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SWEET VIDALIA

One of our recommended books is Sweet Vidalia by Lisa Sandlin

This life-affirming novel explores marriage, community, and the power of dignity for a fifty-seven-year-old woman forced to rebuild her life, unexpectedly and alone, in 1960s Texas–perfect for readers of Elizabeth Strout, Bonnie Garmus, and Anne Tyler.

It’s 1964 and Eliza Kratke is mostly content. Married thirty years, she is long settled in Bayard, Texas with two grown children, a nice house, a little dog, and a routine. But her husband has a secret, and Eliza has not been brave enough to demand to know what it is.

So when her husband dies suddenly, the ground doesn’t just shift under Eliza’s feet–it falls away entirely,

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TIME OF THE CHILD

One of our recommended books is Time of the Child by Niall Williams

From the author of This Is Happiness, a compassionate, life-affirming novel about the Christmas season that transforms the small Irish town of Faha.

Doctor Jack Troy was born and raised in Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean he has always been set apart from the town. His eldest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father’s shadow, and remains there, having missed one chance at love – and passed up another offer of marriage from an unsuitable man.

But in the Advent season of 1962,

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POOR DEER

A wondrous, tender novel about a young girl grappling with her role in a tragic loss—and attempting to reshape the narrative of her life—from PEN/Faulkner Award nominee Claire Oshetsky

Margaret Murphy is a weaver of fantastic tales, growing up in a world where the truth is too much for one little girl to endure. Her first memory is of the day her friend Agnes died.

No one blames Margaret. Not in so many words. Her mother insists to everyone who will listen that her daughter never even left the house that day. Left alone to make sense of tragedy,

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DIET SODA CLUB

One of our recommended books is Diet Soda Club by Chaz Hayden

When their mom leaves, Reed must care for his sister who has a life-threatening condition–even if that means breaking the law. A tender and sparkling story about family, trust, and the lengths we will go to for the ones we love.
Have you ever made all the wrong choices for all the right reasons?
Reed Beckett’s little sister, Beatrice, has never been awakened by the smell of breakfast or a school-day alarm clock. Instead, she wakes to hospital beeps and poking doctors. Seventeen-year-old Reed has been there for Bea all along, especially since their dad died.

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MY THREE DOGS

One of our recommended books is My Three Dogs by W. Bruce Cameron

My Three Dogs is a charming and heartfelt new novel from the #1 bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose, about humankind’s best, most loyal friends, and a wonderful adventure of love and finding home.

When a tragic accident separates three dogs from their human, they find themselves up for adoption—separately. But Riggs, a dedicated, loyal Australian Shepherd, refuses to see his family torn apart. After the exuberant and fun-loving doodle Archie and quick-witted Jack Russell Luna are taken to new homes, Riggs’s powerful herding instincts send him on a journey to bring his pack back together again.

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THERE BUT FOR GRACE

There but for Grace, a novel described by Margot Livesey as “a lovely, witty deeply absorbing novel,” chronicles one woman’s mission to challenge the stereotypes about “older” women. She does so with grace, wit, and a no-holds-barred feistiness that will engage readers of all ages. Fifty-three-year-old Grace Winthrop Hobbes is newly divorced with two college-age kids, an eccentric octogenarian mother, a stalled novel-in-progress, and a sex drive that is coming out of hibernation with a vengeance. Refusing to go gently into the dark night of abstinence and retreat, and tired of sexual double standards, Grace makes a vow to seize life’s bull by the horns.

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