National Network for Equitable Library Service

The sea is slowly eating into the land and the hill with the old watchtower has completely disappeared. The nearest house has crumbled and fallen into the sea. It is Ireland in the late twentieth century. Eamon Redmond is a judge in the Irish High Court. Obsessed all his life by the letter and spirit of the law, he is just beginning to discover how painfully unconnected he is from other human beings. With effortless fluency, Colm Toibin reconstructs the history of Eamon's relationships-- with his father, his first "girl," his wife, and the children who barely know him.

The Berrybender's party is moving forward across the Great Plains of the West towards Santa Fe. Tasmin's husband scouts ahead and falls in love with Pomp Charbonneau, who dies at the hand of the ruthless commander of the Spanish troops. A vast cast of characters meet up with the party as they travel, proving that the rolling grassy plains are not as empy as they look.

The lives of three women on turn-of-the-twentieth-century San Miguel are shaped by ambition and circumstance, including the wife of a Civil War veteran who hopes to recover her health, her rebellious daughter, and a librarian who wonders if the island's peace will endure.

Juanita and her best friend Scooter are both frustrated in life and love--Juanita because her light skin makes it tough to fit in, and Scooter because he is gay. When they meet two fine-looking Puerto Rican men, their lives head down paths they never anticipated.

Having been abducted at age seven, abandoned, a foster child, and homeless, Ethan, now sixteen, is happy to be home until his brother's suspicion and his own inability to remember something unspeakable from his early childhood begin to tear the family apart.

Ian and his 10-year-old daughter Mattie are struggling with the passing of Kate--wife and mother--after her long battle with cancer. When Ian finally opens a letter Kate handed him before her death, he is surprised at the request inside: that he and Mattie travel across Asia while opening a series of letters from Kate, one at a time. As they complete each stage of the trip, they tie paper wishes to trees, which helps them come to terms with their loss.

When Sylvia Bergstrom Compson discovers a stash of letters in the attic of Elm Creek Manor, she traces a remarkable tale back to 1859. Then, escaped slave Joanna spent a brief period at Elm Creek Farm until she was captured and returned to bondage, leaving her son in the care of the Bergstrom family. Now, if Sylvia is to determine the ultimate fate of Joanna and her son, she must rely on one important clue--the meticulous herloom quilt Joanna stitched and left behind.

Malik Solanka, irascible doll-maker and retired historian of ideas, suffers the pain of wanting without knowing exactly what it is he wants. Escaping with his family to New York City and its crowded streets, Malik seeks to extinguish himself and forget the life he left behind in London.

This moving story of love and family is told through the eyes of five people: Jane Jones, her daughter Rebecca, and three very different men in their lives. After a watershed moment in their marriage, Jane leaves Oliver, her renowned marine biologist husband, and begins a journey across the country with Rebecca in search of understanding about her troubled past.

After a chance meeting, Jed Perry begins to stalk author Joe Rose. Driven by religious zeal and misdirected love, the strange young man will slowly unravel each strand of Joe's life.