TDL Book Clubs June 2023
Evening Book Club: Monday, 12 June 2023, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Afternoon Book Club: Wednesday, 14 June 2023, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Maid by Nita Prose
"Molly Dunn is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and interprets people literally. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by. Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has had to navigate life's complexities all by herself. No matter--she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection. But Molly's orderly life is turned on its head the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself very dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's odd demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect and she finds herself in a web of subtext and nuance she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, a medley of friends she didn't realize she had refuses to let her be charged with murder--but will they be able to discover the real killer before it's too late?"
TDL Book Clubs May 2023
Evening Book Club: Monday, 15 May 2023, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Afternoon Book Club: Wednesday, 17 May 2023, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib
"Sama and Hadi are a young Syrian couple in the throes of new love, building a life in the country that brought them together. They'd met in Cambridge, Massachusetts: he, a shell-shocked refugee of a bloody civil war; she, a passionate dreamer who'd come to America years earlier in search of new horizons. Now, they giddily await the birth of their son, a boy whose native language would be freedom and belonging. When Sama is five months pregnant, Hadi's father dies, in Amman, the night before the embassy interview that would finally reunite Hadi with his parents and deliver them from a country in crisis. Hadi flies back to the Middle East for the funeral, promising he'll be gone only a few days. On the day his flight is due to arrive in Boston, Sama decides to surprise him at the airport, eager to scoop him up and bring him back home. She waits, and waits. There are protests at Logan airport, and Hadi never shows up. What Sama doesn't yet know is that Hadi has been stopped at the border. That he's been taken away for questioning, detained in a windowless, timeless, nightmarish limbo. She does not know about the travel ban, that his legal status in the U.S., which yesterday seemed rock solid, is now in jeopardy - and with it, the chance that he'll ever step foot on U.S. soil again. Amid the protests, Sama goes into premature labor; their son, Naseem, is born, too soon, his father nowhere to be found, the future they could almost taste wrenched from their grasp in a matter of hours. Worlds apart, suspended between hope and disillusion as hours become days become weeks, Sama and Hadi yearn for a way back to each other, and to the life they'd dreamed up together. But does that life exist anymore? Was it only ever an illusion?"--Book jacket.
TDL Book Clubs April 2023
Evening Book Club: Monday, 17 April 2023, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Afternoon Book Club: Wednesday, 19 April 2023, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
THE PARIS LIBRARY by Janet Skeslien Charles
"Paris, 1939. Young, ambitious, and tempestuous, Odile Souchet has it all: Paul, her handsome police officer beau; Margaret, her best friend from England; her adored twin brother Remy; and a dream job at the American Library in Paris, working alongside the library's legendary director, Dorothy Reeder. But when World War II breaks out, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear - including her beloved library. After the invasion, as the Nazis declare a war on words and darkness falls over the City of Light, Odile and her fellow librarians join the Resistance with the best weapons they have: books. They risk their lives again and again to help their fellow Jewish readers. When the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.
Montana, 1983. Odile's solitary existence in gossipy small-town Montana is unexpectedly interrupted by Lily, her neighbor, a lonely teenager longing for adventure. As Lily uncovers more about Odile's mysterious past, they find they share a love of language, the same longings, the same lethal jealousy. Odile helps Lily navigate the troubled waters of adolescence by always recommending just the right book at the right time, never suspecting that Lily will be the one to help her reckon with her own terrible secret. Based on the true story of the American Library in Paris, The Paris Library explores the geography of resentment, the consequences of terrible choices made, and how extraordinary heroism can be found in the quietest of places"-- Provided by publisher.
TDL Book Clubs March 2023
Afternoon Book Club: Wednesday, 15 March 2023, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Evening Book Club: Monday, 20 March 2023, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
THIS TENDER LAND William Kent Krueger
"The acclaimed author of Ordinary Grace crafts a powerful novel about an orphan's life-changing adventure traveling down America's great rivers during the Great Depression, seeking both a place to call home and a sense of purpose in a world sinking into despair"--Provided by publisher.
TDL Book Clubs February 2023
Afternoon Book Club: Wednesday, Rescheduled for 22 February 2023, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Evening Book Club: Monday, 27 February 2023, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
BEFORE THE FALL by Noah Hawley
"On a foggy summer night, eleven people--ten privileged, one a down-on-his-luck painter--depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are the painter, Scott Burroughs, and a four-year-old-boy, who is now the last remaining member of a powerful media mogu'l's family. Was it by chance that so many influential people perished? Or was something more sinister at work?"--Back cover.
TDL Book Clubs January 2023
Afternoon Book Club: Wednesday, 18 January 2023, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Evening Book Club: Monday, 23 January 2023, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND by Helen Simonson
Forced to confront the realities of life in the twenty-first century when he falls in love with Pakistani widow Mrs. Ali, Major Pettigrew finds the relationship challenged by local prejudices that view Mrs. Ali, a Cambridge native, as a perpetual foreigner.