The Outlander by Gil Adamson
19-year-old Mary Boulton may be a young girl, but her past is already marred with tragedy. A dead spouse, a dead child, and a deep depression cast a shadow as she travels across the American West in the early 1900s. Adamson constructs a masterful story about resilence, acceptance and self-discovery.

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Adiga's explosive and award-winning debut novel explores the darker side of India's democratic society through the eyes of a murderer, Balram Halwai. As Balram moves from the Darkness to the Light, from the lowest caste to the highest, the divide between India's rich and poor comes and the social injustices that are often hidden from visitors to life before our eyes.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Mariel Barbery
This beautifully written story captures the budding and unexpected friendship between a wealthy young girl and the concierge that works in her building. Travel to France and learn that you can't judge a book by it's cover, or people by your first impression, with this delightful novel.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
If you were the Queen of England, what would you be reading? Important international treatises on policy and politics? Books on current and historical events? In Alan Bennett’s majestic book, the Queen broadens her perspective by immersing herself into a never-ending world of words and ideas: fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, and more. Alan Bennett presents a singular sovereign next to the rest of us — the uncommon reader vs. the common ones.
PDF and printed discussion guides available.

Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
Will Bird, a Cree bush pilot, is in a coma, with dutiful niece Annie by his side. Boyden reveals details of their relationship and storied past, as Annie looks for meaning and a sense of belonging as she waits patiently for her uncle to wake up.

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
A.S. Byatt's latest book spans two centuries and two families, as she explores whether children's books are actually good for children. Children's book author Olive Wellwood explores her family's pain in her work, and the result is as beautiful as it is troubling. A magical read that explores the moral implications of families, art and simply living.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Stephen Galloway
Inspired by a stunning real-life event, The Cellist of Sarajevo follows the lives of four people in the aftermath of a mortar attack in war-torn Sarajevo. A cellist plays at the site of the attack for 22 days, one day for each life lost. The result is a compelling and heartbreaking celebration of the human spirit during dark times.

Someone Knows My Name/The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
Lawrence Hill reconstructs the brutal history of North America's slave trade through the eyes of Aminata Diallo, a young girl who is captured and imprisoned in her homeland Africa. From there, she is taken to a South Carolina plantation, to New York, to Nova Scotia and to London as she seeks freedom and to return home. A startling and eye-opening tale, history comes to life in this compelling and fascinating novel.
PDF and printed discussion guides available.

Fault Lines by Nancy Huston
The history of a single Jewish family comes to life through the eyes of four different six-year-old narrators from four different generations. Told in reverse chronological order, Fault Lines unravels a startling history of a family and a people with a sharp, clear voice that will resonate long after the novel ends.

Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
These beautiful and compelling stories explore love, music, innocence and time and take the reader from Italy to Hollywood to London. We meet musicians, fallen starlets, dreamers and doers in this witty and wry collection marked by the loss of innocence, the onset of aging, and what it takes to keep romance alive.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
In this Orange Prize finalist, two characters come together in a complex and interconnected web that dazzles with its artful construction. Leo is a retired locksmith who spends his days reaffirming he exists and longing after his lost love. Alma is a young girl, grappling with her father's death, her mother's depsression and her brother's bizarre behavior. Leo and Alma deal with loss, love and family in this poignant, poetic tale.

The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels
Michaels brings together a touching love story and a fascinating history as a young couple, Avery and Jean, attempt to salvage their marriage after spending time on the Nile and the birth of their stillborn daughter. By artfully weaving the history of damming the Nile and the construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, The Winter Vault is one part history, one part romance and completely compelling. 

Indignation by Philip Roth
Philip roth does it again with another brilliant book, this one exploring a family living in the early Cold War and the social and cultural aftermath of World War II. Marcus' father is a kosher butcher who is still reeling from the deaths of his brothers in WWII battle. His increasing paranoia drives Marcus to Ohio, where he meets Olivia, a girl who turns his world upside down. A haunting and touching coming of age tale that explores sexuality, relationships, life and death.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
It all starts with a letter from a farmer, Dawsey Adams, who was trying to track down books by Charles Lamb. Juliet’s name and address are written inside the single copy of Lamb’s essays that Dawsey possesses. Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows have recreated the wartime atmosphere in postwar London and Guernsey through their charming character, journalist, Juliet Ashton, and her relationship with the islanders. This delightful novel exposes the inherent joy books can bring, the unexpected pleasures in the little things, and the triumph of the human spirit.
PDF and printed discussion guides available.

The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
Miriam Toews brings a fresh perspective to the road-trip with a zany cast of characters cliché. When Hattie, who was recently dumped, discovers her sister is back in the hospital, Hattie takes her sister's kids, precocious Thebes and rebellious Logan, on a road trip in search of their long-lost father. The story zips through several states as this unlikely trio learns about each other and themselves in this delightful story about the importance of family, of fun and of letting go.

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
Umrigar explores class, race and relationships with this portrait of two very different but connected women: Bhima, a slum-dwelling 65 year old, cooks, cleans and tend to Sera, a younger upper-class woman. Their worlds come together through the hardship each must endure: Sera has an abusive husband and Bhima becomes very ill and is unable to care for her family or send her daughter to school. This intimate look at life in contemporary Bombay will have readers everywhere questioning their own social status and relationships.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Death narrates this extraordinary tale of perseverence and protection in World War II Germany. Foster child Liesl collects books (many stolen) and friends as she tries to survive and make sense of her rapidly changing country and the worldwide horrors it is creating. A dark, yet humorous and compassionate, novel that sheds new light on the WWII experience and those it affected.