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The Last Night in London

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The Last Night in London by Karen White
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Journalist Maddie Warner didn’t know. She didn’t know how a woman’s account of life in wartime London could speak to her today.

Maddie flew to England to interview and photograph “Precious” Dubose and her beautiful collection of vintage fashionwear. Maddie didn’t anticipate running into Colin, the man she dated, liked, then avoided in college.

Ninety-nine year old Precious Dubose still had the grace of a model, yet she battled with her health. Between bouts of rest, Precious described her friendship and modeling career with roommate Eva in 1939, in the midst of glittering party life and escalating political turmoil.  Through her story, Precious introduced Maddie to tall and brave Graham St. John, yet dangerous, and alluring Alex and their roles in the war and in Precious and Eva’s lives.  Like Maddie, who grieved her mother, Precious seemed to be exude a private sorrow.  Was this why Precious clung to life to finish her interview with Maddie?  Along the way, Colin and Maddie began to search for lost people from the past and found some personal answers along the way.

I was immersed in this tale of life 50 years apart yet with common themes.  Karen White’s description of life in 1939 felt so authentic.  I was driven to find out what happened to Precious and Eva and and their circle of loved ones.  Yet when the author described Maddie and Colin in the present, that seemed real too.  The struggles of the characters was relatable.  While the romance between Maddie and Colin seemed inevitable, there was a twist conclusion to the story too.

Find The Last Night in London in the catalog.

The Housewives: The Real Story behind the Real Housewives

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The Housewives: The Real Story behind the Real Housewives by Brian Moylan
Format: Audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

It is time to admit my biggest guilty pleasure: reality television. This book is narrated by the author and involves a deep dive into the world of The Real Housewives franchise on Bravo. I listened to this audiobook and as Brian, the author, chats about the history of The Real Housewives, it is just like having coffee with a friend the day after watching an episode. Although Bravo wouldn’t allow the author a lot of access to the housewives, Moylan did a great job giving readers and listeners the behind-the-scenes scoop on our favorite housewives moments. The book had a great mix of everything, the history of the show, who really pays for those housewives’ trips, and even an inside look at Moylan’s vacation with one of the housewives. This book is a must-read for anyone who loves reality shows and wants to get a small glimpse of the inside of the Bravo phenomenon.

Find The  Housewives in the catalog

Malibu Rising

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Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Format: Audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

It’s official: I am obsessed with Taylor Jenkins Reid and her writing. This book is about the Rivas family and their life in lavish Malibu. As most families, the Rivas have a few dysfunctions and each individual character has a secret of their own. Nina, the oldest is currently on a journey to find herself. She never wanted to be the center of attention but in order to provide for her family, she is thrown into a life of fame that brings people into her life that she’s not sure are there for her, or for something else. The book tells a story of what happens on the night of the infamous Nina Rivas end of summer bash. The twists and turns of this book, and the secrets that these characters hold will have you wanting to know more and more about this family.

I am a big fan of audiobooks and the narrator was able to bring this story to life. I cannot wait to see what Taylor Jenkins Reid gives us next.

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All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake

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All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake
Format:  Book, Digital Audiobook, Ebook
Who It’s for:  Adults

In the year 1850, a slave named Rose gave her nine-year-old daughter Ashley this sack the evening before they were separated by auction.  The two never saw one another again. The sack was found in 2007 at a flea market by a woman who purchased it to sell on eBay.  The woman noticed the embroidered inscription on the sack that read:

My great grandmother Rose
 mother of Ashley gave her this sack when
she was sold at age 9 in South Carolina
it held a tattered dress 3 handfulls of
pecans a braid of Roses hair. Told her
It be filled with my Love always
She never saw her again
Ashley is my grandmother
Ruth Middleton 1921.

Rather than sell the sack, the woman donated it to Middleton Place Plantation Museum, where it currently resides.   In 2015, author Tiya Miles heard about the sack and began her research for All That She Carried, which describes the journey the sack followed between three generations of enslaved Black women.

By researching their customs, crafts, and culture, Miles reveals not only the journey that the sack took but more importantly the experiences of the Black women who passed this object down through four generations.  Very little can be found about these enslaved women in written archives other than their names on plantation property lists.  But through intense research, Miles has succeeded in piecing their stories together and sharing them with us in her book.

If you love history, you will appreciate all that Tiya Miles shares in her book about the experience of slaves, the talents and skills that they passed on to their children, the importance of the “things” they held onto, and most all, the love for their families that they never let anyone take away from them. All That She Carried is a must-read.

Find All That She Carried in our catalog.

Eternal

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Eternal  by Lisa Scottoline
Format: Full cast digital audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

Author Lisa Scottoline is best known for writing legal thrillers. Eternal is Scottoline’s first historical novel, and it is just as good as her thrillers.  The story is based on true events that took place in Rome, Italy during World War II.  In 1937, Italians in Rome never believed that they would be touched by Hitler and his unnerving rules and laws.  But when Mussolini aligned the Fascist party with Hitler’s Nazis, terrible things began to tear their beautiful city, and the people within it, apart.

Scottoline has woven the true account of Rome’s fall to the Germans into the lives of high schoolers, Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro.  The three of them have grown up as best friends.  It seems as if overnight Rome is thrust into chaos and confusion.  The families of Marco, Elisabetta, and Sandro are caught up as casualties.

Marco lands a job working for the Fascist government, supporting what his family raised him to believe in.  Sandro and his family, always loyal to Fascist Mussolini, are shockingly moved to the Jewish ghetto and lose everything.  Elisabetta is caught struggling to support herself and at odds with the love that she feels for Marco and Sandro.  As World War II rages on, its consequences destroy the lives and dreams of these three friends and their families.

Scottoline does a wonderful job of revealing the devastation of Rome at Mussolini’s hands and expressing how love, friendship, faith, and family prevail enabling people to survive terror and hardship, and eventually begin to heal.  Fans of WWII historical fiction will appreciate Scottoline’s account of the effects WWII had on Italy.

Find it in the catalog!

 

 

Across the Green Grass Fields

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Title: Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire
Format: Book
Published: January 12, 2021
Who it’s for: Adults and Teens

As with the previous 5 books in the Wayward Children series, this next novel is beautifully written in such a way that draws the reader into a fantasy world that is tempting and beautiful, but always expects more of its inhabitants than meets the eye.

Young Regan is growing up, and her parents have decided that now is the time to tell her about her genetic identity. As she grapples with this news, she hopes that she can trust Laurel with this really big secret about herself. She can’t. Regan runs to the woods between school and home, and stumbles across a strange doorway. It beckons her, but is she sure that she wants to enter? As she passes through the twisted branches, she enters Hoofland, and leaves her world behind. The supposed mythical, but very real, centaurs explain that the appearance of a human in their world means that “something’s coming”; and Regan will be expected to be a hero.

Across the Green Grass Fields is a stand alone novel in The Wayward Children series, introducing a new character. If you are curious about the first book, check out this previous blog post by Tess.

This series can be found in the adult fiction collection, but the stories will be loved by teens as well.

Find it in the catalog