READING

GROUP

CHOICES

2019

Selections for lively discussions

25th Anniversary Edition

Reading Group Choices’ goal is to join with publishers, bookstores, libraries, trade associations, and authors to develop resources to enhance the shared reading group experience. Reading Group Choices is distributed annually to bookstores, libraries, and directly to book groups. Titles included in the current and previous issues are posted on ReadingGroupChoices.com. Books presented here have been recommended by book group members, librarians, booksellers, literary agents, publicists, authors, and publishers. All submissions are then reviewed to ensure the discussibility of each title. Once a title is approved for inclusion, publishers are asked to underwrite production costs so that copies of Reading Group Choices can be distributed for a minimal charge. For additional copies, you can place an order through our online store, contact us, or contact your local library or bookstore. For more information, please visit our website at ReadingGroupChoices.com.

Cover art, Reading by Yelena Bryksenkova (2013)

Design by Sarah Jane Boecher

Copyright © 2018 Reading Group Choices LLC

All Rights Reserved.

Published in the United States by Reading Group Choices LLC

ISBN 9780990689980

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Reading Group Choices

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PRAISE FOR READING GROUP CHOICES

“We have learned over the years that displays are a great way to encourage circulation at our small, rural library. One of our best displays is based on the wonderful literary guide published by Reading Group Choices! ... Patrons cannot wait to get their copies and start reading. We sincerely LOVE your product and feel that it helps us create one of our favorite displays EVER.” —Gail Nartker, Sandusky District Library

“Reading Group Choices continues to be a first-rate guide for those delicious reads that book group members enjoy reading, and that prompt the most enriching discussions.” —Donna Paz Kaufman, Paz & Associates, The Bookstore Training Group

“I recommend Reading Group Choices as the number one starting point for book clubs. The newsletter is fantastic and I especially like the Spotlight Book Club section. It is a nice way to meet other book clubs. I am very happy with the book selections offered by Reading Group Choices. Thank you for this excellent service.” —Ana Martin, Cover to Cover Book Club, Hollywood, FL

“Not only is Reading Group Choices a great resource for individual readers and book groups, it’s also an invaluable tool for teachers looking to introduce new books into their curriculum. Reading Group Choices is a brilliant concept, well executed.” —Kathleen Rourke, Executive Director of Educational Sales and Marketing, Candlewick Press

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“Quail Ridge Books has worked with Reading Group Choices for many years and the guide has been sought out at our twice yearly Book Club Bash. The prize bags of books have been a highlight. We are great partners in getting good books into the hands of people who love to read and discuss books.” —René Martin, Events Coordinator, Quail Ridge Books

“Nothing is better than reading and gaining more and more knowledge.”

“Books are uniquely portable magic.”

—Stephen Hawking

“A novel is a collision of ideas. Three or four threads may be floating around in the writer’s consciousness, and at a single moment in time, these ideas collide and produce a novel.”

“Like many readers, I am continually in search of books that allow me to lose myself in an entirely unique universe.”

—Anita Shreve

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the 25th anniversary edition of Reading Group Choices! Since we are celebrating this milestone, we are going to begin our letter with our thanks.

Thank you to Donna Paz Kaufman for not only creating and founding Reading Group Choices 25 years ago, but also for ensuring its future by meeting and connecting with Charlie Mead and Barbara Drummond Mead who became the owners of Reading Group Choices for its second decade, and for introducing me to Charlie five years ago. Thank you to Charlie Mead for believing I could continue to take care of Reading Group Choices. Chance connections on Amelia Island led all of us into a creative world of celebrating books, authors, and reading groups, and it has been a wonderful journey.

Thank you to our readers for loving books and inspiring us to do better each year.

Thank you to our book groups for sharing your stories. Your groups and friendships are the thing of stories!

Thank you to our librarians for sharing your passion for books with your patrons, book groups, and youth.

Thank you to our bookstore and publishing friends for your tireless work and consistent enthusiasm.

Thank you to our authors for creating new worlds we can enter, live in for a bit, and then get together to chat about.

Reading groups are special. This is not based on a statistic but on the stories we hear about the importance of book groups in peoples’ lives. Reading group members share histories, stories, friendships, moments, and adventures that they likely never expected when they signed up 1 or 3 or 5 or 20 or 30 years ago. They get together in any weather – snow, rain, sun – in any location – a house, a bookshop, a café – and just talk about books for a bit. It is exponentially enjoyable to celebrate and support these groups that inspire us.

The 25th edition includes wonderfully enjoyable, interesting, and challenging fiction, nonfiction, and young adult titles, which we have picked specifically to inspire thoughtful conversation. Some of the titles will be published in 2019 so you can plan ahead. There are longer versions of the conversation starters available online in our searchable database. Be sure to sign up for our eNewsletter where you can find out about recommendations and contests monthly as well as other fun resources for your groups.

To order more copies of this edition, or past editions, you can visit our store online at ReadingGroupChoices.com, or mail in the order form at the back of this book.

We hope you enjoy another year of reading, discussing, and discovering new favorite books!

Mary Morgan

Reading Group Choices

Contents

FICTION

An American Marriage, Tayari Jones

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions, Mario Giordano

Autumn, Ali Smith

Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Patti Callahan

The Burning Girl, Claire Messud

Carnegie’s Maid, Marie Benedict

Chariot on the Mountain, Jack Ford

The Darkest Child, Delores Phillips

Gone So Long: A Novel, Andre Dubus III

The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah

Grief Cottage, Gail Godwin

The House of Unexpected Sisters: No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (18), Alexander McCall Smith

If the Creek Don’t Rise, Leah Weiss

Laurentian Divide, Sarah Stonich

The Long Flight Home, Alan Hlad

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy

Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit: A Kopp Sisters Novel, Amy Stewart

Moon Brow, Shahriar Mandanipour and Khalili Sara

Rust and Stardust, T. Greenwood

Saints for All Occasions, J. Courtney Sullivan

Saving Miss Oliver’s, Stephen Davenport

The Seas, Samantha Hunt

See What I Have Done, Sarah Schmidt

Sold on a Monday, Kristina McMorris

The Stars Are Fire, Anita Shreve

Stay With Me, Aybámi Adébáy

The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris

Tomorrow’s Bread, Anna Jean Mayhew

The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead

Us&Them, Bahiyyih Nakhjavani

Waiting for Tomorrow, Nathacha Appanah

NONFICTION

The Best of Us: A Memoir, Joyce Maynard

Beyond Measure: Essays, Rachel Z. Arndt

Everything is Horrible and Wonderful: A Tragicomic Memoir of Genius, Heroin, Love, and Loss, Stephanie Wittels Wachs

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History, Keith O’Brien

Grand Theft Horse, G. Neri and Corban Wilkin

Hillbilly Elegy, J. D. Vance

I Found My Tribe: A Memoir, Ruth Fitzmaurice

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann

Letters from Max: A Book of Friendship, Sarah Ruhl and Max Ritvo

The Motherhood Affidavits: A Memoir, Laura Jean Baker

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Caroline Fraser

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women, Kate Moore

The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, Michael Finkel

Taking Flight: A History of Birds and People in the Heart of America, Michael Edmonds

This Atom Bomb in Me, Lindsey A. Freeman

Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age, Mary Pipher

YOUNG ADULT

All the Stars Denied, Guadalupe Garcia McCall

The Astonishing Color of After, Emily X. R. Pan

Borrowed, Lucia DiStefano

Brown: My Alter Ego is a Superhero, Håkon Øvreås, Øyvind Torseter, and Kari Dickson

Cloud and Wallfish, Anne Nesbet

Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel, Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul

Fing’s War, Benny Lindelauf and John Nieuwenhuizen

Geekerella: A Fangirl Fairy Tale, Ashley Poston

Ghost Boys, Jewell Parker Rhodes

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Erika L. Sánchez

Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, Ashley Herring Blake

Like Vanessa, Tami Charles

Love, Hate, and Other Filters, Samira Ahmed

The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo

A Room Away From the Wolves, Nova Ren Suma

The War Outside, Monica Hesse

The Wonderling, Mira Bartók

AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE

Tayari Jones

An Oprah’s Book Club Selection

A New York Times Bestseller

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

This stirring love story is an insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward—with hope and pain—into the future.

“Haunting ... Beautifully written.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Brilliant and heartbreaking ... Unforgettable.” —USA Today

“A tense and timely love story ... Packed with brave questions about race and class.” —People

“Compelling.” —The Washington Post

“Powerful ... Both sweeping and intimate—at once an unsparing exploration of what it means to be black in America and a remarkably lifelike portrait of a marriage.” —The New Yorker

“Epic ... Transcendent ... Triumphant.” —Elle

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tayari Jones is the author of four novels, including Silver Sparrow, which is an NEA Big Read Selection. A winner of numerous literary awards, she is a professor of creative writing at Emory University. Visit her website at www.tayarijones.com.

February 2019 | Paperback | 336 pp | $15.95 | 9781616208684 | Algonquin Books

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Note that some questions contain spoilers.

1. The title of this novel is An American Marriage. Do you feel this title accurately represents the novel? Why or why not? And if you do find the title appropriate, what about the story makes it particularly “American”?

2. When Celestial asks Roy if he would have waited for her for more than five years, he doesn’t answer her question but reminds her that, as a woman, she would not have been imprisoned in the first place. Do you feel that his response is valid? Do you believe that he would have remained faithful if Celestial had been the one incarcerated? Does this really matter, and, if so, why?

3. Tayari Jones does not specify the race of the woman who accuses Roy of rape. How did you picture this woman? What difference does the race of this woman make in the way you understand the novel’s storyline?

4. When Roy is released from prison, he first goes to his childhood home and almost immediately makes a connection with Davina. Do you feel that given the tenuous relationship he has with Celestial—who is still legally his wife—he is cheating? Why or why not? And when Roy announces to Davina his intention to return to his wife, do you feel that her anger is justified?

5. Roy is hurt when Celestial, in discussing her career as an artist, doesn’t mention him or the role he played in giving her the encouragement and freedom to follow her dreams, but Walter argues that she is justified in her silence. Do you agree?

6. It is obvious that Andre is different from Roy in many ways. Do you feel that ultimately he is a better match for Celestial? If so, why?

7. Do you think that Andre strategized to get Celestial to fall in love with him, or did it happen naturally? Do you feel that it was a surprise to them that it happened after all those years? Do you predict that Celestial’s parents will come to accept Andre as her life partner?

8. Toward the end of the novel, Celestial does a complete about-face and returns to Roy. What do you think her emotions were in coming to that decision? Do you feel that it was the right decision?

AUNTIE POLDI AND THE SICILIAN LIONS

Mario Giordano

A National Bestseller

An Auntie Poldi Adventure

For fans of A Man Called Ove and the novels of Adriana Trigiani, a charming, delightfully sexy, and bighearted novel starring Auntie Poldi, Sicily’s newest amateur sleuth

On her sixtieth birthday, Auntie Poldi retires to Sicily, intending to while away the rest of her days with good wine, a view of the sea, and few visitors. But Sicily isn’t quite the tranquil island she thought it would be, and something always seems to get in the way of her relaxation. When her handsome young handyman goes missing—and is discovered murdered—she can’t help but ask questions.

Soon there’s an investigation, a smoldering police inspector, a romantic entanglement, one false lead after another, a rooftop showdown, and finally, of course, Poldi herself, slightly tousled but still perfectly poised.

This “masterly treat” (Times Literary Supplement) will transport you to the rocky shores of Torre Archirafi, to a Sicily full of quirky characters, scorching days, and velvety nights, alongside a protagonist who’s as fiery as the Sicilian sun.

“Break out the prosecco! There’s a new detective in town—and she’s 60, sexy, wise and utterly adorable.” —People, Book of the Week

“There’s a new star in the mystery firmament, and her name is Auntie Poldi.” —Alan Bradley, author of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mario Giordano, the son of Italian immigrants, was born in Munich. He is the author of 1,000 Feelings for Which There Are No Names. He has also written thrillers, books for children, and screenplays. Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions is Giordano’s first novel translated into English.

March 2018 | Hardcover | 352 pp | $24.00 | 9781328863577 | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Why do Valérie and Poldi hit it off immediately? What do they see in each other that leads to their strong friendship?

2. Poldi is sexy and sassy, with a vibrant romantic life—characteristics we often see in younger protagonists, but not often in older ones. In what other ways does Poldi break with convention? Why do you think vibrant, sexy women of a certain age aren’t featured more frequently in movies and books?

3. The author evokes a very strong sense of place. What were you drawn to most: the descriptions of the food or of the landscape?

4. Poldi is immediately accepted by her neighbors, in spite of her quirks. But while she is an insider in many ways, she is also still an outsider as an expatriate. How does she reconcile this contradiction? Have you ever felt like an insider and an outsider at the same time? How did you reconcile that?

5. Why do you think Poldi chose to photograph policemen? What does it say about her thoughts surrounding authority?

6. Do you have a friend or relative who reminds you of Poldi? What is your relationship with him or her and how does your dynamic relate to the dynamic between Poldi and her nephew?

7. If you could choose any place to retire, as Poldi chose Sicily, where would you go and why?

8. Why does Poldi feel so honor bound to Valentino? Could her motivation to solve his murder also be driven by self-interest?

9. Poldi has a close but complicated relationship with each one of her sisters. At times, they can be a burden to her, but often they become her partners in crime. What are your relationships like with your siblings and how do you navigate and maintain those relationships as you grow older?

AUTUMN

Ali Smith

Man Booker Prize Finalist

Long-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize

One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year

A Washington Post Notable Book

One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Guardian, Slate, Chicago Tribune, Southern Living, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Autumn. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Two old friends—Daniel, a centenarian, and Elisabeth, born in 1984—look to both the future and the past as the United Kingdom stands divided by a historic, once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand-in-hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever.

A luminous meditation on the meaning of richness and harvest and worth, Autumn is the first installment of Ali Smith’s Seasonal quartet, and it casts an eye over our own time: Who are we? What are we made of? Shakespearean jeu d’esprit, Keatsian melancholy, the sheer bright energy of 1960s pop art. Wide-ranging in time-scale and light-footed through histories, Autumn is an unforgettable story about aging and time and love—and stories themselves.

“Beautiful, subtle. ... Brimming with humanity and bending, despite everything, toward hope.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Shimmers with wit, melancholy, grief, joy, wisdom, small acts of love and, always, wonder at the seasons.” —The Boston Globe

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ali Smith is the author of many works of fiction, including the novel Hotel World, which was short-listed for both the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize and won the Encore Award and the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award, and The Accidental, which won the Whitbread Award and was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her most recent novel, How to Be Both, was a Man Booker Prize finalist and winner of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Costa Novel Award, and the Saltire Society Scottish Fiction Book of the Year Award. Born in Inverness, Scotland, Smith lives in Cambridge, England.

October 2017 | Paperback | 288 pp | $15.95 | 97811101969946 | Anchor

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. How is the story rooted in autumn? Why do you think Ali Smith decided to write a quartet of books about the seasons, the changing of the seasons, and the passing of time? Why did she start with autumn?

2. How is the book obsessed with time? “Time travel is real. We do it all the time. Moment to moment, minute to minute.” (175)

3. Ali Smith stated in an interview with her British publishers, “The way we live, in time, is made to appear linear by the chronologies that get applied to our lives by ourselves and others, starting at birth, ending at death, with a middle where we’re meant to comply with some or other of life’s usual expectations, in other words the year to year day to day minute to minute moment to moment fact of time passing. But we’re time-containers, we hold all our diachrony, our pasts and our futures (and also the pasts and futures of all the people who made us and who in turn we’ll help to make) in every one of our consecutive moments / minutes / days / years, and I wonder if our real energy, our real history, is cyclic in continuance and at core, rather than consecutive.” Do you agree with the author that our history and thus our stories, individual and collective, are cyclical rather than chronological? Discuss this description of time.

4. Describe the friendship between Elisabeth and Daniel and how it evolves through time and the novel. How is their relationship at the heart of the novel? Why does he always ask her, “What are you reading?”

5. Why do you think the author has chosen this real-life artist as a character and inspiration in this novel? What do Boty and her vision and art represent for Daniel and Elisabeth and how does she connect to the themes of Autumn?

6. Why does the book open with a reference to Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, and then there’s a longer reference to a divided country filled with polarities: “All across the country, people felt legitimized. All across the country, people felt bereaved and shocked”? (60) What are the two cities or polarities in the novel?

7. What is the novel saying about storytelling? “There’s always, there’ll always be, more story. That’s what story is.” (193) Daniel tells Elisabeth, “So, always try to welcome people into the home of your story.” (119) Does this show that our stories don’t belong to us alone?

BECOMING MRS. LEWIS

Patti Callahan

In a most improbable friendship, she found love. In a world where women were silenced, she found her voice.

From NYT bestselling author Patti Callahan comes an exquisite novel of poet Joy Davidman, the woman C. S. Lewis called “my whole world.” When Joy began writing letters to C. S. Lewis—known as Jack—she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters. Embarking on the adventure of her life, Joy traveled from America to England and back again, facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship, and against all odds, finding a love that even the threat of death couldn’t destroy.

In this masterful exploration of one of the world’s greatest love stories, we meet a brilliant writer, a fiercely independent mother, and a passionate woman who changed the life of this respected author and inspired books that still enchant us and change us.

“Patti Callahan seems to have found the story she was born to tell in this tale of unlikely friendship turned true love between Joy Davidman and C.S Lewis.” —Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife

“My favorite book of the year ... It is both a meditation on marriage and a whopping grand adventure. Touching, tender, and triumphant, this is a love story for the ages.” —Ariel Lawhon, author of I Was Anastasia

“I was swept along, filled with hope, and entirely beguiled, not only by the life lived behind the veil of C. S. Lewis’s books but also by the woman who won his heart. A literary treasure from first page to last.” —Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: NYT bestselling author Patti Callahan is a multiple nominee for the SIBA Novel of the Year and an Indie Next Pick recipient. The mother of three children, she lives in both Mountain Brook, Alabama and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband.

October 2018 | Hardcover | 432 pp | $25.99 | 9780785224501 | HarperCollins

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Did you know much about Joy Davidman before you read this novel? Did you come with preconceived notions of who she was? How did those change during the novel? What was the most surprising part of this story for you?

2. Not many people supported Joy’s choices to first travel to England and then move there. There also didn’t seem to be much support from Jack’s friends as their friendship and then love story blooms. How did Joy find the strength to overcome the resistance? How did they survive this disapproval to come together? What were the strengths that allowed them to resist the naysayers?

3. How did the time and place – 1950s England when women weren’t even admitted to Magdalen College where Jack taught – affect their love story? Would it be different today? How would this story be different today?

4. Joy often thought about her past – both her love affairs and her family life. How did the past influence her personality and decisions? How did it affect her self-esteem and self-love? How did she come out on the other side?

5. Joy and Jack enjoyed an almost three-year pen-friendship before ever meeting. Can friendships begin with words and notes? Can one become friends through letters alone? Can we be more vulnerable on paper than in face-to-face contact?

6. We meet many famous people along Joy’s journey – J. R. R. Tolkien, P. L. Travers, Belle Kaufman, Michal Williams and many others. How do these people influence Joy’s path to love? Were they as famous then as we deem them to be now or were they just other friends on the road to self-discovery? Did this ensemble of literary friends change Joy’s path?

7. Many of Jack’s last books, most notably, Till We Have Faces, were shaped by his friendship and love with Joy. Can you see her life and influence in his works written after 1950? If so, which ones and how? How did their co-writing, editing and long talks affect his work?

THE BURNING GIRL

Claire Messud

A New York Times bestseller and finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Julia and Cassie have been friends since nursery school. They have shared everything, including their desire to escape the stifling limitations of their birthplace. But as the girls enter adolescence, their paths diverge and Cassie sets out on a journey that will put her life in danger and shatter her oldest friendship. The Burning Girl is a complex examination of the stories we tell ourselves about youth and friendship, and straddles, expertly, childhood’s imaginary worlds and painful adult reality—crafting a true, immediate portrait of female adolescence.

Claire Messud, one of our finest novelists, is as accomplished at weaving a compelling fictional world as she is at asking the big questions: To what extent can we know ourselves and others? What are the stories we create to comprehend our lives and relationships? Brilliantly mixing fable and coming-of-age tale, The Burning Girl gets to the heart of these matters in an absolutely irresistible way.

“[A] masterwork of psychological fiction ... Messud teases readers with a psychological mystery, withholding information and then cannily parceling it out.” —Chicago Tribune

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Claire Messud is a recipient of Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellowships and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The author of five other works of fiction including, most recently, The Burning Girl, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her family.

June 2018 | Paperback | 256 pp | $15.95 | 9780393356052 | W. W. Norton & Company

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. The novel opens with Julia’s explanation that stories differ depending on the point at which they begin, and that each of us shapes our stories so they make sense of who we think we are. How might Cassie’s story have differed from Julia’s? Where would Cassie begin her story?

2. Why do Julia and Cassie believe the Bonnybrook asylum is special? What does it represent to them, and why do you think they choose to return there?

3. As an adolescent, Julia feels that she and Cassie are “secret sisters” and share experiences and perspectives that practically intertwine. As they age, Julia experiences a disenchantment with their friendship. How does the fabulistic style of Julia’s narration evolve as she grows up? How does she make sense of the world around her?

4. Julia tells us from the beginning that her friendship with Cassie is a story. Throughout the novel, the girls make up the stories of their lives. What are some of the stories each of them invents? Julia is also trying to resist certain stories that seem to her likely or even inevitable: What are they?

5. The girls also make up their stories using the stories they already know—such as “Hansel and Gretel,” when they’re searching the forest for the asylum. What other references to familiar or archetypal stories can you find in this novel?

6. Cassie becomes obsessed with locating her father. The man she ends up tracking down doesn’t recognize her. How would you explain what happened—do you think this man was her father? Or was Cassie’s mother lying about his identity?

7. On page 111, Julia declares that “growing up and being a girl was about learning to be afraid.” What does she mean by this? How would you describe this type of fear?

8. Consider the idyllic, middle-class setting of Royston. How would you characterize the interplay between its nature and society? Do you think this characterization extends to the interplay between human nature and societal expectations?

9. Cassie and Julia grow apart, but Julia is adamant that it was “absolutely essential to not appear to care.” Why is this? Might things have turned out differently if she had made her feelings known, or had confronted Cassie?

CARNEGIE’S MAID

Marie Benedict

Clara Kelley is not who they think she is.

She’s not the experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of Pittsburgh’s grandest households. She’s a poor farmer’s daughter with nowhere to go and nothing in her pockets. But the other Clara Kelley has vanished, and pretending to be her just might get Clara some money to send back home.

If she can keep up the ruse, that is. Serving as a lady’s maid in the household of Andrew Carnegie requires skills she doesn’t have, answering to an icy mistress who rules her sons and her domain with an iron fist. What Clara does have is a resolve as strong as the steel Pittsburgh is becoming famous for. And that may be more valuable to her than all the Carnegies’ money. Carnegie’s Maid is a tale of the brilliant woman who may have inspired Andrew Carnegie’s transformation from ruthless industrialist to the world’s first true philanthropist.

“Downton Abbey fans should flock to this charming tale of fateful turns and unexpected romance, and the often unsung role of women in history.” —Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan’s Tale

“Deeply human, and brimming with complex, vulnerable characters.” —Erika Robuck, national bestselling author of Hemingway’s Girl

“Fascinating.” —Bustle

“A sensational novel that turns the conventional Cinderella story into an all-American triumph.” —Sarah McCoy, New York Times and international bestselling author of The Mapmaker’s Children and The Baker’s Daughter

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator at two of the country’s premier law firms and for Fortune 500 companies. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Boston College with a focus in history and art history and a cum laude graduate of the Boston University School of Law. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family. Her previous book, The Other Einstein, was an Indie Next pick and a LibraryReads pick.

January 2018 | Hardcover | 288 pp | $25.99 | 9781492646617 | Sourcebooks Landmark
October 2018 | Paperback | 352 pp | $15.99 | 9781492662709 | Sourcebooks Landmark

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Do any aspects of Clara’s immigration surprise you, such as the ship voyage or the arrival inspection? If you were in Clara’s shoes, how would you feel going through the immigration process?

2. How does Clara’s identity as an Irish Catholic immigrant affect her in America? If immigrating today, what similar or different challenges would Clara face?

3. Andrew Carnegie’s history has been described as the greatest rags-to-riches American story, and in some ways, Clara’s story mirrors his. Did you find her rise—though not as meteoric as Andrew’s due to gender constrictions—believable? If not, would you find it more believable if she’d been a man?

4. Compare and contrast Andrew and Clara. How are they similar/ different? Who do you relate to more?

5. The novel takes place in a unique moment in American history—just as the Civil War ends and the Gilded Age begins, showcasing a world on the cusp of tremendous change industrially, politically, economically, and socially. How does this historical setting affect the characters? What is something you learned about this time period that fascinated you?

6. Andrew and Clara’s master-servant relationship changes during the course of the book. How does this evolution happen? What do you think it was that drew them together? Do you think their relationship could have lasted longer under different circumstances?

7. The title of the novel is subject to several interpretations. What meanings can you glean from the title, and how did your understanding of the meaning of Carnegie’s Maid change from the beginning to the end of the novel, if at all?

8. Andrew Carnegie is a well-known industrialist who was the richest man in the world in his day and the founder of modern philanthropy. What was your understanding of him before you read this novel, and how did your understanding change, if it all?

9. While the world of Carnegie’s Maid is grounded in facts, Clara Kelley herself is a fictional character, although her immigrant experience and her lady’s maid role are founded upon historical research. Would the story be different for you if Clara were entirely nonfiction?

CHARIOT ON THE MOUNTAIN

Jack Ford

Based on an astonishing true story of Kitty Payne, a woman born into slavery whose life has remained forgotten by history ... until now.

Brought vividly to life by Emmy and Peabody Award winning journalist Jack Ford, Chariot on the Mountain is the story of an unlikely alliance between three extraordinary women—a young slave, her mistress, and the privileged daughter of the wealthiest plantation owner in the county. Rejecting the divisions of their time and bonding together to do what was right, these three strong women undertook one of the most sensational trials of the century, suing Kitty’s owner for her freedom nearly 15 years before the Civil War began.

A former trial attorney who became prominent as a legal journalist and American news personality while covering the OJ Simpson trial for Court TV, Jack Ford has a penchant for legal history. He teaches seminars on important historical trials at Yale, NYU and the University of Virginia, and yet it was not until he literally stumbled across a plaque on the lawn of an 1830’s courthouse in a small Virginia village that he unearthed the phenomenal case of “Kitty vs. Samuel Maddox.” Through this case, a young slave woman named Kitty was granted her freedom in 1846. This legal triumph was so seemingly impossible for its time that Jack Ford became determined to uncover the details behind it. Buried in hand-written court records, local newspapers over 150 years old, letters, and descendants’ personal recollections, Jack Ford found the story that became Chariot on the Mountain. It is a story that would be unbelievable if it weren’t true.

“An unlikely story of bravery and defiance and a modern day reminder of how our laws can both protect and abandon. Coming from one of this country’s most well respected legal minds, Kitty’s stunning journey pops off the pages with a compelling clarity that only someone like Ford can provide. Kitty, Mary and Fanny are characters whose actions, in the end, should inspire all of us to do more and better.” —Dan Abrams, ABC News Chief Legal Affairs Anchor and author of Lincoln’s Last Trial

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jack Ford has received two Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and an American Radio and Television Award.

July 2018 | Hardcover | 320 pp | $26.00 | 9781496713094 | Kensington Publishing Corp.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Discuss how slaves were treated in Virginia prior to the Civil War. How were slaves viewed by the justice system in the antebellum South?

2. What was Mary Maddox’s relationship with Kitty prior to her husband’s death? How and why did Mary’s relationship with Kitty change after her husband’s death?

3. What was Kitty’s relationship with Samuel?

4. How did Kitty view Mary and their relationship before Samuel passed away?

5. Why did Mary choose to free Kitty and her children?

6. How were runaway slaves treated in Virginia once they were captured?

7. Why would Fanny Withers risk her social stature to aid Kitty in her escape from Virginia?

8. Why would the attorney, Zephania Turner, agree to represent Kitty knowing that his decision would be unpopular among his friends and family?

9. Knowing that slaves were considered property and, as a result, not usually allowed to testify in legal matters, how did Kitty intend to have her case heard in court?

10. What did the jury’s indication that in the event the court should rule in favor of Kitty the damages would be only one cent, suggest about their view of the value of a slave’s life?

11. Why did the trial judge initially rule against Kitty?

12. What was the basis for the judge’s subsequent findings that led to Kitty’s freedom?

THE DARKEST CHILD

Delores Phillips

A new edition of this award-winning modern classic, with an introduction by Tayari Jones (An American Marriage), an excerpt from the never before seen follow-up, and discussion guide.

Pakersfield, Georgia, 1958: Thirteen-year-old Tangy Mae Quinn is the sixth of ten fatherless siblings. She is the darkest-skinned among them and therefore the ugliest in her mother, Rozelle’s, estimation, but she’s also the brightest. Rozelle—beautiful, charismatic, and light-skinned—exercises a violent hold over her children. Fearing abandonment, she pulls them from school at the age of twelve and sends them to earn their keep for the household, whether in domestic service, in the fields, or at “the farmhouse” on the edge of town, where Rozelle beds local men for money.

But Tangy Mae has been selected to be part of the first integrated class at a nearby white high school. She has a chance to change her life, but can she break from Rozelle’s grasp without ruinous—even fatal—consequences?

“The Darkest Child is a great gift, a timeless American treasure.” —Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage

“This book brings up timely conversations—the characters haunted me long after I finished reading.” —Octavia Spencer, Academy Award–winning actress

“Epic in scope, intimate in tone, it is sure to find a special place in the deepest crevices of your heart.” —Edwidge Danticat, author of Claire of the Sea Light

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Author Delores Phillips was born in Bartow County, Georgia in 1950, the second of four children. She graduated from Cleveland State University with a bachelor of arts in English and worked as a nurse at a state psychiatric hospital in Cleveland. Her work has appeared in Jean’s Journal, Black Times, and The Crisis. She passed away in 2014; The Darkest Child was her only novel.

January 2018 | Paperback | 432 pp | $14.95 | 9781616958725 | Soho Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. As the book opens, does Tangy Mae truly believe her mother is dying? If she does, how has she remained so innocent? Would things be different today? How is the loss of Tangy’s innocence reflected in her telling of the story?

2. How is the hierarchy that Rozelle establishes among her children of “white,” “Indian,” and “Negro” shaped by her own experience as a light-skinned black woman, as well as America’s history of colonization and slavery? Do you believe that racism based on skin tone persists today? How does its role differ within and outside of minority communities?

3. Rozelle has been brutal to her children, but she has never killed one until she throws Judy from the porch (Chapter 27). She is convincing when she tells the sheriff it was an accident. Why does Tangy momentarily refuse to believe her own senses? When she thinks, “No mother could do that, not even mine. Could she?” who or what is she questioning?

4. What affect does Rozelle’s appearance have on her mental condition? What benefits does she derive from her beauty, and conversely, how does it harm her? What is the difference between her current treatment by white society and the treatment she would be accorded if she “passed” as white?

5. How is Mushy different from her mother? How did she manage to leave the family to go to work in Cleveland? Did the experience really change her? Is Tangy Mae right to judge her for drinking? Why has she returned to Pakersfield?

6. Tangy Mae’s adolescence coincides with the last decade of Jim Crow and the start of integration in schools. She mentions in Chapter 55 that the county’s decision to integrate high schools is reversed in the second year due to violence. Do you think Tangy Mae would still have benefited from being part of the inaugural integrated class?

7. Despite her mother’s constant disparagement and the pain she has had to endure, Tangy Mae retains her strength and ambition. How has she been able to survive and retain her humanity? Is she right to leave at the end of the book, or could she have done something else? Why does she bring Laura with her?

GONE SO LONG

Andre Dubus III

Andre Dubus III’s first novel in a decade is a masterpiece of thrilling tension and heartrending empathy.

Few writers can enter their characters so completely or evoke their lives as viscerally as Andre Dubus III. In this deeply compelling new novel, a father, estranged for the worst of reasons, is driven to seek out the daughter he has not seen in decades.

Daniel Ahearn lives a quiet, solitary existence in a seaside New England town. Forty years ago, following a shocking act of impulsive violence on his part, his daughter, Susan, was ripped from his arms by police. Now in her forties, Susan still suffers from the trauma of a night she doesn’t remember, as she struggles to feel settled, to love a man and create something that lasts. Lois, her maternal grandmother who raised her, tries to find peace in her antique shop in a quaint Florida town but cannot escape her own anger, bitterness, and fear.

Cathartic, affirming, and steeped in the empathy and precise observations of character for which Dubus is celebrated, Gone So Long explores how the wounds of the past afflict the people we become, and probes the limits of recovery and absolution.

“I tore through this haunting novel about people driven by pain beyond the reach of love and forgiveness, and the roads they use as they seek their way back. It hits just the right note at the end, and I’ll be thinking about Susan a long time. A hell of a read.” —Phil Klay, National Book Award–winning author of Redeployment

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Andre Dubus III is the author of Gone So Long, Dirty Love, The Garden of Last Days, House of Sand and Fog (a #1 New York Times bestseller, Oprah’s Book Club pick, and finalist for the National Book Award), and Townie, winner of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His writing has received many honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Magazine Award, and two Pushcart Prizes. He lives with his family in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

October 2018 | Hardcover | 480 pp | $27.95 | 9780393244106 | W. W. Norton & Company

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Susan, Danny, and Lois each narrate sections of the story from their own point of view. What effect is created by the multiple viewpoints? Are there any places where you find the switch among narrators to be particularly illuminating or moving?

2. Throughout much of the book, and especially in the first half, Susan and Danny craft narratives of their experiences. What similarities do you see in Susan’s and Danny’s efforts to write their stories? What differences?

3. What motivates Danny to return to his childhood hometown after being released from prison?

4. In Danny’s letter to Susan, he creates two comic book–type characters to represent different aspects of himself: The Reactor and Captain Suspicion. Why? Do you agree with Susan’s response to these characters later in the book, when she finally receives his letter?

5. Lois decides to wait until Susan is a young adult before relating what happened to her mother. What do you make of this decision in light of Lois’s sense that, even before Susan learns the truth, she is in some way marked by the violence she can subconsciously remember?

6. What drew Linda to Danny when they were teenagers? Do you see similar tendencies in Susan, or are her romantic choices essentially different from Linda’s?

7. Do you sympathize with Danny at any point in the book? Does the narrative encourage this reaction? If you do sympathize with him, are you comfortable with this feeling?

8. In the final third of the book, Lois forbids Susan to see her father, and then follows Susan to her home with a gun, intending to threaten or hurt Danny. Are you sympathetic with Lois’s position? To whom does Susan owe her loyalty in this moment?

9. Domestic violence and familial trauma are major themes of this book, but another is the effect of social and economic class. Are there any moments where you see class issues playing a major role in the lives of Danny, Susan, Linda, or Lois? Does socioeconomic class complicate the story of domestic violence and familial trauma?

10. Do you believe Danny should be forgiven?

THE GREAT ALONE

Kristin Hannah

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. After losing yet another job, he impulsively decides to move his family off the grid to Alaska, America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni is coming of age caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship and hopes that a new land will lead to a better future. Her mother, Cora, will do anything for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and 18-hour nights descend upon Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, Leni and her mother realize that they are on their own.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska—a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness of both man and nature.

“A TOUR DE FORCE.” —Kirkus (starred review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kristin Hannah is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and other novels. A former lawyer, Hannah started writing when she was pregnant and on bed rest for five months. Writing soon became an obsession, and she has been at it ever since. She has one son and lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.

February 2018 | Hardcover | 448 pp | $28.99 | 9780312577230 | St. Martin’s Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Before reading the book, what was your perception of life in Alaska? What surprised you?

2. What aspects of the lifestyle would you find the most challenging in the wild? How would you handle the isolation, the interdependence among neighbors, the climate? Would you have what it takes to survive?

3. “Up here, there’s no one to tell you what to do or how to do it. We each survive our own way. If you’re tough enough, it’s heaven on earth.” (39) What drives the settlers in The Great Alone to Alaska? They’re not all desperate people in desperate need of a fresh start like the Allbrights, but what could be attractive about this unique way of life for some?

4. Did you find Cora’s actions and “liberated” mind-set to be in conflict? What do you think holds her back?

5. Did you think it was going to be the weather or the violence that killed them first?

6. Discuss the forms of love within this book—crazy and romantic love, neighborly love and compassion, love for the natural world, and a mother’s love. What else would you add?

7. “A girl was like a kite; without her mother’s strong, steady hold on the string, she might just float away, be lost somewhere among the clouds.” (118) How else would you describe a mother’s influence? Does Cora serve such a role for Leni—why and why not?

8. Did you see Cora’s explosive act of protection coming? What did it feel like to read that scene? As a parent, do you think you’d be capable of the same act?

9. Did you hold Leni responsible in your mind for any of Matthew’s misfortune? Why or why not? How does Leni show her devotion in the end? Did you anticipate the kind of future that is set in motion for them at the close of the book?

10. Do you think there’s an ultimate place where people belong? How would you know if you got there?

GRIEF COTTAGE

Gail Godwin

After the sudden death of his mother, eleven-year-old Marcus is sent to live with his Aunt Charlotte on a small South Carolina island. A recluse and unaccustomed to house guests, Charlotte leaves Marcus largely on his own to acclimate to his new life. Marcus is fascinated by Grief Cottage, the island’s most notorious home and the frequent subject of Charlotte’s paintings.

When a hurricane ripped through the island fifty years earlier, the boy and his parents who rented the cottage were swept away and their bodies were never recovered. Marcus becomes obsessed with uncovering their identities after he encounters the ghost of a boy slightly older than himself in the doorway of the decrepit home. Marcus builds his new life around the routine of visiting the cottage each morning, attempting to catch another glimpse of his undead friend. Tasked with rifling through his own past as well, Marcus attempts to reroot himself with the help of a cast of local characters, a nest of turtle eggs, and a ghost that won’t let him go.

Far from a traditional ghost story, Grief Cottage is an examination of the psyche as it experiences wonder, grief, and loss.

“Deeply satisfying.” —New York Times

“An exquisite narrative.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“Full of curiosity and spectacle.” —Atlanta Journal Constitution

“Godwin shows she is still at the top of her craft.” —BookPage

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gail Godwin is a three-time National Book Award finalist and the bestselling author of more than a dozen critically acclaimed books, including Publishing, a memoir, and the novels Flora, Father Melancholy’s Daughter, and Evensong. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Woodstock, New York.

May 2019 | Paperback | 336 pp | $16.00 | 9781632867056 | Bloomsbury

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Consider the novel’s epigraph: “Not everybody gets to grow up. First you have to survive your childhood, and then begins the hard work of growing into it.” Charlotte, Marcus, and his mother all had traumatic childhoods that influenced their behavior as adults. What tools do each of them employ to help them survive? What does it mean to “grow into” one’s childhood? Who in the book is a good example of that?

2. The turtle migration is a central fixture in Marcus’s new life; he convenes with the eggs each day, monitors their temperature closely, and is devastated when he misses their historic sprint from nest to ocean. Why are the turtles a source of comfort for Marcus? Compare and contrast their ancient ritual for survival to Marcus’s own journey towards growth and safety.

3. In your opinion, does Marcus actually see a ghost in Grief Cottage or is he merely hallucinating an imaginary friend of sorts? How does this ghost story in particular challenge our preconceived notions of the boundaries of reality?

4. Discuss the significance of Marcus’s friendship with Wheezer. He often remembers their boyhood closeness fondly but is still haunted by Wheezer’s accusation. When Marcus returns to visit Wheezer years later, how has their relationship changed? How has it stayed the same? When the two friends catch up, Marcus learns that Wheezer also attempted suicide in his younger years. What brings each of these two boys, who have very different backgrounds, to the brink of death?

5. Discuss Marcus’s suicide attempt: was it fueled by insanity, insecurity, selflessness, or something else entirely? Earlier in the novel, Marcus admires Johnny’s ghost: “It’s all over for you. Your life is a complete thing. I envy that.” (140) Why does Marcus envy Johnny? How does this novel challenge the idea that anyone’s life is ever truly “complete”? How is this a pivotal moment for Marcus on his journey to forgiving himself?

THE HOUSE OF UNEXPECTED SISTERS: NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY (18)

Alexander McCall Smith

In the latest installment of the beloved and best-selling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Precious Ramotswe learns valuable lessons about first impressions and forgiveness.

Mr. Polopetsi tells Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi a troubling story about a woman who has been wrongly dismissed from her job. Never one to let an injustice go unanswered, Mma Ramotswe begins to investigate, but she soon discovers that the case is more complicated than she initially suspected.

Other surprises await our intrepid proprietress. Mma Ramotswe happens to hear of a local nurse named Mingie Ramotswe. Who is this mystery lady? Then, she finds out that an unpleasant figure from her past has recently been spotted in town.

With the generosity and good humor that guide all her endeavors, Mma Ramotswe will untangle these questions, ultimately bringing to light important truths about friendship and family—both the one you’re born with and the one you choose.

“Perhaps one of the author’s most charming books on the topic of Precious Ramotswe.” —The Washington Times

“There is no end to the pleasure that may be extracted from these books.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Longtime fans of the series will feel as if they’ve come home again.” —Booklist (Starred Review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels and of a number of other series and stand-alone books. His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have been best sellers throughout the world. He lives in Scotland.

May 2018 | Paperback | 240 pp | $15.95 | 97811101972823 | Anchor

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. There are many issues that trouble Mma Ramotswe in this novel. Who does she turn to in her time of need, and for which different purposes?

2. Puso makes a map of the world. He makes Botswana “as big as South America.” (39) Do you think we all see our own countries as big as we can, and why?

3. When Mr. Polopetsi brings a new “case” to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, why do you think Mma Ramotswe takes up the issue, knowing that it might be a ‘he said/she said’ case?

4. Mma Makutsi is quick to make a point, and sees her life through a very distinctive worldview. While she has a wonderful heart, it is sometimes hard for Precious to maneuver around Grace’s hard opinions. How are Rra Polopetsi and Charlie good foils for her character?

5. Precious learns from Mma Potokwane that Note is in town. This troubles her, and yet she doesn’t share her problems with her family or friends. Why is this problem different from the other issues Mma Ramotswe regularly faces?

6. Charity’s mother is quick to say that her daughter is impulsive and headstrong. Why do you think Charity’s mother went against her daughter, despite what Charity said to Mma Ramotswe?

7. Precious tells Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni that her heart is broken over her father’s betrayal of her mother. How does she continue to see the world, despite an undoing of what she’s always known to be true?

8. Mma Ramotswe remembers something her detective mentor Clovis Anderson said: “’Emotions have the same effect as a magnet has on a compass.’ ... Yes, that was it. The needle swings around in a confusing way and you lose direction.” (58) Where do you think Precious lost direction in this story, and how did she get back on course?

IF THE CREEK DON’T RISE

Leah Weiss

Sadie Blue has been a wife for fifteen days. That’s long enough to know she should have never hitched herself to Roy Tupkin, even with the baby.

Sadie is desperate to make her own mark on the world, but in remote Appalachia, a ticket out of town is hard to come by, and hope often gets stomped out. When a stranger comes up the mountain and knocks things off-kilter, Sadie finds herself with an unexpected lifeline. She’ll need all the pluck and courage she can muster to figure out how to use it.

Bursting with heart, honesty, and homegrown grit, If the Creek Don’t Rise unfolds through a forgotten holler’s most interesting folks, from a stunning new voice in Southern fiction.

“This one nearly broke my heart. An impressive debut from a talent to watch.” —Kathleen Grissom, author of the New York Times bestsellers The Kitchen House and Glory over Everything

“An immersive and deeply emotional reading experience—especially satisfying for readers who love richly drawn characters and a strong sense of place.” —NPR

“[A] striking debut.” —Bustle.com, “10 Best Fiction Books Coming Out in August 2017”

“Weiss’s Appalachia-set fiction debut unfolds like a dark, gripping alt-country ballad.” —Yahoo.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Leah Weiss is a Southern writer and novelist born in North Carolina and raised in the foothills of Virginia. Her short stories have been published in A Simple Life magazine, Every Day Fiction, and Deep South Magazine. She retired in 2015 from a twenty-four-year career as executive assistant to the headmaster at Virginia Episcopal School. She now pursues writing full-time.

August 2017 | Paperback | 320 pp | $15.99 | 9781492647454 | Sourcebooks Landmark

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Life in 1970 Appalachia (and fictional Baines Creek) was undeniably hard and harsh. What did the novel tell you about that historic time and place that you expected? What did you learn that surprised you?

2. Sadie Blue was the principal character in the book, with her story told in three chapters. Did you root for her from the start? What were her key moments of growth? Who were her mentors and supporters? What did they do that helped her grow a stronger backbone?

3. In what ways were Sadie Blue and her grandmother, Gladys Hicks, and Sadie and her mother, Carly, alike? In what ways were they different?

4. Gladys and Marris were best friends. Who needed the other the most? Who gave the greatest purpose to their relationship?

5. Who were the most lovable or admirable characters? What made them that way? In what ways were they important to Sadie’s salvation?

6. Preacher Eli Perkins never quite believed he was good enough for his job. How did that quality make you feel about him? How do you think he performed his job?

7. Three characters who are hard to love are Prudence Perkins, Roy Tupkin, and Billy Barnhill. Did you find any reasons to empathize with them? What were the pivotal moments in their pasts that shaped their personalities? How do you think you would have fared if you were born into their families and stations of life?

8. When Kate Shaw arrived in Baines Creek, she expected to be doing the teaching. What were the things she learned instead?

9. Birdie’s Books of Truths: What insights did they give you into life in Appalachia and the gifts Birdie possessed?

10. This book is written in first person, present tense. Did that choice by the author make the story more intimate? If so, in what ways?

11. A number of murders were committed in the book. Do you think any of them were justified? If so, which ones and why?

LAURENTIAN DIVIDE

Sarah Stonich

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, Sissy Pavola, but, with Rauri unaccounted for, celebration seems premature. Alpo’s son Pete struggles to find his straight and narrow, then struggles to stay on it, and even Sissy might be having second thoughts.

Weaving in and out of each other’s reach, trying hard to do their best (all the while wondering what that might be), Stonich’s characters in all their sweetness and sorrow remind us once more of the inescapable lurches of the heart and unexpected turns of our human comedy.

“Hilarious, smart, moving and kind, Laurentian Divide is good for the soul, or anyway, it was good for mine.” —Richard Russo

“Laurentian Divide is rich, funny, and overflowing with life—Sarah Stonich at the top of her powers.” —Will Weaver, author of Sweet Land

“With a nimble hand and wry voice, Sarah Stonich pilots this generous tale—incisive, musical, and spiced with pungent observation so that Laurentian Divide becomes the best sort of trip.” —Leif Enger, author of Peace Like a River and Virgil Wander

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sarah Stonich is the best-selling author of These Granite Islands (Minnesota, 2013), which has been translated into seven languages and shortlisted for France’s Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle. Her novel-in-stories, Vacationland (Minnesota, 2013), is the first volume in her Northern Trilogy, followed by Laurentian Divide.

September 2018 | Hardcover | 272 pp | $22.95 | 9781517905620
University of Minnesota Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Fictional Hatchet Inlet is an isolated community. What about the place rang true (or false) for you? If you are a city dweller, did the book change your perceptions of small-town dynamics?

2. The author touches on the daily concerns of dealing with aging parents, troublesome adult children, career decisions, and regrets. Have any been a personal concern for you?

3. The author uses the unknown circumstances of one character to propel thoughts and actions of others. Did you speculate over Rauri’s fate along with these characters?

4. The geological Laurentian Divide is used both geographically and metaphorically in this story. What would you identify as divisions or disagreements among these characters?

5. What was your favorite quote or scene from the book? Why was it meaningful?

6. If you were making a movie of this book, whom would you cast in protagonists’ roles?

7. Weighty topics of grief, addiction, sex, and dementia are approached with humor in this book. Did the author also regard such topics with their due regard?

8. Though the abuse in Pete’s past is unearthed, it remains buried to his loved ones. Should he keep his history private? What, if any, outcomes might have shifted if he’d spoken up?

9. This novel is very place-based. How well do you think the author built the world in the book?

10. Each of main characters takes their turn chapter-by-chapter until nearly the end, when the three converge. What did you think of this structure?

11. If you were to host a dinner around this story, what would be on the menu?

12. Did this book feel like the beginning of a larger story, or an ending?

13. If you could hear this same story from one of the secondary character’s point of view, which would you choose?

THE LONG FLIGHT HOME

Alan Hlad

Set among the London Blitz of World War II, when British Services enlisted the aid of over 200,000 homing pigeons to carry messages across enemy lines, The Long Flight Home is a bittersweet tale of courage, soulmates and sacrifice. It’s the story of an almost-love affair between two people brought together, and then driven apart by war: Susan, a young woman who trains homing pigeons in England and believes that her extraordinary birds can help save Britain; and Ollie, a crop-duster from Maine, who disregards US neutrality and travels to Britain in a quest to join the Royal Air Force.

It is also a story based on true historical events; inspired by a news report in 2012, when a man renovating an old house in Surrey, England discovered the remains of a homing pigeon along with a tiny capsule containing a vital coded message – one that has yet to be deciphered by code breakers around the world even today. With compassionate insight, beautiful detail and meticulous research, Alan Hlad illuminates mostly-forgotten corners of WWII history, conjuring an inspiring and deeply moving wartime experience in which hope is the thing with feathers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alan Hlad writes historical fiction based in meticulous and fascinating research. His work has appeared in The Bleeding Lion, Larks Fiction Magazine, The National Underwriter and Claims Magazine, and The Long Flight Home is his debut novel. He lives in Ohio with his wife and children, and can be found online at www.alanhlad.com.

June 2019 | Hardcover | 304 pp | $26.00 | 9781496721679 | Kensington Publishing Corp.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Before reading The Long Flight Home, what did you know about homing pigeons used in WWII? Can you name additional animals that have served in times of war? What were the views on animal rights during WWII? After reading this book, do you feel the same about pigeons?

2. What are Susan’s fears during the Blitz. Why does she believe her pigeons can help save Britain? What did you learn about the German bombing offensive against Britain in 1940 and 1941?

3. What are Ollie’s motivations to disregard US neutrality and attempt to join the Royal Air Force? If Ollie’s parents had not been killed in a car accident, do you think he would have embarked on a quest to join the fight? How does his encounter with an air vice marshal for the Royal Canadian Air Force, as well as being robbed in a train station, influence his decision to defer college and travel to Britain?

4. When Susan attends the Source Columba meeting in London, she is the only woman in the group. Describe Susan’s courage, compared to other members of the National Pigeon Service, to confront a senior military officer on the mission’s errors. What is meant by her affirmation, be an egg? What role does Bertie play in shaping Susan’s values and beliefs?

5. While working to prepare pigeons for the mission, Susan and Ollie fall in love. What brings them together? Why does their relationship develop so quickly? At what point do you think Susan realized she loved Ollie? How is the war, particularly the nightly Luftwaffe bombings, a catalyst for their affection? What are Susan and Ollie’s hopes and dreams?

6. Duchess is Susan’s loyal and devoted pet. What characteristics make her unique? Why do you think she’s able to make the flights over the English Channel?

7. Why does Boar dislike Ollie? Does he have any redeeming qualities? When Boar intercepts Duchess, carrying Susan’s message to Ollie, he’s in a rage from learning that he’s lost an eye and will never fly again. If Boar would have known the tragic outcome of deceiving Ollie and Susan, do you think he would have acted differently?

8. Why do many readers enjoy historical fiction, in particular novels set in World War II? To what degree do you think Hlad took creative liberties with this story?

THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS

Arundhati Roy

National Bestseller

National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2017

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness takes us on an intimate journey across the Indian subcontinent—from the cramped neighborhoods of Old Delhi and the roads of the new city to the mountains and valleys of Kashmir and beyond, where war is peace and peace is war. Braiding together the lives of a diverse cast of characters who have been broken by the world they live in and then rescued, patched together by acts of love—and by hope, here Arundhati Roy reinvents what a novel can do and can be.

Named one of the best books of the year by: The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star Tribune, NPR

“A great tempest of a novel. ... Will leave you awed.” —The Washington Post

“Staggeringly beautiful. ... Once a decade, if we are lucky, a novel emerges from the cinder pit of living that asks the urgent question of our global era. ... Roy’s novel is this decade’s ecstatic and necessary answer.” —The Boston Globe

“A lustrously braided and populated tale.” —Vanity Fair

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Arundhati Roy is the author of The God of Small Things, which won the Booker Prize and has been translated into more than forty languages. She also has published several books of nonfiction. She lives in New Delhi.

May 2018 | Paperback | 464 pp | $16.95 | 9780525434818 | Vintage

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. The novel opens with a vignette describing the mysterious death of vultures—and how “not many noticed the passing of the friendly old birds.” (5) How does this occurrence set the stage and tone for the rest of the novel with regard to the state of India’s society and the unrest that the characters experience within themselves and with the outside world? How does that mood transition into the graveyard setting of the first part of the book?

2. Discuss the complications of Aftab’s upbringing and his parents’ reactions to their child’s gender. What does the family dynamic suggest about the role that biology plays in determining one’s true family versus an individual’s ability to create or choose one’s family?

3. What roles do magic and superstition play throughout the novel? Which characters are more inclined to subscribe to unconventional beliefs, and do they seem more comforted or disillusioned by those beliefs in the face of harsh realities?

4. How does the variety of perspectives that the documents in the novel afford you as a reader—from Tilo’s notebooks to the letter from Miss Jebeen the Second’s real mother—different, if not conflicting, portraits of the political conflict going on in Kashmir? Overall, did they allow you to more clearly see one side’s argument over another’s? What kind of texture did the shifts in narrative form create in your overall reading experience?

5. How does Roy create the atmosphere and emotional tenor of the novel’s primary cities/places in India? What sensory details or descriptions stuck with you the most as the backdrop for the characters’ somewhat nomadic existence?

6. How is parenthood, and, more specifically, motherhood, explored in the novel? Discuss in particular the mother-child bonds that Anjum, Tilo, and both Miss Jebeens experience.

7. How is religion a defining feature for characters in the novel and a main source of conflict in the society depicted? How do the differing beliefs and political loyalties affect events that transpire in the novel’s different geographical areas of conflict?

8. By the end of the novel, how did you interpret the meaning of its title?

MISS KOPP JUST WON’T QUIT: A KOPP SISTERS NOVEL

Amy Stewart

A Kopp Sisters Novel

Trailblazing Constance’s hard-won job as deputy sheriff is on the line in Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit, the fourth installment of Amy Stewart’s Kopp Sisters series.

After a year on the job, New Jersey’s first female deputy sheriff has collared criminals, demanded justice for wronged women, and gained notoriety nationwide for her exploits. But on one stormy night, everything falls apart.

While transporting a woman to an insane asylum, Deputy Kopp discovers something deeply troubling about her story. Before she can investigate, another inmate bound for the asylum breaks free and tries to escape.

In both cases, Constance runs instinctively toward justice. But the fall of 1916 is a high-stakes election year, and any move she makes could jeopardize Sheriff Heath’s future—and her own. Although Constance is not on the ballot, her controversial career makes her the target of political attacks.

With wit and verve, book-club favorite Amy Stewart brilliantly conjures the life and times of the real Constance Kopp to give us this “unforgettable, not-to-be messed-with heroine” (Marie Claire) under fire in Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit.

Want to start from the beginning? Girl Waits with Gun (book one), Lady Cop Makes Trouble (book two), and Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions (book three) are all available in paperback wherever books are sold.

“Suspenseful”Suspenseful ... boasts a deeper emphasis on character, politics, and social issues. A must for Constance’s growing fan base.” —Booklist (starred review)

“A welcome addition to this sui generis series, always fresh thanks to its vividly imagined characters firmly grounded in historical fact.” —Kirkus, (starred review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Amy Stewart is the award-winning author of nine books, including her acclaimed fiction debut Girl Waits with Gun and the bestsellers The Drunken Botanist and Wicked Plants.

September 2019 | Hardcover | 320 pp | $26.00 | 9781328736512
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. On page one, Constance Kopp says, “My duties are hardly ever so straightforward, and my victories rarely so decisive.” How does this sum up not only Constance’s position as deputy and jail matron, but her role as a female during this time period as well?

2. There are a variety of women’s roles represented in the book and in the jail (mothers, wives, daughters, lawyers, gentlewoman who do not work, factory workers, actresses, seamstresses, etc.), but despite their wealth or standing, they are all treated inferior to men. Are you surprised that all women, no matter their status, are treated this way? Which characters challenge these conventions the most?

3. Geraldine is similar to Constance in that she holds an employment position unusual for a woman of her time. They are both aware of their unique positions, but how is Geraldine’s personality different from Constance’s? How does she handle conflict differently? Do you think this is partly due to where she lives?

4. This book is set during an election year, and also when the possibility of war seems close at hand. How do these two situations make life in the book feel less stable? How does Constance see the trickle-down effect of national events on her duties? How do Constance and Sheriff Heath handle the election and the results differently?

5. “It all happened a long time ago, and had become such a settled point in our family’s history that it caused nothing in the way of hand-wringing anymore” (144). How has Constance’s treatment of Fleurette changed throughout the books? Do you really think this history is settled?

6. During this book and time period, we see a lot of examples of what men are allowed to do that women are not. But what can women do that men cannot? Are men aware of these strengths and differences? What can Constance do that a male in her position would not have accomplished as well or even at all?

7. On page 299 Anna says, “You can’t know what it’s like to have your liberty taken away, and then to have it restored.” How do Anna and Constance define “liberty” differently? How do their experiences and age influence their perspective? How does Anna give Constance her freedom, and how does it differ from the freedom Constance gave her?

MOON BROW

Shahriar Mandanipour (author) and Khalili Sara (illustrator)

Before he enlisted as a soldier in the Iran–Iraq War and disappeared, Amir Yamini was a playboy whose only concerns were seducing women and riling his religious family. Five years later, his mother and sister Reyhaneh find him in a hospital for shell-shocked soldiers, his left arm and most of his memory lost. Amir is haunted by the vision of a mysterious woman whose face he cannot see—the crescent moon on her forehead shines too brightly. He names her Moon Brow.

Back home in Tehran, the prodigal son is both hailed as a living martyr to the cause of Ayatollah Khomeini’s Revolution and confined as a dangerous madman. His sense of humor, if not his sanity, intact, Amir cajoles Reyhaneh into helping him escape the garden walls to search for Moon Brow. Piecing together the puzzle of his past, Amir decides there’s only one solution: he must return to the battlefield and find the remains of his severed arm.

All the while, two angels sit on our hero’s shoulders and inscribe the story in enthrallingly distinctive prose. Wildly inventive and radically empathetic, steeped in Persian folklore and contemporary Middle East history, Moon Brow is an unforgettable epic of love, war, morality, faith, and family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Shahriar Mandanipour is one of Iran’s most accomplished writers, the author of nine volumes of fiction, one nonfiction book, and more than 100 critical essays. Born in 1957 in Shiraz, Iran, he studied political science at Tehran University and bore witness to the 1979 revolution. His first collection of stories was published in 1989; his works were banned between 1992 and 1997. In 2006, he moved to the United States and has held fellowships at Brown, Harvard, and Boston College. Mandanipour’s first novel to appear in English, Censoring an Iranian Love Story (Knopf, 2009), has been widely acclaimed. He currently teaches creative writing at Tufts University.

April 2018 | Paperback | 224 pp | $21.99 | 9781632061287 | Restless Books

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. How does the narration, alternating between two angel scribes on Amir’s shoulders, shape your reading experience? Why do you think the author chose to write the novel this way?

2. Apart from the innovative narrative technique, Moon Brow is also a story that plays with time and space. How does the non-linear progression of the narration align with the story and its protagonist?

3. How do the descriptions of Amir’s environment—his home, the garden, the mountains, the hospital—interplay with those of his wartime traumas, physical and psychological?

4. What is the importance of Baba Shahu’s character in Amir’s journey? Is he a metaphor?

5. How is Amir’s quest to find the remains of his arm like or unlike a traditional hero’s journey? How do the other characters—Reyhaneh, Agha Haji, Amir’s mother—fit into it?

6. Women play a central, if conflicted role in Amir’s present and past. How would you describe Amir’s relationships with women, and how do they change?

7. “Moon Brow” comes from a Persian folktale that is a cousin of Cinderella: a girl’s father convinces her to kill her own mother so he can marry another woman, who becomes her cruel stepmother. When the girl helps a monster at the bottom of a well, she receives a glowing diamond crescent on her forehead as a reward. Why do you think Mandanipour chose this title for his novel? Could Moon Brow be considered a modern folktale?

8. How might Agha Haji be a symbol or a metaphor for the Islamic Revolution and its limitations?

9. Mandanipour used to be the chief editor for a literary magazine that was banned in Iran, and many of his stories have been censored in his homeland. Does his experience with censorship come through in this narrative, both in terms of language and character?

10. If you were to categorize this novel into a genre, which one would you pick? Why?

11. How did reading this novel alter your perceptions of Iran, the Islamic Revolution, and the Iraq-Iran war?

RUST AND STARDUST

T. Greenwood

Camden, NJ, 1948. When 11 year-old Sally Horner steals a notebook from the local Woolworth’s, she has no way of knowing that 52 year-old Frank LaSalle, fresh out of prison, is watching her, preparing to make his move. Accosting her outside the store, Frank convinces Sally that he’s an FBI agent who can have her arrested in a minute—unless she does as he says.

This chilling novel traces the next two harrowing years as Frank mentally and physically assaults Sally while the two of them travel westward from Camden to San Jose, forever altering not only her life, but the lives of her family, friends, and those she meets along the way.

Based on the experiences of real-life kidnapping victim Sally Horner and her captor, whose story shocked the nation and inspired Vladimir Nabokov to write his controversial and iconic Lolita, this heart-pounding story by award-winning author T. Greenwood at last gives a voice to Sally herself.

“Greenwood’s glowing dark ruby of a novel brilliantly transforms the true crime story that inspired Nabokov’s Lolita. Shatteringly original and eloquently written ... So ferociously suspenseful, I found myself holding my breath.” —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: T. Greenwood’s novels have sold over 250,000 copies. She has received grants from the Sherwood Anderson Foundation, Christopher Isherwood Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Maryland State Arts Council. Her novel Bodies of Water was a 2014 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist; Two Rivers and Grace were each named Best General Fiction Book at the San Diego Book Awards, and Where I Lost Her was a Globe and Mail bestseller in 2016. Greenwood lives with her family in San Diego.

August 2018 | Hardcover | 368 pp | $26.99 | 9781250164193 | St. Martin’s Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. What did you know about the novel Lolita—either from your own studies, or as portrayed in popular film adaptations—before reading Rust & Stardust?

2. Did reading Sally’s story change your opinion about Nabokov’s novel?

3. To what extent do you think the author took artistic liberties with this work? What does it take for a novelist to bring a “real” character to life? What do you think an author’s responsibility is to the truth when depicting historical events or people?

4. We are taught, as young readers, that every story has a “moral”. Is there a moral to this novel? If so, what is it?

5. What can we learn about our world—and ourselves—from Sally’s story?

6. Each of the point of view characters in this story are united by the common tragedy of Sally’s disappearance. But the story is not entirely tragic in that Sally has a lasting effect on the lives of each of these characters. Discuss the impact she has on Vivi, Sister Mary Katherine, Lena, and Ruth.

7. Who do you think the hero(ine) of this story is? Why?

8. Discuss Ella Horner’s role in Sally’s kidnapping. Do you blame her for not picking up on Sally’s ambivalence about going to the shore with Frank? For her delay in notifying the authorities? How would this story be different if it had occurred in 2018 rather than 1948?

9. Motherhood is a theme explored through a variety of characters. Discuss the various mothers (and maternal figures) in this story.

10. How do you feel that we never get inside Frank La Salle’s head? Did you find yourself needing to understand his motives?

11. How would the novel be different if it offered Frank’s perspective as well?

12. Discuss the title, which comes from Lolita – in a poem written by Humbert Humbert. (Dolores Haze is Lolita’s real name.)
My car is limping, Dolores Haze

And the last long lap is the hardest,

And I shall be dumped where the weed decays,

And the rest is rust and stardust.

How does it relate to Sally’s story?

SAINTS FOR ALL OCCASIONS

J. Courtney Sullivan

A National Best Seller

A New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2017

Washington Post 10 Best Books of 2017

A Harper’s Bazaar Best Book of 2017

A sweeping, unforgettable novel from The New York Times best-selling author of Maine, about the hope, sacrifice, and love between two sisters and the secret that drives them apart.

Nora and Theresa Flynn are twenty-one and seventeen when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she’s shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn’t sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan—a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.

Fifty years later, Nora is the matriarch of a big Catholic family with four grown children.

Estranged from her sister, Theresa is a cloistered nun, living in an abbey in rural Vermont. Until, after decades of silence, a sudden death forces Nora and Theresa to confront the choices they made so long ago. A graceful, supremely moving novel from one of our most beloved writers, Saints for All Occasions explores the fascinating, funny, and sachingly sad ways a secret at the heart of one family both breaks them and binds them together.

“This year’s best book about family.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

“Reminiscent of both Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn and Matthew Thomas’s We Are Not Ourselves ... All of Sullivan’s characters leap off the page. You don’t read this book; you breathe it.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: J. Courtney Sullivan is the New York Times best-selling author of The Engagements, one of People magazine’s Top Ten Books of 2013 and an Irish Times Best Book of the Year; Maine, a 2011 Time magazine Best Book of the Year and a Washington Post Notable Book; and Commencement.

May 2018 | Paperback | 432 pp | $16.95 | 9780307949806 | Vintage

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Describe the differences between Nora and Theresa when they were girls. Did you find it surprising how their paths diverged as they grew older?

2. Even though a death is at the center of the novel’s plot, did you find that death was a central concern of the novel’s themes?

3. What seem to be the biggest differences between the girls’ lives in Ireland and their lives in the United States? Did you feel that either of them regretted the move at any given point, and why?

4. Describe the shifting gender dynamics over the course of the novel’s time line. In the roughly fifty years that pass, what changes about men’s and women’s roles and what doesn’t, including the roles influenced by the family’s deep, traditional Irish roots?

5. How do Nora and Theresa respond differently to the task of motherhood that falls upon them, biologically or otherwise? In what ways are they both mothers to Patrick and the other people in their lives? How does the novel upend the traditional definition of motherhood, which Nora describes as “a physical act as much as an emotional one. It took every part of you.” (229)

6. How did the structure of the novel influence your understanding of and sympathy toward the characters as the narrative moved back and forth in time? What was the benefit of learning about Patrick, in particular, in this way—seeing him first in a posthumous light and then more closely as he grew up? And how did the perspective on the family that you had as a reader differ from what the characters could know about themselves and one another in real time?

7. What were common threads among the secrets the characters kept from one another? Why do you think some characters, more than others, were more willing to be complicit in keeping those secrets, especially when it came to Patrick?

SAVING MISS OLIVER’S

Stephen Davenport

The fate of the beloved school is hanging in the balance ...

The prestigious boarding school Miss Oliver’s School for Girls is on the cusp of going under. The trustees just fired the headmistress of the last thirty-five years, and the alumnae and students are angry and determined to hate her successor, the new—and male—head Fred Kindler. If only he can gain the support of the legendary senior teacher Francis Plummer, then Fred might have a fighting chance to save the school; but no one except Francis’s wife and the school librarian, Peggy, is willing to give Fred a chance.

With Fred’s career on the line and the Plummers’ marriage at stake, will Miss Oliver’s survive to be the school it once was?

Leadership, loyalty, and change are at the heart of this novel. Emotionally charged, and politically fraught, it weaves in valuable content for feminists and aspiring leaders who want to overcome resistance to change.

Davenport says, “The mission of Miss Oliver’s School for Girls is the empowerment of young women. Can you imagine how much passion there is around that ideal? Everything that happens to humans happens in schools, usually in the compressed time period of an academic year. Boarding schools are especially intense, hermetic, mission-driven communities. Think of a family of 400 or more people. One could not ask for richer writing material.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stephen Davenport has taught in both day and boarding schools and served as the head of the Country School in Madison, CT, and the Athenian School in Danville, CA. He has consulted with independent schools, doing executive searches, leading professional development workshops for faculties, and coaching school heads. Davenport’s been published in the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Sunday travel section, and the Saturday Review. He is now a fulltime writer and volunteer and lives in Oakland, CA.

September 2018 | Paperback | 386 pp | $16.99 | 9781513261317 | WestWinds Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. What is the culture of Miss Oliver’s School for Girls that causes the alumnae and students to love their school? How does their love of school enhance the students’ growth and learning? If you presently attend or are a graduate of a school or college that you love, what are the reasons for your feelings?

2. Most of the characters in the book were upset or even angry when threatened with the possibility of the school going coed; why do you think they reacted this way? What is your opinion of the value of single-sex education for girls, whether it is for elementary school, high school, or college?

3. Four teachers are featured in the book: Francis Plummer, Eudora Easter, Gregory van Buren, and Rachel Bickham. What do they have in common? What made Francis Plummer especially powerful in the school?

4. The last sentence of the scene in which Francis Plummer teaches Robert Frost’s “Home Burial” to a class is: No one in this class will ever be the same again. How are those students different after the class? What makes Francis so effective in this class? What personal characteristics? What strategies?

5. What are Fred Kindler’s strengths and weaknesses as a leader? Given what you know, having read the novel, would you advise him not to take the job? What leadership skills are needed to succeed as head of school following Marjorie?

6. Imagine that you are a more experienced leader than Fred Kindler and that he thinks of you as a mentor. He calls you asking for advice after his first day in office when he gets all that bad news. What are three or four steps you would advise him to take?

7. If you were on the board of Miss Oliver’s and were faced with having to decide whether to admit boys or close the school, which choice would you make? Why?

THE SEAS

Samantha Hunt

Moored in a coastal fishing town so far north that the highways only run south, the unnamed narrator of The Seas is a misfit. She’s often the subject of cruel local gossip. Her father, a sailor, walked into the ocean eleven years earlier and never returned, leaving his wife and daughter to keep a forlorn vigil. Surrounded by water and beckoned by the sea, she clings to what her father once told her: that she is a mermaid.

True to myth, she finds herself in hard love with a land-bound man, an Iraq War veteran thirteen years her senior. The mesmerizing, fevered coming-of-age tale that follows will land her in jail. Her otherworldly escape will become the stuff of legend.

With the inventive brilliance and psychological insight that have earned her international acclaim, Samantha Hunt pulls readers into an undertow of impossible love and intoxication, blurring the lines between reality and fairy tale, hope and delusion, sanity and madness.

“One of the most distinctive and unforgettable voices I have read in years. This book will linger ... in your head for a good long time.” —Dave Eggers

“An aqueous affair, flooded with water themes ... Hunt’s writing is free of affectation and carries surprising conviction.” —The New Yorker

“Urgently real and magically unreal ... A breathy, wonderful holler of a novel, deeply lodged in the ocean’s merciless blue ... [Hunt] sinks an anchor into the soul of its lost young protagonist.” —The Village Voice

“The Seas reads as though ... John Hawkes had sprouted Márquezian wings, Raymond Carver had lived to see Prozac proliferate. ... It’s the book’s emotional expressiveness ... that ultimately breaks the mood’s prescribed monotony and lofts it above its precursors.” —The New York Observer

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Samantha Hunt’s The Seas, her debut novel, won a National Book Foundation award for writers under thirty-five. She is also the author of Mr. Splitfoot, Dark, Dark: Stories, and The Invention of Everything Else.

July 2018 | Hardcover | 232 pp | $19.95 | 9781941040959 | Tin House Books

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. In many ways, the narrator of The Seas is unreliable. How does this shape your reading of the book? When she asserts, “details make a story even as unbelievable as mine believable,” do you agree?

2. Do you think it would be better for the narrator to know if her father is dead or alive?

3. How do you feel about the narrator’s love for Jude? Do you judge Jude’s involvement with her?

4. The narrator describes her feelings for Jude: “I am worn out by desire for him like a girl in some book.” Does her love for Jude mirror other romantic relationships you’ve seen in literature?

5. How does the narrator’s connection with her grandfather—a former typesetter who courted his wife by sending her backwards love notes—inform her understanding of the world?

6. The Seas is also a story about a mother and daughter. What do you think the narrator means when she says, “My mother is regularly torn between being herself and being my mother”?

7. Have you, like the narrator of The Seas, ever been told that your experience of the world is fundamentally incorrect? Do you think that’s a gendered experience?

8. What can we gain from reading old myths that have been reworked in contemporary fiction? How does a feminist perspective change the mermaid story?

9. How does The Seas’ portrayal of female sexuality compare to other books you’ve read?

10. Do you believe the young narrator of The Seas is a mermaid?

SEE WHAT I HAVE DONE

Sarah Schmidt

In this riveting debut novel, See What I Have Done, Sarah Schmidt recasts one of the most fascinating murder cases of all time into an intimate story of a volatile household and a family devoid of love. On the morning of August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden calls out to her maid: Someone’s killed Father. The brutal ax-murder of Andrew and Abby Borden in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, leaves little evidence and many unanswered questions. While neighbors struggle to understand why anyone would want to harm the respected Bordens, those close to the family have a different tale to tell—of a father with an explosive temper; a spiteful stepmother; and two spinster sisters, with a bond even stronger than blood, desperate for their independence. As the police search for clues, Emma comforts an increasingly distraught Lizzie whose memories of that morning flash in scattered fragments. Had she been in the barn or the pear arbor to escape the stifling heat of the house? When did she last speak to her stepmother? Were they really gone and would everything be better now? Shifting among the perspectives of the unreliable Lizzie, her older sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, and the enigmatic stranger Benjamin, the events of that fateful day are slowly revealed through a high-wire feat of storytelling.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sarah Schmidt works as a reading and literacy coordinator at a regional public library. See What I Have Done is her first novel. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.

June 2018 | Paperback | 352 pp | $16.00 | 9780802128133 | Grove Atlantic

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. The novel opens with an excerpt from a poem by Emily Dickinson: “We outgrow love like other things / And put it in a drawer.” Do you agree with this idea? Why, or why not? How does it help to shape the story? Why do Schmidt’s characters outgrow love, and how do they handle that loss? We’re first introduced to Lizzie with an excerpt from her real-life inquest testimony. Talk about what this immediately reveals about Lizzie, and how this sets the tone for the novel that follows.

2. How does the novel regard one’s relationship with the father?

3. Discuss the range of family dynamics occurring in the household. How is family defined, and redefined, by each character?

4. Analyze what Lizzie’s pigeons symbolize as they appear throughout the novel. Discuss how they further illustrate her character. What does Andrew’s act of violence against the pigeons reveal about his character?

5. Compare Lizzie, Emma, Bridget, Benjamin, and John’s reactions to Mr. and Mrs. Borden’s death. In what ways do the murders affect each of them personally?

6. Schmidt frames the novel by creating distinct voices for multiple narrators. Did this technique enrich your understanding of the story? Who did you trust the most? Who did you think was complicit, and why did they choose to be complicit?

7. The ending of the novel seems purposefully ambiguous. Why does Schmidt leave it up to the reader to be the juror? Did you feel that the conclusion ultimately confirms Lizzie’s innocence or guilt? Explain.

8. Talk about the function of the timeline, and how the chronology of See What I Have Done differs from the actual chronology. What does the excerpt from the last will and testament reveal about Lizzie and Emma’s relationship later in life?

SOLD ON A MONDAY

Kristina McMorris

From New York Times bestselling author Kristina McMorris comes another unforgettable novel inspired by a stunning piece of history.

2 CHILDREN FOR SALE

The sign is a last resort. It sits on a farmhouse porch in 1931, but could be found anywhere in an era of breadlines, bank runs, and broken dreams. It could have been written by any mother facing impossible choices.

For struggling reporter Ellis Reed, the gut-wrenching scene evokes memories of his family’s dark past. He snaps a photograph of the children, not meant for publication. But when it leads to his big break, the consequences are more devastating than he ever imagined.

At the paper, Lillian Palmer is haunted by her role in all that happened. She is far too familiar with the heartbreak of children deemed unwanted. As the bonds of motherhood are tested, she and Ellis must decide how much they are willing to risk to mend a fractured family.

Inspired by an actual newspaper photograph that stunned the nation, Sold on a Monday is a powerful novel of love, redemption, and the unexpected paths that bring us home.

“McMorris does what few writers can—transport me right into the middle of the story.” —Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“A masterpiece ... heartfelt and heartbreaking.” —Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author

“McMorris evokes such a strong sense of place in her writing that to open one of her books feels less like reading and more like traveling.” —BookPage

“A story never to be forgotten.” —Sarah McCoy, New York Times and international bestselling author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kristina McMorris is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her novels have garnered more than twenty national literary awards, and include Letters from Home, Bridge of Scarlet Leaves, The Pieces We Keep, and The Edge of Lost. She lives with her husband and two sons in Oregon.

August 2018 | Paperback | 352 pp | $15.99 | 9781492663997 | Sourcebooks Landmark

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. In the prologue, the unidentified narrator reflects upon “the interwoven paths that had delivered each of us here. Every step a domino essential to knocking over the next.” After reading the book, do you agree with that view? Do you recall any notable incident that wasn’t integral to the final outcome?

2. At the Royal, Max Trevino makes a difficult decision regarding his sister. Do you agree with his choice? Do you believe he intended to stick with the plan he proposed?

3. Early in the story, Lily carries a burden of shame and guilt regarding her son, due to societal norms and her own dark secret. Would you have felt the same in her shoes? Would you, or Lily, feel differently in present times?

4. People deal with grief in various, sometimes extreme ways. How do you feel about the manner in which Sylvia Millstone and Ellis’s father, Jim Reed, came to grips with the loss of a child? Do you sympathize with them equally? What are your thoughts on Alfred Millstone’s choices and actions?

5. Throughout the story, Lily struggles to balance motherhood and work. Do you believe her career ambitions were solely for the sake of her son’s future? If not, would she ever admit this to herself or another person? Have these considerations changed in today’s society?

6. On a mission to find and rescue Calvin, Lily and Ellis break several laws. Do you agree or disagree with their actions? Would you have done anything differently in their situation?

7. Which character became your favorite? Your least favorite? How did your opinions of the major characters change throughout the story?

8. Where do you envision the characters soon after the story ends? How about five years from now?

THE STARS ARE FIRE

Anita Shreve

Instant New York Times Bestseller

A Washington Post Notable Works for Fiction 2017

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Weight of Water and The Pilot’s Wife (an Oprah’s Book Club selection): an exquisitely suspenseful new novel about an extraordinary young woman tested by a catastrophic event—based on the true story of the largest fire in Maine’s history.

In October 1947, Grace Holland is experiencing two simultaneous droughts. An unseasonably hot, dry summer has turned the state of Maine into a tinderbox, and Grace and her husband, Gene, have fallen out of love and barely speak. Five months pregnant and caring for two toddlers, Grace has resigned herself to a life of loneliness and domestic chores. One night she awakes to find that wildfires are racing down the coast, closer and closer to her house. Forced to pull her children into the ocean to escape the flames, Grace watches helplessly as everything she knows burns to the ground. By morning, her life is forever changed: she is homeless, penniless, awaiting news of her husband’s fate, and left to face an uncertain future in a town that no longer exists. With courage and stoicism, Grace overcomes devastating loss and, through the smoke, is able to glimpse the opportunity to rewrite her own story.

“This is sure to be a best seller. Shreve’s prose mirrors the action of the fire, with popping embers of action, licks of blazing rage, and the slow burn of lyrical character development. Absolutely stunning.” —Library Journal (starred review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anita Shreve was a high school teacher and a freelance magazine journalist before writing fiction full time. She was the author of over fifteen novels including the international bestseller The Pilot’s Wife and The Weight of Water, a finalist for the Orange Prize. Shreve taught writing at Amherst College and lived in Massachusetts.

March 2018 | Paperback | 320 pp | $16.00 | 9780345806369 | Vintage

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. The epigraph is a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Doubt thou the stars are fire; / Doubt thou the sun doth move; / Doubt truth to be a liar; / But never doubt I love.” What does it mean? What does it have to do with the novel it introduces?

2. Before reading The Stars Are Fire, what did you know about the fires that tore through Maine in 1947?

3. After the fire, after losing the baby, Grace believes Gene may have used the chaos as cover for him to leave the family. What makes her think this? Would she rather that he fled, or died fighting the fire?

4. Why do Matthew and Joan take in Grace and the children? How does their action help her to heal?

5. At various points in the novel, Grace either ignores or heeds her intuition—for instance, when Claire has a fever, or when Grace lets Aidan stay in the house. How does she decide when to follow her gut, and when to disregard it? Does her faith in her intuition grow over the course of the novel?

6. When does Grace begin to believe in her ability to survive and even thrive on her own? Is it purely a matter of necessity?

7. When Gene reappears, Grace thinks, “She will live in this house with this injured man on the couch until one of them dies. She will never again go to a job. She will never make love again. She will not have friends.” (175) What prompts her to find a way to escape this fate?

8. On page 195, Gene says, “‘Goddamnit, Grace. What’s got into you?’ ” She replies, “‘What’s gone out of me is a better question.” What does she mean?

9. When Grace decided to drive north, where did you think she was going? Did the epilogue surprise you?

10. The novel ends on a serendipitous note. Did you find it satisfying?

STAY WITH ME

Aybámi Adébáy

A New York Times Notable Book

Shortlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction

One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Chicago Tribune, BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly

Longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize

A Sarah Jessica Parker Book Club Selection

Ilesa, Nigeria. Ever since they first met and fell in love at university, Yejide and Akin have agreed: polygamy is not for them. But four years into their marriage—after consulting fertility doctors and healers, and trying strange teas and unlikely cures—Yejide is still not pregnant. She assumes she still has time—until her in-laws arrive on her doorstep with a young woman they introduce as Akin’s second wife. Furious, shocked, and livid with jealousy, Yejide knows the only way to save her marriage is to get pregnant. Which, finally, she does—but at a cost far greater than she could have dared to imagine. The unforgettable story of a marriage as seen through the eyes of both husband and wife, Stay With Me asks how much we can sacrifice for the sake of family.

“Scorching, gripping, ultimately lovely.” —Margaret Atwood

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Aybámi Adébáy’s stories have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies. She has worked as an editor for Saraba Magazine since 2009. She was born in Lagos, Nigeria.

July 2018 | Paperback | 272 pp | $16.00 | 9781101974414 | Vintage

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. In the beginning of Stay with Me, the reader is introduced to the central conflict of Yejide and Akin’s life: their infertility as a couple. How is Yejide and Akin’s childlessness seen as a reflection on the family unit? What is the burden of expectation placed on Yejide?

2. How do the social pressures to become a mother weigh on Yejide? Once Yejide learns that she is no longer Akin’s only wife, how does the urgency of her mission become more pronounced? How does the psychological trauma that accompanies her journey weigh on her throughout the novel?

3. Consider the identity of “mother,” and how understanding of that role shifts for Yejide over the course of the novel. How does the story of her mother’s death influence her worldview and her perspective on family? Which woman in her life, if any, provides her with an understanding of what a loving mother-child relationship looks like? Once she becomes a mother, how does her self-image change?

4. Consider the political background of Stay with Me. How does the instability of the government undermine the health and happiness of Yejide and her family? How does the political upheaval reflect the emotional turmoil of Yejide and Akin?

5. The reveal of Akin’s medical condition is an important development in the plot. Given this revelation, would you consider Funmi’s death to be purposeful? How did you interpret his reaction to her accusation? How does Akin contend with threats to his masculinity throughout the novel?

6. Discuss the significance of the hair salon in Yejide’s life. How does it encourage her independence? How does it act as a place of gathering within their community?

7. Compare the bedtime story that Yejide tells her children with the tale that Akin shares with Rotimi as she grows. What do these stories reveal about the worldviews of both parents?

8. Stay with Me is a novel that challenges readers’ expectations with its surprising reveals, its secrets, and its deception. What plot development did you find to be most surprising? How does Adébáy play with the idea of expectation versus reality throughout the novel?

THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ

Heather Morris

This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov—an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.

In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners. Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov’s experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

“The Tattooist of Auschwitz is an extraordinary document. I find it hard to imagine anyone who would not be drawn in, confronted and moved. I would recommend it unreservedly to anyone, whether they’d read a hundred Holocaust stories or none.” —Graeme Simsion, internationally-bestselling author of The Rosie Project

“As many interviews as I did with Holocaust survivors for the Shoah Foundation and as many devastating testimonies as I heard, I could not stop reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz—an extraordinary story of love so fierce it sustained people enduring the unimaginable. Read it, share it, remember it.” —Jenna Blum, New York Times and international bestselling author of Those Who Save Us and The Lost Family

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Heather Morris is a native of New Zealand, now residing in Australia. In 2003 she was introduced to Lale Sokolov who entrusted her with the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust.

September 2018 | Paperback | 288 pp | $16.99 | 9780062797155 | Harper Paperbacks

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. How did you feel about Lale when he was first introduced, as he arrived in Auschwitz? How did your understanding of him change throughout the novel?

2. What qualities did Lale have that influenced the way he was treated in the camp? Where did those qualities come from?

3. Survival in the camp depended on people doing deeds of questionable morality. Lale became the tattooist, but how did Gita’s choices affect her survival? What about her friend who befriended a Nazi?

4. Inmates in the concentration camp had to make life-or-death decisions every day. Why did some make the “right” decisions and survive while others did not?

5. Discuss some of the small acts of humanity carried out by individuals in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. How did these small acts of kindness have greater implications? Did it make you reconsider what you believe to be brave or heroic? Did this make you think differently about the impact of your own everyday actions?

6. The Tattooist of Auschwitz makes clear that there were also non-Jewish prisoners in the camp. How did the treatment of Jews differ from that of non-Jews? How did differences manifest themselves?

7. Had Gita and Lale met in a more conventional way, would they have developed the same kind of relationship? How did their circumstances change the course of their romance?

8. In what ways were the relationships between Gita and her friends different from the usual friendships between teenage girls? In what ways were they similar?

9. In what ways was Lale a hero? In what ways was he an ordinary man?

10. Lale faced danger even after the camp was liberated. How did his experiences immediately after liberation prepare him for the rest of his life?

11. How does The Tattooist of Auschwitz change your perceptions about the Holocaust in particular, and war in general? What implications does this book hold for our own time?

TOMORROW’S BREAD

Anna Jean Mayhew

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 night clubs. There are shotgun shacks and poverty, along with well-maintained houses like the one Loraylee Hawkins shares with her young son, Hawk, her Uncle Ray, and her grandmother, Bibi. Loraylee’s love for Archibald Griffin, Hawk’s white father and manager of the cafeteria where she works, must be kept secret in the segregated South.

Loraylee has heard rumors that the city plans to bulldoze her neighborhood, claiming it’s dilapidated and dangerous. The government promises to provide new housing and relocate businesses. But locals like Pastor Ebenezer Polk, who’s facing the demolition of his church, know the value of Brooklyn does not lie in bricks and mortar. Generations have lived, loved, and died here, supporting and strengthening each other. Yet street by street, longtime residents are being forced out. And Loraylee, searching for a way to keep her family together, will form new alliances—and find an unexpected path that may yet lead her home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anna Jean Mayhew’s first novel, The Dry Grass of August, won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, and was a finalist for the SIBA Book Award. A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, she has never lived outside the state and her work reflects her vivid memories of growing up in the segregated South. Tomorrow’s Bread is her second novel. Please visit her online at www.annajeanmayhew.com.

March 2019 | Paperback | 352 pp | $15.95 | 9780758254108 |
Kensington Publishing Corp.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. There are three narrative voices in Tomorrow’s Bread, one is first person and the other two are third. Did the different narrative voices affect how you perceived the characters?

2. Many of the characters have a missing or absent parent. Why do you think the author chose such a family structure?

3. Because of laws against miscegenation, Loraylee had to conceal her relationship with Mr. Griffin, but why did she wait until Hawk was nine to tell him about his father?

4. Senility in an aging relative is common for many of us. Was Bibi’s progressive dotage accurately portrayed?

5. Which of the major characters–Loraylee, Eben, and Persy–was most important for you, and why?

6. The magnolia in the front yard of Loraylee’s house on Brown Street weaves in and out of the story. What is the significance or symbolism of that tree?

7. Was it realistic for you that White patrons would have availed themselves of services like Tyler’s Shoe Repair and Roberta Stokes, the seamstress?

8. When you first saw the title Tomorrow’s Bread, what did it suggest? After reading the novel, does the title have a different meaning for you?

9. What was your favorite chapter?

10. Which character changed the most in the novel? The least?

11. If you had an opportunity to talk with one of the characters, which one would you choose?

12. Jonny No Age apparently is beaten to death because he’s gay. Were you surprised that homosexuality was so disliked and feared in the 1960s? Do you think the same thing would happen today?

13. Was the conclusion of the novel believable? Satisfactory?

14. How do you imagine Loraylee and her family would be doing today, 50-plus years later?

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

Colson Whitehead

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Winner of the National Book Award

Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Cora is a young slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is on the cusp of womanhood—where greater pain awaits. And so when Caesar, a slave who has recently arrived from Virginia, urges her to join him on the Underground Railroad, she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him. In Colson Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next, encountering, like Gulliver, strange yet familiar iterations of her own world at each stop. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the terrors of the antebellum era, he weaves in the saga of our nation, from the brutal abduction of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is both the gripping tale of one woman’s will to escape the horrors of bondage—and a powerful meditation on the history we all share.

“Terrific.” —Barack Obama

“An American masterpiece.” —NPR

“Stunningly daring.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Potent. ... Devastating. ... Essential.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Heart-stopping.” —Oprah Winfrey

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Colson Whitehead is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Underground Railroad, which in 2016 won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and the National Book Award. He is also a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and a recipient of the MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships.

January 2018 | Paperback | 336 pp | $16.95 | 9780345804327 | Anchor

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. In North Carolina, institutions like doctor’s offices and museums that were supposed to help ‘black uplift’ were corrupt and unethical. How do Cora’s challenges in North Carolina mirror what America is still struggling with today?

2. Cora constructs elaborate daydreams about her life as a free woman and dedicates herself to reading and expanding her education. What role do you think stories play for Cora and other travelers using the underground railroad?

3. “The treasure, of course, was the underground railroad ... Some might call freedom the dearest currency of all.” How does this quote shape the story for you?

4. What are your impressions of John Valentine’s vision for the farm?

5. When speaking of Valentine’s Farm, Cora explains “Even if the adults were free of the shackles that held them fast, bondage had stolen too much time. Only the children could take full advantage of their dreaming. If the white men let them.” What makes this so impactful both in the novel and today?

6. What do you think about Terrance Randall’s fate?

7. How do you feel about Cora’s mother’s decision to run away? How does your opinion of Cora’s mother change once you’ve learned about her fate?

8. Whitehead creates emotional instability for the reader: if things are going well, you get comfortable before a sudden tragedy. What does this sense of fear do to you as you’re reading?

9. How does the state-by-state structure impact your reading process? Does it remind you of any other works of literature?

10. Why do you think the author chose to portray a literal railroad? How did this aspect of magical realism impact your concept of how the real underground railroad worked?

US&THEM

Bahiyyih Nakhjavani

Lili and Goli have argued endlessly about where their mother, Bibijan, should live since the Iranian Revolution. They disagree about her finances too, which remain blocked as long as she insists on waiting for her son—still missing but not presumed dead yet—to return from the Iran-Iraq war. But once they begin to “share” the old woman, sending her back and forth between Paris and Los Angeles, they start asking themselves where the money might be coming from. Only their Persian half-sister in Iran and the Westernized granddaughter of the family have the courage to face up to the answers, and only when Bibijan finally relinquishes the past can she remember the truth.

A story mirrored in fragmented lives, Us&Them explores the ludicrous and the tragic, the venal and the generous-hearted aspects of Iranian life away from home. It is a story both familial and familiar in its generational tensions and misunderstandings, its push and pull of obligations and expectations. It also highlights how “we” can become “them” at any moment, for our true exile is alienation from others.

“A glitteringly poignant novel.” —Ruth Padel, author of Where the Serpent Lives, Judge of 2016 International Man Booker Prize

“Sensitive, subtle, evocative. Bahiyyih Nakhjavani weaves threads of silk with her words, skillfully filling in the silences within and between cultures.” —Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul

“With Swiftian wit and prose both pithy and poetic, Us&Them offers a searingly honest satirical image of Iranian society and its large diaspora.” —Abbas Milani, Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies, Stanford University

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bahiyyih Nakhjavani grew up in Uganda, was educated in the United Kingdom and the United States, and now lives in France. She is the author of The Woman Who Read Too Much (Redwood Press, 2015), The Saddlebag (2001), and Paper (2005).

June 2018 | Paperback | 272 pp | $17.95 | 9781503606852 | Redwood Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. The author offers a warning on the copyright page: “This is a work of fiction and so the reader is warned against it ... It is also a satire and so the reader is encouraged to laugh at it, except when disposed to weep, since every effort has been made to distort, to pervert, and to exaggerate the truth in these pages.” Why might the author have felt the need to offer such a caution? What does it say about the author’s motivations for this book that she chose to write this as a satire? Does she succeed in her aims?

2. How do the opening and closing chapters, respectively titled “Us” and “Them,” frame the story as a whole?

3. The novel moves through Los Angeles, Paris, Tehran, Australia, Germany, and elsewhere. Why is it written as a series of interconnected stories? How does the non-linear structure impact the novel and the way the story unfolds? How does the use of “we” instead of “I” as the voice of the narrator(s) illuminate—or obscure—the novel’s themes?

4. Bibi, Lili, Goli, Fathi, and Delli represent three generations of women. What are each woman’s defining characteristics? Do they grow and develop throughout the story or do they mostly remain the same? How do they relate to the men in the story—the General, Ali, and Mehdi?

5. Describe the role of money in the novel. How does it impact each character? How are money and power dynamics interwoven? Does money have unique significance to migrant communities, or does it impact non-migrants in the same way?

6. Upon arriving in America, Bibi muses, “Maybe we can escape being either/or, this or that, us or them.” (80) Do you think this is true? Have you ever experienced the feeling of needing to be “either/or?” How did that unfold in your life?

7. How do you typically perceive migration? Does this story agree with or challenge your ideas on migrant and diaspora communities? Did this novel make you think differently about worldwide migration?

WAITING FOR TOMORROW

Nathacha Appanah

A powerful examination of the artistic impulse, cultural identity, and family bonds

Anita is waiting for Adam to be released from prison. They met twenty years ago, at a New Year’s Eve party in Paris, a city where they both felt out of place—he as a recent arrival from the provinces, and she as an immigrant from the island of Mauritius. They quickly fell in love, married, and moved to a village in southwestern France, to live on the shores of the Atlantic with their little girl, Laura.

In order to earn a living, Adam has left behind his love of painting to become an architect, and Anita has turned her desire to write into a job freelancing for a local newspaper. Over time, the monotony of daily life begins to erode the bonds of their marriage. The arrival of Adèle, an undocumented immigrant from Mauritius who they hire to care for Laura, sparks artistic inspiration for both Adam and Anita, as well as a renewed energy in their relationship. But this harmony will prove to be short-lived, brought down by their separate transgressions of Adèle’s privacy and a subsequently tragic turn of events.

With the careful observation, vivid description, and emotional resonance that are the hallmarks of her previous novel, The Last Brother, in Waiting for Tomorrow, Nathacha Appanah investigates the life of the artist, the question of cultural differences within a marriage, and the creation and the destruction of a family.

“This is a gorgeous, devastating book about belonging, art, and the choices we make.” —Stef Schmidt, Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, NH

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nathacha Appanah was born in Mahébourg, Mauritius. She is the author of The Last Brother, which has been translated into sixteen languages. She works as a journalist and translator and lives in Caen, France.

April 2018 | Paperback | 176 pp | $16.00 | 9781555978037 | Graywolf Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Anita and Adam are called “an oddly matched couple.” (17) Can you name a few ways their beliefs and desires conflict with one another? By the end of the book, do you think they have become more alike or even more different?

2. The nonlinear narrative structure of Waiting for Tomorrow gives readers a glimpse of what’s to come. For instance, we know from the second page that Adam will end up in prison. How did this foreshadowing affect your experience of reading the novel?

3. Throughout the novel, the characters savor privacy—soaking up solitude and reflection while drawing, writing, or walking on the beach. What purpose do these private moments serve throughout the book? Is Adèle afforded privacy in her life as well?

4. Belonging, assimilation, and purpose are important themes in the novel. How do each of these relate to the three main characters?

5. Towards the end of Waiting for Tomorrow, Anita notes that both she and Adèle “grew up under the same tropical sun, they like the same food, the same music, they speak the same language, they have lived beside the sea but have never learned to swim, they could have been sisters.” (139) Do you think Adèle would agree with this statement? In what ways are Adèle and Anita different?

6. How does Waiting for Tomorrow complicate the ideas of artistic expression and exploitation?

7. Anita writes her novel, The Melody of Adèle, from Adèle’s perspective. How does she develop Adèle’s character? What are the similarities and differences between the voice Anita gives Adèle and her real voice?

8. At which points in the book do Anita, Adam, and Adèle experience homesickness? How are their experiences of these feelings different? How are they similar?

9. How does Waiting for Tomorrow fit into current conversations and controversies around immigration, both in Europe and across the globe?

10. In what ways is Laura a peripheral character in this narrative? In what ways is she the most central character?

THE BEST OF US: A MEMOIR

Joyce Maynard

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Best of 2017 List

In 2011, when she was in her late fifties, beloved author and journalist Joyce Maynard met the first true partner she had ever known. Jim wore a rakish hat over a good head of hair; he asked real questions and gave real answers; he loved to see Joyce shine, both in and out of the spotlight; and he didn’t mind the mess she made in the kitchen. He was not the husband Joyce imagined, but he quickly became the partner she had always dreamed of.

Before they met, both had believed they were done with marriage, and even after they married, Joyce resolved that no one could alter her course of determined independence. Then, just after their one-year wedding anniversary, her new husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. During the nineteen months that followed, as they battled his illness together, she discovered for the first time what it really meant to be a couple—to be a true partner and to have one.

Charting the course through their whirlwind romance, a marriage cut short by tragedy, and Joyce’s return to singleness on new terms, The Best of Us is a heart-wrenching, ultimately life-affirming reflection on coming to understand true love through the experience of great loss.

“Heart wrenching, inspiring, full of joy and tears and life.” —Anne Lamott

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joyce Maynard is the author of sixteen books including the novels To Die For and Labor Day (both adapted for film) and the bestselling memoir At Home in the World. Her essays and columns have appeared in dozens of publications. She is a frequent performer with The Moth, a fellow of the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo, and founder of the Lake Atitlan Writers’ Workshop. She is the mother of three grown children, and makes her home in Lafayette, California.

September 2018 | Paperback | 464 pp | $18.00 | 9781635570359 | Bloomsbury

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Explore how Joyce and Jim harness the power of hope throughout this memoir. Discuss the points in the memoir where Joyce’s hope is tested and how her hopefulness is sustained or diminished in the face of struggle.

2. Compare and contrast Joyce’s understanding of marriage at the beginning of the story and at the end. How does this memoir challenge or reinforce the traditional notion of a “good” marriage? By the end of the memoir, what do you think Joyce’s definition of marriage would be?

3. The commitment to preserving her individuality is a cornerstone of Joyce’s personality, but Jim’s cancer entwines them by vastly altering the course of their life together. How does Joyce maintain her individuality while still being a devoted wife and caregiver? Discuss how Joyce attempts to return to her life alone after Jim’s death. How does one reconnect with themself after a tragedy?

4. The adoption and subsequent rehoming of Adenach and Layla is Joyce’s greatest source of shame. Although she loved her adopted daughters fiercely, it quickly became apparent that she could not provide the home they needed to thrive in their new American life: “They needed a different mother. They needed a father.” (50) In your opinion, why was Joyce’s situation so unsuitable? Why was a father so necessary? Explore how, and if, Joyce comes to terms with her decision.

5. Explore the ways that Jim and Joyce come to terms with the finality of death. While Jim comes to peace with the end of his life, Joyce has to come to peace with the rest of hers. In what ways does Joyce prepare for Jim’s death and what effects of loss are unpredictable? Discuss the point, if any, that this memoir makes about the nature of death and fatal illness. How does Joyce grapple with being the one left behind?

BEYOND MEASURE: ESSAYS

Rachel Z. Arndt

“Great Essay Collections from Winter/Spring 2018,” Book Riot

“Best New Books of April 2018,” Chicago Review of Books

“Debut Author Spotlight,” The Masters Review

With mordant humor and penetrating intellect, Rachel Z. Arndt casts her gaze beyond event-driven narratives to the machinery underlying them: judo competitions measured in weigh-ins and wait times; the significance of the elliptical’s stationary churn; the standardized height of kitchen countertops; the rote scripts of dating apps; the stupefying sameness of the daily commute. “How much can data tell us?” Arndt asks, challenging us to consider the simultaneous comfort and absurdity of our exhaustively quantified—yet never entirely quantifiable—lives.

“[Beyond Measure] is a delight to read.” —Publishers Weekly

“[H]er strongest pieces place her at the center of larger forces that make her (and us) feel abnormal. ... A keen, close study of the neuroses attached to everyday living.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Arndt is a thoughtful, deliberate writer—one might say measured—infusing her prose with wit and flashes of poetic insight. ... And Beyond Measure is an elegantly structured book, its flow and recurring motifs reminiscent of Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams.” —The Masters Review

“Look to this book for darkly funny investigations of the world around us.” —Book Riot

“One hallmark of Sarabande Books is authors who transform everyday personal narratives into exciting and contemplative works, a skill which Arndt performs effortlessly.” —THE Magazine

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rachel Z. Arndt’s writing has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Quartz, The Believer, and elsewhere. She received MFAs in nonfiction and poetry from the University of Iowa, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow and nonfiction editor of The Iowa Review. After stints in Rhode Island and New York, she now lives in Chicago, and works as a reporter at Modern Healthcare, covering healthcare technology.

April 2018 | Paperback | 196 pp | $15.95 | 9781946448132 | Sarabande Books

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. What do you see as the theme that ties all these essays together? Which essays are most representative of this theme?

2. Each of the essays has a one-word title. How do these titles affect how you read the essays?

3. The idea of uncertainty comes up a lot. What is Arndt suggesting about the role uncertainty plays in modern life?

4. In “Early,” Arndt juxtaposes the story of her birth with anecdotes from adulthood. What effects do the two threads have on one another? By juxtaposing different times in her life, what argument is Arndt making?

5. Some of the essays, like “Yardstick,” incorporate researched information. How do those more objective facts interact with the personal and subjective narration? Do the two modes complement one another? Contradict one another?

6. Could these essays work without a first-person narrator? How would they change?

7. In “Stars,” Arndt brings up the etiquette of rating and measuring things. Throughout the book, when and how does the narrator act differently because measurement is involved? When do you find yourself doing the same?

8. “Naps” has a distinct, fragmented, and repetitive style. What is the effect of this style on that essay? What’s the effect on the surrounding essays?

9. The book starts and ends with essays about sleep. What role does sleep play in the book?

10. In “Yardstick,” “Weight,” and other essays, Arndt considers the way women are measured by society. How are these essays related to the #MeToo movement? If they were written now, after the movement began, how might they change?

11. Digital technology plays an important role in some of the essays, allowing the narrator to measure what would otherwise be unquantifiable. What would these essays look like if they were written one hundred years ago?

EVERYTHING IS HORRIBLE AND WONDERFUL: A TRAGICOMIC MEMOIR OF GENIUS, HEROIN, LOVE, AND LOSS

Stephanie Wittels Wachs
Foreword by Aziz Ansari

As Seen on Late Night with Seth Meyers

One phone call. That’s all it took to change Stephanie Wittels Wachs’s life forever ...

Her younger brother, Harris, a star in the comedy world known for his work on shows like Parks and Recreation, had died of a heroin overdose. How do you make sense of such a tragic end to a life of so much hilarious brilliance?

In beautiful, unsentimental, and surprisingly funny prose, Stephanie Wittels Wachs alternates between her brother’s struggle with addiction, which she learned about three days before her wedding, and the first year after his death, in all its emotional devastation. This compelling portrait of a comedic genius and a profound exploration of the love between siblings is A Year of Magical Thinking for a new generation of readers.

A heartbreaking but hopeful memoir of addiction, grief, and family, Everything Is Horrible and Wonderful will make you laugh, cry, and wonder if that possum on the fence is really your brother’s spirit animal.

“Beautiful, funny, and epically poignant.” —Sarah Silverman

“Unsentimental and at times even funny.” —Bustle

“This remarkable and movingly told story will break and mend hearts.” —David Sheff, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Boy

“An intimate and illuminating account of an addict’s impact on a family.” —Bill Clegg, author of Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man and Did You Ever Have a Family

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stephanie Wittels Wachs is a theatre artist who holds degrees from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance. Her writing has been featured on Vox, Longform, Longreads, the Huffington Post, Fatherly, Mamamia, Babble, and Medium. She lives in Houston, Texas.

February 2018 | Hardcover | 288 pp | $25.99 | 9781492664109 | Sourcebooks

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Harris Wittels was a successful comedy writer and comedian and had everything going for him. Stephanie Wittels Wachs describes her brother as funny, charismatic, and smart, not to mention loved by everyone in the family. Harris was also a drug addict and at times, unreliable, arrogant, and selfish. Did this dichotomy surprise you? Is it hard for you to understand how one person could be so different at times?

2. Given the current opioid crisis in America, Harris’s story is not atypical. Did it surprise you that even though he was making plenty of money and lived comfortably, he started using heroine? Did hearing about Harris’s story put a human face on the opioid epidemic? Did it make you realize that it can affect anyone, even individuals who seem to have everything going for them?

3. Do you believe drug addiction is a disease, as described in the book, or a choice people make? Do you think rehab would have ever worked for Harris or do you believe the addiction was too strong?

4. Stephanie describes how she first heard about her brother’s death and says she was having a good day. Have you ever gotten bad news out of the blue that takes a seemingly good—or even normal—day, and changes everything? How did you deal with sudden devastating news?

5. Throughout the book, Harris’s family members have different reactions and use different coping mechanisms to deal with his death. Stephanie is raw and emotional and used writing as a form of healing. Harris’s mom became an activist, and his dad was often quiet with his thoughts and retreated. Who do you relate to most when it comes to dealing with grief? Did reading about everyone’s experiences make it easier to understand how people deal with grief differently?

6. Everything is Horrible and Wonderful is such an oxymoron, but Stephanie explains that while her life was shattered by her brother’s death she also felt very blessed in so many ways (marriage, first home, first baby). Have you ever experienced deep sorrow yet happiness at the same time? Explain how that made you feel. What were the blessings that helped you deal with your grief?

7. Humor plays an important role in the book and in Stephanie’s life, growing up as well as in adulthood. Even in the midst of arguments she said her family always took a break for laughter. What role does humor play in your life and family? Does humor help you through tough times in life? Did the humor in this book make the story easier to read and digest?

FLY GIRLS: HOW FIVE DARING WOMEN DEFIED ALL ODDS AND MADE AVIATION HISTORY

Keith O’Brien

The untold story of five women who fought to compete against men in the high-stakes national air races of the 1920s and 1930s—and won.

Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi-day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Well, the men were hailed. Female pilots were more often ridiculed than praised for what the press portrayed as silly efforts to horn in on a manly, and deadly, pursuit. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky.

O’Brien weaves together the stories of five remarkable women who fought for the chance to race against the men—and in 1936 one of them would triumph in the toughest race of all.

Like Hidden Figures and Girls of Atomic City, Fly Girls celebrates a little-known slice of history wherein tenacious, trail-blazing women braved all obstacles to achieve greatness.

“Fly Girls reads like a heart-stopping novel, but this story is all true—and thoroughly inspiring.” —Karen Abbott, author of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy

“A thrilling story of courage, competition, skill, and triumph.” —Liza Mundy, author of Code Girls

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Keith O’Brien is a former reporter for the Boston Globe and a frequent contributor to National Public Radio. His work has appeared on shows such as All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and This American Life. He has also written for the New York Times Magazine, Politico, and Slate, and is the author of Outside Shot: Big Dreams, Hard Times, and One County’s Quest for Basketball Greatness. He lives in New Hampshire.

August 2018 | Hardcover | 352 pp | $28.00 | 9781328876645
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. On page xiii, the author states, “In the late 1920s, newspapers and magazines routinely published articles questioning whether a woman should be allowed to fly anywhere, much less in these races. That such questions could be posed—and taken seriously—might strike us today as outlandish.” Does this strike you as outlandish? Do people still question or challenge females due to their gender today?

2. The book is, “A story that plays out over one tumultuous decade when gender roles were shifting, cultural norms were evolving, and the Great Depression had people questioning almost everything in America.” How do you think the time period, and the stress of the Great Depression, affected people’s reactions to women leaving their traditional posts?

3. There is a huge cast of characters in this book. What male character is most memorable to you and why? What female character?

4. At the end of the introduction, the five main women of the book are described. After reading the book, do you agree with how they are introduced?

5. There are examples on page 99 of how the women support each other in the Powder Puff Derby. What do these examples show about their relationships with each other, and about their shared ideas about what female aviation could look like? How did it differ from men?

6. Page 125-126 describes Amelia’s decision to marry George Putnam. What do you think about this decision and what does her letter show about her personality?

7. On page 243, Henderson tells Thaden, “I’m afraid you’ve won the Bendix.” What does this say about Henderson’s character?

8. On page 247, Thaden begs Earhart not to do the flight around the world. Why doesn’t she agree with Earhart’s decision?

9. In Earhart’s letter to Putnam on 247, she explains that women must try things men have tried, and that their failures should become a challenge to others. What do you think of this sentiment, and almost call to arms for the entire female gender?

10. On page 254, the author shares that the story of Earhart’s unsuccessful worldwide flight was so impossible and tragic that it dwarfs every other female flier. Why do you think history latched onto Earhart more than anyone else?

GRAND THEFT HORSE

G. Neri (author) and Corban Wilkin (illustrator)

Gail Ruffu was a rookie trainer known for her unconventional methods and ability to handle dangerous horses. When she became part owner of an untamed thoroughbred named Urgent Envoy, everything changed. After Urgent Envoy showed real promise, her co-owners forced Gail to speed up training and race him too early, injuring him. Refusing to drug the horse to keep it running, Gail lost Urgent Envoy to her partners, who pushed the horse even harder. One more race would kill him.

So on Christmas Eve, she rescued her own horse. A modern-day outlaw, Gail evaded private investigators and refused to give the horse up. Blacklisted by the racing world, she learned the law at night to take on a powerful L.A. attorney determined to crush her in court. As she stood up for the humane treatment of racehorses, she also faced down the system that caused their demise.

In this gorgeous graphic biography, G. Neri retells the life of his cousin Gail, a pioneer who challenged the horse racing world for the sake of one extraordinary horse.

“The world loves an underdog and Grand Theft Horse reminds us that underdogs can and do win. This will be a hit with animal lovers of any age. A phenomenal read—I loved it.” —A.S. King, Michael L. Printz Award winner and author of Still Life with Tornado

“A compelling page-turner of a story that will move you to anger and tears.” —Andrew Smith, Michael L. Printz Award Honor and Boston Globe-Horn Book Award-winning author of Grasshopper Jungle

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: G. Neri is the award-winning author of Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty, which Flavorwire hailed as one of the top 25 essential graphic novels of all time. His books have been translated into multiple languages in more than 25 countries.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR: Corban Wilkin is the recipient of the 2012 Cape/Observer/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize for his comic But I Can’t and was nominated for the 2014 British Comics Awards in the Emerging Talent category for the graphic novel Breaker’s End.

September 2018 | Paperback | 240 pp | $19.95 | 9781620148556 | Tu Books

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Do you think Gail broke the law by taking Urgent Envoy into hiding? Why or why not?

2. How does one decide what is right and what is wrong in this situation? Is what is right the same thing as what is legal?

3. Why do you think the graphic novel format was used to tell this story? What do readers gain by experiencing the story visually as well as through words?

4. Gail states that one of the most important lessons she learned about horse training was, “Never blame the horse. ALWAYS blame the rider.” What did she mean by this? Do you agree?

5. How would you describe Gail’s relationship with Urgent Envoy? Have you ever had a special relationship with an animal?

6. In what ways is Gail treated fairly by the justice system? In what ways is she treated unfairly?

7. Why is Clayton so determined to go after Gail? What do you think motivates him?

8. How does Gail demonstrate perseverance throughout the book? What are some of the sacrifices that she makes in order to save Urgent Envoy?

9. Gail makes the choice to risk jail time, rather than pleading guilty to a misdemeanor. Why does she make this choice? What would you do if you were her?

10. Gail’s lawyer Curtis says to her, “Don’t you see that you’ve won this?” Do you agree or disagree?

11. What kind of relationship does Gail have with her father? If you were Gail’s parent, what advice would you give to her?

12. Do you consider Gail a hero? Why or why not?

13. How did this book affect your view of horse racing? What did you think of horse racing before and what did you think of horse racing after? Why did your perception change, or not change?

HILLBILLY ELEGY

J. D. Vance

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.

A deeply moving memoir, with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

“You will not read a more important book about America this year.” —The Economist

“[Vance is] a fiercely astute social critic of the sort we desperately need right now.” —Meghan Daum, New York Times

“Essential reading for this moment in history.” —David Brooks, New York Times

“A beautiful memoir, but it is equally a work of cultural criticism ... A riveting book.” —Wall Street Journal

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: J. D. Vance grew up in the Rust Belt city of Middletown, Ohio, and the Appalachian town of Jackson, Kentucky. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school and served in Iraq. A graduate of the Ohio State University and Yale Law School, he has contributed to the National Review and the New York Times and is a principal at a leading Silicon Valley investment firm. Vance lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his family.

May 2018 | Paperback | 288 pp | $16.99 | 9780062300553 | Harper Paperbacks

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. What is Jackson, Kentucky like? Why does Vance have such an affection for the place? How is Middletown, Ohio similar and different?

2. In Chapter Two, we learn about the migration of people out of Appalachia in search of jobs. What does this migration do for communities?

3. Class disloyalty is something Vance’s grandmother, Mamaw, dislikes. How does she define class disloyalty? Why does she dislike it so much? Why does she think loyalty is so important? Thematically, in what ways is loyalty celebrated and in what ways is loyalty problematic?

4. Are you surprised at the kinds of violence Vance encounters at home? Do you think the family themselves consider their behaviors violent?

5. In Chapter Eight, Vance discusses education reform to help children in poor Appalachia communities. How do you fix the issues in these school systems when the problems these children face also stem from their lives at home?

6. From Vance’s analysis, why are people in places like Middletown, Ohio so distrustful of contemporary America? In what ways do the media and internet feed into these anxieties? How do these perceptions and views feed into attitudes towards government and aspects of American society?

7. How does the Marine Corps change Vance? What does it teach him? In what ways does being at Yale Law challenge Vance’s identity?

8. On page 231, Vance talks about the difference between personal choice and cultural inheritance. How do you distinguish between actions and reactions based on personal choice versus cultural inheritance?

9. The ability to adapt is a significant theme in Hillbilly Elegy. In what ways is the adaptability, or lack thereof, of people or towns to certain circumstances present in the book?

10. Vance talks about hillbilly culture suffering from a lack of agency and a willingness to blame everyone but yourself. How do we see Seligman’s “learned helplessness” in Hillbilly Elegy? How does it deepen this community’s crisis?

11. What public policy lessons does Vance outline from his experiences? How could they help the hillbilly community?

I FOUND MY TRIBE: A MEMOIR

Ruth Fitzmaurice

Ruth’s tribe are her lively children and her filmmaker and author husband Simon Fitzmaurice who has ALS and can only communicate with his eyes. Ruth’s other “tribe” are the friends who gather at the cove in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, and regularly throw themselves into the freezing cold water, just for kicks.

The Tragic Wives’ Swimming Club, as they jokingly call themselves, meet to cope with the extreme challenges life puts in their way. Swimming is just one of the daily coping strategies as Ruth fights to preserve the strong but now silent connection with her husband. As she tells the story of their marriage, from diagnosis to their long-standing precarious situation, Ruth also charts her passion for swimming in the wild Irish Sea.

An invocation to all of us to love as hard as we can, and live even harder, I Found My Tribe is an urgent and uplifting letter to a husband, family, friends, the natural world, and the brightness of life.

“A lyrical and moving memoir.” —The Economist

“A moving memoir of family life, coping with her husband’s motor neuron disease and the icy joys of wild sea swimming.” —Best Non-Fiction, Good Housekeeping

“A moving and emotional piece of writing, Fitzmaurice’s captivating memoir shares her unique experience and invites the reader to realize the strength of love and the support of true friendship.” —Booklist

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ruth Fitzmaurice was a radio researcher and producer when she married her husband, Simon, in 2004 and had three children. In 2008, Simon was diagnosed with ALS and given three years to live. Simon went into respiratory failure in 2010 and was accidentally placed on a ventilator during an emergency procedure. He decided, against medical advice, to keep the ventilator; Ruth and Simon went on to have twins in 2012. She lives in Ireland with her five children, 2 dogs, and a cat.

March 2018 | Hardcover | 224 pp | $25.00 | 9781635571585 | Bloomsbury

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Consider the memoir’s epigraph, “I must be a mermaid, Rango, I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.” What would Ruth consider to be “shallow living”? How does Ruth combat shallow living?

2. Before Simon’s diagnosis, her family was her tribe. But as Simon’s symptoms worsen, Ruth realizes her tribe needs to grow. They move back to Greystones, and she begins to assemble new members, including her friends, her children, and her cove. How does each tribe member contribute to Ruth’s wellbeing? What do they bring her? Additionally, explore the concept of having a “tribe.” Do you have people or places in your own life who collaborate to lift you up?

3. Why is the cove magnetic for Ruth and the others? What about the cove brings Ruth peace? Explain the moments when Ruth seeks solace there and why.

4. Daydreams are an essential tool for Ruth before MND, but after Simon’s diagnosis, Ruth feels that “for the first time it felt like daydreams couldn’t save me and nobody seemed to notice.” (26–27) Explore this part of Ruth’s personality. How does she use this thoughtful and playful quality to cope with Simon’s illness? How does it enhance her relationship with her children? Discuss the harsh reality of illness and how it affects Ruth’s ability to daydream.

5. Discuss how Ruth handles her new role as caregiver. Ruth writes that she is a “superhero in disguise.” (66) How does this “super” persona help Ruth cope with Simon’s MND? Do you agree with Ruth’s definition of a superhero? In your opinion, can superheroes get scared? Does that make them less heroic?

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: THE OSAGE MURDERS AND THE BIRTH OF THE FBI

David Grann

New York Times Bestseller

National Book Award Finalist

New York Times Notable Book

Best Book of the Year by Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, GQ, Time, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly, Time Magazine, NPR, Vogue, Smithsonian, and more

At the end of the 19th century, the Osage Indians were driven onto a presumed worthless expanse of land in northeastern Oklahoma. But their territory turned out to be atop one of the largest oil deposits in the United States; to obtain that oil, prospectors were required to pay the tribe for leases and royalties. By the 1920s, the members of Osage Nation had become the wealthiest people per capita in the world. And then the Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances.

As the death toll climbed to more than twenty-four and local law enforcement made little progress, the fledgling Federal Bureau of Investigation was called in. Headed by agent Tom White, the investigation was closely overseen in Washington by the Bureau’s ambitious newly appointed director, J. Edgar Hoover.

Exposing the turbulent history of the relations between whites and the Osage Nation over the course of more than a century, Killers of the Flower Moon provides a disturbing look at the deep-seated prejudices that continue to cast a shadow over our country.

“Disturbing and riveting ... Grann has proved himself a master of spinning delicious, many-layered mysteries that also happen to be true ... It will sear your soul.” —Dave Eggers, New York Times Book Review

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: David Grann is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the bestselling author of The Lost City of Z. He is also the author of The Devil and Sherlock Holmes. His work has garnered several honors for outstanding journalism, including a George Polk Award.

April 2018 | Paperback | 400 pp | $16.95 | 9780307742483 | Vintage

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. How did the contemporary media reports on the wealth and lifestyle of the Osage lay a foundation for the way the murders and mysterious deaths were treated by law enforcement?

2. How did you respond to the description of law enforcement in America during the 1920s (19)? What made the situation in Osage County particularly chaotic? What effect did this have on the investigations into the deaths of Anna Brown and Charles Whitehorn?

3. What does Grann’s account of the relationship between the United States government and Native Americans contribute to your understanding of the country’s history (37–44)? How did government policies affect individuals like Mollie and her family? What does Grann capture in his description of Lizzie’s death: “Lizzie’s spirit had been claimed by Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, and by Wah’Kon-Tah, the Great Mystery” (36)?

4. In what ways does Tom White combine the qualities of the Old West and of the modern bureaucratic system Hoover is trying to create? How does this influence the steps he takes in investigating the murders? How do the various views of White, including the stories of his childhood and his work as a Texas Ranger (137–153), shape your impressions of him? Would you define him as the hero of the book?

5. During Hale’s trial, a member of the Osage tribe said, “It is a question in my mind whether this jury is considering a murder case or not. The question for them to decide is whether a white man killing an Osage is murder—or merely cruelty to animals” (215). Why does this observation resonate beyond the immediate circumstances?

6. Perhaps the most chilling aspect of Killers of the Flower Moon is the marital and familial connections between murderers and their victims. How does Grann bring to life the particular horror of crimes committed within a family and a close-knit community?

7. What does the evidence Grann uncovered when he visited Osage County in 2012 reveal about the lasting legacy of the “Reign of Terror”?

8. Killers of the Flower Moon combines the fast pace of a true-life murder mystery with the scope and detail of a narrative history. How does Grann integrate these different aspects of the book?

LETTERS FROM MAX: A BOOK OF FRIENDSHIP

Sarah Ruhl and Max Ritvo

In 2012, Sarah Ruhl was a distinguished author and playwright, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Max Ritvo was an exuberant, opinionated, and highly gifted poet in remission from pediatric cancer. Studded with poems and songs, their correspondence is a deeply moving portrait of a friendship, and a shimmering exploration of love, art, mortality, and joy.

“Deeply moving, often heartbreaking ... a captivating celebration of life and love.” —Kirkus (starred review)

“Revelatory in every way, Letters from Max is an unusual, beautiful book about nothing less than the necessity of art in our lives. Two big-hearted, big-brained writers have allowed us to eavesdrop on their friendship: jokes and heartbreaks, admiration, hard work, tender work.” —Elizabeth McCracken

“I expected the letters between these two artists to be profoundly brilliant and profoundly heartbreaking. And they are. But what I didn’t expect, and what makes the experience of reading this conversation a sublime one, is the abiding and generous humor throughout, the element that, as Max Ritvo says, ‘makes our sadness rhyme with joy.’” —Carrie Fountain

“I will read more books in my life but I will not love another book more than this one. I suspect this book has the power to reassure the weary and to instill faith in anyone who needs it. If they let you bring books when you die, I will 100 percent put this one in the tiny stack that goes with me.” —Mary-Louise Parker

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Max Ritvo (1990-2016) wrote Four Reincarnations in New York and Los Angeles over the course of a long battle with cancer. Ritvo’s poetry has appeared in the New Yorker, Poetry, Boston Review, and as a Poema-Day for Poets.org. His prose and interviews have appeared in publications such as Lit Hub, Huffington Post, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Sarah Ruhl’s plays include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, Tony Award nominee), and The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), among many others. She is recipient of the MacArthur “genius” grant, and of, most recently, the 2016 Steinberg Prize. She is currently on the faculty of the Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family.

September 2018 | Hardcover | 336 pp | $26.00 | 9781571313690 | Milkweed Editions

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. What about the book’s title indicates how Sarah understood her and Max’s relationship? How is her attitude different than Anna Deavere Smith’s in Letters to a Young Artist?

2. Sarah includes the poems attached to her and Max’s letters. How do they work in relation to each other? Which parts of Max can you understand from his letters alone, his poems alone, and the two together?

3. Though Max talks prolifically, Sarah says Max listens profoundly. How are his words to Sarah like an act of listening?

4. How is this collection of text a meditation itself? How is poetry like an act of mindfulness? Sarah says Max’s poetry “leads one away from confessional solipsism [...] so that lyric complicity is between self, dedicatee, reader, and the world. In short, love.” (161-2) What about these letters tied together with string make them more than just a personal correspondence between self and dedicatee?

5. Do you believe anything changed when Sarah and Max started writing letters with the intention of publishing their correspondence? Do you believe they had ever written with only the other person in mind as an audience? Can the form of a letter, with its inclinations of intimacy, contribute a feeling of affection to writing that is meant for more than just one reader?

6. Sarah thinks of “the afterlife as a place where metaphors are real. Or where there is a play (I use that word deliberately) between metaphors and reality.” (227-8) After reading some of Sarah’s philosophies, can you understand why her genre is the theater? How does the theater—perhaps its dialogue or performativity—find its way into these writings?

7. How does literary art affect both Sarah and Max’s ideas of an afterlife? How does their art affect their respective ideas of belief?

8. In her afterword, Sarah writes that she can hear Max saying, “Don’t try to draw a lesson from this.” (312) Without moralizing Max’s life, how does his story find its way into your ideas of living and love?

THE MOTHERHOOD AFFIDAVITS: A MEMOIR

Laura Jean Baker

“Motherhood, complicated and personal.” —The New York Times

With the birth of her first child, Laura Jean Baker finds herself electrified by oxytocin, the “love hormone”—the first effective antidote to her lifelong depression. Over time, her “oxy” cravings, and her family, only grow—to the dismay of her husband, Ryan, a freelance public defender. As her reckless baby–making threatens her family’s middle–class existence, Baker identifies more and more with Ryan’s legal clients, often drug–addled fellow citizens of Oshkosh, WI. Is she any less desperate for her next fix?

Baker is in an impossible bind: The same drive that sustains her endangers her family; the cure is also the disease. She explores this all-too-human paradox by threading her story through those of her local counterparts who’ve run afoul of the law. As Baker vividly reports on their alleged crimes—theft, kidnapping, opioid abuse, and even murder—she unerringly conjures tenderness for the accused, yet increasingly questions her own innocence.

Baker’s ruthless self–interrogation makes this her personal affidavit—her sworn statement, made for public record. With a wrenching ending that compels us to ask whether Baker has fallen from maternal grace, this is an extraordinary addition to the literature of motherhood.

“In a work that veers from confessional to cautionary tale to small-town crime blotter, Baker offers a harrowing account of her childbearing years at the center of the Midwestern methamphetamine crisis.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A gripping blend of family memoir and true crime ... Reads like a real-life Fargo, by turns darkly comic and desperately poignant.” —Peter Ho Davies

“The most compelling, original memoir I’ve read in years.” —Eileen Pollack

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laura Jean Baker teaches at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, specializing in memoir, women’s stories, crime narratives, and literature for children. Her essays have appeared in numerous publications; “The Year of the Tiger” was named a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2013. She has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

April 2018 | Hardcover | 288 pp | $24.95 | 9781615194391 | The Experiment

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Joyce Carol Oates writes, “Laura Jean Baker has written a beautiful and brave memoir of motherhood and its discontents, which are indistinguishable from its joys.” What unexpected or “brave” decisions has Baker made in her portrayals of her children, her family life, and motherhood in general?

2. Baker writes: “Babies had rewired the pleasure center of my brain.” Addiction is a driving force in this book—and not just in the drug-addled lives of Ryan’s clients. Do you accept the author’s assertion that she was addicted? How has addiction, in any form, touched your own life, or the lives of those you know?

3. In what ways does Baker, a highly educated university professor married to an attorney, find herself estranged from her own socioeconomic group—and more aligned with the criminal underbelly of her community? In what ways have you perceived or experienced the blurring of traditional demographic lines in your own social circles?

4. In many ways, this book is about shame and humility, emotions to which most of us (not just the guilty) are vulnerable. Have any life stresses—familial, marital, romantic, financial, or professional—ever driven you to behave in shameful ways? Does this make this book’s characters more relatable?

5. Rob McNally, “the quintessential junkie,” and Tina Last, whom Baker describes as “my evil twin,” are among the most vividly drawn characters in the book. What range of feelings do they elicit in you? Do you understand Baker’s affinities for them?

6. Baker, the daughter of a self-described feminist, seems acutely aware of how her feminist colleagues perceive her. In the last chapter, Baker writes, “I’d become a caricature of what feminists I knew rallied against, a woman defined by reproductive function ... ” What do you suppose feminism means to Baker?

7. Many of the criminal defendants portrayed are mothers, and Baker frequently quotes from their sworn statements. To the extent that the book itself can be read as Baker’s own affidavit, what “crimes” of motherhood is Baker guilty of, and is the purpose of her “statement” to plead guilty or seek exoneration?

PRAIRIE FIRES: THE AMERICAN DREAMS OF LAURA INGALLS WILDER

Caroline Fraser

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award

One of the New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year

The first comprehensive historical biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the beloved author of the Little House on the Prairie books. Millions of readers of Little House on the Prairie believe they know Laura Ingalls—the pioneer girl who survived blizzards and near-starvation on the Great Plains, and the woman who wrote the famous autobiographical books. But the true saga of her life has never been fully told. Now, drawing on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries, and land and financial records, Caroline Fraser masterfully fills in the gaps in Wilder’s biography.

Wilder’s life was hard and gritty, a story of relentless struggle, rootlessness, and poverty. It was only in her sixties, after losing nearly everything in the Great Depression, that she turned to children’s books, recasting her hardscrabble childhood as a celebratory vision of homesteading—and achieving fame and fortune in the process, in one of the most astonishing rags-to-riches episodes in American writing.

Spanning nearly a century of epochal change, from the Indian Wars to the Dust Bowl, Wilder’s dramatic life provides a unique perspective on American history and our national mythology of self-reliance. With fresh insights and new discoveries, Prairie Fires reveals the complex woman whose classic stories grip us to this day.

“Magnificent ... A remarkable, noteworthy biography of an American literary icon. It will captivate Little House fans as well as anyone looking to understand ‘the perpetual hard winter’ of life in frontier times.”” —USA Today

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Caroline Fraser is the editor of the Library of America edition of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books. Her writing has appeared The New Yorker, The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, and the London Review of Books, among other publications.

August 2018 | Hardcover | 640 pp | $22.00 | 9781250182487 | Picador USA

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Thanks to the Little House books, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s childhood is one of the most legendary in our literature. Discuss how the factual account of Laura Ingalls’s real childhood in Prairie Fires differs from the fiction. How does an understanding of Wilder’s life affect our perception of her work?

2. Fraser writes, “Wilder made history.” (5) How is this true, and in what ways does the biography bear this out? Discuss how women made history in earlier eras and how female historical figures depart from traditional male spheres of politics, government, and the military. How do Wilder’s life and reputation differ, for example, from those of famous frontier icons such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett?

3. Do you see the influence of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression in Wilder’s memoir and the Little House books—and if so, how? Discuss the other, more personal events that led to her writing.

4. Laura Ingalls Wilder worked for ten years for the National Farm Loan Association. So why did she object so vehemently to the New Deal programs designed to help farmers? Why was federal aid acceptable for her and not for others?

5. In 1894, after failing to make a go of it in Dakota Territory, the Wilders joined a mass exodus out of the region, journeying to the “Land of the Big Red Apples” in the Missouri Ozarks. How would Laura’s exile from her family affect her, and why would she return to De Smet only once in the next couple of decades, for her father’s death? Why do you think she did not return to see her mother or her sister Mary?

6. The way in which Wilder and Lane passed manuscripts back and forth between them has been described as a “collaboration.” It’s even been called “ghostwriting.” How would you describe it?

7. How have perceptions of the Little House books changed over the years, or even over the course of your own life? How has Prairie Fires changed your perceptions?

THE RADIUM GIRLS: THE DARK STORY OF AMERICA’S SHINING WOMEN

Kate Moore

Emma Watson’s Book Club May/June 2018 Pick

New York Times Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, and Indie Regional Bestseller

Indie Next Pick

LibraryReads Pick

The incredible true story of the women who fought America’s undark danger

The Curies’ newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.

Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. With such a coveted job, these “shining girls” are the luckiest alive—until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.

But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women’s cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America’s early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers’ rights that will echo for centuries to come.

“Current nonfiction obsession! ... powerful, disturbing, important history.” —New York Times bestselling author Karen Abbott

“The story of real women at the mercy of businesses who see them only as a potential risk to the bottom line is haunting ... the glowing ghosts of the radium girls haunts us still.” —NPR Books

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kate Moore is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She began her career in publishing after graduating from the University of Warwick, and now works full-time as an author, ghostwriter and book editor. She has written more than 15 books and her work has been translated into more than 12 languages.

March 2018 | Paperback | 496 pp | $17.99 | 9781492650959 | Sourcebooks

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. The Radium Girls is filled with both triumph and tragedy. Which part of the story affected you the most, and why?

2. Is there a figure in The Radium Girls that resonates more strongly with you than others? If so, what part of their story or character stood out?

3. Even after radium was proved poisonous, and the illness verified as work-related, the radium companies stood fast by their convictions. Why do you believe they were so resilient, and can you imagine modern companies behaving with such similar ruthlessness?

4. How do you believe the radium companies, and the press, would have reacted differently to the scandal had the workers been male? Considering the time period, how did their gender help and hinder their case?

5. How do you think today’s world would be different had The Radium Girls not fought back against the radium companies?

6. It takes over 1,500 years for the effects of radium to wear off. This means that the bodies of the women and parts of the towns in which they worked remain poisonous to this day. Despite the harrowing implications, why do you feel this story hasn’t been widely explored?

7. The Radium Girls is told mostly through the eyes of the radium-dial workers, their families, and friends; however, previous research never focused on their personal journeys. How did it change your appreciation of or engagement with the story to know the smaller, personal details of the girls’ lives? Is there another historical event where you’ve noticed women being pushed to the sidelines?

8. Although radium can be seen as an evil entity in the book, it’s also been used for the greater good. Explore how radium has changed the world in a positive way. Do you feel it was worth the sacrifice?

9. Besides radium, what other world-altering discoveries can you think of that both led to advancement, and also tragedy?

10. How were you inspired by the strength of the “shining girls,” and how can you carry that onwards to incite change in your own life?

THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE LAST TRUE HERMIT

Michael Finkel

A National Geographic Best Book of the Year

National Bestseller

Many people dream of escaping modern life. Most will never act on it—but in 1986, twenty-year-old Christopher Knight did just that when he left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the woods. He would not have a conversation with another person for the next twenty-seven years.

Drawing on extensive interviews with Knight himself, journalist Michael Finkel shows how Knight lived in a tent in a secluded encampment, developing ingenious ways to store provisions and stave off frostbite during the winters. A former alarm technician, he stealthily broke into nearby cottages for food, books, and supplies, taking only what he needed but sowing unease in a community plagued by his mysterious burglaries. Since returning to the world, he has faced unique challenges—and compelled us to reexamine our assumptions about what makes a good life. By turns riveting and thought-provoking, The Stranger in the Woods gives us a deeply moving portrait of a man determined to live his own way.

“Astonishing. ... An absorbing exploration of solitude and man’s eroding relationship with the natural world.” —The Atlantic

“Campfire-friendly and thermos-ready, easily drained in one warm, rummy slug. It also raises a variety of profound questions—about the role of solitude, about the value of suffering, about the diversity of human needs.” —The New York Times

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Finkel is the author of True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa, which was adapted into a 2015 major motion picture. He has written for National Geographic, GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic. He lives in western Montana.

January 2018 | Paperback | 224 pp | $16.00 | 9781101911532 | Vintage

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Discuss the significance of the Socrates epigraph that opens The Stranger in the Woods. How does this set the tone for the book? How does it relate to the book’s larger discussion of needs versus wants?

2. In the early pages of the book, Finkel states that Knight has “stripped the world to his essentials.” Consider the lifestyle that Knight leads in North Pond. What are his essentials? How many of these essentials are material versus immaterial? What does he value the most?

3. How do you feel about Knight? On the North Pond camp owners’ scale of “Lock Knight up forever” to “Let him go immediately,” where do you reside?

4. Early in their relationship, Finkel reveals to Knight that he is a “flawed journalist,” based on past actions during his reportage. Why does he choose to do this? Discuss the “lofty ideals” that both men strive for in their lives. How are they both committed to seeking truth?

5. On page 50, Finkel states that Knight “seemed to say exactly what he was thinking, raw and true, unfiltered by the safety net of social niceties.” Discuss this statement. How does Knight’s time in the woods affect his understanding of human interactions? What is his general standpoint toward humanity? How does his exposure to media (books, radio) keep him connected to society at large?

6. When reading Notes from the Underground, Knight felt that Dostoyevsky was reaching through time and speaking directly to him. What books have made you feel that way?

7. On page 112, Knight wonders if “modern society, with its flood of information and tempest of noise, was only making us dumber.” Reflect on this statement. What are the pitfalls of technology in relation to modern living? How does our reliance on technology undercut some of the most essential human functions?

8. Stranger in the Woods asks complicated, fundamental questions about solitude, self-reliance, and humans’ relationship with nature, with an extraordinary, singularly unique human at the center. Consider your own life as it relates to these concepts. How often are you completely alone? Do you ever seek out solitude, particularly in nature? How is nature both restorative and challenging for the human spirit? By the end of the book, how did your feelings toward Knight evolve?

TAKING FLIGHT: A HISTORY OF BIRDS AND PEOPLE IN THE HEART OF AMERICA

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 birdwatcher, a hard-core life-lister, or simply someone who loves the outdoors, Taking Flight will show you new ways of thinking about birds, people, and the extraordinary history that connects us.

“You’ll never look at birds the same way. You’ll never look at humans the same way either.” —B.J. Hollars, author, Flock Together

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Edmonds has been a recreational birder for three decades. He is the author of three award-winning books from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, The Wisconsin Capitol, Out of the Northwoods and Risking Everything. He is the director of programs and outreach for the Wisconsin Historical Society and has written several articles for the Society’s Wisconsin Magazine of History. He graduated from Harvard University in 1976, joined the Wisconsin Historical Society staff in 1982, and has taught at the University of Wisconsin since 1986.

March 2018 | Paperback | 224 pp | $28.95 | 9780870208362
Wisconsin Historical Society Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Generations of Midwesterners have connected to birds in many different ways—birding, hunting, storytelling, folklore, and more. How have these connections brought us closer together as a people, as a region?

2. How have our various connections to birds divided us?

3. Edmonds describes his life-changing moment with a bird at a cabin—the moment that drew him to birds and nature as never before. Have you had such an at-one-with-nature moment? If so, how did it change you?

4. Several traditional American Indian and American folk stories center around birds and their powers, real and conceived. Why do you think these stories resonated then (and perhaps now)?

5. How have birds, and people’s interactions with them, shaped the Midwestern identity?

6. In his backcover review, fellow author B.J. Hollars said readers of this book will “never look at birds—or people—the same away again.” Has your view of birds, and people changed? If so, how?

THIS ATOM BOMB IN ME

Lindsey A. Freeman

This Atom Bomb in Me traces what it felt like to grow up suffused with American nuclear culture in and around the atomic city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. As a secret city during the Manhattan Project, Oak Ridge enriched the uranium that powered Little Boy, the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The city was a major nuclear production site throughout the Cold War, adding something to each and every bomb in the United States arsenal. Even today, Oak Ridge contains the world’s largest supply of fissionable uranium.

The granddaughter of an atomic courier, Lindsey A. Freeman turns a critical yet nostalgic eye to the place where her family was sent as part of a covert government plan. Theirs was a city devoted to nuclear science within a larger America obsessed with its nuclear prowess. Through a series of vignettes around memories, photographs, childhood toys, and family members, she shows how Reagan-era politics and nuclear culture irradiated the late twentieth century. Alternately tender and alarming, her book takes a Geiger counter to recent history, reading the half-life of the atomic past as it resonates in our tense nuclear present.

“A gorgeously crafted memoir about the atomic sensorium of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Funny, wrenching, erudite. Gulp it down in a single sitting.” —Gabrielle Hecht, author of Being Nuclear

“Lyrical and poignant, with a dose of good storytelling, Lindsey Freeman’s book sings of the urgency of our times.” —Kristen Iversen, author of Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lindsey A. Freeman is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Simon Fraser University and the author of Longing for the Bomb: Oak Ridge and Atomic Nostalgia (2015).

February 2019 | Paperback | 128 pp | $18.00 | 9781503606890 | Redwood Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Were you aware of Oak Ridge before reading this book? What are your thoughts about this secret government-founded city? Did your thoughts change after reading this book?

2. Did you have a favorite vignette? Did you find any particularly interesting or moving?

3. Freeman uses color evocatively throughout the book—the primary colors of Mondrian paintings, the green luminescence of the Glo Worm, Captain Atom’s bright suit, the “black boxes” of loss (72), the ever-changing nature of Hypercolor shirts. How does color bring these vignettes and stories to life? What did you find to be the most memorable use of color in the book?

4. Talk about the use of the photographs. How did they enrich the stories? Which images were the most affective or compelling to you as you read?

5. Though the Cold War is in the past, Americans still live in nuclear times. How does the book’s juxtaposition of past and present reflect what has (and has not) changed in American politics and society over the last few decades?

6. The author’s grandmother, Nan, comes up often in her stories. What sort of woman is Nan and how do you know? What stories about her did you enjoy the most? How does her personality differ from the “Oak Rigidness” of the author and her mother?

7. Freeman says about her writing, “I set to work collecting squares of time, forming them into blocks of text, as a protection against oblivion.” (70) Do you think the written word offers any such protection? Why or why not?

8. “The things we are surrounded by when we are young become formed inside us, absorbed ... Slowly, over time, as we confront these familiar objects, we take them in, feel our places within and among them, even feel part of them.” (107) What places, people, and things from your youth have been absorbed in you? As an adult, how do you confront them? How are they are part of you? Are there any you wish were not a part of you?

WOMEN ROWING NORTH: NAVIGATING LIFE’S CURRENTS AND FLOURISHING AS WE AGE

Mary Pipher

From Mary Pipher, the New York Times bestselling author of Reviving Ophelia, Women Rowing North is a guide to wisdom, authenticity, and bliss for women as they age.

Women growing older contend with ageism, misogyny, and loss. Yet as Mary Pipher shows, most older women are deeply happy and filled with gratitude for the gifts of life. Their struggles help them grow into the authentic, empathetic, and wise people they have always wanted to be.

In Women Rowing North, Pipher offers a timely examination of the cultural and developmental issues women face as they age. Drawing on her own experience as daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, caregiver, clinical psychologist, and cultural anthropologist, she explores ways women can cultivate resilient responses to the challenges they face. “If we can keep our wits about us, think clearly, and manage our emotions skillfully,” Pipher writes, “we will experience a joyous time of our lives. If we have planned carefully and packed properly, if we have good maps and guides, the journey can be transcendent.”

“Thoughtful, wise, and profoundly transformative ... This is truly a one-of-a-kind book, one that I’ve been waiting for.” —Julia Alvarez, author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and Once Upon A Quinceanera: Coming Of Age In The USA

“Serious and thoughtful material presented with the fluidity of good fiction.” —Kirkus Reviews on Reviving Ophelia

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mary Pipher is a psychologist specializing in women, trauma, and the effects of our culture on mental health, which has earned her the title of “cultural therapist” for her generation. She is the author of several New York Times bestsellers, including Reviving Ophelia, The Shelter of Each Other, and Another Country. She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.

January 2019 | Hardcover | 272 pp | $30.00 | 9781632869609 | Bloomsbury

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. This book explores the reality of a specific stage of women’s lives as opposed to the dominant cultural stories about us. Pipher writes: “What women mean when they say, ‘I am not old,’ is, ‘I won’t accept the ideas that the culture has about me.’” (27) How do Pipher’s stories about women she’s met differ from the cultural stereotypes you’ve encountered?

2. Pipher, known for her New York Times bestseller Reviving Ophelia about the experience of teenage girls, exhibits her compassion while addressing the unique issues of her own age group. “When I told my adolescent granddaughter Kate about this book, I stressed that every life stage is hard. Looking back across my life decade by decade, I cannot find one that is without anguish.” (18) Do you share a compassion with younger generations, or do you feel that some stages of life are more difficult than others?

3. Pipher explores ways women can cultivate resilient responses to the challenges they face, both internal and interpersonal. What resilient foundations have you built in your life, and what would you like to build?

4. Pipher distinguishes between having a “happy” life and having a “meaningful” life, quoting Emily Esfahani-Smith: “Happiness seekers are unhappy when they don’t get what they want. Meaning seekers can survive negative events.” (63) How do you think people can center their lives on finding meaning rather than happiness?

5. Pipher writes about forming your own narrative about your life: “Even our most painful experiences can be revisited. We can ask, ‘How did that make me stronger?’ ‘What did I learn from that experience?’ ‘What am I proud of when I look back on that day?’” (149) Much of this book is about reclaiming the collective narrative about aging. How is Pipher reframing that understanding? What are other questions people can ask to reassess their own stories?

ALL THE STARS DENIED

Guadalupe Garcia McCall

In the heart of the Great Depression, Rancho Las Moras, like everywhere else in Texas, is gripped by the drought of the Dust Bowl, and resentment is building among white farmers against Mexican Americans. All around town, signs go up proclaiming “No Dogs or Mexicans” and “No Mexicans Allowed.”

When Estrella organizes a protest against the treatment of tejanos in their town of Monteseco, Texas, her whole family becomes a target of “repatriation” efforts to send Mexicans “back to Mexico”—whether they were ever Mexican citizens or not. Dumped across the border and separated from half her family, Estrella must figure out a way to survive and care for her mother and baby brother. How can she reunite her family and convince her country of birth that she deserves to return home?

There are no easy answers in the first YA book to tackle the hidden history of the United States and its first mass deportation event that swept up hundreds of thousands of Mexican American citizens during the Great Depression.

“Harrowing and important, All the Stars Denied explores a bleak moment when the US turned against Mexican-Americans as scapegoats for its social and economic woes. ... [A]rguably the most important YA novel of 2018.” —David Bowles, Pura Belpré Award Honor-winning author of The Smoking Mirror and They Call Me Güero

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Guadalupe Garcia McCall was born in Mexico and moved to Texas as a young girl, keeping close ties with family on both sides of the border. Her poems for adults have appeared in more than twenty literary journals, and she won the Pura Belpré Award for her first novel, Under the Mesquite. Trained in theater arts and English, she is an assistant professor of English at George Fox University in Oregon.

September 2018 | Hardcover | 336 pp | $19.95 | 9781620142813 | Tu Books

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. In what way is “repatriation” a euphemism? Why? What would the word be a euphemism for?

2. How does the Great Depression affect the situation Estrella and her family experience? What other factors affect how they are treated by the Monteseco town government?

3. How is the situation in which Estrella’s family find themselves (being deported to Mexico) different for their family than for other Mexican and Mexican American families? How is it similar?

4. How do Estrella’s poems and journal entries add to the narrative? What new perspective do they bring to the story?

5. How are Estrella and her mother restricted by expectations placed on women during this time period? How do they overcome them?

6. What personality traits help Estrella support her mother and brother during their time in Mexico?

7. How do you think the trauma that Estrella and her family experience will impact them in the future?

8. This book does not italicize Spanish words. Why do you think the author and editor made that decision? Do you agree with it?

9. Many people in America are descended from immigrants. Did your ancestors immigrate to the United States? If so, how do you think it would feel for you to return to the country they came from?

10. What parallels do you see between the forced deportation of Estrella and her family and current events? What can history teach us about what is happening today?

11. All the Stars Denied is historical fiction. Did you know about this episode in American history? Did you learn anything new that surprised you?

THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER

Emily X. R. Pan

A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng.

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

“Emily X.R. Pan’s brilliantly crafted, harrowing first novel portrays the vast spectrum of love and grief with heart-wrenching beauty and candor. This is a very special book.” —John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down

“Pan’s emotionally charged debut is a compelling exploration of grief and the insidiousness of depression.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Pan’s debut novel is not to be missed.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Emily X.R. Pan currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, but was originally born in the Midwestern United States to immigrant parents from Taiwan. She received her MFA in fiction from the NYU Creative Writing Program, where she was a Goldwater Fellow. She is the founding editor-in-chief of Bodega Magazine, and a 2017 Artist-in-Residence at Djerassi. The Astonishing Color of After is her first novel. Visit Emily online at exrpan.com, and find her on Twitter and Instagram: @ exrpan.

March 2018 | Hardcover | 480 pp | $18.99 | 9780316463997
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. The novel opens, “My mother is a bird.” What role does the bird play throughout the story and how does it change as the story progresses?

2. The story has a nonlinear narrative where it’s told in the present and through flashbacks. Why do you think it was told through this narrative structure? Did you find it effective?

3. Throughout the book, Leigh struggles with her identity as someone who is half white and half Taiwanese. How do you think she ends up finding her identity?

4. Communication is an ongoing issue in the book, whether it is Leigh with her grandparents or with her best friend, Axel. Does communication ever get easier for Leigh? Have you ever experienced something similar to her?

5. What significance do food and tea bring to the book? How did they affect your understanding of the characters?

6. When Leigh meets Feng, she is jealous of Feng’s connection with her grandparents. How does Feng serve as a foil to Leigh’s character?

7. The book has a realistic setting with elements of magic. Why did the author choose to incorporate magic? What impact did magic have on the novel?

8. Why do you think Leigh’s mother kept her sister a secret from her daughter? If Leigh had known this secret earlier, how would it have changed the way she viewed her family?

9. Grief is at the core of this novel as Leigh tries to find closure after her mom’s death by suicide. How does her family treat mental health? Why do you think there’s still a stigma on mental health issues?

10. How does Leigh use color to convey her emotions? What color do you think represents the novel?

BORROWED

Lucia DiStefano

Winner, 2018 Sheehan YA Book Prize

As seventeen-year-old Linnea celebrates the first anniversary of her heart transplant, she can’t escape the feeling that the wires have been crossed. After a series of unsettling dreams, inked messages mysteriously appear on her body, and she starts to wonder if this new heart belongs to her at all.

Across town, Maxine braces for a heartbreaking anniversary: her sister Harper’s death. Between raising her brothers and parenting her grief-stricken mother, Max is unable to ignore her guilty crush on Harper’s old flame or shake her lingering suspicion that her sister’s drowning wasn’t really an accident. With Harper as the sole connection, Linnea and Maxine are soon brought together in fantastic and terrifying ways.

A triumph of authenticity, grace, and nail-biting suspense, Lucia DiStefano’s ingenious debut is an unflinching, genre-bending story of love, mystery, and survival.

“Borrowed is unlike anything I’ve seen in recent YA literature—it’s a compelling, unpredictable thriller with a unique premise and delicious prose. DiStefano will be one to watch.” —Jennie Kendrick, Forever Young Adult

“Borrowed successfully generates real suspense through a plot that is one part cozy mystery and one part violent psychological thriller. A literate, well-told, and original YA novel.” —Mark Pumphrey, Director of Libraries, El Paso, Texas

“Lyrical prose, full-bodied characters, and a riveting plot with shocking twists and turns that kept me guessing until the startling conclusion. I couldn’t put it down!” —Kristin Bartley Lenz, The Art of Holding on and Letting Go

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A former high school English teacher, Lucia DiStefano currently works as an editor, ghostwriter, and writing coach. First-generation Sicilian and daughter of an olive farmer, she admits to having recurring pasta dreams. Hailing from central Connecticut, Lucia lives near Austin, Texas with her husband and an old bloodhound named Waffle.

November 2018 | Paperback | 264 pp | $14.00 | 9781732414105
Elephant Rock Books YA

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Maxine is driven, perhaps above all else, by her love for her two younger brothers. What do Race and Will teach Max about love and about family?

2. The theme of knowing yourself/others runs throughout the book. Which challenges push Linnea, Max, and Harper to learn more about themselves and what they’re capable of? And how do the assumptions they make about the people in their lives hold up along the way?

3. Despite its hopeful message and optimistic ending, Borrowed travels to some very dark places. How does the novel balance competing tones of hope and hopelessness during its final act?

4. On more than one occasion, Harper feels that she can see past Chris’s monstrousness to the boy he used to be. Why do you think Harper is the only one who seems able to see this side of Chris?

5. Max feels an immense amount of guilt over Harper’s death. How does Max wrestle with this guilt throughout the novel? Do you think it’s justified?

6. One of the major themes of the novel’s final act is healing. Think about a time when you had to overcome an obstacle. What—or who—helped you see the light?

7. The book is written from multiple points of view. How do these alternating voices drive the narrative? And how do each of the voices reflect the respective narrator’s personality?

8. Up until the very end of the story, Max refuses to believe that Harper really is inhabiting Linnea’s body. What do you think ultimately changes her mind?

9. Throughout her life, Linnea has had to struggle to survive, and baking has become not only a means of creative expression, but also a therapeutic outlet. How does the symbolic significance of the culinary arts manifest itself throughout the novel?

10. By the novel’s end, Max and Linnea have become close friends. Beyond what happened at the campground, what do you think brought these two girls together? What has kept them close?

BROWN: MY ALTER EGO IS A SUPERHERO, BOOK 1

Håkon Øvreås (author), Øyvind Torseter (illustrator), and Kari Dickson (translator)

Winner of numerous awards throughout Europe

As long as the sun is up, Rusty is merely Rusty, but come nightfall, he transforms into Brown—a superhero totally unafraid of the boys who keep smashing up his fort. Armed with his grandfather’s broken pocket watch, paintbrushes, and two cans of brown paint, Brown can do anything! Rusty can hardly be blamed if the big bullies’ bikes start turning brown, can he?

The first book in the highly popular, award- winning middle-grade series from Norway, Brown is a book about friendship, loss, and courage. Brown has been sold into thirty languages and is illustrated by the now- familiar and beloved Øyvind Torseter. A fun, satisfying read and excellent visual storytelling.

“In this enormously charming book we meet three little superheroes, each equipped with a bucket of paint ... Øyvind Torseter’s beautiful drawings show us what it’s like to feel small and out of place in a big world. They also evoke the warmth of the friendship between the children ... Warmly recommended!” —Aftenposten

“The jury has rarely agreed so strongly about a decision as this one ... [Øvreås] writes so well for kids that you would think he has never done anything else ... a warm and bittersweet super hero story, which is also an excellent book to read together for kids and adults” —Trollkrittet Prize

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brown was Håkon Øvreås’ first book for children and received numerous awards, including the Norwegian Ministry of Culture’s Literature Prize in 2013. He has also written several collections of poetry for adults.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR: Øyvind Torseter is an artist and one of Norway’s most acclaimed illustrators. He employs both traditional and digital picture techniques and has created six picture books on his own and many others with different authors. Torseter has received numerous prizes for his books, which have been translated into many languages.

March 2019 | Hardcover | 140 pp | $16.95 | 9781592702121 | Enchanted Lion Books
March 2019 | Paperback | 140 pp | $9.95 | 9781592702510 | Enchanted Lion Books

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. How would you describe Rusty?

2. How would you describe his family and situation?

3. How are Brown, Black, and Blue different from Rusty, Jack, and Lou?

4. Why do you think Rusty decided to turn himself into a superhero and to paint stuff brown?

5. Do you think his superhero identity is the most important thing that happens to Rusty or does something more important occur?

6. What does Rusty’s Grandpa’s death mean to him? Why do you think he doesn’t seem or act sad in any conventional way? Do you think he expresses sadness in his own way?

7. Rusty has several conversations with his grandpa throughout the book. What do you think the author is telling us about Rusty through creating a ghost for Rusty’s grandfather?

8. What do you think the function of grandpa’s old pocket watch is in the story? What does it tell us about time and memory?

9. How do you understand the relationship between reality and magic in the book? Between character and magic?

10. How would you describe other characters in the book, like the Minister, his son, Anton, and Ruben?

11. What surprised you most about the book?

CLOUD AND WALLFISH

Anne Nesbet

Slip behind the Iron Curtain into a world of smoke, secrets, and lies in this stunning novel where someone is always listening and nothing is as it seems.

Noah Keller has a pretty normal life, until one wild afternoon when his parents pick him up from school and head straight for the airport, telling him on the ride that his name isn’t really Noah and he didn’t really just turn eleven in March. And he can’t even ask them why—not because of his Astonishing Stutter, but because asking questions is against the newly instated rules. (Rule Number Two: Don’t talk about serious things indoors, because Rule Number One: They will always be listening). As Noah—now “Jonah Brown”—and his parents head behind the Iron Curtain into East Berlin, the rules and secrets begin to pile up so quickly that he can hardly keep track of the questions bubbling up inside him: Who, exactly, is listening—and why? When did his mother become fluent in so many languages? And what really happened to the parents of his only friend, Cloud-Claudia, the lonely girl who lives downstairs? In an intricately plotted novel full of espionage and intrigue, friendship and family, Anne Nesbet cracks history wide open and gets right to the heart of what it feels like to be an outsider in a world that’s impossible to understand.

“In this atmospheric page-turner set just as the Iron Curtain begins to lift, Nesbet deftly ratchets up the tension, using a close third-person omniscient narration to keep readers experiencing one unnerving event after another, just as Noah does ... This is edgy, dramatic, and emotionally rich historical fiction that provides a vivid look into an extraordinary moment in history.” —Horn Book (starred review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anne Nesbet is the author of the novels The Cabinet of Earths, A Box of Gargoyles, and The Wrinkled Crown. Her books have received starred reviews and have been selected for the Kids’ Indie Next List, Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best list, and the Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year list. An associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Anne Nesbet lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

April 2018 | Paperback | 400 pp | $8.99 | 9781536201833 | Candlewick Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. How would you react if your parents announced everything about your life—even your name and birthday—was going to change right now? Do you think Noah should have demanded more answers, even if it was against the rules?

2. Which rule do you think would be the hardest to follow? Why?

3. Cloud-Claudia says, “Names are like codes, yes? Like magic codes. They have everything that ever happened to you squeezed tightly inside them.” (151–2) Is she right? How important is your name to who you are?

4. Does Noah agree with Cloud-Claudia about names? Would his parents?

5. Should Noah trust his parents just because he knows they love him?

6. Imagine you are on one side of the Berlin Wall and part of your family is on the other side. What events in your life would you most wish you could share with your relatives on the other side? What might you want to ask them about their lives?

7. The secret police in East Berlin are automatically distrustful of Noah’s family, and when he is in the police station they try to make Noah admit that his parents are spies. Why do some governments use fear as a tactic to control their citizens? Is it really possible to control what everyone in a country does, says, and thinks? Why do people in this story do things their government does not want them to do?

8. At a few points, Noah’s Astonishing Stutter makes it difficult for others to understand him, like when he attends the party or when the police are questioning him. But how is it sometimes an advantage?

9. Language is a very important part of this book. Noah and his family need to speak German once they are in East Berlin, and Noah learns a clue about his mother’s past when he finds out she speaks Hungarian. What languages would be useful for you to know, and why?

10. Is speaking a different language like putting on a disguise? If you speak more than one language, are you the same you, whatever language you are speaking?

DEAR EVAN HANSEN: THE NOVEL

Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul

From the show’s creators comes the groundbreaking novel inspired by the hit Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen.

When a letter that was never meant to be seen by anyone draws high school senior Evan Hansen into a family’s grief over the loss of their son, he is given the chance of a lifetime: to belong. He just has to stick to a lie he never meant to tell, that the notoriously troubled Connor Murphy was his secret best friend.

Suddenly, Evan isn’t invisible anymore—even to the girl of his dreams. And Connor Murphy’s parents, with their beautiful home on the other side of town, have taken him in like he was their own, desperate to know more about their enigmatic son from his closest friend. As Evan gets pulled deeper into their swirl of anger, regret, and confusion, he knows that what he’s doing can’t be right, but if he’s helping people, how wrong can it be?

A simple lie leads to complicated truths in this big-hearted coming-of-age story of grief, authenticity and the struggle to belong in an age of instant connectivity and profound isolation.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Val Emmich is a writer, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has had recurring roles on Vinyl and Ugly Betty as well as a memorable guest role as Liz Lemon’s coffee-boy fling, Jamie, on 30 Rock. His debut novel, The Reminders, was a B&N Discover selection that Library Journal called “quirky, touching and addictive.”

Steven Levenson is the Tony Award-winning book writer of Dear Evan Hansen. His plays include If I Forget, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin, and Core Values. Honors include the Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and Drama Desk nominations.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are the Tony, Oscars and Golden Globe-winning songwriting team behind the Broadway musicals Dear Evan Hansen (Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Obie Award) and A Christmas Story, The Musical (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations). Film projects include La La Land, Trolls, and The Greatest Showman.

October 2018 | Hardcover | 368 pp | $18.99 | 9780316420235
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. From the first chapter, Evan presents his struggle with “the true me”. (8) But that struggle isn’t unique to Evan. How does each character struggle with being true to himself or herself?

2. Were you angry with Evan for not telling the truth about the letter? Why does he keep lying? Are there benefits to perpetuating the lie?

3. The writing in this novel is from the first-person perspective, both from Evan’s point of view and from Connor’s. How does this narrative technique impact the story?

4. Social media is an integral part of our daily lives, but it plays an especially major role in this story. In what ways does it positively impact the characters? How does it have a negative effect?

5. How is Zoe’s grief over Connor’s death and her mourning process different than the rest of her family’s? How does she process her mixed emotions and complicated relationship with her brother?

6. “What I do know for sure is that these people all seem to have a desperate desire to connect with someone. They feel inspired to share their incredibly personal stories.” (262) Why do people respond to The Connor Project when they don’t know any of the people involved? Can you think of a real-life example of something similar?

7. Were you surprised at the Murphys’ reaction to Evan telling the truth? Would you expect them to react differently?

8. Heidi tells Evan, “No parent knows what their kid is really up to ... we’re all just doing the best we can.” (374) Why does Heidi tell Evan this? How does this statement extend beyond parenthood?

9. What kind of resolution is reached at the end? Why is it important that everything isn’t neatly resolved in a “happily ever after”?

10. If you’ve seen a performance of the Dear Evan Hansen musical, how does this novel expand on the story from the show? How does the music affect the story?

11. Today is going to be an amazing day. Why?

FING’S WAR

Benny Lindelauf (author) and John Nieuwenhuizen (translator)

The Boon family and their indefatigable gallows humor are back in Benny Lindelauf’s follow-up to Nine Open Arms. Poised to win a scholarship to the nearby teachers college, Fing has high hopes. It’s 1938 and her poor family of nine—one father, four brothers, three sisters, and a grandmother—has finally managed to eke out a living in the tiny cigar factory abutting their dilapidated home. But smelling success, her dreamer of a father is determined to expand, and Fing’s dreams fall apart when she instead has to go to work for the Cigar Emperor, taking care of his new, German wife’s eccentric niece. The novel’s gripping language, enriched by Yiddish, German, and Dutch dialect, plunges the reader into the world of a large, colorful, motherless family as they navigate the changes World War II visits upon their little town on the border of the Netherlands and Germany. This stand-alone follow-up to Nine Open Arms, a 2015 Batchelder Honor book translated from Dutch, is a fantasy, a historical novel, and literary fiction all wrapped into one.

Praise for Nine Open Arms:

“Every element of the tale has a purpose, and in the end, the multiple layers of past and present separate and come together in surprising, often discomfiting twists and turns ... A challenging and entirely unique Dutch import.” —Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“Lindelauf’s masterful rendering of fraught yet loving sisterly ties, snappy dialogue, graveyard mysteries, and ‘traces of a tragical tragedy’ from generations past combine to humorous and poignant effect in this gripping tale of eclectic families and inveterate wanderers in search of a welcoming home.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Benny Lindelauf is a multi-award-winning Dutch children’s and young adult author who has published twelve books in Holland, several of which have appeared in translation. He also teaches creative writing to adults and children.

November 2018 | Hardcover | 412 pp | $16.95 | 9781592702695
Enchanted Lion Books

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. What differences do you see in the portrayal of the sisters and of the brothers? Does one group have more definition/depth for you than the other?

2. What happens to Fing when she takes a job and gives up her hopes of becoming a teacher?

3. What stands out for you about Liesl as a character?

4. Do you think Fing and Liesl become friends? Why or why not? What made it easier for Muulke and Jess to get along with her?

5. What is the opposite of worrying? Do you think Fing’s Dad is right to always be hopeful? Do you think Oma Mei is right to always be prepared for trouble?

6. How does the Boon household change when Dad and the brothers are taken away? What changes in Oma Mei?

7. Why do you think Liesl knocked down the display at the Grand Mixed Faith Dinner?

8. Who is Master Govaerts? If he works for the NSB, why does he step in when Jess is about to be taken by the Germans?

9. What does it mean to be a “goody-goody”? Are there any goody-goody’s in Fing’s War? Why or why not?

10. How does Jess’ wreckbone affect her? How does it affect Fing?

11. What is the Golden Future Fing imagines for herself? How does it clash with her family’s expectations? Do you see any parallels between the future she imagines for herself and the future Sixth Shoulder imagines for himself and the Netherlands?

12. How does Fing’s border town change after the occupation? How does Fing change?

GEEKERELLA: A FANGIRL FAIRY TALE

Ashley Poston

2017 Goodreads Choice Award finalist for Best Young Adult Fiction

Named to Seventeen’s 2017 ″12 Life-Changing Books You Have to Read This Summer″ List

Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win ... unless her stepsisters get there first.

Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

“Geekerella has ‘must-read’ written all over it.” —USA TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ashley Poston is the author of Geekerella (Quirk Books, 2017), Heart of Iron (HarperCollins, 2018), and Princess and the Fangirl (Quirk Books, 2019). Her fangirl heart has taken her everywhere from the houses of Hollywood screenwriters to the stages of music festivals to geeked-out conventions (in cosplay, of course). When she is not inventing new recipes with peanut butter, having passionate danceoffs with her cat, or geeking out all over the internet, she writes books. She lives in small-town South Carolina, where you can see the stars impossibly well.

May 2018 | Paperback | 320 pp | $14.99 | 9781683690436 | Quirk Books

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Geekerella is a modern retelling of the classic Cinderella fairy tale. Why do you think we reimagine fairy tales in modern contexts? What makes these stories continue to be popular for generations?

2. Do you think the story closely follows the original fairy tale? What changes did the author make, and what parts of the story did she keep the same?

3. How do you think Elle’s loss of her father has shaped her and the way she interacts with others?

4. Did you like that the story was written in the first-person voices of Darien and Elle? Did you feel connected to these characters?

5. Do you think the author’s depiction of Darien’s experience with celebrity was an accurate portrayal of what it’s like to be famous?

6. What did you think of the way the author incorporated text messaging into the book? Do you think that text messages and the internet have changed the way romance stories are written?

7. Catherine and the twins fulfill the roles of Cinderella’s evil stepmother and stepsisters. Did you sympathize with these characters at all? Can you understand Chloe and Cal’s motivations?

8. What did you learn from Sage and Elle’s friendship? Do you think that Sage represents Elle’s fairy godmother?

9. Starfield fans at ExelsiCon offer Elle pieces of their costumes as a thank-you to her late father for creating the convention. Why do you think this convention means so much to so many people? Do you have a meaningful community in your life, either online or in person?

10. What did you think of Elle’s review of the Starfield movie at the end of the book?

GHOST BOYS

Jewell Parker Rhodes

A New York Times Bestseller

An IndieBound Bestseller

The #1 Kids’ Indies Next Pick

A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a police officer, drawing connections through history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes.

Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better.

Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that’s been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing.

Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey towards recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father’s actions.

Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and sociopolitical layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today’s world, and how one boy grows to understand American blackness in the aftermath of his own death.

“This was one of my most anticipated 2018 books and I was not disappointed. A must read.” —Angie Thomas, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give

“Rhodes captures the all-too-real pain of racial injustice and provides an important window for readers who are just beginning to explore the ideas of privilege and implicit bias.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of Ninth Ward, a Coretta Scott King honor book, Sugar, winner of the Jane Adams Peace Association book award, Bayou Magic, and Towers Falling. She has also written many award-winning books for adults.

April 2016 | Hardcover | 227 pp | $16.99 | 9780316262286
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Why do you think the novel begins with Jerome’s death? How did the alternating time periods affect your reading of the story?

2. Why does Carlos bring a toy gun to school? Why might he feel like it is the best way to protect himself from bullies?

3. Why does Jerome take the toy gun even though it feels wrong?

4. Had you heard about Emmett Till before reading Ghost Boys? If so, what did you know about him? What did you learn about him?

5. Why is Sarah the only person who can see Jerome and Emmett?

6. At the court hearing, the defending lawyer accuses Officer Moore of “racial bias”. (86) What does he mean? How can a person be biased without realizing it?

7. At the hearing, Officer Moore says, “I was in fear for my life” (131), and that is why he shot Jerome even though Jerome was running away. Jerome wonders, “When truth’s a feeling, can it be both? Both true and untrue?” (118) Why is the truth so hard to determine in these situations?

8. How did you feel when the judge announced that Officer Moore would not be charged with a crime? Why do you think Jewell Parker Rhodes chose this verdict?

9. Before Jerome moves on, he convinces Sarah to speak to her father about fighting racial prejudice even though she doesn’t want to. Why is this Jerome’s final act?

10. At the end of the book, Jerome realizes that he and the other ghost boys are able to communicate with certain people so they can “bear witness” to the ghost boys’ stories. What does this mean? How does bearing witness tie into the statement, “Only the living can make the world better”? (203)

11. After reading this novel, how can you make the world better?

I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER

Erika L. Sánchez

A National Book Award Finalist and an instant New York Times Bestseller

Julia is not the perfect Mexican daughter. That was her sister Olga’s role. Olga didn’t go away to college—she stayed home to take care of their parents, clean the house, and work a part-time job. Julia has big dreams, and she wants no part of her older sister’s path. But after an accident kills Olga, Julia is left behind to cope with the aftermath.

This poignant but often laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA is about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican-American home.

“Alive and crackling—a gritty tale wrapped in a page-turner.” —New York Times Book Review

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Erika L. Sánchez is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. A poet, novelist, and essayist, she was recently named a 2017-2019 Princeton Arts Fellow. This is her debut novel.

October 2019 | Hardcover | 352 pp | $17.99 | 9781524700485
March 2019 | Paperback | 352 pp | $11.99 | 9781524700515
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. The concept of a “perfect Mexican daughter” is discussed throughout the book—what characteristics embody that idea? How does this “perfection” weigh on Julia?

2. Although Olga has passed away prior to the beginning of the book, how does Julia’s relationship with her sister change and evolve throughout?

3. The novel goes in to depth about Julia’s experience with therapy—how does this impact her grieving process? If so, what layers does this add to her character?

4. While Julia is in Mexico, she gets to interact with her culture and heritage in a different way. Do her relationships with Mamá Jacinta and Belén mirror relationships that she has in Chicago? Overall, how does her time there affect her character?

5. The novel ends with Julia entering a new chapter of her life. How has she changed since the beginning? Is she bringing any part of her old self along?

IVY ABERDEEN’S LETTER TO THE WORLD

Ashley Herring Blake

In the wake of a destructive tornado, one girl develops feelings for another in this stunning, tender novel about emerging identity, perfect for fans of The Thing About Jellyfish.

When a tornado rips through town, twelve-year-old Ivy Aberdeen’s house is destroyed and her family of five is displaced. Ivy feels invisible and ignored in the aftermath of the storm—and what’s worse, her notebook filled with secret drawings of girls holding hands has gone missing.

Mysteriously, Ivy’s drawings begin to reappear in her locker with notes from someone telling her to open up about her identity. Ivy thinks—and hopes—that this someone might be her classmate, another girl for whom Ivy has begun to develop a crush. Will Ivy find the strength and courage to follow her true feelings?

Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World exquisitely enriches the rare category of female middle-grade characters who like girls—and children’s literature at large.

“Blake captures all the exhilaration of a first crush without shying away from Ivy’s confusion ... The sisters’ relationship is one of the great rewards of this novel that includes a large and vivid cast of secondary characters, who give the story its sense of abundant texture.” —The New York Times Book Review

“This is an emotionally sensitive and elegantly written novel about loss and the first stirrings of love.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Ivy’s story is no mere niche-filler in LGBTQ middle-grade realism—it’s a standard-setter.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“There are some books that we never forget. This is one of those books. Impactful, emotional, and important.” —Erin Entrada Kelly, Newbery award-winning author of Hello, Universe

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ashley Herring Blake lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two sons. She is the author of the young adult novel Suffer Love. Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World is her debut middle grade novel.

March 2018 | Hardcover | 320 pp | $16.99 | 9780316515467
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. How does Ivy use her artistic talents to describe the world around her? How does art help her describe her physical world and her feelings?

2. How is the storm its own character in the story? How does the storm act as a catalyst for change in each character’s life?

3. Why does Ivy feel “more comforted” by Robin’s words than anyone else’s? (95) How does this comfort help Ivy connect to Robin?

4. When Ivy’s mom finds her drawing of her family, she praises it as “perfect”. (120) However, Ivy gets upset and doesn’t want her mother to hang up the drawing. Why does Ivy get upset? Why doesn’t she try to explain herself to her mom?

5. Ivy and her mother are both artists, but how else are they similar? Does their shared love of art put pressure on their relationship?

6. When Ivy and Taryn are “pondering mysteries” and Ivy classifies herself among the mysteries, she then cuts the conversation short. Do you think Taryn understood more than Ivy realized? Why do you think Taryn let Ivy move on and didn’t press her for more details?

7. When Ivy finds out Taryn was the one leaving her notes, she is angry, but Taryn believes she was just trying to help. Why is Ivy’s anger justified? How is this situation similar to Ivy looking at June’s notebook? Why do they forgive each other in the end?

8. The end of the novel flashes forward to a year after the storm. Why does the author do this? How does it further elaborate on the theme of resiliency? Why is it important to illustrate how the characters are continuously evolving?

LIKE VANESSA

Tami Charles

Readers will laugh and cry with thirteen-year-old Vanessa Martin as she tries to be like Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America.

In this semi-autobiographical novel set in 1983, Vanessa Martin’s reality of living with family in public housing in Newark, New Jersey, is a far cry from the glamorous Miss America stage. She struggles with thoughts of a mother she barely remembers, a grandfather dealing with addiction and her own battle with self-confidence. But when a new teacher coordinates a beauty pageant and convinces Vanessa to enter, Vanessa’s view of the world begins to change. Vanessa discovers that her self-worth is more than the scores of her talent performance and her interview answers, and that she doesn’t need a crown to be comfortable in her own skin and see her true beauty.

“Without a doubt, it will be inspiring to a new generation of young, talented girls.” —Vanessa Williams, multi-platinum recording artist and actor

“Gritty, poetic, emotionally true ... An unforgettable debut.” —Rita Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer and P.S. Be Eleven

“A treasure ... ”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Superb.” —Booklist (starred review)

“ ... emotionally potent, engaging ... with a heroine whom it is impossible not to root for.” —Foreword Reviews (starred review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Author Tami Charles began participating in pageants when she was thirteen years old. Following in the footsteps of one of her heroes, Vanessa Williams, gave her the confidence and drive to compete, make friends, and stay focused. Tami’s pageant successes sent her to college where she became a teacher. As a teacher, she made it her mission to introduce her students to all types of literature, but especially diverse books. Tami’s other books include the picture book Freedom Soup (Candlewick), and a companion to Like Vanessa called Becoming Beatriz (Charlesbridge).

March 2018 | Hardcover | 288 pp | $16.99 | 9781580897778 | Charlesbridge

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Why is Mrs. Walton so drawn to helping Vanessa with the pageant?

2. Why does Vanessa think she cannot enter the beauty pageant?

3. Vanessa has a support network. Why does she still feel like an outsider?

4. TJ seems happy with his life. In 1983, in the projects, he might have reason to be frightened and unhappy. Discuss why. What is the difference between TJ and Vanessa?

5. How does Darlene help Vanessa?

6. Why do TJ and Pop Pop want Vanessa to enter the pageant?

7. When Vanessa sings, what does she see when she closes her eyes? Do you know how she feels?

8. What does Pop Pop give Vanessa for good luck when she auditions for the pageant? What is the significance of this exchange?

9. How does Vanessa and Tanisha’s relationship evolve over the course of the book?

10. Do you trust Beatriz? Why or Why not?

11. TJ has a dangerous crush. Is he naïve or progressive in his behavior?

12. Why do you think Beatriz betrays Vanessa to her father? What does this mean to Vanessa?

13. When Vanessa discovers the truth about her mother, what goes through her mind? How would you feel? Did you want a different outcome?

14. What becomes of TJ after he is jumped by the Diablos? Did you see this coming?

15. Describe how Vanessa and Daddy’s relationship evolves throughout the novel.

16. Identify the historical moments presented in “Like Vanessa.” How do these “current events” contribute to the novel?

17. Vanessa desperately wants to be like her idol, Vanessa Williams. How does this evolve throughout the novel? What does young Vanessa learn in the end?

LOVE, HATE, AND OTHER FILTERS

Samira Ahmed

A New York Times Bestseller

An ABA IndieNext “Top Pick”

A Spring 2018 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection

American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There’s the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: attending a college close to their suburban Chicago home, and being paired off with an older Muslim boy her mom deems “suitable.” And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school and living in New York City—and maybe (just maybe) pursuing a boy she’s known from afar since grade school, a boy who’s finally falling into her orbit at school.

There’s also the real world, beyond Maya’s control. In the aftermath of a horrific crime perpetrated hundreds of miles away, her life is turned upside down. The community she’s known since birth becomes unrecognizable; neighbors and classmates alike are consumed with fear, bigotry, and hatred. Ultimately, Maya must find the strength within to determine where she truly belongs.

“Heartfelt ... Ahmed deftly and incisively explores the complicated spaces between ‘American and Indian and Muslim’ in modern America.” —Teen Vogue

“Ahmed authentically and expertly tells a story relevant to today’s climate. More than that, it’s a meaningful #OwnVoices book about identity and inner strength that everyone should absolutely read.” —Buzzfeed

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Samira Ahmed was born in Bombay, India, and grew up in a small town in Illinois in a house that smelled like fried onions, cardamom, and potpourri. A graduate of the University of Chicago, she taught high school English, helped create dozens of small high schools, and fought to secure billions of additional dollars to fairly fund public schools. She’s lived in Vermont, Chicago, New York City, and Kauai, where she spent a year searching for the perfect mango.

January 2019 | Paperback | 288 pp | $10.99 | 9781616959999 | Soho Teen

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Maya begins her story with the phrase “Destiny sucks.” What do you think she means, and why does she start her story this way?

2. Maya’s story is told in the first-person POV and the intercalary story is told from the third-person POV. Why do you think the author made that choice? How did that influence the way you related to the two narratives?

3. Maya tells Phil that she doesn’t know how to be a good daughter while at the same time chasing after her own dreams. Why does she feel that these things are at odds? Does she change her mind over the course of the book?

4. Why does Phil feel responsible for Brian’s actions? What, if anything, could he have done differently that might have changed the outcome? What does this say about the broader theme of how events outside of our control affect us?

5. When we first meet Kareem he is a possible love interest for Maya but he transforms into something different. Why do you think Kareem still holds an important place in Maya’s life?

6. Do you think that Maya is right to lie to her parents? Is there a difference between a protective lie and a self-serving lie?

7. Maya is a Muslim from an immigrant family. Even if you aren’t from the same background as Maya, how could you relate to her struggles and dreams? What about her experiences felt familiar?

THE POET X

Elizabeth Acevedo

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. When she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she knows that she could never get around Mami’s rules to attend, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

“The force and intensity behind her words practically pushes them off the page, resulting in a verse novel that is felt as much as it is heard. This is a book from the heart, and for the heart.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Crackles with energy and snaps with authenticity and voice.” —Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nation

“Acevedo has amplified the voices of girls en el barrio who are equal parts goddess, saint, warrior, and hero.” —Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Elizabeth Acevedo is the daughter of Dominican immigrants. She holds a BA in performing arts from George Washington University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland. The Poet X is her debut novel. She lives with her partner in Washington, DC. You can find her at www.acevedowrites.com.

March 2018 | Hardcover | 368 pp | $17.99 | 9780062662804 | HarperTeen

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. How does Xiomara reckon with her own silence? Have you ever felt silenced? Why or why not?

2. What does it mean to “hold a poem in the body”? Do you think you have words living inside of you? What words are they?

3. What are the rules, implicit and explicit, that Xiomara identifies her mother having for her? Are they different than rules her mother sets for other people? Why or why not?

4. How does Xiomara feel about her brother being gay? How does she think her silence affects Twin? Have you ever stayed silent and wished you hadn’t? How can you speak up in your own life?

5. How does silence protect Xiomara? How does Xiomara’s silence harm the people she is closest to? How do her words free her?

6. What is it about writing that makes Xiomara feel brave?

7. How does Xiomara’s relationship with writing change her relationship with her mother over the course of the novel? Why do you think her writing affects her relationship with her mother? What about church and spirituality—how does X compare and contrast religion, prayer, and poetry?

8. What is it about writing that makes Xiomara feel brave?

9. Why does Xiomara feel as though “[her] words are okay” when she is in Ms. Galiano’s class, but not when she is with other people or in other places (264)? Do you have a place where your words feel more or less safe? What makes a person or a place feel safe?

10. Have you ever heard a poem or song or seen a movie that made you feel seen?

11. Why does Xiomara call poetry club a prayer circle? Do you think that writing can be healing? Do you think art can be healing?

A ROOM AWAY FROM THE WOLVES

Nova Ren Suma

A spellbinding ghost story set in a refuge for troubled girls from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of The Walls Around Us.

Bina has never forgotten the time she and her mother ran away from home. Her mother promised they would hitchhike to the city to escape Bina’s cruel father and start over. But before they could even leave town, Bina had a new stepfather and two new stepsisters, and a humming sense of betrayal pulling apart the bond with her mother—a bond Bina thought was unbreakable.

After too many lies and with trouble on her heels, Bina finds herself on the side of the road with a fresh black eye and a room waiting for her at Catherine House, a young women’s residence in Greenwich Village with a tragic history, a vow of confidentiality, and dark, magical secrets.

“Suma’s surreal writing examines the blurred edges of life, lies, freedom, and mother-daughter relationships, leaving the reader with questions and a tangled sense of wonder.” —Booklist

“Terrific ... A Gothic love letter to secret places of New York City and the runaway girls who find them.” —Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

“Nova Ren Suma surpasses herself with this gorgeously told, mesmerizing, tense and twisted story.” —Laura Ruby, National Book Award finalist and Printz-winning author of Bone Gap

“Gulp this one down and prepare to be left shivery and spooked and a little bit heartbroken.” —Emily X.R. Pan, author of The Astonishing Color of After

“Bina’s voice recalls the unsettling beauty and verve of characters like Shirley Jackson’s Merricat, but exists as something wholly its own, stunning and true.” —Courtney Summers, author of All the Rage

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nova Ren Suma is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Walls Around Us. She also wrote Imaginary Girls and 17 & Gone and is co-creator of FORESHADOW: A Serial YA Anthology. She grew up in the Hudson Valley, spent most of her adult life in New York City, and now lives in Philadelphia.

September 2018 | Hardcover | 336 pp | $18.95 | 9781616203733
Algonquin Young Readers

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. In A Room Away from the Wolves Nova Ren Suma plays with the borders between reality and illusion. As you read, did you find your thoughts and assumptions about the real and the unreal shifting? If so, when?

2. Suma has said of this novel: “It’s a ghost story about the tangled bonds between mother and daughter, about complicated female friendship, and needing to find a place to belong.” What’s the source of the friction between Bina and her mother? Has Bina’s mother let her down? Is she justified in asking Bina to go away?

3. How is female friendship presented as complicated? Why is Bina drawn to Monet? How does your impression of Monet change over time?

4. Bina is angry at her mother, yet runs away to the place her mother once lived. Why? Is Catherine House as Bina expected? As the novel unfolds, how does it transform, literally and symbolically?

5. Bina tells the reader early that her lies have caught up with her. Knowing this, how do you judge truth in the story Bina tells?

6. The most obvious suggestion of a ghostly presence comes from Catherine’s portrait, with its moving eyes and shifting body. Are there other ghosts in the novel?

7. The author hints at people, objects, and events that link Bina’s life back home to life in New York. What links did you notice? What do they suggest about Bina’s experiences in both places?

8. What’s the importance of the opal in A Room Away from the Wolves? It’s said the best plots contain elements simultaneously surprising and inevitable. How does Suma build that effect with the opal?

9. A Room Away from the Wolves has been called a love letter to New York. What details show the author’s love of the city? Does the story influence your ideas and feelings about the place?

10. Is there one clear conclusion to and explanation of the story, or multiple possibilities? Where does the story leave Bina? Where might she go next?

THE WAR OUTSIDE

Monica Hesse

A stunning novel of conviction, friendship, and betrayal from Monica Hesse, the Edgar Award-winning and bestselling author of Girl in the Blue Coat.

It’s 1944, and World War II is raging across Europe and the Pacific. The war seemed far away from Margot in Iowa and Haruko in Colorado—until they were uprooted to dusty Texas, all because of the places their parents once called home: Germany and Japan.

Haruko and Margot meet at the high school in Crystal City, a “family internment camp” for those accused of colluding with the enemy. The teens discover that they are polar opposites in so many ways, except for one that seems to override all the others: the camp is changing them, day by day and piece by piece. Haruko finds herself consumed by fear for her soldier brother and distrust of her father, who she knows is keeping something from her. And Margot is doing everything she can to keep her family whole as her mother’s health deteriorates and her rational, patriotic father becomes a man who distrusts America and fraternizes with Nazis.

With everything around them falling apart, Margot and Haruko find solace in their growing, secret friendship. But in a prison the government has deemed full of spies, can they trust anyone—even each other?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Monica Hesse is the bestselling author of Girl in the Blue Coat and American Fire, as well as a journalist with The Washington Post. She lives outside Washington, D.C. with her husband and their dog.

September 2018 | Hardcover | 336 pp | $17.99 | 9780316316699
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. In the first chapter, Haruko’s mom tells their family’s story. (4-5) Why do you think her mom left out that her father worked at the nicest hotel?

2. Why do you think the internment camp separates the German and Japanese prisoners, despite placing them in the same camp?

3. Margot refers to Haruko as “the lavender girl” several times throughout the book. What might be the significance of the color lavender?

4. On page 48, Haruko recalls the moment her family got removed from their home. She suspects that her father is hiding something from her. Why do you think he waits so long to confess to Haruko? Do you think she would have done something about it?

5. What do you think would have happened if Margot and Haruko were ever discovered in the icehouse together?

6. All of Ken’s letters come with parts that are censored by the government. What do you think was written in those letters, especially since Ken knows that the letters get screened before it gets to his family?

7. On page 193, Haruko and Ken repeat lines from posters they saw in their childhood: “Loose lips might sink ships/An enemy’s ear might be near/Stop all loose talk to strangers.” What significance do these lines hold? How are they foreshadowing?

8. How do you make sense of the scene where Mike, the tower guard who befriended Haruko, defends the lifeguard?

9. Margot’s father’s distrust in America intensifies to the point where he signs their family up to go back to Germany, even though their home is in Iowa. What factors do you think contributed to this?

10. At the end of the book, Haruko and her family are deported to Japan. Margot is the reason behind it. Do you think Margot was right in not explaining to Haruko why she did what she did?

11. While this novel takes place during World War II, what parallels can you make between the events in the book and the world today?

THE WONDERLING

Mira Bartók

In this extraordinary novel with its deft nod to Dickensian heroes and rogues, Mira Bartók tells the story of Arthur, a shy, fox-like foundling with a desperate desire to belong, as he seeks his destiny.

Have you been unexpectedly burdened by a recently orphaned or unclaimed creature? Worry not! We have just the solution for you!

Welcome to the Home for Wayward and Misbegotten Creatures, an institution run by evil Miss Carbunkle, a cunning villainess who believes her terrified young charges exist only to serve and suffer. Part animal and part human, the groundlings toil in classroom and factory, forbidden to enjoy anything regular children have, most particularly singing and music. For the Wonderling, an innocent-hearted, one-eared, fox-like eleven-year-old with only a number rather than a proper name—a 13 etched on a medallion around his neck—it is the only home he has ever known. But unexpected courage leads him to acquire the loyalty of a young bird groundling named Trinket, who gives the Home’s loneliest inhabitant two incredible gifts: a real name—Arthur, like the good king in the old stories—and a best friend. Using Trinket’s ingenious invention, the pair escape over the wall and embark on an adventure that will take them out into the wider world and ultimately down the path of sweet Arthur’s true destiny. Richly imagined, with shimmering language, steampunk motifs, and gripping, magical plot twists, this high adventure fantasy is the debut novel of award-winning memoirist Mira Bartók and has already been put into development for a major motion picture.

“Momentum builds toward a thrilling crescendo and, rarest of all, a wholly satisfying ending that still whets the appetite for a sequel.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Bartók’s language is full of rich description and effulgent inventories of food and places ... Bartók’s lovely, detailed illustrations and drawings throughout support the sense of enchantment in this imaginative adventure. Captivating and with great potential as a read-aloud.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mira Bartók is a writer and artist whose New York Times best-selling memoir, The Memory Palace: A Memoir, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography.

September 2018 | Hardcover | 464 pp | $21.99 | 9780763691219 | Candlewick Press

CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. The first time in his life that Arthur sticks up for anyone is when he stops Wire and his cronies from trying to kick Trinket over the Wall. Why is he able to stick up for someone else when he’s never been able to stick up for himself ?

2. The manticore and Miss Carbunkle depend on each other. Is one of them more in control of the other?

3. When he steps inside Pinecone’s house, Arthur thinks, “So this is what a home really is.” (137) Is it a happy thought? What are some of the emotions you can sense in Arthur at that moment?

4. What did you expect Lumentown to be like, and how did it measure up to your expectations? How do you think it measured up to Arthur’s? What about Gloomintown?

5. Quintus is, as Arthur and Trinket both note, a scoundrel, but one with a good heart. What other characters can you think of that have more complicated motivations than just good or evil?

6. When Arthur first enters Miss Phoebe’s house, her neighbor questions him and spies on him. Why is her assumption that, because Arthur is a groundling, he’s doing something wrong?

7. Why do some of the humans in the book hate groundlings so much?

8. There are elements of our world in The Wonderling—Beethoven, Mozart, legends about King Arthur. Why do you think the author chose to include bits of reality in an otherwise imaginary world?

9. Miss Phoebe and Miss Carbunkle are both groundlings, although they keep it a secret and present themselves as humans to the outside world. How common do you think this is among the humans in The Wonderling’s world? Could there be other groundlings passing as humans?

10. Lots of characters in the book talk about King Arthur, and Trinket names Arthur after him. Do you think Arthurian legends might reveal anything about Arthur’s destiny?

11. At the end of the book, Miss Phoebe and Mr. Pitch disagree over whether Miss Carbunkle is worthy of pity or forgiveness. What do you think?

12. Do you think Arthur will learn more about what it means to be the Wonderling and what his mother believed he was supposed to do? How might it affect his future?

BOOK GROUP FAVORITES FROM 2017

In 2018, we asked thousands of book groups to tell us what books they read and discussed during 2017 that they enjoyed most. The top titles were:

FICTION

NONFICTION

YOUNG ADULT

Our Souls at Night

Hillbilly Elegy

The Hate U Give

Kent Haruf | Vintage

J.D. Vance | Harper Paperbacks

Angie Thomas | Balzer + Bray

The Paris Architect

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

Wonder

Charles Belfoure | Sourcebooks

Roz Chast | Bloomsbury

R.J. Palacio
Knopf Books for Young Readers

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

The Radium Girls

Hollow City

Katarina Bivald | Sourcebooks

Kate Moore | Sourcebooks

Ransom Riggs | Quirk Books

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

The Boys in the Boat

Rain Reign

Phaedra Patrick | MIRA

Daniel James Brown
Penguin Books

Ann M Martin | Feiwel & Friends

The Other Einstein

Being Mortal

Turtles All the Way Down

Marie Benedict | Sourcebooks

Atul Gawande
Metropolitan Books

John Green
Dutton Books for Young Readers

A Gentleman in Moscow

Evicted

American Street

Amor Towles | Viking

Matthew Desmond
Broadway Books

Ibi Zoboi | Balzer + Bray

All the Stars in the Heavens

Killers of the Flower Moon

The Book Thief

Adriana Trigiani
Harper Paperbacks

David Grann | Vintage

Markus Zusak | Knopf

Pachinko

The Glass Castle

Wolf by Wolf

Min Jin Lee
Grand Central Publishing

Jeanette Walls | Scribner

Ryan Graudin
Little Brown Books for
Young Readers

In the Unlikely Event

Shadow Warriors of WWII

The Hired Girl

Judy Blume | Vintage

Gordon Thomas & Greg Lewis
Chicago Review Press

Laura Amy Schlitz
Candlewick Press

The Buried Giant

Kazuo Ishiguro | Vintage

Please visit ReadingGroupChoices.com between January 1 and April 1, 2019 to enter our 2018 Favorite Books Contest by telling us about your favorite books of 2018. You will be entered for a chance to win bookstore gift certificates to use toward your meetings plus books for each person in your group, compliments of our publishing partners.

READING GROUP CHOICES’ ADVISORY BOARD

Charlie Mead owned and managed Reading Group Choices from 2005 until 2014. He sold the business to Mary Morgan in April 2014. Charlie’s business partner and wife, Barbara Drummond Mead, co-owned and managed the business until her passing in 2011. From 1972 to 1999, Charlie served at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and Compaq Computer Corporation, both now part of Hewlett Packard, most recently as vice president of communication accounts worldwide. In 1999, Charlie became vice president of Sales of Interpath Communications Corporation, an Internet infrastructure company, until the company’s sale in 2000. From 2000 to 2005, Charlie owned and managed Connxsys LLC, a communications consulting firm.

Donna Paz Kaufman founded Reading Group Choices in 1994 to connect publishers, booksellers, libraries, and readers with great books for group discussion. Today, Paz & Associates owns Story & Song Bookstore Bistro and continues to assist people around the globe open, manage, and sell their independent bookstores in The Bookstore Training Group. To learn more about Paz & Associates, visit PazBookBiz.com.

John Mutter is editor-in-chief of Shelf Awareness, the daily e-mail newsletter focusing on books, media about books, retailing and related issues to help booksellers, librarians and others do their jobs more effectively. Before he and his business partner, Jenn Risko, founded the company in May 2005, he was executive editor of bookselling at Publishers Weekly. He has covered book industry issues for 25 years and written for a variety of publications, including The Bookseller in the U.K.; Australian Bookseller & Publisher; Boersenblatt, the German book trade magazine; and College Store Magazine in the U.S. For more information about Shelf Awareness, go to its website, shelf-awareness.com.

Megan Hanson’s background includes extensive customer service work, experience coordinating marketing campaigns for the Madrid-based NGO Colegas, plus serving as a Community Literacy Coordinator for the Madison non-profit Literacy Network. Since 2012, she has been working for the internationally-recognized non-profit Little Free Library, helping them to develop and scale to meet demand. Her focus is on digital marketing, data and web management, product development and customer service.

René Martin is the Events Director/Publicist at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC. “Nancy Olson, who owned and operated Quail Ridge Books & Music from 1981 until it was sold in 2013, hired me in 2000. I knew nothing about the book business, but said yes, it would be fun. And it has been! Sixteen years later I now know a little more about the book business, and love being the events coordinator/publicist for Quail Ridge Books. We now host almost 300 events a year. My goal is to make QRB a model publicity department, and we have a beautiful, new store in which to make that happen.”

Nicole Sullivan opened BookBar, a community bookstore wine bar in 2013. Immediately recognizing a need to connect readers with book clubs in their area, she then founded bookclubhub.org in 2014. BookBed, an author bed & breakfast located just above the book store opened its doors in Fall of 2015. Additionally, she has funneled her passion for helping others to create successful bookstore / bar & cafe models through her work as a consultant with Paz & Associates. Nicole proudly serves as co-President and founder of her neighborhood business association, Tennyson Berkeley Business Association (TBBA) and as Treasurer of her local maintenance district for the city of Denver.