Summer Book Club 2023
Lost and Found
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A son vanishes on a boat in Puget Sound; can an unlikely relationship between a grieving mother and a captive octopus uncover the truth?
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The bond between sisters is severed when one chooses to follow her heart; will they find their way back to each other when they need each other the most?
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Identities are erased during World War II so that young lives can be saved; what will happen when old memories surface 65 years later?
Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt
Tuesday, June 20th, 5:30 pm
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium, and they form a remarkable friendship. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano
Tuesday, July 18th, 5:30 pm
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable. With the Padavanos, William experiences a newfound contentment. But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, and the result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted these sisters be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most? Hello Beautiful is an exquisite homage to Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic, Little Women.
The Book of Lost Names, Kristin Harmel
Tuesday, August 15th, 5:30 pm
Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine nearby. It’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—The Book of Lost Names. As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to Switzerland. Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. Many years later, will Eva have the strength to revisit old memories? The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.