The Second Tuesday of the Month at 7:00 pm Alton  Book Chat, established in 1999, is a library-sponsored book discussion  group that meets monthly in the Agnes Thompson Meeting Room (lower level  entrance), Gilman Library, 100 Main St., Alton, NH 03809 Unless  otherwise noted, meetings are held on the second Tuesday each month,  beginning at 7:00 pm.  Call the library at 875-2550 to reserve your copy  of the next book discussion title and get in on the fun!  

Ordinary Grace

by William Kent Krueger 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE 2014 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
WINNER OF THE 2014 DILYS AWARD
A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2013
 

From New York Times bestselling  author William Kent Krueger, a brilliant new novel about a young man, a  small town, and murder in the summer of 1961.

“That was  it. That was all of it. A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all  to remember it. Yet I have never across the forty years since it was  spoken forgotten a single word.”

New Bremen, Minnesota,  1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers  were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot  Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It  was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young  president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in  which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature.  Suicide. Murder.

Frank begins the season preoccupied with the  concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his  family—which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate,  artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years  kid brother—he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of  secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to  demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.

Told from Frank’s perspective forty years after that fateful summer, Ordinary Grace is a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his  young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling  apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the  terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God. 

 Image and Synopsis by Amazon 

by Kim Michele Richardson

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
A LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER
A PBS BOOK PICK

The  bestselling historical fiction from Kim Michele Richardson, this is a  novel following Cussy Mary, a packhorse librarian and her quest to bring  books to the Appalachian community she loves, perfect for readers of  Lee Smith and Lisa Wingate. The perfect addition to your next book club!

The  hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for  everything—everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt's  Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome's got its very own  traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter.

Cussy's not only a book  woman, however, she's also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of  blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy's family or  the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of  trouble. If Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks,  she's going to have to confront prejudice as old as the Appalachias and  suspicion as deep as the holler.

Inspired by the true blue-skinned  people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse  library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman's belief that books can carry us anywhere—even back home.

"This  gem of a historical from Richardson features an indomitable heroine  navigating a community steeped in racial intolerance...Readers will  adore the memorable Cussy and appreciate Richardson's fine rendering of  rural Kentucky life."—Publishers Weekly

 Image and Synopsis by Amazon 

 When The Cookie Crumbles 

(A Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery)

by Virginia Lowell

 Olivia Greyson is the proud owner of The Gingerbread House--a quaint  shop that specializes in all things cookie--and her best friend, Maddie,  is her sidekick, baking up scrumptious treats for their parties. But  the real-life version of their magnificent gingerbread house is about to  crumble to pieces...

Tensions are running high as Chatterley  Heights' 250th birthday celebration approaches, and Olivia and Maddie  are working feverishly to finish a gingerbread house modeled after the  famous Chatterley Mansion. When Paine Chatterley, presumed to be dead,  shows up to claim his father's house, the town gossips are driven into a  tizzy. And when he refuses to allow visitors to tour the mansion during  the celebration, all the preparations seem for naught.

Then  Paine is found lifeless in the bathtub, his wife hysterical and their  precious heirlooms destroyed. The hidden lives of the prestigious  Chatterley family members begin to surface, and Olivia must unravel  their dark past. As it turns out, the town's history isn't all that  sweet... 

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 The Beantown Girls

by Jane Healey

 An Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestseller.

A novel of love, courage, and danger unfolds as World War II’s brightest heroines―the best of friends―take on the front lines.

1944:  Fiona Denning has her entire future planned out. She’ll work in city  hall, marry her fiancé when he returns from the war, and settle down in  the Boston suburbs. But when her fiancé is reported missing after being  shot down in Germany, Fiona’s long-held plans are shattered.

Determined  to learn her fiancé’s fate, Fiona leaves Boston to volunteer overseas  as a Red Cross Clubmobile girl, recruiting her two best friends to come  along. There’s the outspoken Viviana, who is more than happy to quit her  secretarial job for a taste of adventure. Then there’s Dottie, a shy  music teacher whose melodious talents are sure to bring heart and hope  to the boys on the front lines.

Chosen for their inner strength  and outer charm, the trio isn’t prepared for the daunting challenges of  war. But through it all come new friendships and romances, unforeseen  dangers, and unexpected dreams. As the three friends begin to understand  the real reasons they all came to the front, their courage and  camaraderie will see them through some of the best and worst times of  their lives.

 Image and Synopsis by Amazon 

 The Midnight Library: A Novel

by Matt Haig

 The New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon
 

Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year
 

"A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits."—The Washington Post

The dazzling reader-favorite about the choices that go into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The Comfort Book.
 
Somewhere  out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an  infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One  tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the  other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at  any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have  been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for  yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library,  Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced  with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for  a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups,  realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within  herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is  truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first  place. 

 Image and Synopsis by Amazon 

 The Storyteller's Secret: A Novel 

by  Sejal Badani 

An Amazon Charts, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller.

From the bestselling author of Trail of Broken Wings comes an epic story of the unrelenting force of love, the power of healing, and the invincible desire to dream.

Nothing  prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third  miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake.  Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to  uncover answers to her family’s past.

Intoxicated by the sights,  smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the  culture. But it is Ravi―her grandmother’s former servant and trusted  confidant―who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic  fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation.  Through her courageous grandmother’s arrestingly romantic and  heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a  strength that, until now, she never knew was possible.

 Image and Synopsis by Amazon