National Network for Equitable Library Service

2016 Audie Award finalist for best female narrator and a New York Times bestseller. An unforgettable novel about a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century, told "with humor and optimism...through the eyes of an irresistible heroine" (People), from the acclaimed author of The Red Tent. Anita Diamant's "vivid, affectionate portrait of American womanhood" (Los Angeles Times) follows the life of one woman, Addie Baum, through a period of dramatic change.

In this sexy modern-day fairytale from the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June, a free-spirited florist and an enigmatic musician share a soul mate connection told through the history, art, and the magic of Harlem. The daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, Ricki Wilde is the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her. When she moves into a Harlem brownstone, she leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop.

Inspired by true events, A More Perfect Union is an epic story of love and courage, desperation and determination, and three people whose lives are inescapably entwined... Henry O'Toole sails to America in 1848 to escape the famine in Ireland, only to face anti-immigrant prejudice. Determined never to starve again, he changes his surname to Taylor and heads south to Virginia, seeking work as a traveling blacksmith on the prosperous plantations. Torn from her home and sold to Jubilee Plantation, Sarah must navigate its intricate hierarchy.

"This is not just good storytelling, but a blueprint for survival." — The New York Times Book Review. A transfixing and beautifully rendered novel about a refugee's escape from civil war—and the healing power of community. A young woman sits in her apartment, watching the small daily dramas of her neighbors across the way. She is an outsider, a mute voyeur, safe behind her windows, and she sees it all—the sex, the fights, the happy and unhappy families.

"My dearest love, Where are you now?" Spring, 1847, and Lady Franklin is back in London expecting to greet her hero husband, polar explorer Sir John Franklin, upon his triumphant return from the Northwest Passage.

Darlene Carter was always a strong woman. But after suddenly losing her mother to a deadly virus, she is left anchorless while struggling to navigate the pandemic with her teenaged daughter. Isolated and alone in grief, Darlene reluctantly takes on her mother's pursuit to find familial connections. As restrictions lift, the two travel to Newfoundland to follow a DNA trail in search of answers. The family holds more than Darlene is prepared for.

October 1962. In Cuba: Soviet ships off-load what intelligence reveals to be nuclear missiles. In Washington, President Kennedy and his advisers are in furious debate over how long they can wait to discover what the Soviets intend before dropping the first bomb. And, in Ithaca, New York, Margo Jensen—a nineteen-year-old Cornell sophomore—is swept up in a bizarre concatenation of circumstances that will make of her the back channel liaison between Soviet Premier Khrushchev and Kennedy. Events unfold too quickly for her even to ask why me?

The Mummy meets Death on the Nile in What the River Knows, Isabel Ibañez's lush, immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt and filled with adventure, a rivals-to-lovers romance, and a dangerous race. Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that's been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents—who frequently leave her behind.

"A total, rollicking delight. Gwen & Art gave me the same cheeky, swoony, giddy, irresistible high of the first time I saw A Knight's Tale. Lex Croucher is one of my favorite romcom authors, and they should be yours, too." —Casey McQuiston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Kissed Shara Wheeler. Heartstopper meets A Knight's Tale in this queer medieval rom com YA debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history. It's been hundreds of years since King Arthur's reign.

This program includes a bonus interview with the author. The Awakening of Malcolm X is a powerful narrative account of the activist's adolescent years in jail, written by his daughter Ilyasah Shabazz along with 2019 Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe award-winning author, Tiffany D. Jackson. No one can be at peace until he has his freedom. In Charlestown Prison, Malcolm Little struggles with the weight of his past. Plagued by nightmares, Malcolm drifts through days, unsure of his future. Slowly, he befriends other prisoners and writes to his family.