based on the true story of Jessie Carson—the American librarian who changed the literary landscape of France. 1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears. 1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time. Based on the extraordinary little-known history of the women who received the Croix de Guerre medal for courage under fire, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, the power of literature, and ultimately the courage it takes to make a change.

Moonlight in Odessa
Moonlight in Odessa

Author: Janet Skeslien Charles

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2010-08-31

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1608192326

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A tale inspired by the Russian mail-order bride industry finds young engineer Daria landing a secretary job at a foreign firm and redirecting her licentious boss toward a more willing mistress before taking work with a matchmaking agency, through which she meets an American teacher who fails to attract her as strongly as an irresponsible mobster. Includes reading-group guide. Reprint.

Miss Morgan's Book Brigade
Miss Morgan's Book Brigade

Author: Janet Skeslien Charles

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2024-04-30

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 166800898X

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The New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the “captivating, richly drawn” (Woman’s World) The Paris Library returns with a brilliant new novel based on the true story of Jessie Carson—the American librarian who changed the literary landscape of France. 1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild destroyed French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears. 1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time. Based on the extraordinary little-known history of the women who received the Croix de Guerre medal for courage under fire, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, the power of literature, and ultimately the courage it takes to make a change.

A Good Neighborhood
A Good Neighborhood

Author: Therese Anne Fowler

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2020-03-10

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1250237289

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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * One of NPR's Best Books of 2020 "A provocative, absorbing read." — People “A feast of a read... I finished A Good Neighborhood in a single sitting. Yes, it’s that good.” —Jodi Picoult, #1New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Thingsand A Spark of Light In Oak Knoll, a verdant, tight-knit North Carolina neighborhood, professor of forestry and ecology Valerie Alston-Holt is raising her bright and talented biracial son, Xavier, who’s headed to college in the fall. All is well until the Whitmans—a family with new money and a secretly troubled teenage daughter—raze the house and trees next door to build themselves a showplace. With little in common except a property line, these two families quickly find themselves at odds: first, over an historic oak tree in Valerie's yard, and soon after, the blossoming romance between their two teenagers. A Good Neighborhood asks big questions about life in America today—what does it mean to be a good neighbor? How do we live alongside each other when we don't see eye to eye?—as it explores the effects of class, race, and heartrending love in a story that’s as provocative as it is powerful.

In the Heart of Paradise
In the Heart of Paradise

Author: Jamie McGillen

Publisher:

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9781733423960

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When Anna discovers she's with child, it doesn't feel as wonderful as she'd imagined. She quickly feels trapped between the doctors blaming her for her morning sickness, older women wanting her to stay home, and very real risks to her baby. She's caught between protecting her family and living a fulfilling life-an impossible choice. Anna's new friend Elizabeth is reeling from an unexpected loss, and she believes her nervous tendencies are getting worse. Her thoughts have always been strange, and the threat of ending up in an insane asylum is never far from her mind. When she meets a handsome stranger on the train, she wonders if she can simply keep her "fits of mania" to herself. But when she develops a phobia, she'll have to face her most dreaded fear to save what she loves most. In the Heart of Paradise is a deeply hopeful story that explores themes of mental health and motherhood in the nineteenth century. It is the third book in the Rainier Series, which is historical fiction set in Washington State.

Once Upon a Wardrobe
Once Upon a Wardrobe

Author: Patti Callahan

Publisher: Harper Muse

Published: 2021-10-19

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 0785251766

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College student Megs Devonshire sets out to fulfill her younger brother George’s last wish by uncovering the truth behind his favorite story. What transpires is a fascinating look into the bond between siblings and the life-changing magic of stories. 1950: Margaret Devonshire (Megs) is a seventeen-year-old student of mathematics and physics at Oxford University. When her beloved eight-year-old brother asks Megs if Narnia is real, logical Megs tells him it’s just a book for children, and certainly not true. Homebound due to his illness, and remaining fixated on his favorite books, George presses her to ask the author of the recently released novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a question: “Where did Narnia come from?” Despite her fear about approaching the famous author, who is a professor at her school, Megs soon finds herself taking tea with C. S. Lewis and his own brother Warnie, begging them for answers. Rather than directly telling her where Narnia came from, Lewis encourages Megs to form her own conclusion as he shares the little-known stories from his own life that led to his inspiration. As she takes these stories home to George, the little boy travels farther in his imagination than he ever could in real life. After holding so tightly to logic and reason, her brother’s request leads Megs to absorb a more profound truth: “The way stories change us can’t be explained. It can only be felt. Like love.” From the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea A captivating, standalone historical novel combining fact and fiction An emotional journey into the books and stories that make us who we are Includes discussion questions for book clubs

Virgil Wander
Virgil Wander

Author: Leif Enger

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press

Published: 2018-10-02

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 0802146686

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A man seeks to rediscover his broken Midwestern community in a novel that “brims with grace and quirky charm” by the author of Peace Like a River (Bookpage). Movie house owner Virgil Wander is “cruising along at medium altitude” when his car flies off the road into icy Lake Superior. Though Virgil survives, his language and memory are altered. Awakening in this new life, Virgil begins to piece together the past. He is helped by a cast of curious locals—from a stranger investigating the mystery of his disappeared son, to the vanished man’s enchanting wife, to a local journalist who is Virgil’s oldest friend. Into this community returns a shimmering prodigal son who may hold the key to reviving their town. Leif Enger conjures a remarkable portrait of a region and its residents, who, for reasons of choice or circumstance, never made it out of their defunct industrial district. Carried aloft by quotidian pleasures including movies, fishing, necking in parked cars, playing baseball and falling in love, Virgil Wander is a journey into the heart of America’s Upper Midwest.

Love, Theodosia
Love, Theodosia

Author: Lori Anne Goldstein

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1951627989

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A Romeo & Juliet tale for Hamilton! fans. In post-American Revolution New York City, Theodosia Burr, a scholar with the skills of a socialite, is all about charming the right people on behalf of her father—Senator Aaron Burr, who is determined to win the office of president in the pivotal election of 1800. Meanwhile, Philip Hamilton, the rakish son of Alexander Hamilton, is all about being charming on behalf of his libido. When the two first meet, it seems the ongoing feud between their politically opposed fathers may be hereditary. But soon, Theodosia and Philip must choose between love and family, desire and loyalty, and preserving the legacy their flawed fathers fought for or creating their own. Love, Theodosia is a smart, funny, swoony take on a fiercely intelligent woman with feminist ideas ahead of her time who has long-deserved center stage. A refreshing spin on the Hamiltonian era and the characters we have grown to know and love. It’s also a heartbreaking romance of two star-crossed lovers, an achingly bittersweet “what if.” Despite their fathers’ bitter rivalry, Theodosia and Philip are drawn to each other and, in what unrolls like a Jane Austen novel of manners, we find ourselves entangled in the world of Hamilton and Burr once again as these heirs of famous enemies are driven together despite every reason not to be.

I Was Anastasia
I Was Anastasia

Author: Ariel Lawhon

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2024-10-02

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 1761429639

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From the bestselling author of The Frozen River comes an enthralling historical mystery that unravels the extraordinary twists and turns in Anna Anderson’s fifty-year battle to be recognised as Anastasia Romanov. Is she the Russian grand duchess or the thief of another woman’s legacy? Countless others have rendered their verdict. Now it is your turn. Russia, 1918: Under direct orders from Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik secret police herd Anastasia Romanov, along with the entire imperial family, into a damp basement in Siberia, where they face a merciless firing squad. None survive. At least that is what the executioners have always claimed. Germany, 1920: A young woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to Anastasia Romanov is pulled shivering and senseless from a canal. Refusing to explain her presence in the freezing water or even acknowledge her rescuers, Anna Anderson is taken to the hospital where an examination reveals that her body is riddled with countless horrific scars. When she finally does speak, this frightened, mysterious young woman claims to be the Russian grand duchess. As rumours begin to circulate that the youngest Romanov daughter survived the massacre, old enemies and new threats awaken. I Was Anastasia unravels the thrilling mystery around Anna Anderson in a tale that is every bit as moving and momentous as it is harrowing and twisted.

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society
Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society

Author: Amy Hill Hearth

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-10-02

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1451675232

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Jackie accepts an opportunity to host a local radio show where she creates a late-night persona, Miss Dreamsville, and launches a reading group thus sending the conservative and racially segregated town into uproar.