Novel Ideas Book Group

The synopsis from bookshare is below. Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice. It seems like any other day. You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out. But today, when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live. From suburban doorsteps to desert tents, every person on every continent receives the same box. In an instant, the world is thrust into a collective frenzy. Where did these boxes come from? What do they mean? Is there truth to what they promise? As society comes together and pulls apart, everyone faces the same shocking choice: Do they wish to know how long they'll live? And, if so, what will they do with that knowledge? The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another: best friends whose dreams are forever entwined, pen pals finding refuge in the unknown, a couple who thought they didn't have to rush, a doctor who cannot save himself, and a politician whose box becomes the powder keg that ultimately changes everything. Enchanting and deeply uplifting, The Measure is a sweeping, ambitious, and invigorating story about family, friendship, hope, and destiny that encourages us to live life to the fullest. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Novel Ideas will be taking a break from reading fiction for the month of April. We will be reading Being Heumann: An unrepentant Memoir by Judith Heumann. DB 100399 The synopsis from Bookshare is below. One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human. A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn't built for all of us and of one woman's activism—from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington—Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann's lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society. Paralyzed from polio at eighteen months, Judy's struggle for equality began early in life. From fighting to attend grade school after being described as a "fire hazard" to later winning a lawsuit against the New York City school system for denying her a teacher's license because of her paralysis, Judy's actions set a precedent that fundamentally improved rights for disabled people. As a young woman, Judy rolled her wheelchair through the doors of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in San Francisco as a leader of the Section 504 Sit-In, the longest takeover of a governmental building in US history. Working with a community of over 150 disabled activists and allies, Judy successfully pressured the Carter administration to implement protections for disabled peoples' rights, sparking a national movement and leading to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Candid, intimate, and irreverent, Judy Heumann's memoir about resistance to exclusion invites readers to imagine and make real a world in which we all belong. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

The Synopsis from Bookshare is below. One of Newsweek's 20 New Books to Cozy Up With this FallDefending Britta Stein is a story of bravery, betrayal, and redemption—from Ronald H. Balson, the winner of the National Jewish Book AwardChicago, 2018: Ole Henryks, a popular restauranteur, is set to be honored by the Danish/American Association for his many civic and charitable contributions. Frequently appearing on local TV, he is well known for his actions in Nazi-occupied Denmark during World War II—most consider him a hero.Britta Stein, however, does not. The ninety-year-old Chicago woman levels public accusations against Henryks by spray-painting "Coward," "Traitor," "Collaborator," and "War Criminal" on the walls of his restaurant. Mrs. Stein is ultimately taken into custody and charged with criminal defacement of property. She also becomes the target of a bitter lawsuit filed by Henryks and his son, accusing her of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.Attorney Catherine Lockhart, though hesitant at first, agrees to take up Mrs. Stein's defense. With the help of her investigator husband, Liam Taggart, Lockhart must reach back into wartime Denmark and locate evidence that proves Mrs. Stein's innocence. Defending Britta Stein is critically-acclaimed author Ronald H. Balson's thrilling take on a modern day courtroom drama, and a masterful rendition of Denmark's wartime heroics. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

We had a good discussion of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post in January. In February we'll be discussing Sawbones by Melissa Linhardt. DB 88004 The synopsis from Bookshare is below. Note from Alan: Those present at the 1/20/23 meeting be aware that the incorrect DB number for Sawbones was given at the meeting. Outlander meets post-Civil War unrest in this fast-paced historical debut.When Dr. Catherine Bennett is wrongfully accused of murder, she knows her fate likely lies with a noose unless she can disappear. Fleeing with a bounty on her head, she escapes with her maid to the uncharted territories of Colorado to build a new life with a new name. Although the story of the murderess in New York is common gossip, Catherine's false identity serves her well as she fills in as a temporary army doctor. But in a land unknown, so large and yet so small, a female doctor can only hide for so long. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. So begins another average evening for Marjorie Merriweather Post. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. Growing up in the modest farmlands of Battle Creek, Michigan, Marjorie was inspired by a few simple rules: always think for yourself, never take success for granted, and work hard—even when deemed American royalty, even while covered in imperial diamonds. Marjorie had an insatiable drive to live and love and to give more than she got. From crawling through Moscow warehouses to rescue the Tsar's treasures to outrunning the Nazis in London, from serving the homeless of the Great Depression to entertaining Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Hollywood's biggest stars, Marjorie Merriweather Post lived an epic life few could imagine. Marjorie's journey began gluing cereal boxes in her father's barn as a young girl. No one could have predicted that C. W. Post's Cereal Company would grow into the General Foods empire and reshape the American way of life, with Marjorie as its heiress and leading lady. Not content to stay in her prescribed roles of high-society wife, mother, and hostess, Marjorie dared to demand more, making history in the process. Before turning thirty she amassed millions, becoming the wealthiest woman in the United States. But it was her life-force, advocacy, passion, and adventurous spirit that led to her stunning legacy. And yet Marjorie's story, though full of beauty and grandeur, set in the palatial homes she built such as Mar-a-Lago, was equally marked by challenge and tumult. A wife four times over, Marjorie sought her happily-ever-after with the blue-blooded party boy who could not outrun his demons, the charismatic financier whose charm turned to betrayal, the international diplomat with a dark side, and the bon vivant whose shocking secrets would shake Marjorie and all of society. Marjorie did everything on a grand scale, especially when it came to love. Bestselling and acclaimed author Allison Pataki has crafted an intimate portrait of a larger-than-life woman, a powerful story of one woman falling in love with her own voice and embracing her own power while shaping history in the process. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Novel Ideas meets with an open forum to discuss a Christmas book, movie, or other Christmas topic of your choice.

The synopsis from Bookshare is below. Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family's past. Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother's former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya's pioneering grandmother during the British occupation. Through her courageous grandmother's arrestingly romantic and heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a strength that, until now, she never knew was possible. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

The synopsis from Bookshare is below. ‘I can tell we're going to be the best of friends…' When Louisa Sullivan takes her little boy to his first playdate at a new friend's house she doesn't realise life is about to change for her family. Because she's about to meet Darcy Lane. Darcy is a woman who has everything – a dream house, a powerful husband and enviable wealth. She's the perfect wife. The perfect friend. The perfect liar. From the top ten bestselling author of The Secret Mother and The Child Next Door, this utterly gripping psychological thriller will have you up all night reading. If you loved Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and The Wife Between Us this book is for you. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Our first Friday free for all went well in June. We hope to repeat it again at a future meeting. Novel Ideas will be taking July and August off. We hope everyone has a wonderful summer. When we meet in September, we will be discussing The Secrets of us. DB 105447 by Lucinda Berry. This book isn't on Bookshare. The BARD synopsis is below. Foster sisters Krystal and Nichole have always had each other's back. When Nichole is committed to a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill her husband, Krystal drops everything to defend her. As Krystal investigates, their shared dark past resurfaces, and they must fight for their lives. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Our first Friday free for all went well in June. We hope to repeat it again at a future meeting. Novel Ideas will be taking July and August off. We hope everyone has a wonderful summer. When we meet in September, we will be discussing The Secrets of us. DB 105447 by Lucinda Berry. This book isn't on Bookshare. The BARD synopsis is below. Foster sisters Krystal and Nichole have always had each other's back. When Nichole is committed to a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill her husband, Krystal drops everything to defend her. As Krystal investigates, their shared dark past resurfaces, and they must fight for their lives. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Novel Ideas will be trying something different in June. If all goes well, we hope to repeat this event periodically. Have you read a good book you'd like to share? Come join our first Friday Free-forAll on June 17th and tell us about it! Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind. Novel Ideas is a fiction book group. In keeping with that, the book you choose needs to be fiction. It must also be on BARD. When you give your review, please also give the DB number in case others want to read it. Come join us for what we hope will be the first of many Friday Free-forAll events. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Novel Ideas will be trying something different in June. If all goes well, we hope to repeat this event periodically. Have you read a good book you'd like to share? Come join our first Friday Free-forAll on June 17th and tell us about it! Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind. Novel Ideas is a fiction book group. In keeping with that, the book you choose needs to be fiction. It must also be on BARD. When you give your review, please also give the DB number in case others want to read it. Come join us for what we hope will be the first of many Friday Free-forAll events. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America. In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America. In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

The Bookshare synopsis is below. The Vatican announces that the Virgin Mary will return to Lourdes this year to perform a miracle cure! Will it be a miracle? Or will it be a fraud? Precious lives, loves, and happiness are at stake: Ken Clayton: the young American who abandons medical treatment for the chance of miracle; Edith Moore: the Englishwoman whose miracle cure has made her famous against her will; Gisele Dupree, the French girl whose desperation to escape Lourdes will lead to violence; Liz Finch: the hard-bitten journalist who wants to "expose" Lourdes and its miracles... At the climax comes a surprise twist that only master storyteller Irving Wallace could pull off. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

The Bookshare synopsis is below. The Vatican announces that the Virgin Mary will return to Lourdes this year to perform a miracle cure! Will it be a miracle? Or will it be a fraud? Precious lives, loves, and happiness are at stake: Ken Clayton: the young American who abandons medical treatment for the chance of miracle; Edith Moore: the Englishwoman whose miracle cure has made her famous against her will; Gisele Dupree, the French girl whose desperation to escape Lourdes will lead to violence; Liz Finch: the hard-bitten journalist who wants to "expose" Lourdes and its miracles... At the climax comes a surprise twist that only master storyteller Irving Wallace could pull off. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Adrian Rizzo is seven when she meets her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her—before her mother, Lina, stepped in. A decade later Adrian has created her own line of yoga and workout videos, but she starts getting threatening messages. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Adrian Rizzo is seven when she meets her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her—before her mother, Lina, stepped in. A decade later Adrian has created her own line of yoga and workout videos, but she starts getting threatening messages. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

The synopsis from Bookshare is below. #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline offers a sweeping and shattering epic of historical fiction fueled by shocking true events, the tale of a love triangle that unfolds in the heart of Rome'''in the creeping shadow of fascism What war destroys, only love can heal. Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta's heart. But in the autumn of 1937, all of that begins to change as Mussolini asserts his power, aligning Italy's Fascists with Hitler's Nazis and altering the very laws that govern Rome. In time, everything that the three hold dear—their families, their homes, and their connection to one another—is tested in ways they never could have imagined. As anti-Semitism takes legal root and World War II erupts, the threesome realizes that Mussolini was only the beginning. The Nazis invade Rome, and with their occupation come new atrocities against the city's Jews, culminating in a final, horrific betrayal. Against this backdrop, the intertwined fates of Elisabetta, Marco, Sandro, and their families will be decided, in a heartbreaking story of both the best and the worst that the world has to offer. Unfolding over decades, Eternal is a tale of loyalty and loss, family and food, love and war—all set in one of the world's most beautiful cities at its darkest moment. This moving novel will be forever etched in the hearts and minds of readers. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

The synopsis from Bookshare is below. #1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline offers a sweeping and shattering epic of historical fiction fueled by shocking true events, the tale of a love triangle that unfolds in the heart of Rome'''in the creeping shadow of fascism What war destroys, only love can heal. Elisabetta, Marco, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabetta is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist; Marco the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists; and Sandro a Jewish mathematics prodigy, kind-hearted and thoughtful, the son of a lawyer and a doctor. Their friendship blossoms to love, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta's heart. But in the autumn of 1937, all of that begins to change as Mussolini asserts his power, aligning Italy's Fascists with Hitler's Nazis and altering the very laws that govern Rome. In time, everything that the three hold dear—their families, their homes, and their connection to one another—is tested in ways they never could have imagined. As anti-Semitism takes legal root and World War II erupts, the threesome realizes that Mussolini was only the beginning. The Nazis invade Rome, and with their occupation come new atrocities against the city's Jews, culminating in a final, horrific betrayal. Against this backdrop, the intertwined fates of Elisabetta, Marco, Sandro, and their families will be decided, in a heartbreaking story of both the best and the worst that the world has to offer. Unfolding over decades, Eternal is a tale of loyalty and loss, family and food, love and war—all set in one of the world's most beautiful cities at its darkest moment. This moving novel will be forever etched in the hearts and minds of readers. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and that 2022s a much better year for all of us. To kick off the new year, guest host Carla Hayes will lead us in the discussion of the book The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. DB 100906. The synopsis from Bookshare is below. Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?" A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time. Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com Guest host Carla Hayes E-Mail: lengual@verizon.net

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and that 2022s a much better year for all of us. To kick off the new year, guest host Carla Hayes will lead us in the discussion of the book The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. DB 100906. The synopsis from Bookshare is below. Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?" A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time. Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com Guest host Carla Hayes E-Mail: lengual@verizon.net

It's hard to believe the holidays are upon us. As we do every year, Novel Ideas will be discussing a Christmas book. This year it will be Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah. DBC16784 Here is the Bookshare link to this book: https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/1868087?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPUNvbWZvcnQgJmFtcDsgSm95 The synopsis from BARD is below. School librarian Joy Candellaro takes an impromptu vacation during the holidays when she learns that her ex-husband and her sister are having a baby. After surviving a crash landing in a remote pacific-northwest forest, Joy discovers reclusive Daniel and his eight-year-old son Bobby. Or did she imagine them? Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

It's hard to believe the holidays are upon us. As we do every year, Novel Ideas will be discussing a Christmas book. This year it will be Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah. DBC16784 Here is the Bookshare link to this book: https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/1868087?returnPath=L3NlYXJjaD9tb2R1bGVOYW1lPXB1YmxpYyZrZXl3b3JkPUNvbWZvcnQgJmFtcDsgSm95 The synopsis from BARD is below. School librarian Joy Candellaro takes an impromptu vacation during the holidays when she learns that her ex-husband and her sister are having a baby. After surviving a crash landing in a remote pacific-northwest forest, Joy discovers reclusive Daniel and his eight-year-old son Bobby. Or did she imagine them? Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

From legendary storyteller and #1 bestseller Stephen King, whose "restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained" (The New York Times Book Review), comes a thrilling new novel about a good guy in a bad job. Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He's a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he'll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything. This spectacular can't-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It's about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption. You won't put this story down, and you won't forget Billy. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

From legendary storyteller and #1 bestseller Stephen King, whose "restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained" (The New York Times Book Review), comes a thrilling new novel about a good guy in a bad job. Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He's a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he'll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything. This spectacular can't-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It's about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption. You won't put this story down, and you won't forget Billy. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Novel Ideas will be discussing The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. DB 102287 The Synopsis from Bookshare is below. From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them. "My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family." Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman's only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa's tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa―like so many of her neighbors―must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family. The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it―the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Novel Ideas will be discussing The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. DB 102287 The Synopsis from Bookshare is below. From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them. "My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family." Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman's only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows. By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa's tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive. In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa―like so many of her neighbors―must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family. The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it―the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

We will be discussing the last two books in the trilogy. The Sugarhouse Blues, (DB 94303) and The Goodbye Cafe (DB 97130) Both books are on Bookshare, and the synopsis for each is below. Have a wonderful summer, and we'll see you in September. The Sugarhouse Blues In the second novel of the Hudson Sisters series. Allie, Des, and Cara, each having her own reasons for wanting a share of their father's estate, meet in the grand Victorian home in which he grew up, only to be greeted by another secret he purposely hid from them: his sister Bonnie. The women reluctantly band together to take on Fritz's challenge, working with a local contractor to begin the renovations financed by an account Fritz had set up for the task. While the restoration appears to go smoothly at first, it soon becomes apparent that the work will be more extensive than originally thought, and Des, elected to handle the money, needs to find ways to stretch out the remaining savings while searching for new sources of funding. As strangers linked only by their DNA try to become a family, the Hudson sisters also try to come to terms with the father they only thought they knew. In the process, each woman discovers her own capacity for understanding, forgiveness, love, and the true meaning of family. The Goodbye Cafe California girl Allie Hudson Monroe can't wait for the day when the renovations on the Sugarhouse Theater are complete so she can finally collect the inheritance from her father and leave Pennsylvania. After all, her life and her fourteen-year-old daughter are in Los Angeles. But Allie's divorce left her tottering on the edge of bankruptcy, so to keep up on payments for her house and her daughter's private school tuition, Allie packed up and flew out east. But fate has a curve-ball or two to toss in Allie's direction—she just doesn't know it yet. She hadn't anticipated how her life would change after reuniting with her estranged sister, Des, or meeting her previously unknown half-sister, Cara. And she'd certainly never expected to find small-town living charming. But the biggest surprise was that her long-forgotten artistry would save the day when the theater's renovation fund dried up. With opening day upon the sisters, Allie's free to go. But for the first time in her life, she feels like the woman she was always meant to be. Will she return to the West Coast and resume her previous life, or will the love of "this amazing, endearing family of women" (Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author) be enough to draw her back to the place where the Hudson roots grow so deep? Join us in this zoom to discuss these great books. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

We will be discussing the last two books in the trilogy. The Sugarhouse Blues, (DB 94303) and The Goodbye Cafe (DB 97130) Both books are on Bookshare, and the synopsis for each is below. Have a wonderful summer, and we'll see you in September. The Sugarhouse Blues In the second novel of the Hudson Sisters series. Allie, Des, and Cara, each having her own reasons for wanting a share of their father's estate, meet in the grand Victorian home in which he grew up, only to be greeted by another secret he purposely hid from them: his sister Bonnie. The women reluctantly band together to take on Fritz's challenge, working with a local contractor to begin the renovations financed by an account Fritz had set up for the task. While the restoration appears to go smoothly at first, it soon becomes apparent that the work will be more extensive than originally thought, and Des, elected to handle the money, needs to find ways to stretch out the remaining savings while searching for new sources of funding. As strangers linked only by their DNA try to become a family, the Hudson sisters also try to come to terms with the father they only thought they knew. In the process, each woman discovers her own capacity for understanding, forgiveness, love, and the true meaning of family. The Goodbye Cafe California girl Allie Hudson Monroe can't wait for the day when the renovations on the Sugarhouse Theater are complete so she can finally collect the inheritance from her father and leave Pennsylvania. After all, her life and her fourteen-year-old daughter are in Los Angeles. But Allie's divorce left her tottering on the edge of bankruptcy, so to keep up on payments for her house and her daughter's private school tuition, Allie packed up and flew out east. But fate has a curve-ball or two to toss in Allie's direction—she just doesn't know it yet. She hadn't anticipated how her life would change after reuniting with her estranged sister, Des, or meeting her previously unknown half-sister, Cara. And she'd certainly never expected to find small-town living charming. But the biggest surprise was that her long-forgotten artistry would save the day when the theater's renovation fund dried up. With opening day upon the sisters, Allie's free to go. But for the first time in her life, she feels like the woman she was always meant to be. Will she return to the West Coast and resume her previous life, or will the love of "this amazing, endearing family of women" (Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author) be enough to draw her back to the place where the Hudson roots grow so deep? Join us in this zoom to discuss these great books. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

The synopsis from bookshare is below. From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes the first novel in her all-new series, The Hudson Sisters, following a trio of reluctant sisters as they set out to fulfill their father’s dying wish. In the process, they find not only themselves, but the father they only thought … Novel Ideas will be discussing the book The Last Chance Matinee by Mariah Stewart. DB 88199 06/18/2021 Read More »

The synopsis from bookshare is below. From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes the first novel in her all-new series, The Hudson Sisters, following a trio of reluctant sisters as they set out to fulfill their father's dying wish. In the process, they find not only themselves, but the father they only thought they knew.When celebrated and respected agent Fritz Hudson passes away, he leaves a trail of Hollywood glory in his wake—and two separate families who never knew the other existed. Allie and Des Hudson are products of Fritz's first marriage to Honora, a beautiful but troubled starlet whose life ended in a tragic overdose. Meanwhile, Fritz was falling in love on the Delaware Bay with New Age hippie Susa Pratt—they had a daughter together, Cara, and while Fritz loved Susa with everything he had, he never quite managed to tell her or Cara about his West Coast family. Now Fritz is gone, and the three sisters are brought together under strange circumstances: there's a large inheritance to be had that could save Allie from her ever-deepening debt following a disastrous divorce, allow Des to open a rescue shelter for abused and wounded animals, and give Cara a fresh start after her husband left her for her best friend—but only if the sisters upend their lives and work together to restore an old, decrepit theater that was Fritz's obsession growing up in his small hometown in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. Guided by Fritz's closest friend and longtime attorney, Pete Wheeler, the sisters come together—whether they like it or not—to turn their father's dream into a reality, and might just come away with far more than they bargained for. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth Ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

 Novel Ideas will have a slightly different format for May. We will start with a brief discussion led by Judy Wilkinson about the program Library users Of America has planned for the ACB Convention. If anyone from Library Users of America would like to join us in June to discuss the program for the … Novel Ideas to discuss Driftwood Summer DB 71559 by Patti Callahan Henry 05/21/2021 Read More »

 Novel Ideas will have a slightly different format for May. We will start with a brief discussion led by Judy Wilkinson about the program Library users Of America has planned for the ACB Convention. If anyone from Library Users of America would like to join us in June to discuss the program for the NFB Convention, please contact me at the email address below. We look forward to hearing from you. After the presentation, we will be discussing the book Driftwood Summer by Patti Callahan Henry. DB 71559 Below is the synopsis from Bookshare. In the small seaside town of Palmetto Beach, the Sheffield sisters — responsible Riley, vivacious Maisy, and fun-loving Adalee — reunite to celebrate their mother's birthday and try to save the family bookstore, which has long been a beloved gathering place in their tight-knit community. But June also marks the return of Mack Logan, who thirteen years ago was Riley's best friend and Maisy's teenage crush. His choice of Maisy over Riley during that pivotal summer destroyed the special closeness between the sisters, and sent their lives in very different directions. Now Riley, a single mom who doubts any man will ever live up to the ideal Mack Logan, must work with her sisters while hiding a shattering secret about their mother. Maisy, a California designer, still blames Riley for ruining her one true love. And Adalee, a college coed, resents the family's intrusion into her summer plans. When Mack arrives, all three sisters are forced to confront their long-held beliefs about the conflicts that tore them apart and the bonds of love and loyalty that still draw them together. Will they allow the past to define the future? Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth Ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Synopsis from bookshare. Hidden desires, long-held secrets, and the sacrifices people make for family are at the heart of this powerful first novel by the popular Pulitzer Prize—winning journalist.and0A moving, unforgettable story about time, progress, and how the mistakes of one generation get repeated or repaired by the next.and?—J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling … Novel Ideas to discuss The Daughters Of Erietown DB 99958 by Connie Schultz 04/16/2021 Read More »

Synopsis from bookshare. Hidden desires, long-held secrets, and the sacrifices people make for family are at the heart of this powerful first novel by the popular Pulitzer Prize—winning journalist.and0A moving, unforgettable story about time, progress, and how the mistakes of one generation get repeated or repaired by the next.and?—J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Saints for All Occasions 1957, Clayton Valley, Ohio. Ellie has the best grades in her class. Her dream is to go to nursing school and marry Brick McGinty. A basketball star, Brick has the chance to escape his abusive father and become the first person in his blue-collar family to attend college. But when Ellie learns that she is pregnant, everything changes. Just as Brick and Ellie revise their plans and build a family, a knock on the front door threatens to destroy their lives. The evolution of women&'s lives spanning the second half of the twentieth century is at the center of this beautiful novel that richly portrays how much people know—and pretend not to know—about the secrets at the heart of a town, and a family. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Novel Ideas will be discussing the book What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman. DBC 06250 Below is the synopsis from Bookshare. Ten years ago, Izzy Stone's mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother's apparent insanity, Izzy, now seventeen, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster parents, employees at the local museum, have enlisted Izzy's help in cataloging items at a long-shuttered state asylum. There, amid piles of abandoned belongings, Izzy discovers a stack of unopened letters, a decades-old journal, and a window into her own past. Clara Cartwright, eighteen years old in 1929, is caught between her overbearing parents and her love for an Italian immigrant. Furious when she rejects an arranged marriage, Clara's father sends her to a genteel home for nervous invalids. But when his fortune is lost in the stock market crash, he can no longer afford her care—and Clara is committed to the public asylum. Even as Izzy deals with the challenges of yet another new beginning, Clara's story keeps drawing her into the past. If Clara was never really mentally ill, could something else explain her own mother's violent act? Piecing together Clara's fate compels Izzy to re-examine her own choices—with shocking and unexpected results. Illuminating and provocative, What She Left Behind is a masterful novel about the yearning to belong—and the mysteries that can belie even the most ordinary life. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Novel Ideas will be discussing the book What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman. DBC 06250 Below is the synopsis from Bookshare. Ten years ago, Izzy Stone’s mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother’s apparent insanity, Izzy, now seventeen, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster … Novel Ideas to discuss What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman DBC06250 03/19/2021 Read More »

Novel Ideas will be discussing the book The Book Of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult. DB 100856 Below is the synopsis from BookShare. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light comes a riveting novel about the choices that alter the course of our lives. Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She's on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband but of a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong. Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, their beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, in which she helps ease the transition between life and death for her clients. But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a career Dawn once studied for but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made. After the crash landing, the airline ensures that the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation to wherever they want to go. The obvious destination is to fly home, but she could take another path: return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways—the first known map of the afterlife. As the story unfolds, Dawn's two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried with them. Dawn must confront the questions she's never truly asked: What does a life well lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices . . . or do our choices make us? And who would you be if you hadn't turned out to be the person you are right now? Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth Ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com

Novel Ideas will be discussing the book The Book Of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult. DB 100856 Below is the synopsis from BookShare. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light comes a riveting novel about the choices that alter the course of our lives. Everything … Novel Ideas to discuss The Book Of Two Ways DB 100856 by Jodi Picoult 02/19/2021 Read More »

Novel Ideas will be discussing the book Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. DB81896. Elizabeth Lindsey will lead this discussion. Below is the synopsis from Bookshare. A historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. Originally written in the mid-1950s, Go Set a Watchman was the novel Harper Lee first submitted to her publishers before To Kill a Mockingbird. Assumed to have been lost, the manuscript was discovered in late 2014. Go Set a Watchman features many of the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird some twenty years later. Returning home to Maycomb to visit her father, Jean Louise Finch—Scout—struggles with issues both personal and political, involving Atticus, society, and the small Alabama town that shaped her. Exploring how the characters from To Kill a Mockingbird are adjusting to the turbulent events transforming mid-1950s America, Go Set a Watchman casts a fascinating new light on Harper Lee's enduring classic. Moving, funny and compelling, it stands as a magnificent novel in its own right. Join us in this zoom meeting to discuss this great book. Host: Randi Shelton E-Mail: rshelton820@gmail.com Co-Host Ruth ann Acosta, E-Mail: ruth1244@gmail.com Guest Host: Elizabeth Lindsey E-mail: elizabethl@comcast.net

Novel Ideas will be discussing the book Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee. DB81896. Elizabeth Lindsey will lead this discussion. Below is the synopsis from Bookshare. A historic literary event: the publication of a newly discovered novel, the earliest known work from Harper Lee, the beloved, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, To … Novel Ideas to discuss Go Set A Watchman DB81896 by Harper Lee 01/15/2021 Read More »

Novel Ideas will be discussing the book Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb. DB 71007. Below is its synopsis from Bookshare. It’s 1964 and ten-year-old Felix is sure of a few things: the birds and the bees are puzzling, television is magical, and this is one Christmas he’ll never forget. LBJ and Lady Bird are … Novel Ideas will be discussing the book Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb. DB 71007 12/18/2020 Read More »