Book Curious ®

Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows   Pages: 274         Published: 2008

The book: In January 1946, Juliet Ashton, a writer, receives a letter from a man she has never met, Dawsey Adams. He owns a book that used to belong to her. They begin to correspond, and it turns out that Dawsey was a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Juliet continues to correspond with Dawsey, curious to learn more about the society, which was founded during the German occupation of the channels islands. Read more

Merle Hodge        Pages: 123          Published: 1970

The book: A young girl called Tee narrates the story of her childhood in Trinidad. After her Mother dies during childbirth, Tee is forced to live first with an aunt she calls Tantie and then with her Aunt Beatrice.  Tantie is warm, bawdy and welcoming, while Beatrice inhabits a Creole middle-class world that is pretentious and discriminatory toward lower-class people of color.
The story follows Tee as she grows up being pulled between two different worlds, trying to fit in at school, and to find her own identity. Read more

Imbolo Mbue     Pages: 382      Published: 2016

The book: This is the story of Jende and Neni, who came to America from Cameroon, with their six-year-old son, to build a better life for themselves.  In 2007, Jende and Neni manage to obtain jobs working for a banking executive and his wife.  Things are looking up.  Will they realize their dreams or will the collapse of the global economy bring destruction? Read more

Dashiell Hammett          Pages: 217          First published:1929

The book: Private Eye Sam Spade gets a visit from a Ms. Wonderly, who wants him to find her sister. However, Ms. Wonderly is not who she claims to be and she’s not really looking for her sister. She’s in search of a mysterious package. All sorts of trouble ensue. Who is Miss Wonderly and what’s in the mysterious package? Can Sam Spade get to the bottom of what’s going on?
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The Muse       Jessie Burton       Pages: 445      Published: 2016

The book: Odelle Bastien emigrates from Trinidad to London in 1967 and is employed by the mysterious and glamorous Marjorie Quick at the Skelton gallery. A painting whose provenance is initially unknown arrives at the gallery for valuation.

In 1936, in rural Spain, Olive Schloss and her parents are living in a rented farmhouse. Her father, an art dealer, is always on the lookout for new artists he can promote and sell. He thinks he has found new talent in a local art teacher, Isaac Robles.

Is there a connection between the artist Isaac Robles and the painting at the Skelton gallery? Why did Marjorie Quick react so strangely to the painting? Read on to find out. Read more