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Recommendations based on The Last Days of Ptolemy Greyby Walter Mosley
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Devil in a Blue Dress
by Walter Mosley
Set in 1940s Los Angeles, a black WWII veteran is hired to find a missing white woman, but uncovers corruption and danger.
Set in 1948, the story begins in the Watts area of Los Angeles, with Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, a Houstonian - from that city's Fifth Ward - who lost his job at an aviation defense plant in Los Angeles ... (Wikipedia)
The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
Coming of age story of a young Black girl dealing with prejudice and racism in 1940s Ohio.
In Lorain, Ohio , nine-year-old Claudia MacTeer and her 10-year-old sister Frieda live with their parents, a tenant named Mr. Henry, and Pecola Breedlove, a temporary foster child whose house was ... (Wikipedia)
The Kitchen House
by Kathleen Grissom
A young Irish girl is taken in by a plantation family in Virginia and becomes entangled in the lives of the slaves who work there.
When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship ... (Goodreads)
Leaving the Atocha Station
by Ben Lerner
A young poet's journey of self-discovery, struggling to find a sense of purpose in life.
Adam Gordon is a brilliant, if highly unreliable, young American poet on a prestigious fellowship in Madrid, struggling to establish his sense of self and his relationship to art. What is actual when ... (Goodreads)
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf
by Ntozake Shange
A powerful collection of stories exploring the struggles and triumphs of African-American women.
In celebration of its highly anticipated Broadway revival, Ntozake Shange’s classic, award-winning play centering the wide-ranging experiences of Black women, now with introductions by two-time ... (Goodreads)
Cutting for Stone
by Abraham Verghese
A sweeping journey of two twin brothers and their search for identity, belonging and family.
The story is told by the protagonist, Marion Stone. He and his conjoined twin Shiva are born at Mission Hospital (called "Missing" in accordance with the local pronunciation), Addis Ababa , in ... (Wikipedia)
State of Wonder
by Ann Patchett
A journey in the Amazon rainforest to find a missing colleague and unlock the secrets of a mysterious drug.
In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, scientific miracles, and spiritual transformations, "State of Wonder" presents a world of stunning surprise and danger, rich in emotional ... (Goodreads)
Turn of Mind
by Alice LaPlante
A retired orthopedic surgeon with dementia is suspected of murdering her best friend. She tries to piece together the truth before it's too late.
A New York Times bestseller, Turn of Mind is a literary thriller about a retired orthopedic surgeon suffering from dementia and accused of killing her best friend. With unmatched patience and a ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Submission
by Amy Waldman
A jury selects a Muslim architect's design for a 9/11 memorial, sparking controversy and revealing deep-seated prejudices in post-9/11 America.
Ten years after 9/11, a dazzling, kaleidoscopic novel reimagines its aftermath and wonders what would happen if a Muslim-American was blindly chosen to plan the World Trade Center Memorial. Claire ... (Goodreads)
Juliet
by Anne Fortier
A young woman travels to Siena, Italy to uncover the truth about her ancestor, Giulietta, and her connection to the famous Romeo and Juliet story.
Juliet is about a woman named Julie Jacobs who discovers that her ancestor Giulietta is the real-life Juliet of, Romeo and Juliet, fame. , In her encounters with various descendants of the young ... (Wikipedia)
The Language of Flowers
by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
A young woman's journey of healing and redemption through the power of flowers.
The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in ... (Goodreads)
Wench
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
A story of the friendship between four female slaves, and their struggles to maintain hope and humanity.
Lizzie, a young enslaved African-American woman in the 1850s, is taken by her Southern white master Nathan Drayle for summers at Tawawa House in southwestern Ohio, a resort near what were also called ... (Wikipedia)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
by Jamie Ford
A touching story of the intersection of love, family, and culture during World War II.
Henry Lee, the son of Chinese parents in Seattle , Washington, is the only Asian child at his elementary school. His father makes him wear an "I Am Chinese" button so he will not be mistaken for a ... (Wikipedia)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
by Rachel Joyce
An elderly man's unexpected quest of faith, discovering the power of hope and love.
Harold Fry, 65, has cut the lawn outside his home at Kingsbridge on the south coast of Devon when he receives a letter. A colleague of twenty years ago, Queenie Hennessy, has cancer and is in a ... (Wikipedia)
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
by Heidi W. Durrow
A young black girl's story of survival, resilience, and self-discovery in a world of racial prejudice.
"The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, can actually fly." —,The New York Times Book Review, , Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy after a ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Coroner's Lunch
by Colin Cotterill
A grizzled coroner investigates a suspicious death in a small Laotian village.
Despite a total lack of training, an utter dearth of experience and a complete absence of inclination, Dr. Siri Paiboun has just been appointed state coroner for the Lao People's Democratic Republic. ... (Wikipedia)
The Invention of Wings
by Sue Monk Kidd
A powerful story about a girl's journey to freedom, despite the limitations of slavery.
Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world—and it is now ... (Goodreads)
Arcadia
by Lauren Groff
A novel that explores the lives of inhabitants of a utopian commune in the 1960s and their descendants in the present day.
In the fields and forests of western New York State in the late 1960s, several dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what becomes a famous commune centered on the grounds of a ... (Goodreads)
The Sense of an Ending
by Julian Barnes
An exploration of memory and its impact on the present, looking at the choices we make in life.
By an acclaimed writer at the height of his powers, The Sense of an Ending extends a streak of extraordinary books that began with the best-selling Arthur & George and continued with Nothing to Be ... (Goodreads)
Home
by Toni Morrison
A family's struggle to find and maintain a sense of identity in an ever-changing world.
America's most celebrated novelist, Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison extends her profound take on our history with this twentieth-century tale of redemption: a taut and tortured story about one man's ... (Goodreads)
The Double Comfort Safari Club
by Alexander McCall Smith
An adventure filled with humorous observations of culture and humanity.
Readers will agree that this touching and dramatic new installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s beloved and best-selling series is the finest yet. In this story, Precious Ramotswe deals with issues of ... (Goodreads)
The Hummingbird's Daughter
by Luis Alberto Urrea
A Mexican girl's journey to self-acceptance, discovering the power of faith and family.
The prizewinning writer Luis Alberto Urrea's long-awaited novel is an epic mystical drama of a young woman's sudden sainthood in late 19th-century Mexico. It is 1889, and the civil war is brewing in ... (Goodreads)
Fool
by Christopher Moore
A bawdy and whimsical take on the classic tale of King Lear and the madness that ensues.
Pocket is the royal fool at the court of King Lear of Britain. To prevent Lear from marrying off his daughter Cordelia, a girl Pocket is especially fond of, he schemes with Edmund of Gloucester. ... (Wikipedia)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon
Two cousins create a comic book superhero and find success and adventure in 1940s New York.
The novel begins in 1939 with the arrival of 19-year-old Josef "Joe" Kavalier as a refugee in New York City , where he comes to live with his 17-year-old cousin, Sammy Klayman. With the help of his ... (Wikipedia)
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
by Stephen King
A man is wrongly convicted of murder and sent to Shawshank prison, where he befriends a fellow inmate and plans his escape.
In 1947, in Maine , Andy Dufresne, a banker, is tried and convicted for the double murder of his wife and her lover, despite his claims of innocence. He is sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary to ... (Wikipedia)
Faithful Place
by Tana French
A woman's search for the truth behind her childhood sweetheart's disappearance.
When 19-year-old Frank Mackey was left waiting outside of an abandoned house one fateful night, he believed that his lover backed out on their plans of elopement. After finding a note inside the ... (Wikipedia)
Asterios Polyp
by David Mazzucchelli
A brilliant architect's life falls apart, forcing him to confront his past and rebuild his identity.
The triumphant return of one of comics’ greatest talents, with an engrossing story of one man’s search for love, meaning, sanity, and perfect architectural proportions. An epic story long awaited, ... (Goodreads)
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
by Helen Simonson
A widower finds love and acceptance in an unlikely place, challenging social conventions.
You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as ... (Goodreads)
