Special Collections
Human-Narrated Books for Adults
Description: Please enjoy this collection of Bookshare books, now with human narration! #adults
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Zarifa
by Zarifa Ghafari and Hannah Lucinda SmithZarifa Ghafari was three years old when the Taliban banned girls from schools, and she began her education in secret. She was seven when American airstrikes began. She was twenty-six when she became mayor of Maidan Wardak, Kabul. An extremist mob barred her from her office; her male staff walked out in protest; assassins tried to kill her six times.
Through it all, Zarifa stood her ground. She ended corruption in the province, promoted peace, and tried to lift up women, despite constant fear for herself and her family. When the Taliban took Kabul in 2021, Ghafari had to flee. But even that couldn't stop her. Six months later, she returned, to continue her work empowering women.
Zarifa is an astonishing memoir that offers an unparalleled perspective of the last two decades in Afghanistan from a citizen, daughter, woman and mayor. Written with honesty, pain, and ultimately, hope, Zarifa describes the work she did, the women she still tries to help as they live under Taliban rule, and her vision for how grassroots activism can change their lives and the lives of women everywhere.
The Year Without Summer
by Guinevere Glasfurd1815, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia
Mount Tambora explodes in a cataclysmic eruption, killing thousands. Sent to investigate, ship surgeon Henry Hoggcan barely believe his eyes. Once a paradise, the island is now solid ash, the surrounding sea turned to stone. But worse is yet to come: as the ash cloud rises and covers the sun, the seasons will fail.
1816In Switzerland, Mary Shelley finds dark inspiration. Confined inside by the unseasonable weather, thousands of famine refugees stream past her door. In Vermont, preacher Charles Whitlock begs his followers to keep faith as drought dries their wells and their livestock starve.
In Suffolk, the ambitious and lovesick painter John Constable struggles to reconcile the idyllic England he paints with the misery that surrounds him. In the Fens, farm labourer Sarah Hobbs has had enough of going hungry while the farmers flaunt their wealth. And Hope Peter, returned from the Napoleonic wars, finds his family home demolished and a fence gone up in its place. He flees to London, where he falls in with a group of revolutionaries who speak of a better life, whatever the cost. As desperation sets in, Britain becomes beset by riots—rebellion is in the air.
The Year Without Summer is the story of the books written, the art made; of the journeys taken, of the love longed for and the lives lost during that fateful year. Six separate lives, connected only by an event many thousands of miles away. Few had heard of Tambora—but none could escape its effects.
Witness X
by Se MoorheadFrom one of the most original new voices in fiction comes a startling vision of a world where hero Kyra must fight the past to save our future. She's the only one who can access the truth...
Fourteen years ago, the police caged a notorious serial killer who abducted and butchered two victims every February. He was safe behind bars. Wasn't he? But then another body is discovered, and soon enough, the race is on to catch the real killer.
Neuropsychologist Kyra Sullivan fights to use a new technology that accesses the minds of the witnesses, working with the police to uncover the truth. Will Kyra discover the person behind the murders, and if so, at what cost? And how far will she go to ensure justice is served?
The View from the Cheap Seats
by Neil GaimanThe View from the Cheap Seats draws together myriad non-fiction writing by international phenomenon and Sunday Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. From Make Good Art, the speech that went viral, to pieces on artists and legends including Terry Pratchett and Lou Reed, the collection offers a glimpse into the head and heart of one of the most acclaimed writers of our time.'Literature does not occur in a vacuum. It cannot be a monologue. It has to be a conversation'Welcome to the conversation. Neil Gaiman fled the land of journalism to find truths through storytelling and sanctuary in not needing to get all the facts right. Of course, the real world continued to make up its own stories around him, and he has responded over the years with a wealth of ideas and introductions, dreams and speeches. Here 'we can meet the writer full on' (Stephen Fry) as he opens our minds to the people he admires and the things he believes might just mean something - and makes room for us to join the conversation too.(P)2016 HarperCollins Digital
The Values Compass
by Mandeep RaiBroadcast journalist Mandeep Rai takes us on a journey to 101 countries around the world, highlighting a single, unique value that has defined each nation's history, culture, and global influence - and how we can apply them to better our own lives and make decisions more effectively.
Every day, whether we acknowledge it or not, we make decisions based on what we believe in. The choices, challenges, or opportunities facing us - and how we engage with them - in politics, family, relationships, work, and play reveal something important about our character, desires, and personality to ourselves and to others. When those values align and are shared by a single population, they have the power to transform a nation and teach the world valuable lessons about success.
From India's 'faith' to Vietnam's 'resilience', Argentina's 'passion' to Singapore's 'order', Australia's 'mateship' to Uganda's 'heritage' and from Malta's 'community' to Sri Lanka's 'joy', we may all find something of ourselves in others and succeed together as a result.
This is an insightful collection of profiles that open our eyes to the world around us, and in turn help us reflect on which values matter, last, and have the power to create change.
The Underhistory
by Kaaron WarrenPeople come to visit my home and I love to show them around. Of course it's not the original house where it happened. That was destroyed when my entire family died. But I don't think their ghosts know the difference.Pera Sinclair was nine the day the pilot intentionally crashed his plane into her family's grand home, killing everyone inside. She was the girl who survived the tragedy, a sympathetic oddity, growing stranger by the day. Over the decades she rebuilt the huge and rambling building on the original site, recreating what she had lost, each room telling a piece of the story of her life and that of the many people who died, both before and after the disaster. Her sister, murdered a hundred miles away. The soldier, broken by war. Death follows Pera, and she welcomes it in as an old friend. And while she doesn't believe in ghosts, she's not above telling a ghost story or two to those who come to visit Sinclair House.On the day of her last haunted house tour of the season, an unexpected group of men arrive. One Pera recognises, but the others are strangers. But she knows their type all too well. Dangerous men, who will keep an old woman alive only so long as she is useful. But as she begins to show them around her home and reveal its secrets, the dangerous men will learn that she is far from helpless. After all, death seems to followher wherever she goes...Sinister and lyrical, The Underhistory is a haunting tale of loss, self-preservation and the darkness beneath.
Two for Joy
by Adam HensonEver wondered why the dawn chorus is so loud in spring? What makes a summer sunset so special? Where to spot a murmuration of starlings in autumn? Or how to identify trees from just their bark in winter?
In Two for Joy, Adam Henson—much-loved and long-standing presenter of Countryfile—goes on a journey throughout each season to help you to find new and varied ways to reconnect to the British and Irish countryside. Discover what's happening on farms, growing in hedgerows, the stories behind countryside superstitions, how to revive lost traditions, what you might spot when you look up at the sky and stars—and plenty more in this uplifting guide to the nature that surrounds us.
Whether you read this book in the depths of winter in an armchair by the fire, or on a picnic rug in a field on a sunny day, it promises to open your eyes to the awe-inspiring powers of our uniquely British countryside in ways you've never noticed before.
Truly, Madly, Deeply
by Alexandria Bellefleur'You can never go wrong with an Alexandria Bellefleur novel' BuzzfeedThe new steamy queer rom-com from bestselling author, Alexandria Bellefleur - perfect for fans of Ashley Herring Blake, Casey McQuiston and Talia Hibbert.As a bestselling romance novelist, everyone thinks Truly Livingston is an expert on happily-ever-afters. Except she just caught her fiancé cheating, her parents are separating and her entire view on love has been shaken to the core.Already committed to recording a podcast sharing relationship advice, Truly hopes it will be the perfect distraction . . . until she meets her co-host. Her first impression of Colin McCory is . . . hot. But then he opens his extremely kissable mouth. Bickering with a cynical divorce lawyer is the last thing Truly needs - so she walks out, with no plans to return.When Colin tracks her down, begging for a fresh start, she reluctantly agrees. And as they turn from enemies to friends, she discovers they have more in common than she ever imagined, including their shared queerness. With their mutual attraction reaching a fever pitch, Truly feels happy for the first time in years. Yet she can't help but wonder . . . is Colin truly, madly, deeply in love with her? Or is it all too good to be true?Why readers love Alexandria Bellefleur . . . 'Everything I want from a rom-com: fun, whimsical, sexy' Talia Hibbert'I was hooked from the very first page!' Christina Lauren'This book is a delight' New York Times Book Review'Sparkles with a delightful mix of wit, humour and good-natured sarcasm' Mia Sosa
The Three Dahlias
by Katy WatsonIt wouldn't be a country house weekend without a little murder. . .
Three rival actresses team up to solve a murder at the stately home of Lettice Davenport, the author whose sleuthing creation of the 1930s, Dahlia Lively, had made each of them famous to a new generation. A contemporary mystery with a Golden Age feel, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Jessica Fellowes - and Janice Hallett and Richard Osman, of course!
In attendance at Aldermere: the VIP fans, staying at house; the fan club president turned convention organiser; the team behind the newest movie adaptation of Davenport's books; the Davenport family themselves; and the three actresses famous for portraying Dahlia Lively through the decades.
There is national treasure Rosalind King, from the original movies, who's feeling sensitive that she's past her prime, TV Dahlia for thirteen seasons, Caro Hooper, who believes she really IS Dahlia Lively, and ex-child star Posy Starling, fresh out of the fame wilderness (and rehab) to take on the Dahlia mantle for the new movie - but feeling outclassed by her predecessors.
Each actress has her own interpretation of the character and her own secrets to hide - but this English summer weekend they will have to put aside their differences as the crimes at Aldermere turn anything but cosy.
Tell Me Everything
by Laura KayWould you entrust your life choices to someone hell-bent on avoiding theirs?
Natasha has everything under control, at least that's what her clients think. As a therapist, she has all the answers but when it comes to her personal life, she seriously needs to start taking her own advice. Still living with her ex-girlfriend, Natasha's messy love life is made up of dates and one-night stands. After all, why would you commit to one person, when there is an endless stream of people waiting for you to swipe right? Besides, people always leave.
But when Margot arrives on the scene, everything changes. Flailing between mending long broken relationships and starting new ones, Natasha's walking the line between self-actualisation and self-destruction…
With denial no longer an option, it is time for Natasha to take control of her own happiness.
The Runner
by Stephen LeatherThe explosive new stand-alone thriller from the author of the Spider Shepherd series
Sally Page is an MI5 'footie', a junior Secret Service Agent who maintains 'legends': fake identities or footprints used by real spies. Her day consists of maintaining flats and houses where the legends allegedly live, doing online shopping, using payment, loyalty and travel cards and going on social media in their names - anything to give the impression to hostile surveillance that the legends are living, breathing individuals.
One day she goes out for a coffee run from the safe house from which she and her fellow footies operate. When she comes back they have all been murdered and she barely escapes with her own life. She is on the run, but from whom she has no idea. Worse, her bosses at MI5 seem powerless to help her. To live, she will have to use all the lies and false identities she has so carefully created while discovering the truth . . .(p) 2020 Isis Publishing Ltd
The Prospects
by KT Hoffman'Tenacious, sexy, effervescent, doggedly hopeful, and endlessly charming, with characters to root hard for and an irresistible voice - I completely adored it'Casey McQuiston, author of Red, White & Royal Blue__________Enemies. Rivals. Teammates.It's going to be a hell of a season.Gene Ionescu is content to play in the minor leagues. He's seen teammates get their big breaks, but as the first openly trans man in the world of competitive baseball, he has nearly everything he's ever let himself dream of. When his former teammate and long-time rival, Luis Estrada, is unexpectedly drafted onto the team, the careful equilibrium of Gene's life is destroyed. Luis is standoffish, talented and inconveniently gorgeous, and the two men can barely get through a game together. This is war, and the team pays the price. So when Luis surprises Gene with a softer side to his haughty demeanour, Gene offers an olive branch - for the sake of his teammates. Soon they discover that their chemistry on the pitch might lead them all the way to the playoffs. And their chemistry off the pitch . . . well, that could be enough to change the game for ever.'I can't even express how much I adore this beautiful, joyful book'Alicia Thompson, author of Love in the Time of Serial Killers 'This book is optimism and grit, dedication and unbridled joy . . . An absolute delight' Rachel Lynn Solomon, author of The Ex Talk 'A heart-stealing romance . . . My favourite book - of this and any year' Anita Kelly, author of Something Wild & Wonderful__________Five-star reader reviews of The Prospects:'The romance between Gene and Luis is fire but also achingly tender and sweet. It gave me all the feels' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Funny and sexy and filled with such an incredible amount of hope, optimism, queer and trans joy, and queer found family' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'I absolutely loved so much of this book, and it gave me many moments of reading on the couch, feet kicking, and giggling wildly. It was beautiful' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'The steam and build of the relationship sucked me in . . . All I want to do is hug these two and live in this book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Stunning, joyful, and romantic as hell' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'It's got boys, it's got baseball, it's got everything you could possibly want. Five stars isn't enough' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Plot Twist
by Breea Keenan'A heart-warming bookish romcom . . . perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Catherine Walsh' Sunday Mail What's a love story without a good plot twist . . . ? 'This book honestly had me giddy' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'I didn't want to put it down' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Becca and Riley both captured my heart' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐*Becca Taylor is having a bad summer. Her best friend is dead. Her good-for-nothing ex is back in her life. And her career is in freefall.So, when fellow writer Riley O'Connell invites Becca to the charming Irish countryside, she can't pack her bags fast enough, even though they have never met.But happily-ever-after isn't quite so simple.And Riley is not a sensitive female romance novelist like Becca assumed. No, he is definitely a man. A hot, six-foot tall, Irish man.But with their complicated pasts getting in the way, Becca and Riley just can't get on the same page. So can fate give their love story a rewrite?*READERS ARE OBSESSED WITH PLOT TWIST:'I devoured this book, literally could not put it down' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Had me smiling, crying, giggling' ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'I didn't want it to end' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Delightful, I laughed and I cried while reading it, it's everything I could ask for' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Phone for the Fish Knives
by Daisy WaughWhen Hollywood wants to do a remake of the film that made Tode Hall famous, India and Egbert are delighted. They envisage a summer of free money and star-studded dinner parties ahead . . . But the Hall is soon overrun by wardrobe trucks and catering tents, and lusty, insecure actors squabbling about nudity clauses. When the movie's producers threaten to sue over the exact colour of Tode Hall's rolling lawns, India and Egbert realise that having a film crew on their doorstep isn't such a breeze after all. With so many egos in one place things were bound to end badly, but no one would have predicted quite so literal a backstabbing…
Open Season
by Cassie Werber"A breathtaking novel that gets under the skin of the complexities of love, sex and human nature"-Katie Bishop, author of THE GIRLS OF SUMMER"A perceptive book about intimacy and desire that feels zingy, original, fresh"-Chloë Ashby, author of SECOND SELF"Tender, shimmering, elegant, and true... thoughtful and sensual, sexy and cerebral"-Laura Barnett, author of THE VERSIONS OF USEvery relationship has rules. What if they all changed?Hura and Cillian have a happy, secure marriage and are on the brink of planning a family. But when Hura's teaching career gets derailed, they decide it's time to explore a fantasy: opening up their relationship.Roses has never been monogamous. Her connection with elusive James-who works all hours as a junior doctor-is electric, and they're falling for each other. But both have secrets that make intimacy feel dangerous, and in a bid to reassert her independence, Roses suggests they sleep with other people.When these two couples collide, life shifts on its axis and starts to spin out of control. As Roses and James fight to keep the past from overwhelming them, and Cillian and Hura test the limits of trust, they must all decide which lines to draw-and which to cross.A passionate deconstruction of the complexities of sex, love, honesty and betrayal, OPEN SEASON marks Cassie Werber out as a major new talent.
One Summer in Cornwall
by Karen KingEscape to Cornwall this summer... A heart-warming, feel-good romance, returning to the beautiful Cornish town of Karen's Kindle bestseller THE CORNISH HOTEL BY THE SEA.
When Hattie is made redundant and evicted from her flat in one horrible week, she needs time to rethink. Her Uncle Albert left her and her father each half of Fisherman's Rest, his home in the Cornish town of Port Medden, so this seems the perfect place to escape to until she can figure things out.
As Hattie stays in the cottage, clearing it out, tidying it up and getting it ready to sell, she starts to find her feet in Port Medden and making a new home here begins to feel right. If only her dad didn't need a quick sale and things weren't complicated by her unwelcoming neighbour Marcus . . .(P) 2022 Headline Publishing Group Ltd
One Girl Began
by Kate Murray-Browne'A beautiful novel . . . reminds us that our streets are thick with history'ROWAN HISAYO BUCHANAN'Both moving and addictive'JOANNA BRISCOE'Terrific'FRANCES QUINNTHREE WOMEN. ONE BUILDING. 111 YEARS . . .East London, 1909. When her family fall on hard times, Ellen finds work in a box factory and is drawn into a tight-knit circle of friendship, one that will transform her life and test her in unexpected ways.In 1984, the factory is now derelict. Eighteen-year- old Frances moves in with a group of squatters and activists who have taken over the abandoned building. As she tries to build a new life, an unsettling relationship develops, forcing her to question who she is and where her loyalties lie.In 2020, the squat is now a gentrified conversion in a fashionable corner of the city. Amanda feels trapped in her tiny flat, overwhelmed by the demands of new motherhood and unsure of what the future holds - until the possibility of an alternative life presents itself . . .From acclaimed author Kate Murray-Browne, One Girl Began is a vibrant, enthralling and moving novel about three women across three very different moments in time, connected by the same building and the forces that shape our lives.
Neverwhere
by Neil GaimanUnder the streets of London lies a world most people could never dream of. When Richard Mayhew stops to help a girl he finds bleeding in the street, his unremarkable life changes in an instant. This act of kindness leads him to a place filled with murderers and angels, pale girls in black velvet, a Beast in a labyrinth and an Earl who holds Court in a tube train. It is strangely familiar yet utterly bizarre.
Here is London Below, the city of people who have fallen between the cracks. And for Richard Mayhew, it's just the beginning.
More
by Philip CogganEconomics may seem like a modern field, but its object of study is ancient. Resources have been exchanged and distributed since the dawn of history, and the economies that arose from those transactions were more complex than you might expect. In this panorama of the development of trade and industry, Economist columnist Philip Coggan tracks the development of the world economy starting with the first obsidianblades that made their way from Turkey to what is now the Iran-Iraq border 7,000 years before Christ, and ending with the Sino-American trade war that we are in right now.Taking the history in great strides, More illustrates broad changes by examining details such as the design of the standard medieval cottage, the development in the 12th century of great international trade fairs under the patronage of the Counts of Champagne and Brie, and the stranglehold that Paris's three belt-buckle-making guilds exercised over innovation in the field of holding trousers. Along the way it reveals that historical economies were far more sophisticated than we might imagine - tied together by webs of credit and financial instruments much like the modern economy.Between the chapters making up the grand historical sweep Coggan dives into different facets of the economic world - providing potted histories of migration, finance, energy, and agriculture. In total, he shows how technologies and social systems spread, crosspollinated and created the possibility of new waves of development. And he shows how, at every step of our long journey, it was connections between people - allowing more trade, more specialisation, more ideas and more freedom - that created the conditions of prosperity.
Metamorphoses
by Karolina Watroba'A high-spirited, richly informed, and original portrait, a cross between biography, literary analysis and a study in modern canonisation: Karolina Watroba is an inspired guide and her book a pleasure to read.' Marina WarnerIn 2024, exactly one hundred years after his death at the age of 40, readers all over the world will reach for the works of Franz Kafka. Many of them will want to learn more about the enigmatic man behind the classic books filled with mysterious courts and monstrous insects. Who, exactly, was Franz Kafka?Karolina Watroba, the first Germanist ever elected as a Fellow of Oxford's All Souls College, will tell Kafka's story beyond the boundaries of language, time and space, travelling from the Prague of Kafka's birth through the work of contemporary writers in East Asia, whose award-winning novels are in part homages to the great man himself.Metamorphoses is a non-chronological journey through Kafka's life, drawing together literary scholarship with the responses of his readers through time. It is a both an exploration of Kafka's life and an exciting new way of approaching literary history.
Me And Mine
by Anna May ManganME AND MINE tells the story of an Irish immigrant family who left rural Ireland in the 1950s in the hope of finding work and a better way of life in England.
But home is never far away as aunts ferry over suitcases dripping with blood from the Irish boat train because English meat is 'dirt' or smuggle poteen disguised as holy water in Virgin Mary shaped bottles, and gossip is delivered weekly in the form of the local county paper.
ME AND MINE is an entertaining and vivid portrait of immigrant life in 1950s England, told through the stories of a truly colourful cast of characters.
The Massacre of Mankind
by Stephen BaxterIt has been 14 years since the Martians invaded England. The world has moved on, always watching the skies but content that we know how to defeat the Martian menace.
Machinery looted from the abandoned capsules and war-machines has led to technological leaps forward. The Martians are vulnerable to earth germs. The Army is prepared.
So when the signs of launches on Mars are seen, there seems little reason to worry. Unless you listen to one man, Walter Jenkins, the narrator of Wells' book. He is sure that the Martians have learned, adapted, understood their defeat.
He is right.
Thrust into the chaos of a new invasion, a journalist - sister-in-law to Walter Jenkins - must survive, escape and report on the war. The Massacre of Mankind has begun.
Read by Nathalie Buscombe
Love and Other Thought Experiments
by Sophie WardRachel and Eliza are planning their future together. One night in bed Rachel wakes up terrified and tells Eliza that an ant has crawled into her eye and is stuck there. Rachel is certain; Eliza, a scientist, is skeptical. Suddenly their entire relationship is called into question. What follows is a uniquely imaginative sequence of interlinked stories ranging across time, place and perspective to form a sparkling philosophical tale of love, lost and found across the universe.
The Library Thief
by Kuchenga ShenjéAn extraordinary historical debut for any reader who loves gothic mysteries like Rebecca and Fingersmith, and fiction which shines a light on untold stories.'Intriguingly and superbly plotted . . . Shenjé weaves race, identity, feminism, sexuality and class into a beguiling mystery' WOMAN & HOMEThe library is under lock and key. But its secrets can't be contained.After he brought her home from Jamaica as a baby, Florence's father had her hair hot-combed to make her look like the other girls. But as a young woman, Florence is not so easy to tame - and when she brings scandal to his door, the bookbinder throws her onto the streets of Manchester. Intercepting her father's latest commission, Florence talks her way into the remote, forbidding Rose Hall to restore its collection of rare books. Lord Francis Belfield's library is old and full of secrets - but none so intriguing as the whispers about his late wife. Then one night, the library is broken into. Strangely, all the priceless tomes remain untouched. Florence is puzzled, until she discovers a half-burned book in the fireplace. She realises with horror that someone has found and set fire to the secret diary of Lord Belfield's wife - which may hold the clue to her fate . . .'A tantalising read that swells with secrecy and intrigue. It's hard to believe that Kuchenga Shenjé writes of the past, and not of the present. A beautifully and skilfully written debut' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS, author of Queenie'Powerful, gorgeously absorbing and wholly original'JOANNE BURN, author of The Hemlock Cure'Threads in themes of identity, sexuality and a woman's impossible choices into an intricate web of mysteries that would not let me go'CARI THOMAS, author of Threadneedle'I was swept up with the mystery. A beautifully crafted story full of nuanced characters, gothic undertones and plenty of heart'STACEY THOMAS, author of The Revels'Atmospheric and compelling. Victorian gothic with a fresh twist'FREYA BERRY, author of The Birdcage Library'Filled with fantastically drawn characters and with a love of books that shines through the prose'KATIE LUMSDEN, author of The Secrets of Hartwood Hall
The Librarians of Rue de Picardie
by Janet Skeslien CharlesThe New York Times bestselling author of the The Paris Library returns with a powerful, moving new novel based on the extraordinary true story of Jessie Carson, the American librarian determined to bring books to the children of war-torn France.'This is hands down my book of 2024. A rich, glorious life-affirming ode to the power of books and female solidarity. Simply unforgettable!' KATE THOMPSON'A wonderful story about the power books have not only to inspire, but also to rescue and restore. The characters are so richly drawn... I absolutely loved it' RUTH HOGAN------------------------Under what was left of the roof of the ruined cottage, a girl with pigtails perched on a pile of rubble, hunched over a book...1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France, a group of women determined to rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen - children's libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsession, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York's famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.*Published under the title Miss Morgan's Book Brigade in the US*'An astonishing novel with the beating heart of courageous women who change the world through books. For every reader who was once told to get their head out of the clouds because they read too many books, this one is for you... A moving novel of sacrifice, heroism, and inspired storytelling immersed in the power of books to change our lives' PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY'Bursting with remarkable characters and filled with heart-in-mouth moments... an enthralling, emotional story rich in historical detail. Janet Skeslien Charles has done real justice to the legacy of these courageous women; this wonderful book is a gift to the reader' LIESE O'HALLORAN SCHWARZ'Bibliophiles are in for a treat' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'I found myself captivated by this eye-opening book and reminder of the good that comes from dedicated hard work. I am grateful to Janet Skeslien Charles for educating me about the remarkable women of CARD' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Goodreads reviewer 'I love books about libraries and books. The fact that this book is actually based off of real people is amazing. This book celebrates the contributions that these women made when they are usually swept under the rug. I loved Jessie so much, and I will be thinking of these brave women for a long time to come' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Goodreads reviewer