Staff Picks
LibraryReads for January 2020
- Sarah C.
- Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Collection
Each month, LibraryReads lists the top upcoming titles recommended by librarians across the country. All these books will be published in January 2020, so stay ahead of the curve and get on the holds list now!
A Long Petal of the Sea
A Novel
Published in 2020
"In the late 1930s, civil war gripped Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life irreversibly intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them wants, and together are sponsored by poetPablo Neruda to embark on the SS Winnipeg along with 2,200 other refugees in search of a new life. As unlikely partners, they embrace exile and emigrate to Chile as the rest of Europe erupts in World War. Starting over on a new continent, their trials are just beginning. Over the course of their lives, they will face test after test. But they will also find joy as they wait patiently for a day when they are exiles no more, and will find friends in the most unlikely of places. Through it all, it is that hope of being reunited with their home that keeps them going. And in the end, they will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along"-- Provided by publisher.
Big Lies in a Small Town
Published in 2020
"From bestselling author Diane Chamberlain comes an irresistible new novel. North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher's life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women's Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold-until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets. North Carolina, 1940: Anna Dale, an artist from New Jersey, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. Alone in the world and desperate for work, she accepts. But what she doesn't expect is to find herself immersed in a town where prejudices run deep, where people are hiding secrets behind closed doors, and where the price of being different might just end in murder. What happened to Anna Dale? Are the clues hidden in the decrepit mural? Can Morgan overcome her own demons to discover what exists beneath the layers of lies?"-- Provided by publisher.
American Dirt
A Novel
Published in 2020
"También de este lado hay sueños. Lydia Quixano Perez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. Even though she knows they'll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with four books he would like to buy-two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia's husband's tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia andLuca ride la bestia-trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier's reach doesn't extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. Butwhat exactly are they running to? American Dirt will leave readers utterly changed when they finish reading it. A page-turner filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity on every page, it is a literary achievement."-- Provided by publisher.
How Quickly She Disappears
Published in 2020
"The Dry meets The Silence of the Lambs in this intoxicating tale of literary suspense, set in the relentless Alaskan landscape, about madness and obsession, loneliness and grief, and the ferocious bonds of family.... My proposition is very simple: I amgoing to ask you for three gifts, and for each gift you deliver, I will take you one step closer to Jacqueline. It's been twenty years since Elisabeth watched her twin sister, Jacqueline, disappear without a trace. Now thirty-year-old Elisabeth is livingfar from home in a small Alaskan town. She's in a loveless marriage and has a precocious young daughter she loves more than anything but who reminds her too much of her long-missing sister. Elisabeth's loneliness--and guilt--grows more unbearable each day. But through it all, she clings to the impossible belief that her sister is still alive and that they'll be reunited. But then Alfred, a dangerous stranger with a plan of his own, arrives in town and commits an inexplicable act of violence. And he offers a startling revelation: He knows exactly what happened to Elisabeth's sister, but he'll reveal this truth only if Elisabeth fulfills three requests. Increasingly isolated from her neighbors and imprisoned by the bitter cold and her own obsession, Elisabeth can almost hear her sister's voice saying, Come and get me. And so she will, even if it means putting herself--and her family--in danger"-- Provided by publisher.
Long Bright River
Published in 2020
"A suspense novel that also looks at the anatomy of a Philadelphia family rocked by the opioid crisis and the relationship between two sisters--one, suffering from addiction, who has suddenly gone missing amid a series of mysterious murders; the other a police officer who patrols the neighborhood from which she disappeared: a story about the formidable ties between place, family, and fate" -- Provided by publisher.
You Were There Too
Published in 2020
Mia Graydon's life looks picket-fence perfect; she has the house, the husband, and dreams of starting a family. Their relocation to small-town Pennsylvania comes with the usual challenges--finding a new job, new friends, new furniture--but the move is nothing the couple can't handle. That is, until Mia finally meets the stranger she has been dreaming about for a decade. And here's the catch: He's been dreaming of her, too. Now Mia must navigate the tangled web that fate has spun her and, with the help ofthe man of her dreams, go in search of answers. When diving into both of their pasts begins to unravel life in the present, Mia emerges with a single question: What if?