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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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THE PLAYERS

One of our recommended books is The Players by Minette Walters

From the author of The Swift and the Harrier comes The Players, a gripping historical tale of espionage, treason, and surprising alliances set against the backdrop of the Bloody Assizes–the trials that would determine the fate of over one-thousand treasonous rebels.

England, 1685. Decades after the end of the English Civil War, the country is once again divided when King Charles II’s illegitimate son, the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, arrives in Dorset to incite rebellion against his Catholic uncle.

Armed only with pitchforks, Monmouth’s army is quickly defeated by King James II’s superior forces and charged with high treason.

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THE FRENCH WINEMAKER’S DAUGHTER

Set during World War II, an unforgettable historical novel about love, war, family, and loyalty told in in the voices of two women, generations apart, who find themselves connected by a mysterious and valuable bottle of wine stolen by the Nazis.

1942. Seven-year-old Martine hides in an armoire when the Nazis come to take her father away. Pinned to her dress is a note with her aunt’s address in Paris, and in her arms, a bottle of wine she has been instructed to look after if something happened to her papa. When they are finally gone,

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MAISIE DOBBS

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of Maisie Dobbs

A dazzling collector’s edition of the bestselling mystery classic to celebrate the conclusion of the iconic Maisie Dobbs series.

With an elegant paper-over-board cover with copper foil, matching printed endpapers, and an afterword from the author, this hardcover is the perfect holiday gift for crime fiction fans.

Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid in an aristocratic London household when she was thirteen. Her employer, suffragette Lady Rowan Compton, soon became her patron, taking the remarkably bright youngster under her wing. Lady Rowan’s friend, Maurice Blanche, often retained as an investigator by the European elite,

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MEASURE OF DEVOTION

One of our recommended books is Measure of Devotion by Nell Joslin

This richly conceived novel explores a mother’s direct experience in the American Civil War. In October 1863, Susannah Shelburne, 36, is living in South Carolina with her husband, Jacob. Their son Francis is a Confederate soldier, a choice which caused great familial conflict, as both parents oppose the Southern cause. When he is wounded near Chattanooga, Tennessee, Susannah sets out alone to bring him home.

She finds Francis delirious with trauma and pain. But soon mother and son are caught up in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and Francis becomes a prisoner of war. Amid hardship and unspeakable violence,

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THE HOUSE OF DOORS

One of our recommended books is The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

The “masterful” (San Francisco Chronicle) Booker longlisted novel about love and betrayal, colonialism and revolution, storytelling and redemption.

The year is 1921. Lesley Hamlyn and her husband, Robert, a lawyer and war veteran, are living at Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang. When “Willie” Somerset Maugham, a famed writer and old friend of Robert’s, arrives for an extended visit with his secretary Gerald, the pair threatens a rift that could alter more lives than one.

Maugham, one of the great novelists of his day, is beleaguered: Having long hidden his homosexuality, his unhappy and expensive marriage of convenience becomes unbearable after he loses his savings-and the freedom to travel with Gerald.

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