Reading Groups Collection 2020 (NF = Non-Fiction) Titles marked * have 400 or more pages – number in brackets ​ ​ All books in this collection are paperback unless otherwise stated with ‘Hbk.’ ​ Underlined titles indicate new books for 2020 Abi-Ezzi, Nathalie – A Girl Made of Dust 15 copies A rich and beautiful novel set during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s, and based on the author's personal experiences of the conflict. Ten-year-old Ruba lives in a village outside Beirut. From her family home, she can see the buildings shimmering on the horizon and the sea stretched out beside them. She can also hear the rumble of the shelling -- this is Lebanon in the 1980s and civil war is tearing the country apart. When Ruba decides she has to save her father, and uncovers his secret, she begins a journey which takes her from childhood to the beginnings of adulthood. Adichie, Chimamanda – Half of a Yellow Sun* (433) 12 copies ​ ​ ​ ​ This highly anticipated novel is set in Nigeria during the 1960s, at the time of a vicious civil war in which a million people died and thousands were massacred in cold blood. The three main characters in the novel are swept up in the violence during these turbulent years. One is a young boy from a poor village who is employed at a university lecturer's house. The other is a young middle-class woman, Olanna, who has to confront the reality of the massacre of her relatives. And the third is a white man, a writer who lives in Nigeria for no clear reason, and who falls in love with Olanna's twin sister, a remote and enigmatic character. As these people's lives intersect, they have to question their own responses to the unfolding political events. Adichie, Chimamanda – The Thing Around Your Neck 12 copies From the author of the bestselling Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus come twelve brilliant new stories. Of motherhood and mistresses; love and dislocation; violence and faith; the moments of everyday epiphany that illuminate the beauty and desperation of ordinary lives. Ahern, Cecilia - PS I love you* (400) 10 copies ​ Holly and Gerry had the perfect life. Happily married, living in Dublin close to their friends and family, and with a brilliant social life, they had the world at their feet. Or so they thought. When Gerry dies, Holly is devastated. On the eve of her 30th birthday, the man who was her lover, her best friend, her rock, has left her. But Gerry promised he'd always be there for Holly. And he is: his last bequest to her is The List, a bundle of notes which form a monthly mission for Holly to get her life back on track. Albom, Mitch - The five people you meet in heaven 10 copies The Five People you meet in Heaven is a book that addresses the meaning of life, and life after death. The novel's protagonist is an amusement park maintenance worker named Eddie who, while operating a ride called the' Free Fall', dies while trying to save a young girl. Eddie goes to heaven, where he meets five people who were unexpectedly instrumental in some way in his life. While each guide takes him through heaven, Eddie learns a little bit more about what his Jan 2020 Page 1 of 77 Reading Groups Collection 2020 time on earth meant, what he was supposed to have learned, and what his true purpose on earth was. ​ Albom, Mitch – The Time Keeper 12 copies Banished for centuries, as punishment for trying to measure time, the inventor of the world’s first clock is finally granted his freedom, along with a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two people the true meaning of time. He returns to our world and embarks on a journey with two unlikely partners; a teenage girl who is about to give up on life and a wealthy, ageing businessman who wants to live forever. To save himself, he must save them both. Gripping, and filled with deep human truth, this unforgettable story will inspire readers everywhere to reconsider their own notions of time and just how precious it truly is. Allende, Isabel – The House of Spirits*(491) 12 copies ​ Spanning four generations, Isabel Allende's magnificent family saga is populated by a memorable, often eccentric cast of characters. Together, men and women, spirits, the forces of nature, and of history, converge in an unforgettable, wholly absorbing and brilliantly realised novel that is as richly entertaining as it is a masterpiece of modern literature. In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. Alliningham, Margery – The Tiger in the Smoke 8 copies Jack Havoc, jail-breaker and knife artist, is on the loose on the streets of London once again. In the faded squares of shabby houses, in the furtive alleys and darkened pubs, the word is out that the Tiger is back in town, more vicious and cunning than ever. It falls to Albert Campion to pit his wits against the killer and hunt him down through the city's November smog before it is too late. Almond, David - Skellig 38 copies When a move to a new house coincides with his baby sister's illness, Michael's world seems suddenly lonely and uncertain. Then, one Sunday afternoon, he stumbles into the old, ramshackle garage of his new home, and finds something magical. A strange creature - part owl, part angel, a being who needs Michael's help if he is to survive. With his new friend Mina, Michael nourishes Skellig back to health, while his baby sister languishes in the hospital. But Skellig is far more than he at first appears, and as he helps Michael breathe life into his tiny sister, Michael's world changes forever . Asimov, Isaac – The Complete Stories (Volume 1)*(429) 12 copies ​ Isaac Asimov was the Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the founder of the robot ethics, the world’s most prolific author of fiction and non-fiction. The Good Doctor’s short fiction has been enjoyed by millions for more than half a century. Now the definitive Asimov collection is underway with Volume One of THE COMPLETE STORIES. Herein are 25 science Jan 2020 Page 2 of 77 Reading Groups Collection 2020 fiction stories, many of them classics of the genre, and the last, ‘The Last Question,’ the absolute personal favourite of Asimov himself. Atkinson, Kate – Case Histories* (410) 11 copies ​ ​ Cambridge is sweltering, during an unusually hot summer. To Jackson Brodie, former police inspector turned private investigator, the world consists of one accounting sheet - Lost on the left, Found on the right - and the two never seem to balance. His days are full of people clamouring for answers and explanations. A jealous husband suspects his wife. Two spinster sisters make a shocking find. A solicitor investigates an old murder. A nurse has lost her niece; a widow, her cats. Jackson has never felt at home in Cambridge, and has a failed marriage to prove it. He is forty-five but feels much, much older. Surrounded by death, intrigue and misfortune, his own life is brought sharply into focus. Atkinson, Kate - A God in Ruins*(548) 10 copies ​ Kate Atkinson's 'Life After Life' explored the possibility of infinite chances, as Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. In 'A God in Ruins', Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy - would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband and father - as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have. Atkinson, Kate – Life After Life*(609) 12 copies ​ WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right? During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath. During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to ​ ​ live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to? Atkinson, Kate - Transcription 10 Copies During WWII, Juliet Armstrong was conscripted into service as a young woman, transcribing conversations between an MI5 agent and a ring of suspected German sympathizers. Years later, in 1950 post-war London, Julie can't escape the repercussions of her work for the government, and is pulled back into the life of espionage she thought she'd left behind. Kate Atkinson's latest novel brings mid-century London to life in a gripping tale of deception and consequences. Atwood, Margaret – The Blind Assassin*(560) 12 copies ​ Laura Chase's older sister Iris, married at eighteen to a politically prominent industrialist but now poor and eighty-two, is living in Port Ticonderoga, a town dominated by their once-prosperous Jan 2020 Page 3 of 77 Reading Groups Collection 2020 family before the First War. While coping with her unreliable body, Iris reflects on her far from exemplary life, in particular the events surrounding her sister's tragic death. Chief among these was the publication of The Blind Assassin, a novel which earned the dead Laura Chase not only notoriety but also a devoted cult following.