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VIRGIL WANDER

One of our recommended books for 2019 is Virgil Wander by Leif Enger

The first novel in ten years from award-winning, million-copy bestselling author Leif Enger, Virgil Wander follows the inhabitants of a Midwestern town in their quest to revive its flagging heart.

Midwestern movie house owner Virgil Wander is “cruising along at medium altitude” when his car flies off the road into icy Lake Superior. Virgil survives but his language and memory are altered and he emerges into a world no longer familiar to him. Awakening in this new life, Virgil begins to piece together his personal history and the lore of his broken town, with the help of a cast of affable and curious locals—from Rune,

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TROUBLE THE WATER

Trouble The Water

SILVER MEDAL, INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARDS Best Regional Fiction – South

“… will seize readers from the first page and not let go.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Fans of Paulette Jiles and Julia Quinn will adore this triumphant novel of intrigue, secrecy, and redemption.”—Booklist

Abigail Milton was born into the British middle class, but her family has landed in unthinkable debt. To ease their burdens, Abby’s parents send her to America to live off the charity of their old friend, Douglas Elling.

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SONS OF BLACKBIRD MOUNTAIN

Sons of Blackbird Mountain

A Tale of Family, Brotherhood, and the Healing Power of Love

After the tragic death of her husband, Aven Norgaard leaves Norway to start a new life in the rugged hills of nineteenth-century Appalachia. Upon arrival, she finds herself living with her late husband’s cousins—three brothers who make a living by brewing hard cider on their farm. All the brothers are taken by her beauty, but she makes a special connection with Thor who is deaf and faces immense personal struggles. Sons of Blackbird Mountain is a portrait of grace in a world where the broken may find new life through the healing mercy of love.

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TAKING FLIGHT

One of our recommended books is Taking Flight by Michael Edmonds

Taking Flight illuminates the history of human interaction with birds, through a Midwestern lens. This cultural history explores how and why people have worshiped, feared, studied, hunted, eaten, and protected the birds that have surrounded them for more than 12,000 years.

Author and birder Michael Edmonds combed archaeological reports, missionaries’ journals, memoirs of American Indian elders, and more to reveal how our ancestors thought about and acted toward the same birds we see today. Whether you’re a casual bird-watcher, a hard-core life-lister, or simply someone who loves the outdoors, Taking Flight will show you knew ways of thinking about birds,

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TOMORROW’S BREAD

Tomorrow's Bread

Anna Jean Mayhew, the beloved author of The Dry Grass of August, returns after nearly 10 years with her long-awaited second novel of Southern fiction. Set in 1961 North Carolina, when urban renewal threatens to demolish a historic Black community, Tomorrow’s Bread is a richly researched yet lyrical Southern-set novel that explores the conflicts of gentrification—a moving story of loss, love, and resilience…

In 1961 Charlotte, North Carolina, the predominantly black neighborhood of Brooklyn is a bustling city within a city. Self-contained and vibrant, it has its own restaurants, schools, theaters, churches, and nightclubs.

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LAURENTIAN DIVIDE

Laurentian Divide

Bitter winters are nothing new in Hatchet Inlet, hard up against the ridge of the Laurentian Divide, but the advent of spring can’t thaw the community’s collective grief, lingering since a senseless tragedy the previous fall. What is different this year is what’s missing: Rauri Paar, the last private landowner in the Reserve, whose annual emergence from his remote iced-in islands marks the beginning of spring and the promise of a kinder season.

In the second volume of her Northern Trilogy, Sarah Stonich reassembles characters that endeared Vacationland to so many readers: retired union miner and widower Alpo Lahti is about to wed his charming and lively bride,

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