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DISCUSSION GUIDES
- 11.Clutch: A Novel“White Lotus with more sincerity and heart.” —Los Angeles Times
“This story casts a smart, sociological eye on ambitious American women’s experiences while also being a compulsive page-turner.”
—The Atlantic
A close-knit group of women navigate mid-life’s biggest challenges—marriage, career, addiction—in this “sharp, funny, utterly engrossing” novel (Lynn Steger Strong)
Named a Best Book by The New York Times Book Review, People, Los Angeles Times, Alta Journal, Bustle, and more
Five friends, twenty years, one reunion trip.
As undergrads, Gregg, Reba, Hillary, Bella, and Carson formed the kind of rare bond that college brochures promise—friendship that lasts a lifetime. Two decades later, the women are spread across the country but remain firmly tethered through their ever-unfurling group chat. They’ve made it through COVID and childbirth and midcareer challenges, but no one can anticipate what’s coming down the pike.
The five women converge on Palm Springs for a long overdue reunion: Gregg, who has forged a path as a progressive Texas legislator, is facing a huge decision about her political future. Reba, who moved back to the Bay Area after decades away, is deep in IVF treatments while caring for her aging parents and navigating a San Francisco she hardly recognizes. Hillary's medical career in Chicago is going great—but at home, her husband's struggles with addiction have derailed their life. In New York City, Bella faces the biggest case in her career as a litigator while her home life crumbles around her, and across the river in Brooklyn, Carson is working on a new novel as well as forging a possible relationship with the father she's never met.
Twenty years into their shared friendship, the stakes are higher than ever, and they must help one another reconcile professional ambition with personal tumult. Clutch is a big, beautiful, and deeply absorbing novel that asks how much space and heart we can give to our friends and our families, and what space we can save for ourselves. - 12.How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder: A NovelA bold, inventive, and fiercely original debut novel that begins with an uncle dead and his tween niece’s private confession to the reader—she and her sister killed him, and they blame the British.
"I have been waiting for Nina McConigley's debut novel for years and it's even better than I could have imagined." —Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts
“Spirited and witty, stylish and audacious...Its avid curiosity about the world, its alertness to history, and its enormously fun storytelling—with a twist at the end—held me in their spell.” —Megha Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning
Summer, 1986. The Creel sisters, Georgie Ayyar and Agatha Krishna, welcome their aunt, uncle and young cousin—newly arrived from India—into their house in rural Wyoming where they’ll all live together. Because this is what families do. That is, until the sisters decide that it’s time for their uncle to die.
According to Georgie, the British are to blame. And to understand why, you need to hear her story. She details the violence hiding in their house and history, her once-unshakeable bond with Agatha Krishna, and her understanding of herself as an Indian-American in the heart of the West. Her account is, at every turn, cheeky, unflinching, and infectiously inflected with the trappings of teendom, including the magazine quizzes that help her make sense of her life. At its heart, the tale she weaves is:
a) a vivid portrait of an extended family
b) a moving story of sisterhood
c) a playful ode to the 80s
d) a murder mystery (of sorts)
e) an unexpected and unwaveringly powerful meditation on history and language, trauma and healing, and the meaning of independence
Or maybe it’s really:
f) all of the above. - 13.Half-Truths
It is 1950, and 15-year-old Kate Dinsmore wants to become a journalist. But, her tobacco-farming father can't afford to send her to college. She devises a plan to move from rural North Carolina to her wealthy grandparents' home in Charlotte in hopes of gaining their financial support. Now she has a new set of problems. How can she please her society-conscious grandmother and conform to her new classmates' lifestyles? She meets Lillian, her grandmother's teenage maid, and in spite of their racial differences, they form a tentative friendship. While exploring her grandmother's attic, Kate unearths a secret that rocks her world and Lillian's too. The shocking discovery reveals half-truths that threaten the girls' friendship. What will Kate do when she must choose between Lillian and her new society friends? Through a mentorship with a newspaper editor, Kate realizes that journalism requires honesty. But, the risks of truth-telling make Kate question herself. If she reveals what she has learned, what price will she pay?
⚠ Content Rating for Half-Truths - Young Adult
Half-Truths is a historical fiction novel for young adult readers (13+), set in the 1950s American South. It contains themes that reflect the realities of the time period, including:
- Racial discrimination and segregation - Includes historically accurate language and depictions of segregation.
- The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and racial violence - References to the KKK's presence, intimidation, and racial injustice.
- Historical language - The terms colored and Negro are used within the story to maintain historical accuracy.
- Themes of prejudice and injustice - Explores societal norms and the impact of racism in the 1950s.
- Mention of a slave having a child by a slave owner - This is an integral part of the generational trauma explored in the book.
This book is written with sensitivity and historical accuracy, aiming to encourage critical thinking, empathy, and discussions about past and present social issues. Recommended for ages 13 and up.
- 14.The Book Witch: A NovelShe can hop into any novel, but she just can’t stay there.
Come along with the Book Witch in this magical and inspiring love letter to reading from the USA Today bestselling author of The Wishing Game.
This hardcover edition includes gorgeously designed endpapers!
“Meg Shaffer continues to surprise and delight me with each book she writes.”—Laurie Gilmore, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pumpkin Spice Café
Rainy March is a proud, third-generation Book Witch, sworn to defend works of fiction from all foes real and imaginary. With her magical umbrella and feline familiar, she jumps in and out of novels to fix malicious alterations and rogue heroes like a modern-day magical Nancy Drew.
Book Witches live by a strict code: Real people belong in the real world; fictional characters belong in works of fiction. Do not eat, drink, or sleep inside a fictional world, lest you become part of the story. Falling in love with a fictional character? Don’t even think about it.
Which is why Rainy has been forbidden from seeing the Duke of Chicago, the dashing British detective who stars in her favorite mystery series. If she’s ever caught with him again, she’ll be expelled from her book coven—and forced to give up the magical gifts that are as much a part of her as her own name.
But when her beloved grandfather disappears and a priceless book is stolen, there’s only one person she trusts to help her solve the case: the Duke. Their quest takes them through the worlds of Alice in Wonderland, King Arthur, and other classics that will reveal hidden enemies and long-buried family secrets. - 15.
- 16.Enormous Wings: A Novel
From the beloved New York Times bestselling author Laurie Frankel, an exuberant and timely new novel
At seventy-seven, Pepper Mills is too old to be a stranger in a strange land. She didn’t choose the Vista View Retirement Community of Austin, Texas—that would be her three grown children—but when she grudgingly moves in, she not only makes new friends, she falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting, and confusion start. She fears it’s cancer, dementia, a stroke. But a raft of tests later, the news is even more shocking: She’s pregnant.
As word gets out, everyone wants a piece of her: the press and paparazzi, activists and medical researchers, belly-rubbers and rubber-neckers all descending on Vista View while Pepper struggles to determine her next move. Soon she has some hard decisions to make—and some she’s not allowed to make.
Enormous Wings is an urgent novel about female agency and bodily autonomy, morality and mortality. It’s about what happens when you don’t get to choose anymore. It’s about motherhood and family, sex and love and friendship, and how those bedrocks—even so late in the day—can still change, and then change everything. - 17.The Guest List: A Reese's Book Club Pick and New York Times Bestseller
A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.
- 18.The Five-Star Weekend
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hotel Nantucket: After tragedy strikes, food blogger Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages in her life to spend an unforgettable weekend on Nantucket.
- 19.Wild Reverence: A Novel
* This stunning luxe edition includes a jacketed printed case with custom character art, full-color designed endpapers, black stained edges and foiled cover elements. While supplies last! *
Set in the world of the gods first introduced in Divine Rivals, #1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Ross delivers a sweeping, beautiful adult novel filled with tension, romance, and dark secrets.
True love is more divine than any ruthless god.
Born in the firelit domain of the under realm, Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, blessed with humble messenger magic. But in a land where gods often kill each other to steal power and alliances break as quickly as they are forged, Matilda must come of age sooner than most. She may be known to carry words and letters through the realms, but she holds a secret she must hide from even her dearest of allies to ensure her survival. And to complicate matters . . . there is a mortal boy who dreams of her, despite the fact they have never met in the waking world.
Ten years ago, Vincent of Beckett wrote to Matilda on the darkest night of his life—begging the goddess he befriended in dreams to help him. When his request went unanswered, Vincent moved on, becoming the hardened, irreverent lord of the river who has long forgotten Matilda. That is, until she comes tumbling into his bedroom window with a letter for him.
As Fate would have it, Matilda and Vincent were destined to find each other beyond dreams. There may be a chance for Matilda to rewrite the blood-soaked ways of the gods, but at immense sacrifice. She will have to face something she fears even more than losing her magic: to be vulnerable, and to allow herself to finally be loved. - 20.Red RisingNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pierce Brown’s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
“Red Rising ascends above a crowded dystopian field.”—USA Today
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed, Shelf Awareness
“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”
“I live for you,” I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.
But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.
Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
Praise for Red Rising
“[A] spectacular adventure . . . one heart-pounding ride . . . Pierce Brown’s dizzyingly good debut novel evokes The Hunger Games, Lord of the Flies, and Ender’s Game. . . . [Red Rising] has everything it needs to become meteoric.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow.”—Scott Sigler
“Red Rising is a sophisticated vision. . . . Brown will find a devoted audience.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch
Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga:
RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER