Adults - Library Book Group Reading List

"Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into two different tribal villages in 18th century Ghana. Effia will be married off to an English colonial, and will live in comfort in the sprawling, palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising half-caste children who will be sent abroad to be educated in England before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the Empire. Her sister, Esi, will be imprisoned beneath...

“A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.” —Barack Obama 
“African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Things

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"Cussy Mary Carter is the last of her kind, her skin the color of a blue damselfly in these dusty hills. But that doesn't mean she's got nothing to offer. As a member of the Pack Horse Library Project, Cussy delivers books to the hill folk of Troublesome, hoping to spread learning in these desperate times. But not everyone is so keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and the hardscrabble Kentuckians are quick to blame a Blue for any trouble...

Immerse yourself in a spine-chilling world of gothic horror and ancient evil. The enigmatic Count Dracula leaves his Transylvanian castle to spread his dark influence in Victorian England. As a group of intrepid individuals seeks to thwart the vampire's malevolent plans, a harrowing battle between good and evil ensues. With hauntingly atmospheric prose, Stoker weaves a tale of terror, seduction, and the struggle for survival. Brace yourself for a...

"Costa Book Award Finalist and the Waterstones (UK) Book of the Year 2016." "I loved this book. At once numinous, intimate and wise, The Essex Serpent is a marvelous novel about the workings of life, love and belief, about science and religion, secrets, mysteries, and the complicated and unexpected shifts of the human heart--and it contains some of the most beautiful evocations of place and landscape I've ever read. It is so good its pages seem lit...

A novel whose principal characters are the servants in Jane Austen's Pride and prejudice.

If you liked Jane Eyre, Bridgerton, or Downton Abbey, you'll love this best-selling novel of romance and social satire set in Regency era Britain. Two handsome, single, and wealthy gentleman arrive in town and capture the attention of all the young ladies. A combination of pride and prejudice results in ironic twists and turns in this tale of young English women and their quest for love and security. Delve into the life of the fiercely independent...

"An instant American icon--the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court--tells the story of her life before becoming a judge in an inspiring, surprisingly personal memoir. With startling candor and intimacy, Sonia Sotomayor recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself. She writes of her precarious childhood and the refuge she...

Set on a rugged coastal homestead during the 1970s, This Life Is in Your Hands introduces a superb young writer driven by the need to uncover the truth of a childhood tragedy and connect anew with the beauty and vitality of the back-to-the-land ideal that shaped her early years. In the fall of 1968, Melissa Coleman's parents, Eliot and Sue-a handsome, idealistic young couple from well-to-do families-pack a few essentials into their VW truck and abandon...