Lists and Suggestions
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List: If You Like Kristin Hannah
The Shoemaker's Wife
Trigiani, Adriana.
Two star-crossed lovers--Enzo and Ciro--meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love ... More
Two star-crossed lovers--Enzo and Ciro--meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever. Set during the years preceding and during World War I. Less
Here's To Us
Hilderbrand, Elin, author.
Celebrity chef Deacon Rowe is struggling with addiction, depression and not one, but two scandals. ... More
Celebrity chef Deacon Rowe is struggling with addiction, depression and not one, but two scandals. As summer nears, he travels to the idyllic Eastern bluff of Nantucket, where he takes his own life. In the shocking wake of Deacon's suicide, his first wife and childhood sweetheart, Laurel Rowe, sets out to gather Deacon's far-flung family--including Deacon and Laurel's son, and Deacon's other ex-wives and children--on the island. Secrets are revealed, confidences are shared, and improbable bonds are formed as this unlikely family says goodbye to the man they loved. Less
Love Walked In
De los Santos, Marisa, 1966-
Harboring romantic notions about golden-age Hollywood film stars, thirty-one-year-old Philadelphia ... More
Harboring romantic notions about golden-age Hollywood film stars, thirty-one-year-old Philadelphia café manager Cornelia Brown embarks on a too-good-to-be-true relationship with the debonair Martin Grace. Less
Lilac Girls
Kelly, Martha Hall.
Caroline Ferriday, a socialite in New York, has her hands full with her post at the French consulat... More
Caroline Ferriday, a socialite in New York, has her hands full with her post at the French consulate, but on the eve of a fateful war, her world is changed forever when Hitler's army invades Poland in September, 1939; and then sets its sights on France. Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, an ocean away from Caroline, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences. For Herta Oberheuser, the ambitious young German doctor, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, Herta finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power. The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents, from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland, as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten. -- Less
All Summer Long
Frank, Dorothea Benton, author.
This is a story of people whose lives are changing - a southern gentleman returning home to lead a ... More
This is a story of people whose lives are changing - a southern gentleman returning home to lead a more peaceful life and his talented New York wife who is not quite sure she is ready to make the transition. They are moving north to south, fast pace versus slow pace, downsizing. And while they are doing this, they are getting glimpses into other people's lives over the course of a summer, holidays that will amuse, shock and transform them. Less
The Summer Demands
Shapiro, Deborah, 1976- author.
"On the verge of her fortieth birthday and shaken by a recent miscarriage, Emily inherits an a... More
"On the verge of her fortieth birthday and shaken by a recent miscarriage, Emily inherits an abandoned summer camp in Massachusetts. She and her husband move onto the property and make grand plans to revitalize the land. But they soon discover that their inheritance includes an unexpected guest. On a walk through the old campgrounds she once frequented as a girl, Emily finds, living undetected in one of the cabins, a magnetic twenty-two-year-old named Stella. As the two women begin spending time together--talking and drinking, swimming in the lake, watching seductive French films through long afternoons--Emily finds herself playing at performing various roles relative to Stella: friend, mother, lover. Each encounter they share promises to bring Emily a little closer to an understanding of her own identity, but it also puts her marriage and future at risk. How much does she really know about Stella? Why is Stella here, and what does she want, and what might she take with her, if and when she leaves? Taking place over a single summer in a landscape that refuses to be tamed, The Summer Demands is a beautiful, quietly startling exploration of the sting of seduction, of unspoken female rage, and of how desire and ambition shift over time."-- Less
The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters
Jaswal, Balli Kaur, author.
"The British-born Punjabi Shergill sisters--Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirnia--were never close and ... More
"The British-born Punjabi Shergill sisters--Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirnia--were never close and barely got along growing up, and now as adults, have grown even further apart. Rajni, a school principal is a stickler for order. Jezmeen, a thirty-year-old struggling actress, fears her big break may never come. Shirina, the peacemaking "good" sister married into wealth and enjoys a picture-perfect life. On her deathbed, their mother voices one last wish: that her daughters will make a pilgrimage together to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to carry out her final rites. After a trip to India with her mother long ago, Rajni vowed never to return. But she's always been a dutiful daughter, and cannot, even now, refuse her mother's request. Jezmeen has just been publicly fired from her television job, so the trip to India is a welcome break to help her pick up the pieces of her broken career. Shirina's in-laws are pushing her to make a pivotal decision about her married life; time away will help her decide whether to meekly obey, or to bravely stand up for herself for the first time. Arriving in India, these sisters will make unexpected discoveries about themselves, their mother, and their lives--and learn the real story behind the trip Rajni took with their Mother long ago--a momentous journey that resulted in Mum never being able to return to India again." -- Less
The House on Olive Street
Carr, Robyn.
After the death of their close friend, four women spend a summer sorting through personal effects a... More
After the death of their close friend, four women spend a summer sorting through personal effects and discover themselves, and a dream, along the way. Less
Miller's Valley
Quindlen, Anna, author.
From the bestselling author of "Still life with bread crumbs." This story begins in the 1... More
From the bestselling author of "Still life with bread crumbs." This story begins in the 1960s, and explores how Mimi Miller comes of age, over and over again. As the years go by, the unthinkable starts to seem inevitable. Anna Quindlen's novel takes us through the changing eras of Mimi and her family, as secrets are revealed, and the heartbreaks of growing up and falling in love with the wrong man are overcome. Less
Salem Falls
Picoult, Jodi, 1966- author.
Robbed of his teaching career and reputation by a student's false accusations, Jack St. Bride ... More
Robbed of his teaching career and reputation by a student's false accusations, Jack St. Bride is struggling to rebuild his life in the wake of an eight-month jail sentence by taking a job washing dishes at Addie Peabody's diner, but fresh accusations of rape by teenage girls from his former school threaten to destroy him once again. Reader's Guide available. Less
Beach Girls
Rice, Luanne.
Years after their innocent childhood, a widowed Jack Kilvert returns to Hubbard's Point with h... More
Years after their innocent childhood, a widowed Jack Kilvert returns to Hubbard's Point with his young daughter, Nell, in the hopes of recapturing old friendships and lost memories, and is reunited with reclusive artist Stevie Moore, the one-time best friend of his estranged sister, Madeleine, but dark secrets and old tragedies could threaten their growing relationship. Less
The Glass Kitchen: a Novel of Sisters
Lee, Linda Francis.
"Portia Cuthcart and her two sisters find their way from Texas to Manhattan over the years, th... More
"Portia Cuthcart and her two sisters find their way from Texas to Manhattan over the years, the heiresses to a dilapidated brownstone on the Upper West Side. Portia is running from a bad divorce and the knowledge that she has always been a little bit different, a little bit strange: the talented cook who knew exactly what to serve on what occasion, even to the point of predicting events that hadn't even happened yet. But she doesn't cook anymore. She has tamped down this "knowing." It has caused her way too many problems. When she meets twelve-year-old Ariel Kane, she sees a girl in desperate need of a mother and a family in dire need of fried chicken, biscuits, and strawberry rhubarb pie. Widowed Gabriel Kane has his hands full with two daughters on the cusp on womanhood, plus the Kane family have so many secrets and rivalries of their own. Ariel, especially, must find a way to bring them all together with the help of Portia: the non-cook, the non-believer in happy endings. Portia, who just might have to rethink the pages of her own story and take a few chances to claim what she wants deep down inside."--Provided by publisher. Less
The Weight of Silence
Gudenkauf, Heather.
"It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iow... More
"It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night. Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler. Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice. Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor. Now these families are tied by the questions of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets."--p. [4] of cover. Less
Getting To Happy
McMillan, Terry.
McMillan revisits Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine and Robin fifteen years after we parted ways with the... More
McMillan revisits Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine and Robin fifteen years after we parted ways with their stories. Each is at her own midlife crossroads. All four women are learning to heal past hurts, reclaim their joy and their dreams. They've exhaled; now they are learning to breathe. Less
Summer Rental
Andrews, Mary Kay, 1954-
Ellis questions everything she believed after losing an all-consuming job, while Julia struggles wi... More
Ellis questions everything she believed after losing an all-consuming job, while Julia struggles with insecurities that threaten a loving relationship and Dorie confronts a maelstrom of problems after a shocking betrayal. Less
Afterlife
Alvarez, Julia, author.
"A literature professor tries to rediscover who she is after the sudden death of her husband, ... More
"A literature professor tries to rediscover who she is after the sudden death of her husband, even as a series of family and political jolts force her to ask what we owe those in crisis in our families, biological or otherwise"-- Less
Everything Here Is Beautiful
Lee, Mira T., 1970- author.
"Two sisters--Miranda, the older, responsible one, always her younger sister's protector;... More
"Two sisters--Miranda, the older, responsible one, always her younger sister's protector; Lucia, the headstrong, unpredictable one, whose impulses are huge and, often, life changing. When their mother dies and Lucia starts hearing voices, it is Miranda who must find a way to reach her sister. But Lucia impetuously plows ahead, marrying a bighearted, older man only to leave him, suddenly, to have a baby with a young Latino immigrant. She moves her new family from the States to Ecuador and back again, but the bitter constant is that she is, in fact, mentally ill. Lucia lives life on a grand scale, until, inevitably, she crashes to earth. Miranda leaves her own self-contained life in Switzerland to rescue her sister again--but only Lucia can decide whether she wants to be saved. The bonds of sisterly devotion stretch across oceans--but what does it take to break them? Told in alternating points of view, Everything Here Is Beautiful is, at its heart, the story of a young woman's quest to find fulfillment and a life unconstrained by her illness. But it's also an unforgettable, gut-wrenching story of the sacrifices we make to truly love someone--and when loyalty to one's self must prevail over all"-- Less
Maine
Sullivan, J. Courtney.
Three generations of women converge on the family beach house in this wickedly funny, emotionally r... More
Three generations of women converge on the family beach house in this wickedly funny, emotionally resonant story of love and dysfunction. Less
