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BEING ESTHER

Born to parents who fled the shtetl, Esther Lustig has led a seemingly conventional life—marriage, two children, a life in suburban Chicago. Now, at the age of eighty-five, her husband is deceased, her children have families of their own, and most of her friends are gone. Even in this diminished condition, life has its moments of richness, as well as its memorable characters. But above all there are the memories. Of better days with Marty, her husband. Of unrealized obsessions with other men.

As she moves back and forth through time, Esther attempts to come to terms with the meaning of her outwardly modest life.

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CLAIRE OF THE SEA LIGHT

A New York Times Book Review and Washington Post Notable Book, an NPR “Great Read,” a Christian Science Monitor Best Fiction Book, and a Library Journal Top Book

Just as her father makes the wrenching decision to send her away for a chance at a better life, Claire Limyè Lanmè—Claire of the Sea Light—suddenly disappears. As the people of the Haitian seaside community of Ville Rose search for her, painful secrets, haunting memories, and startling truths are unearthed. In this stunning novel about intertwined lives, Edwidge Danticat crafts a tightly woven, breathtaking tapestry that explores the mysterious bonds we share—with the natural world and with one another.

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ON SAL MAL LANE

A Library Journal Best Indie Fiction of 2013

A Largehearted Boy Best Book of the Year

A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice

In the tradition of In the Time of the Butterflies and The Kite Runner, a tender, evocative novel about the years leading up to the Sri Lankan civil war.  

On the day the Herath family moves in, Sal Mal Lane is still a quiet street, disturbed only by the cries of the children whose triumphs and tragedies sustain the families that live there.

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LET’S GET LOST

Dubbed a “John Green readalike” by School Library Journal, Let's Get Lost is a twist on the classic road trip story. Arranged as five multichapter vignettes, this road trip adventure will leave you breathless. This captivating cross-country journey begins with Leila. She’s traveling from Louisiana to Alaska in search of the Northern Lights. But this isn’t Leila’s story, not quite. This is the story of a boy named Hudson in Mississippi. And Bree, a girl who seizes every Tuesday. It’s Elliot’s, too, who’s trying to write his own story. And Sonia, who doesn’t realize hers hasn’t ended just yet.

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LET HIM GO

Dalton, North Dakota. September, 1951. It has been years since George and Margaret Blackledge lost their son James when he was thrown from a horse, and months since his widow left with their only grandson and married another man. Margaret is resolved to find and retrieve her beloved grandson Jimmy—the last of the family line, and a living embodiment of her son’s memory—while George, a retired sheriff, is none too eager to stir up trouble. Unable to sway his wife from her mission, George takes to the road with Margaret by his side, traveling through the Badlands to Gladstone, Montana.

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A PINCH OF OOH LA LA

To get to happily ever after, sometimes you need to start from scratch….

Abbey Ross, who runs her own bakery in Oakland, California, is known for her visually stunning wedding cakes. But lately, Abbey’s own love life has become stale. According to her best friend, Bendrix, Abbey’s not the spontaneous young woman she was when they were teenagers listening to the Cure and creating attention-grabbing graffiti. Of course, her failed relationship with a womanizing art forger might have something to do with that. Nevertheless, it’s time for Abbey to step out of the kitchen—and her comfort zone—and Bendrix has even handpicked a man for her to date.

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