Fiction

The Septembers of Shiraz

by Dalia Sofer

"On a September day in 1981, gem trader Isaac Amin is accosted by Revolutionary Guards at his Tehran office and imprisoned for no other crime than being Jewish in a country where Muslim fanaticism is growing daily." —Publishers Weekly

Our Man in Havana

by Graham Greene

Our Man in Havana tells of MI6’s man in Havana, Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum

by Kate Atkinson

"Ruby Lennox is a quirky, complex character who relates the events of her life and those of her dysfunctional family with equal parts humor, fervor and candor—starting with her moment of conception in York, England, in 1959: 'I exist!'" —Publishers Weekly

The Great Fire

by Shirley Hazzard

"In 1947, a thirty-two-year-old English war hero visiting Hiroshima during the occupation finds himself billeted in a compound overseen by a boorish Australian brigadier and his scheming wife. He is immediately enchanted, however, by the couple's children...who prove to be prisoners in a different sort of conflict." —The New Yorker

Christine Falls

by Benjamin Black

"Black is the nom de plume of John Banville, the Booker Prize–winning author of The Sea. As expected, Banville's lyrical writing stands out (and is more accessible than in The Sea), but the expressive style doesn't eclipse the dark, suspenseful plot." —Bookmarks Magazine

Free Food for Millionaires

by Min Jin Lee

"Lee's heroine, 22-year-old Casey Han, graduates magna cum laude in economics from Princeton...but hasn't found a 'real' job yet, so her father kicks her out of his house. She heads to her white boyfriend's apartment only to find him in bed with two sorority girls." —Publishers Weekly

In the Time of the Butterflies

by Julia Alvarez

"The butterflies are four smart and lovely Dominican sisters growing up during Trujillo's despotic regime. While her parents try desperately to cling to their imagined island of security in a swelling sea of fear and intimidation, Minerva Mirabal...jumps headfirst into the revolutionary tide." —Kirkus Reviews

Non Fiction

The Snoring Bird: My Family's Journey Through a Century of Biology

by Bernd Heinrich

Although Gerd Heinrich, a devoted naturalist, specialized in wasps, Bernd Heinrich tried to distance himself from his old-fashioned father, becoming a hybrid: a modern, experimental biologist with a naturalist's sensibilities.

The Last American Man

by Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) explores the fascinating true story of Eustace Conway. In 1977, at the age of seventeen, Conway left his family's comfortable suburban home to move to the Appalachian Mountains.

The Zanzibar Chest: A Story of Life, Love, and Death in Foreign Lands

by Aiden Hartley

In his final days, Aidan Hartley's father says to him, "We should have never come here." Those words spoke of a colonial legacy that stretched back over 150 years through four generations of one British family.