DISCUSSION GUIDES

Summary: Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life.

Summary: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery comes a witty and heartfelt story of two friends who unexpectedly find the person-and the place in which-they belong this Christmas.

Summary: The Golden Girls meets Practical Magic in this funny, tender, and uplifting feminist tale of sisterhood featuring a coven of aging witches who must unite their powers to fight the men determined to drive them out of their home and town. This novel explores the formidable power that can be discovered in aging, found family and unlikely friendships.

Summary: In 1942, a promise to her brother before he goes off to war puts Avis Montgomery in the unlikely position of head librarian and book club organizer in small-town Maine. The women of her club band together as the war comes dangerously close, but their friendships are tested by secrets, and they must decide whether depending on each other is worth the cost.

Summary: When Deb Brandon discovered that cavernous angiomas―tangles of malformed blood vessels in her brain―were behind the terrifying symptoms she'd been experiencing, she underwent one brain surgery. And then another. And then another. And that was just the beginning.

Summary: Once a Girl, Always a Boy is Jeremy’s journey from childhood through coming out as transgender and eventually emerging as an advocate for the transgender community. This is not only Jeremy’s story but also that of his family, told from multiple perspectives―those of the siblings who struggled to understand the brother they once saw as a sister, and of the parents who ultimately joined him in the battle against discrimination. This is a story of acceptance in a world not quite ready to accept.

Summary: Bit Flip is a corporate thriller that delivers an authentic insider’s view of the corrupting influences of greed, entitlement, and vanity in technology start-ups. As tech executive Sam Hughes teeters toward a midlife crisis, he discovers possible financial fraud within his start-up—forcing him to choose between entrepreneurial success and his morals, friends, and family.

Summary: A haunting and emotionally fraught story of a woman dealing with the ripple effects of her husband’s financial fraud—and with what she knew, or pretended not to know, about it

Summary: Three women, a nation seduced by a madman, and the Nazi breeding program to create a so-called master race

Summary: Shugri Said Salh, now a nurse in California, tells her unforgettable true story: When she was six years old, Shugri was sent to live with her nomadic grandmother in the Eastern African desert, becoming the last of her family to learn a once-common way of life.