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14 items

• The Underground Railroad

  a Novel

  Whitehead, Colson, 1969-

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  A powerful and imaginative novel that follows the journey of Cora, a young enslaved woman, as she escapes a Georgia plantation and embarks on a literal underground railroad, encountering different states with various manifestations of racism and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The White Lady

  a Novel

  Winspear, Jacqueline, 1955-

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  Historical mystery. Police corruption, organized crime gangs, and a former wartime operative face up in this intriguing novel. All is not well in Scotland Yard, and Elinor White (is that her real name) is confronted with these ugly truths.

• The Beauty of Humanity Movement

  Gibb, Camilla

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  Set in contemporary Vietnam once again open to the West, Gibb offers a thoughtful novel on the meaning of family ties and art as a reflection of national character. Much attention is focused on Old Man Hung’s survival as an unlicensed Pho soup…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Junie

  Knight, Chelene, 1981-

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  1930s, Hogan's Alley—a thriving Black and immigrant community located in Vancouver's East End. Junie is a creative, observant child who moves to the alley with her mother, Maddie: a jazz singer. Junie quickly makes meaningful relationships with two…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Brief History of Seven Killings

  James, Marlon, 1970-

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  Man Booker Prize winner. Huge, ambitious and fascinating! In the opening section, James follows the lives of various characters navigating the violence and politics of rival slums in Kingston, Jamaica culminating in the attempted assassination of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Sleeping Car Porter

  Mayr, Suzette

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  This Giller Prize winning novel tells the story of Baxter, a queer Black train porter, working on a passenger train travelling from Montreal to Vancouver in 1929. The train gets waylaid by a mudslide near Banff. While working to fulfill the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Blackman's Coffin

  De Castrique, Mark

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  A gripping mystery novel set in the Appalachian Mountains. De Castrique skillfully combines history, politics, and suspense as private investigator Sam Blackman uncovers a dark secret that could shatter the community. With its well-developed…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Luminaries

  Catton, Eleanor, 1985-

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  2013 Booker Prize winner. "Arriving in New Zealand in 1866 to seek his fortune in the goldfields, Walter Moody finds himself drawn into a series of unsolved crimes and complex mysteries. -- Publisher's description

• Great Circle

  Shipstead, Maggie

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  This epic novel tells the stories of two women who lived a century apart, Marion Graves, a daredevil aviator, and Hadley Baxter, the actor cast to play Marion in a film. The film centres on Marian’s disappearance in Antarctica during her attempt to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Passing

  Larsen, Nella

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  Originally Published in 1929. An exploration of shifting racial and sexual boundaries in America, this book follows two friends, light-skinned black women. One of them ‘passes’ as white, while the other denies that racism exists.

• Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night

  a Novel

  Jón Kalman Stefánsson, 1963-

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  Winner of the 2005 Icelandic Literature Prize. "A profound and playful masterwork from one of Iceland’s most beloved authors. Unexpected, warm, and humorous, Stefansson explores the dreams and desires of everyday people, and reveals the magic of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Lions of Fifth Avenue

  a Novel

  Davis, Fiona, 1966-

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  In Fiona Davis's novel, told in dual timelines - 1913 and 1993, the action revolves around missing items from an invaluable collection. "A mystery and a historical novel all in one absorbing tale." Library Journal

• Indians on Vacation

  a Novel

  King, Thomas, 1943-

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  Bird and Mimi attempt to trace the steps of Mimi's long-lost uncle and while wandering through European capitals reveal a complicated history, both personal and political.

• & Sons

  a Novel

  Gilbert, David, 1967-

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  A famous reclusive writer and his three sons find their bonds tested by the weight of long-held secrets. Can the father bring his sons back into the fold before he dies, despite the legacy of boarding schools, Hollywood, and the elite circles of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation