Title Swap - October 12, 2021
By Liane Moriarty
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian, Lisa V., Library Clerk
A family of tennis stars debate whether or not to report their mother as missing because it would implicate their father.
By Qian Julie Wang
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian, Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk
This memoir from a Chinese woman who arrived in New York City at age 7 examines how her family lived in poverty out of fear of being discovered as undocumented immigrants and how she was able to find success.
By Jamie Brenner
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian
Returning with her mother to her parents’ North Fork Long Island winery, college-age Sadie discovers that her Grandma Vivian once ran a “trashy” book club and decides to reinstate it as a way to reconnect the family.
By Kristin Harmel
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian
Escaping from Paris in 1942 after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew, a graduate student finds refuge in a small mountain town, where she forges identity documents to help hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis.
In Boomers, essayist Helen Andrews addresses the Boomer legacy with scrupulous fairness and biting wit.
By Liza Mundy
Documents the pivotal contributions of more than 10,000 American women who served as codebreakers during World War II, detailing how their efforts shortened the war, saved countless lives and enabled their subsequent careers, in an account that also reveals the strict practice of secrecy that nearly erased their efforts from history.
By Jonathan Franzen
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian
As Christmas 1971 approaches, the Hildebrand family of New Prospect, Illinois deals with increasing points of crisis including a stale marriage, the draft and their son's sexual orientation in the first novel in a new trilogy.
By Erin Sterling
Recommended By Jessikah Chautin, Community Engagement Specialist
Vivienne Jones must find a way to break her Ex Hex on Rhys Penhallow, while ignoring their off–the–charts chemistry, when the town falls under the attack of murderous wind–up toys, a pissed –off ghost and a talking cat with some interesting things to say.
Sent to a Tasmanian penal colony after conceiving her employer's grandchild, a young governess befriends a talented midwife and an orphaned Aboriginal chief's daughter while confronting the harsh realities of British colonialism and oppression in nineteenth–century Australia.
Genre Historical Fiction
By T. J. Newman
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services, Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian
Thirty minutes before a flight to New York, the family of the pilot is kidnapped and in order for them to live, all 143 passengers onboard must die in the first novel by a former flight attendant.
By Kristin Harmel
Recommended By Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk, Lisa V., Library Clerk
Raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe after being kidnapped, a young German woman, in 1941, vows to teach a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror how to survive in the forest until she is betrayed as her past and present collide.
By R. C. Sherriff
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian
This wonderfully nostalgic and soothing novel about ordinary people enjoying life's simple pleasures follows the Stevens family as they go on their annual seaside vacation during which they savor every moment of their holiday, knowing that things may not be the same next year.
By Kristin Hannah
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian, Isabel Zinman, Readers' Services Librarian
A Depression–era woman confronts a wrenching choice between fighting for the Dust Bowl–ravaged land she loves in Texas or pursuing an uncertain future in California.
Five college friends meet up in the Catskills ten years after graduation, bringing their shared past, betrayals, and secrets with them
By Donna Tartt
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian
Taken in by a wealthy friend after surviving an accident that killed his mother, 13 year-old Theo Decker tries to adjust to life on Park Avenue.
By Steven Rowley
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian, Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian, Sue Ann R., Head of Children's Services
When Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP) for short, takes on the role of primary guardian for his young niece and nephew, he sets “Guncle Rules,” but soon learns that parenting isn’t solved with treats or jokes as his eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility.
By Zoraida Córdova
Recommended By Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager
Seven years after their matriarch Orquidea passed away, blessing them with her special gifts, the Montoya family journeys to Ecuador to uncover the truth behind their inheritance to stop a hidden figure from killing off Orquidea’s line one-by-one.
By Dani Shapiro
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian, Jackie, Head of Readers' Services, Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian
The author describes her staggering discovery that her father was not her biological father, tracing her efforts to uncover the truth from a half–century of family secrets to reestablish her sense of identity.
By Sophie Cousens
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian
Arriving in the Channel Islands to write an article about her parents romance, hopeless romantic and lifestyle reporter Laura, after grabbing the wrong suitcase, discovers the owner is clearly her dream man as she sets out to find him, learning some hard truths along the way.
By Laura Dave
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services, Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian
After her husband disappears, Hannah Hall quickly realizes he isn’t who he said he was and that his 16–year–old daughter, who wants nothing to do with her, may hold the key to figuring out his true identity.
A Key West native, a bride fleeing the Cuban Revolution and a Wall Street crash victim meet at a Great War veteran camp before one of the most powerful hurricanes in history indelibly changes their lives.
By Fiona Davis
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian
A New York Public Library superintendent’s wife reevaluates her priorities upon joining a woman’s suffrage group in 1913, decades before her granddaughter’s efforts to save an exhibit expose tragic family secrets.
Living and working in a bombed–out Berlin, Millie Mosbach must come to terms with a past decision made in a moment of crisis with the help of a mysterious man who is surprisingly understanding of her.
By Sarah Penner
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian
Secretly dispensing poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them, a London apothecary triggers unintended consequences that shape three lives across multiple centuries.
By Lisa Genova
Two women meet by accident on a Nantucket beach and are drawn into a friendship. Olivia is a young mother whose eight-year-old severely autistic son has recently died. She comes to the island in a trial separation to try and make sense of the tragedy of her Anthony's short life. Beth, a stay-at-home mother of three, is also recently separated after discovering her husband's long-term infidelity.
By Richard Osman
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian, Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk
When an old friend, who has been accused of stealing millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds, desperately needs her help leaving a dead body in his wake, Elizabeth and her friends go up against a ruthless murderer who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians.
By Matt Haig
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian
Nora Seed finds herself faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, or realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist, she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
By Susan Meissner
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian, Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian, Lisa V., Library Clerk, Pam Strudler, Programming & Arts Librarian, Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk, Jackie, Head of Readers' Services
Moving to early 20th–century San Francisco to escape New York tenement life, an Irish mail–order bride uncovers transformative secrets involving a silent child and two other women before her precarious existence is upended by the great earthquake of 1906.
By Jojo Moyes
After her husband dies, leaving her with a mountain of debt, classical violinist Isabel Delancey and her children are forced to move to a now–dilapidated manor she inherited in the English countryside where she fights to make her house a home as passions and lives collide.
By Sarah Echavarre Smith
Recommended By Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager
When she gets the green light to produce a series about Utah’s national parks, Alia Dunn is thrilled until she meets her newest crew member, Drew Irons, the man who ghosted her, and as tensions rise between them, so does an undeniable attraction.
Taken in by a wealthy family friend after surviving an accident that killed his mother, thirteen–year–old Theo Decker tries to adjust to life on Park Avenue.
By Miranda Cowley Heller
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian
While staying at “The Paper Palace”—the family summer place she has visited every summer of her life, 50–year–old Elle must decide between the life she has built with her husband and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love.
By Julia Child
Recommended By Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager
A collection of Julia Child's quotations.
By Ashley Audrain
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian
A devoted mother with a painful past gradually realizes that something is very wrong with her daughter, a fear that is complicated by her husband’s dismissive views and the birth of a healthy son.
By Beck Dorey-Stein
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian
When a developer tries to cash in on Sea Point, three friends Kate, Miles and Ziggy must wade through — and overcome — the white lies and long-buried secrets that threaten to erode the bonds between them as well as the landscape of the beachside community they call home.
A host of a popular shopping channel, Dana Barry finds her life forever changed on the night of the company rooftop party during which the CEO jumps to his death after being inappropriate with her, which is the last thing she remembers.
When their father invites a mail–order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.
Kids Genre Historical Fiction
By Emma Brodie
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian
In 1969, Jane Quinn, an aspiring singer, gets the chance of a lifetime when she goes on tour with Jesse Reid, a folk music superstar, and as their partnership turns into a passionate love affair, Jane discovers too late the dark secret beneath his music.
Drawing on veteran interviews and archival research, an account of the contributions of the German–born Jewish–American soldiers known as the Ritchie Boys describes how they risked their lives to join major combat units and gather crucial intelligence from German POWs.
By Dave Grohl
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian
The legendary American musician, singer, songwriter and documentary filmmaker offers a collection of stories, written by his own hand, that focus on the memories of his life, from his childhood to today.
By Rachel Donohue
Recommended By Jessikah Chautin, Community Engagement Specialist
Attending the Temple House School, Louisa, a brilliant new student, forms a fierce bond with an outlier and student provocateur, but their relationship is soon torn apart by a charismatic art teacher that leads to the unthinkable.
A brutal murder in a rural village in Northern China sends shockwaves all the way to Beijing but seemingly only Inspector Lu Fei, exiled to this tiny town, is interested in finding justice.
By Sophie Cousens
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian, Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian
Born in the shadow of a boy who was born moments earlier and heralded as 1990 London’s first baby, Minnie encounters her more fortunate rival on various disastrous birthdays before making unexpected discoveries when they both turn 30.
By Richard Osman
Series Thursday Murder Club Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian, Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian
Meeting weekly in their retirement village’s Jigsaw Room to exchange theories about unsolved crimes, four savvy septuagenarians propose a daring but unorthodox plan to help a woman rookie cop solve her first big murder case.
By Kelly Rimmer
Set during World War II in Poland, a novel based on real–life heroes follows Elzbieta Rabinek over the course of the war, her involvement with the Resistance, and her love for a young man imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto whose passion leads him to fight in the Warsaw.
By Tracey Lange
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian
Returning to the east coast to recover from a drunk driving accident she caused, 29–year–old Sunday Brennan must protect her family from a man from her past who brings her family’s pub business to the brink of financial ruin.
By Andrea Bartz
Recommended By Jessikah Chautin, Community Engagement Specialist
After a backpacking trip in Chile with her best friend Kristen goes horribly wrong, Emily is forced to confront their violent past and wonders if she can outrun the secrets they share or if they will destroy her relationship, freedom and even her life.
By Katherine Center
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian
When the new principal turns out to be the former, unrequited crush of her teen years, elementary school librarian Samantha Casey discovers that he is a changed man, determined to destroy everything she loves about the school, which forces her to take action.
Genre Relationships
A young entrepreneur makes the case that politics has no place in business, and sets out a new vision for the future of American capitalism.
By Pam Jenoff
Inspired by the harrowing true stories of those who hid from the Nazis in the sewers, this emotional testament to the power of friendship follows Ella, an affluent Polish girl, as she helps Sadie and her pregnant mother survive despite the worsening dangers of the war.