Catalog Search Results
Author
Summary
This debut novel tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy. With her strict African American grandmother as her new guardian, Rachel moves to a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring mixed attention her way. Growing up in the 1980s, she learns to swallow her overwhelming grief and to confront her identity as a biracial young...
Author
Summary
A mismatched team of seven hit the road in an church van on a mission to find a new pastor. They don't agree on much other than the stops at Hardee's for coffee and a biscuit. But they stick to the call, trying to slip undetected into worship services across the Southeast--all in hopes of stealing a preacher for their congregation. Each member is wrestling to balance their own busy life and personal struggles. Forced to spend countless hours together,...
Author
Appears on these lists
Summary
"Smart, warm, uplifting, the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes the only way to survive is to open her heart. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. That, combined with her unusual appearance (scarred cheek, tendency to wear the same clothes year in, year out), means that Eleanor...
Author
Series
Cape Light novel volume 12
Summary
Reverend Ben has been ignoring his health recently and it's finally caught up with him. Since Ben will need six weeks' recuperation and physical rehab, interim minister Isabel Moran is assigned to the congregation. Is this health setback a sign from above that it's time for Ben to move on to a new phase of his life?
Author
Summary
"People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most come for the books themselves, of course; some come to borrow companionship. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget...
Author
Series
Summary
Lucy DiCamillo is safely surrounded by her books, music, and art--but none of these reclusive comforts or even the protective efforts of her grandmother, Kitty, can shield her thoughts from the mother she can barely recall. Lucy senses her grandmother holds the key, but Kitty seems as eager to hide the past as Lucy is eager to find it. From the streets of San Francisco and Sacramento to the lush vineyards of the Sonoma Valley, Lucy follows the thread...
Author
Summary
"Breakfast with a Hangover Dinner for a Charming Stranger Tea for a Crochety Aunt Food for feasting, friends are for savoring, and the way to a man's heart is...irrelevant When her life falls apart on the eve of her 40th birthday, Kate Parker finds herself volunteering at the Lauderdale House for Exceptional Ladies. There she meets 97-year-old Cecily Finn. Cecily's tongue is as sharp as her mind, but she's fed up with pretty much everything. Having...
Author
Formats
Summary
"After he's forced to sell the family farm he's labored on his whole life, 63-year-old Gerrit Laninga doesn't know what to do with himself. He sacrificed everything for the land--his time, his health, his family--with nothing to show for it but bitterness, regret, and two grown children who want nothing to do with him. Fifteen-year-old Rae Walters has growing doubts and fears about The Plan--the detailed blueprint for high school that will help her...
Author
Summary
"Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland's dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena's banker father has retreated into the bottle, her sister is married to a lazy charlatan and gambler, and Rena is an unemployed newspaper reporter. Eager for any writing job, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers' Project. There, she meets...
Author
Summary
"'This is a note to yourself, Juliet. You must keep the memories alive, because once upon a time you told a man called Edward Nancarrow that you would, and it's important to keep that promise.' A daring WWII pilot who grew up among the clouds, Juliet Caron's life was one of courage, adventure - and a love torn apart by war. Every nook of her Cornish cottage is alive with memories just waiting to be discovered. Katherine Henderson has escaped to Cornwall...
Author
Series
Blue sky hills volume 2
Summary
From the New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes an inspiring novel about a lonely woman who finds a connection in the place she least expects. With her adopted son missing and the rest of her family increasingly estranged, SandraKaye Darden is drawn to the little pink house where her Uncle Poppy once provided security. But what begins for Sandra as a simple painting project to help sell the house becomes a secret venture that...
Author
Summary
"Kathleen is eighty years old. After she has a run-in with an intruder, her daughter wants her to move into a residential home. But she's not having any of it ... Martha is having a quarter-life crisis. Unemployed, unloved and uninspired, she just can't get her life together ... When Martha sees Kathleen's advertisement for a driver and companion to share an epic road trip across America with, she decides this job might be the answer to her prayers...
14) The offing
Author
Summary
During an idyllic English summer following World War II an unlikely friendship emerges between a teenage, nationalistic working class man and an older bohemian woman. While working a summer job for her, the teenager discovers an unpublished book of poetry holding a tragic secret message beyond the grave from her deceased lover, and both their lives are irrevocably changed.
Author
Summary
It all started in August 1968 when Babo, left the Patel family in Madras to fly to England and further his education ... Living in London, he'd fallen head over heels with a cream-skinned Welsh girl, Sian Jones. A mixed-up love in a topsy-turvy world - now two families will never be the same again. Meet the Patel-Joneses: Babo, Sian, Mayuri and Bean, in their little house next door to the Punjab Women's Association. As the twentieth century creaks...
Author
Summary
"Dear friends and army wives Diana, Carmen, and Joanie have been through war, rumors of war, marital problems, motherhood, fears, joy, and heartache. But none of the women are prepared when their daughters decide to enlist in the army together. Facing an empty nest won't be easy ... With nothing to lose and no one at home, the girlfriends impulsively accept an unexpected offer from their elderly neighbor. The recently widowed Tootsie has an RV, a...
Author
Summary
On his deathbed, a dying Black man writes a letter to his estranged, gay son and shares with him the truth that lives in his heart and tries to create a place where the pair can find peace.
As Jacob lies dying, he writes a letter to his only son, Isaac. They have not met or spoken in many years, and there are things that Isaac must know. Stories about his ancestral legacy in rural Arkansas that extend back to slavery. Secrets from Jacob's tumultuous...
Author
Summary
Now 94 and living a quiet life, Cecily Larson, lives in Minnesota with her daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandson. When her family surprises her with an at-home DNA test, finds the unexpected results not only bringing to light the tragic love story she's kept hidden for decades but also calls into question everything about the family she's raised and claimed as her own.
19) The imperfects
Author
Summary
The Millers are far from perfect. Estranged siblings Beck, Ashley and Jake find themselves under one roof for the first time in years, forced to confront old resentments and betrayals, when their mysterious, eccentric matriarch, Helen, passes away. But their lives are about to change when they find a secret inheritance hidden among her possessions – the Florentine Diamond, a 137-carat yellow gemstone that went missing from the Austrian Empire a...
Author
Summary
"Never knowing his parents, eleven-year-old Stewie Little and his brother have been raised on a farm by their older sister. Stewie steadfastly tends the chickens left by his beloved late grandmother. And every day Stewie goes door to door selling fresh eggs from his wagon--a routine with a surprise just around the corner. It's his new customer, Marilyn. She's prickly and guarded, yet comfortably familiar--she reminds the grieving Stewie so much of...