National Network for Equitable Library Service

Like an elegantly chilling postscript to The Metamorphosis, this classic of postwar Japanese literature describes a bizarre physical transformation that exposes the duplicities of an entire world. The narrator is a scientist hideously deformed in a laboratory accident-a man who has lost his face and, with it, his connection to other people. Even his wife is now repulsed by him. His only entry back into the world is to create a mask so perfect as to be undetectable. But soon he finds that such a mask is more than a disguise: it is an alternate self-a self that is capable of anything.

Il ne pensait plus jamais écrire. Pourtant, lorsque, après un incendie dévastateur, il se retire dans les hauteurs de Monte-à-Peine, Jean-François fait la rencontre de personnages plus grands que nature qui changeront le cours de sa vie : François le conteur, sa belle Madeleine et Vicky la malcommode, ainsi que Margueryte, Floryanne et Jacky Candy, inséparable trio de vieilles catins qui vivent ensemble dans le décor de leur bordel éternel.

Marie-Anne Houde, la souillon de Sainte-Sophie, attend la mort dans sa « chambre de mourante » à Montréal, et écrit à Télesphore, son vieil amour qui n’a pas toujours partagé ses sentiments. À l’aide d’une trame temporelle double, le lecteur découvre la jeunesse de Marie-Anne et les défis qu’elle a eus à surmonter, avant qu’elle ne commette l’irréparable. Pour avoir tué sa belle-fille Aurore Gagnon, Marie-Anne Houde est reconnue comme l’une des criminelles les plus odieuses du Canada. Son crime est l’un des pires cas de maltraitance infantile connus à ce jour au pays.

A lyrical novel of love and betrayal in the aftermath of the fall of Saigon—from the author of Monkey Bridge. A singular work of witness, inspiration, and courage, The Lotus and the Storm marks the welcome return of Lan Cao’s pitch-perfect voice, telling the story only she can tell. Four decades after the war, Vietnam’s flavors of clove and cinnamon have been re-created by a close-knit refugee community in a Virginia suburb. But the lives of Minh and Mai, father and daughter, are haunted by ghosts, secrets, and the loss of their country.

From one of America's greatest men of letters, our sublime master of manners, comes his novel, Her Infinite Variety. Louis Auchincloss has been called "our most astute observer of moral paradox among the affluent" (Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.), and his fiction described as that which "has always examined what makes life worth living" (Washington Post Book World). Now he brings us the rollicking tale of an unforgettable woman of mid-twentieth century America: the devilish, forever plotting, yet wholly beguiling Clara Hoyt.

The Children of Dynmouth - a classic prize-winning novel by William Trevor. Penguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. The 1970s was a decade of anger and discontent. Britain endured power cuts and strikes. America pulled out of Vietnam and saw its President resign from office. Feminism and face lifts vied for women's hearts (and minds). And for many, prog rock, punk and disco weren't just music but ways of life.

Maya Ishida is no stranger to sorrow. Torn from her artist father in her native Japan, raised by her cold, ambitious mother in Minneapolis, she has finally put together a life with few disruptions: a safe marriage and a quiet life weaving clothes in a country studio. The past is no more than a story she vaguely remembers; the present is a gray landscape of solitary pleasures and modest expectations. After her father dies, Maya is pulled back into the memory of their parting.

Shizuko’s Daughter by Kyoko Mori. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults. A New York Times Notable Book. After her mother’s suicide when she is twelve years old, Yuki spends years living with her distant father and his resentful new wife, cut off from her mother’s family, and relying on her own inner strength to cope with the tragedy.

Guide forestière en Idaho vivant au cœur de la nature, Emlyn apprend que la personne disparue qui séjournait dans les environs à bord d'un van n'est autre que son ancienne meilleure amie, qu'elle avait cessé de voir en même temps que Taylor, le jeune homme qui lui avait brisé le cœur. Celui-ci refait son apparition et lui demande de l'aider à retrouver la jeune femme dans la forêt.

Annabella Morelli, vingt-trois ans, habite dans le Vieux Lyon, loin du Congo-Brazzaville où elle est née. Elle est étudiante, amoureuse et se rêve poétesse. Ses parents : un ouvrier franco-italien exilé en Afrique ; une villageoise congolaise, devenue mère trop jeune. De son enfance, Annabella se rappelle l'odeur du karité, les danses endiablées et les éclats de rire. Jusqu'au Noël de ses sept ans où la colère de son père explose et sa mère quitte le domicile familial : Annabella grandit vite, dans l'ombre de son père et de ses excès.