THE HOUSE GIRL by Tara Conklin, The lives of two remarkable women who are separated by more than a century unexpectedly intertwine in Conklin's unforgettable debut, a novel that should have "book group pick" e
mblazoned on the cover. The story focuses on Lina Sparrow, an ambitious young lawyer working on a class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for the descendants of American slaves, and on Josephine, a 17-year-old house slave who tends to Lu Anne Bell, the mistress of a Virginia tobacco farm and an aspiring artist. Lina hears an art world rumor that the revered paintings of an antebellum artist - Lu Anne Bell - known for her humanizing portraits of slaves were actually the work of her house slave, Josephine. That controversy sends Lina on a journey of discovery that will keep readers happily engaged.
THE DINNER by Herman Koch. First published in Amsterdam in 2009, this abso
rbing and disturbing story about two families and a horrific act committed by their teenage sons is slowly but surely unveiled over the course of a shared meal in a fashionable restaurant. What begins as a genteel dinner among civilized couples turns darker as the actions of the children are revealed and the reactions of the parents show the diners' true colors. Reviews of the book talk about how adept Koch is at building tension and twisting plots as he draws the reader inexorably into the lives and secrets of all the people involved.
12 YEARS A SLAVE by Solomon Northup. Originally published in 1853, the year of the author's release from slavery, Northup's memoir has been rediscovered thanks to the film version of his harrowing ordeal. It recounts how Northup. a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C. in 1841 with the promise of
fast money, then drugged, beaten, and sold into slavery. He spent the next 12 years in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation.
After his rescue, Northup published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life. It became an immediate bestseller and today is recognized for its insight and eloquence. It is an unusually perceptive account of American slavery, due both to the author's education and his dual perspective of having been both a free man and a slave. Perhaps the movie's greatest service is in allowing this autobiography to be republished and read by a whole new generation.
who receives from his grandmother a sappy picture book called Birthday Bunny. Alex isn't too thrilled with a dumb bunny who thinks his friends have forgotten his birthday, so he grabs his #2 pencil and begins to make some changes right on the book's pages. Before long, a rabbit's innocent journey through the forest morphs into a bomb-loving bunny's mission to unleash an evil plan - a plan that only Alex can stop.