By Curtis Sittenfeld
Recommended By Amy B., Children's Librarian

When her husband is elected president of the United States, Alice Blackwell finds her new life as first lady increasingly tumultuous as she recalls her early life, her courtship and marriage, and the crisis that nearly destroyed their relationship and reflects on the privileges and difficulties of her position as her private beliefs conflict with her public responsibilities.

By Jim Butcher
Series Dresden Files
Recommended By Megan Kass, Systems Manager

Presents an urban fantasy-story collection starring Windy City wizard Harry Dresden and featuring an assembly of famous guest editors, in an anthology that includes the original novella, "Zoo Day."

By Jose Antonio Vargas
Recommended By Neela Vass, Head of Acquisitions

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, filmmaker and immigration-rights activist presents a debut memoir about how he unknowingly entered the United States with false documents as a child.

By Susan Jane Gilman
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian

Leaving behind her family and her suburban home when her world implodes, forty-five-year-old Donna Koczynski sets off on a road trip to rebuild her life.

By Rainbow Rowell
Recommended By Nathalie Levin, Children's Services Librarian

Feeling cast off when her best friend outgrows their shared love for a favorite celebrity, Cath, a dedicated fan-fiction writer, struggles to survive on her own in her first year of college while avoiding a surly roommate, bonding with a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words and worrying about her fragile father.

By George R. R. Martin
Series History of House Targaryen
Recommended By Meghan F., Children's Services Librarian

The first volume of a definitive two-part history of the Targaryens in Westeros is set centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones and answers key questions about the dynasty's origins, conflicts and relationships with dragons.

By Casey Cep
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference

Documents the remarkable story of 1970s Alabama serial killer Willie Maxwell and the true-crime book on the Deep South's racial politics and justice system that consumed Harper Lee in the years after To Kill a Mockingbird.

By Bruce Holsinger
Recommended By Pam Martin, Assistant Library Director

The students and parents of a tight-knit community find their bonds nearly destroyed by competitiveness when an exclusive school for gifted children opens nearby, in a story told from both adult and child perspectives.

By Nora Roberts
Series Guardians Trilogy
Recommended By Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager

Continuing the hunt for the Star of Ice in Ireland, the immortal Doyle confronts his tragic past while the archaeologist Riley immerses herself in local history and finds herself targeted by a dark goddess.

By Anne Bogel
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

Popular blogger and host of the What Should I Read Next? podcast offers a charming, relatable, and highly readable essay collection for book lovers everywhere, examining the magical and maddening aspects of the reading life.

By Jillian Cantor
Recommended By Amy B., Children's Librarian

In a reimagining of the life of Anne Frank's sister Margot, Margie Franklin, working as a secretary at a Jewish law firm in Philadelphia, finds her carefully constructed life falling apart when her sister becomes a global icon.

By Dave Eggers
Recommended By Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian
With Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian

Tuesday, May 14, 2019. 7:30 PM.

Traces the story of Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a Yemeni-American in San Francisco, and his dream of resurrecting the ancient art of cultivating, roasting, and importing Yemeni coffee, an endeavor that is challenged by the brutal realities of Yemen's 2015 civilwar.

By Sally Hepworth
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian, Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager

A woman's obsessive fears about how much she disappoints her successful, pillar-of-the-community mother-in-law lead to a controversial disinheritance and a suspicious suicide.

By Louise Penny
Series Chief Inspector Gamache Novels
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

When a young boy prone to crying wolf goes missing, village newcomers Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache join a frantic search for the child only to stumble on a community secret about a long-ago betrayal and murder.

By Sarah Waters
Recommended By Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian

A tale set in World War II London finds a rescue worker struggling for composure after a bombing, a young woman longing for her soldier lover, and a convict who watches a battle through the bars of his window.

By David McCullough
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

Recounts the story of the settlers who began America's migration west, overcoming almost-unimaginable hardships to build in the Ohio wilderness a town and a government that incorporated America's highest ideals.

By Lesley Kara
Recommended By Nathalie Levin, Children's Services Librarian

Hearing rumors that a dangerous ex-con has moved into town under an assumed name, an obsessed single mother goes to reckless lengths to determine the facts, subjecting her loved ones to dangerous retaliation.

By Mary Kay Andrews
Recommended By Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian, Pam Martin, Assistant Library Director

Reluctantly accepting a job at her estranged father's law firm in the aftermath of her mother's passing, Drue is tangled in a decades-old mystery that threatens everyone she loves.

By Layne Fargo
Recommended By Jessikah Chautin, Community Engagement Specialist

Ambitious Chicago theater actress Kira Rascher finally lands the role of a lifetime, but if she takes it, she must work with Malcolm Mercer, a mercurial director known for pushing his performers past their limits—onstage and off.

By Etah Rum
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian, Jackie, Head of Readers' Services, Lisa H., Readers' Services Librarian, Neela Vass, Head of Acquisitions, Donna Burger, Readers' Services Librarian
With Lisa Hollander, Readers' Services Librarian

Tuesday, May 12, 2020. 7:30 PM.

Three generations of Palestinian-American women in contemporary Brooklyn are torn by individual desire, educational ambitions, a devastating tragedy, and the strict mores of traditional Arab culture.