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A novel of an upper-class Chinese wife’s quest for freedom, from a Nobel Prize–winning author: Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck

Pavilion of Women: A Novel of Life in the Women’s Quarters

by Pearl S. Buck
4.6 stars – 1,190 reviews
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A “vivid and extremely interesting” novel of an upper-class Chinese wife’s quest for freedom, from the Nobel Prize–winning author of The Good Earth (The New Yorker).
At forty, Madame Wu is beautiful and much respected as the wife of one of China’s oldest upper-class houses. Her birthday wish is to find a young concubine for her husband and to move to separate quarters, starting a new chapter of her life. When her wish is granted, she finds herself at leisure, no longer consumed by running a sixty-person household. Now she’s free to read books previously forbidden her, to learn English, and to discover her own mind. The family in the compound are shocked at the results, especially when she begins learning from a progressive, excommunicated Catholic priest. In its depiction of life in the compound, Pavilion of Women includes some of Buck’s most enchanting writing about the seasons, daily rhythms, and customs of women in China. It is a delightful parable about the sexes, and of the profound and transformative effects of free thought.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author’s estate.

A dazzling novel following a family of English aristocrats as their country teeters on the brink of war… The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

The Light Years (The Cazalet Chronicles Book 1)

by Elizabeth Jane Howard
4.0 stars – 920 reviews
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This “dazzling” novel follows a family of English aristocrats as their country teeters on the brink of World War II (Penelope Fitzgerald).

As war clouds gather on the distant horizon, Hugh, Edward, and Rupert Cazalet, along with their wives, children, and loyal servants, prepare to leave London for their annual pilgrimage to the family’s Sussex estate. There, they will join their parents, William and Kitty, and sister, Rachel, at Home Place, the sprawling retreat where the three brothers hope to spend an idyllic summer of years gone by. But the First World War has left indelible scars.

Hugh, the eldest of his siblings, was wounded in France and is haunted both by recurring nightmares of battle and the prospect of another war. Edward adores his wife, Villy, a former dancer searching for meaning in life, yet he’s incapable of remaining faithful to her. Rupert desires only to fulfill his potential as a painter, but finds that love and art cannot coexist. And devoted daughter Rachel discovers the joys—and limitations—of intimacy with another woman.

A candid portrait of British life in the late 1930s and a sweeping depiction of a world on the brink of war, The Light Years is a must-read for fans of Downton Abbey. Three generations of the Cazalet family come to unforgettable dramatic life in this saga about England during the last century—and the long-held values and cherished traditions that would soon disappear forever.

Get the entire three-volume masterwork with this 3-in-1 BOXED SET ALERT! The Eon Series: Legacy, Eon, and Eternity by Greg Bear

The Eon Series: Legacy, Eon, and Eternity

by Greg Bear
4.3 stars – 148 reviews
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This saga of parallel universes from a Hugo and Nebula Awardwinning author “may be the best constructed hard SF epic yet” (The Washington Post).

One of the world’s preeminent New York Timesbestselling authors of hard science fiction mesmerizes readers with a mind-expanding, three-volume masterwork about the creation of an alternate universe that breaks down all barriers of time and space, and its consequences for future and past generations.

Legacy: In the stunning prequel to Eon and Eternity, an agent of the masters of the Way—a man-made tunnel through countless dimensions—follows a renegade fanatic and his four thousand acolytes to a remarkable world of flora/fauna hybrids, where he is plunged into the terrible chaos of a raging civil war.

Eon: As nuclear tensions rapidly reach a breaking point in a volatile twenty-first century, a hollowed-out asteroid appears, mysteriously hovering above the Earth’s surface. The asteroid contains the remains of Thistledown, an abandoned city that was once home to survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Scientists must race to unravel its secrets before the human race is annihilated in the impending apocalypse.

Eternity: A devastating war has left Earth a nuclear wasteland. Orbiting the planet is an asteroid-starship containing the civilization of Thistledown, humanity’s future descendants. For decades, they have worked to heal their world and its survivors, but their resources are finite. They need to reopen the Way, a gate that would not only benefit Earth but also help the asteroid’s residents return home.

Greg Bear’s classic Eon trilogy is an astonishing feat of the imagination that combines humanism, cutting-edge science, and brilliant extrapolation. This masterful science fiction saga has no equal in contemporary speculative fiction.

Truth, like the past, is sometimes better left where it lies… The Past Is Never: A Novel by Tiffany Quay Tyson

The Past Is Never: A Novel

by Tiffany Quay Tyson
4.4 stars – 334 reviews
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**WINNER of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction**
**WINNER of the Mississippi Author Award for Adult Fiction selected by the Mississippi Library Association**
**WINNER of the 2019 Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Award for Fiction​**
**​WINNER of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize ​for Fiction**
**Finalist for the 2019 Colorado Book Awards for Literary Fiction***

“An ode to William Faulkner. . . . As Southern as it gets.”—Deep South Magazine 

A compelling addition to contemporary Southern Gothic fiction, deftly weaving together local legends, family secrets, and the search for a missing child.
Siblings Bert, Willet, and Pansy know better than to go swimming at the old rock quarry. According to their father, it’s the Devil’s place, a place that’s been cursed and forgotten. But Mississippi Delta summer days are scorching hot and they can’t resist cooling off in the dark, bottomless water. Until the day six-year-old Pansy vanishes. Not drowned, not lost . . . simply gone. When their father disappears as well, Bert and Willet leave their childhoods behind to try and hold their broken family together.

Years pass with no sign, no hope of ever finding Pansy alive, and as surely as their mother died of a broken heart, Bert and Willet can’t move on. So when clues surface drawing them to the remote tip of Florida, they drop everything and drive south. Deep in the murky depths of the Florida Everglades they may find the answer to Pansy’s mysterious disappearance . . . but truth, like the past, is sometimes better left where it lies.

Perfect for fans of Flannery O’Connor and Dorothy Allison, The Past Is Never is an atmospheric, haunting story of myths, legends, and the good and evil we carry in our hearts.

Ready to travel again? Tour Europe with America’s Favorite Guidebook Writer! Rick Steves’ Postcards from Europe by Rick Steves

Rick Steves’ Postcards from Europe: Travel Tales from America’s Favorite Guidebook Writer

by Rick Steves
4.5 stars – 25 reviews
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In Postcards from Europe, Rick Steves takes you on a private tour through the heart of Europe – introducing you to his local friends and sharing his favorite travel moments – from the Netherlands through Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, with a grand Parisian finale.

Whether you’re dreaming in an armchair, have packed, or are unpacking, Postcards from Europe will inspire a love of travel, of Europe, and of Europeans.

This “completely original” portrait of a family was the basis for a film starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio! What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

by Peter Hedges
4.5 stars – 433 reviews
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“Wonderfully entertaining . . . This distinctive first novel goes down like a chocolate milkshake but boasts the sharpness and finesse of a complex wine” (Publishers Weekly).

Gilbert Grape is a twenty-four-year-old grocery store clerk stuck in Endora, Iowa, where the population is 1,091 and shrinking. After the suicide of Gilbert’s father, his family never fully recovered. Once the town beauty queen, Gilbert’s mother is now morbidly obese and planted eternally in front of the TV; his younger sister has recently turned both boy-crazy and God-fearing, while his older sister sacrifices everything for her family. And then there’s Arnie, Gilbert’s younger brother with special needs. With no one else to care for Arnie, Gilbert becomes his brother’s main parent, and all four siblings must tend to the needs of their helpless, grieving mother.

So Gilbert is in a rut—until a mysterious new girl named Becky arrives in this small town. As his family gathers for Arnie’s eighteenth birthday, Gilbert finds himself at a crossroads . . .

This “completely original” portrait of a family (The New York Times), “charged with sardonic intelligence” (The Washington Post Book World), was the basis for a film starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio, and stands as one of the most memorable novels of recent decades.

“Sometimes funny, sometimes sad . . . and always engaging.” —The Atlantic

“By the book’s exhilaratingly luminous ending . . . we have already been mesmerized.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“A funny, touching, caring first novel whose characters are familiar and moving in spite of (or perhaps because of) their peculiarities.” —Booklist

An unforgettable heroine who’s half the woman she used to be, and about to find herself for the first time… Such a Pretty Face by acclaimed author Cathy Lamb

Such A Pretty Face

by Cathy Lamb
4.4 stars – 247 reviews
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“An affecting portrait of one woman’s heroic journey from tragedy to her own version of happiness” from the acclaimed author of All About Evie (Booklist).

Two years and 170 pounds ago, Stevie Barrett was wheeled into an operating room for surgery that most likely saved her life. Since that day, a new Stevie has emerged, one who walks without wheezing, plants a garden for self-therapy, and builds and paints fantastical wooden chairs. At thirty-five, Stevie is the one thing she never thought she’d be: thin.

But for everything that’s changed, some things remain the same. Stevie’s shyness refuses to melt away. She still can’t look her gorgeous neighbor in the eye. The Portland law office where she works remains utterly dysfunctional, as does her family—the aunt, uncle, and cousins who took her in when she was a child. To top it off, her once supportive best friend clearly resents her weight loss. But as Stevie starts to uncover some surprising revelations—about who she is, who she wants to be, and how the old Stevie evolved in the first place—she realizes the most important part of her transformation may not be what she’s lost, but the courage and confidence she’s gathering, day by day.

Praise for the novels of Cathy Lamb

“A story of strength and reconciliation and change.” —The Sunday Oregonian

“I loved this beguiling novel about love, friendship and the enchantment of really good chocolate.” —Luanne Rice, New York Times-bestselling author

“Lamb is an awesome storyteller and moves seamlessly from the past to the present.” —RT Book Reviews