Feature and Contest

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano

On her 60th 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.

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The Brightest Sun by Adrienne Benson

Leona, an isolated American anthropologist, gives birth to a baby girl in a remote Maasai village and must decide how she can be a mother, in spite of her own grim childhood. Jane, a lonely expat wife, follows her husband to the tropics and learns just how fragile life is. Simi, a barren Maasai woman, must confront her infertility in a society in which females are valued by their reproductive roles. In this affecting debut novel, these three very different women grapple with motherhood, recalibrate their identities, and confront unforeseen tragedies and triumphs.

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The Little Clan by Iris Martin Cohen

Ava Gallanter is the librarian in residence at the Lazarus Club, an ancient, dwindling Manhattan arts club full of eccentric geriatric residents stuck in a long-gone era. Twenty-five-year-old Ava, however, feels right at home. She leads a quiet life, surrounded by her beloved books and sequestered away from her peers. When Ava’s enigmatic friend, Stephanie, returns after an unplanned year abroad, the intoxicating opportunist vows to rescue Ava from a life of obscurity.

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Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman

Violet Iverson and her young daughter, Ella, are piecing their lives together one year after the disappearance of her husband. As rumors swirl and questions about his loyalties surface, Violet believes Ella knows something. But Ella is stubbornly silent. Something --- or someone --- has scared her. And with the island overrun by troops training for a secret mission, tension and suspicion between neighbors is rising. Violet bands together with her close friends to get through the difficult days.

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The Great Alone (Audiobook) by Kristin Hannah

The newest audiobook sensation from Kristin Hannah, bestselling author of THE NIGHTINGALE.

This program is read by acclaimed narrator Julia Whelan, whose enchanting voice brought GONE GIRL and FATES AND FURIES to life. Kristin Hannah reads the acknowledgments.

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Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig

Ginny Moon is exceptional. Everyone knows it --- her friends at school, teammates on the basketball team, and especially her new adoptive parents. They all love her, even if they don't quite understand her. They want her to feel like she belongs. What they don't know is that Ginny has no intention of belonging. She has found her birth mother on Facebook and is determined to get back to her --- even if it means going back to a place that was extremely dangerous. Because Ginny left something behind and is desperate to get it back, to make things right. But no one listens.

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Odd Child Out by Gilly Macmillan

Best friends Noah Sadler and Abdi Mahad have always been inseparable. But when Noah is found floating unconscious in Bristol's Feeder Canal, Abdi won’t tell anyone what happened. Just back from a mandatory leave following his last case, Detective Jim Clemo is now assigned to look into this unfortunate accident. But tragedy strikes, and what looked like the simple case of a prank gone wrong soon ignites into a public battle. Noah is British. Abdi is a Somali refugee. And social tensions have been rising rapidly in Bristol.

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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Marie-Laure is a young blind girl living in Paris with her father, who is a master of locks at the Museum of Natural History and is in charge of some of their most valued works. When she is 12, the Germans move into the city, and they are forced to flee to the town of Saint-Malo, where a reclusive uncle lives by the sea. In a parallel story, a young orphan boy named Werner lives with his sister in Germany and is tapped to be part of the Hitler Youth, eventually given a role to teach the Resistance.

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The Devil and Webster by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Students at Webster College begin the fall semester with an outdoor encampment around "The Stump" --- a traditional campus gathering place for generations of student activists --- to protest a popular professor's denial of tenure. A former student radical herself, Naomi Roth, the college’s first female president, admires the protestors' passion, especially when her own daughter, Hannah, joins their ranks.

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Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

New York socialite Caroline Ferriday's world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939 --- and then sets its sights on France. Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.

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