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Recommendations based on Jamrach's Menagerieby Carol Birch
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
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)
The Stranger's Child
by Alan Hollinghurst
A poet's death and the mystery surrounding it are explored through the perspectives of different characters over several decades.
The Stranger's Child consists of five sections, each set in a different period: In 1913 Cecil Valance, the 22-year-old heir to a large country estate and a published poet, spends a weekend at Two ... (Wikipedia)
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
by Joanna Cannon
A quirky coming-of-age story set in a 1970s English suburb, exploring religion and friendship.
“I loved this book. It's one of those books that you just want to give to everybody.” —Nancy Pearl on NPR’s Morning Edition “An astute, engaging debut” ( Publishers Weekly ), The Trouble with Goats ... (Barnes & Noble)
Half Blood Blues
by Esi Edugyan
Tale of a jazz band's tumultuous journey through the shadows of Nazi Germany.
The aftermath of the fall of Paris, 1940. Hieronymus Falk, a rising star on the cabaret scene, is arrested in a cafe and never heard from again. He is twenty years old. A German citizen. And he is ... (Goodreads)
Annabel
by Kathleen Winter
Born as a hermaphrodite in 1968, Wayne decides to become Annabel and struggles with identity and acceptance in a small Canadian town.
A baby is born in 1968, in far-from-everywhere Croydon Harbour, Labrador , Canada. He is intersex – a word unfamiliar to the midwife present at his birth, and to his stoic father and his fanciful ... (Wikipedia)
Sister
by Rosamund Lupton
A suspenseful tale of a woman's mission to find her missing sister, unearthing secrets along the way.
Nothing can break the bond between sisters ...When Beatrice gets a frantic call in the middle of Sunday lunch to say that her younger sister, Tess, is missing, she boards the first flight home to ... (Goodreads)
The Day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham
A post-apocalyptic world overrun by carnivorous plants, exploring themes of survival and morality.
In 1951 John Wyndham published his novel The Day of the Triffids to moderate acclaim. Fifty-two years later, this horrifying story is a science fiction classic, touted by The Times (London) as having ... (Goodreads)
Cloudstreet
by Tim Winton
Two families share a house in Perth, Australia, and navigate their lives over two decades. A story of love, loss, and redemption.
In 1943, precipitated by separate personal tragedies, two poor families, the Lambs and the Pickles, flee their rural homes to share a large house called Cloudstreet in Perth, Western Australia. , The ... (Wikipedia)
All Families are Psychotic
by Douglas Coupland
A dysfunctional family's story of love, loss and redemption.
The novel is the tale of the Drummond family from Vancouver gathering together to watch Sarah Drummond's space shuttle blast off at the Kennedy Space Center . The Drummonds are a group of misfits ... (Wikipedia)
The 19th Wife
by David Ebershoff
A hybrid of historical fiction and detective novel, exploring the realities of polygamy.
Jordan Scott has been expelled from his fundamentalist sect in modern-day southern Utah, but returns to determine whether his mother killed his father. His mother is the 19th wife of his father. ... (Wikipedia)
Her Fearful Symmetry
by Audrey Niffenegger
Two sisters explore a haunted London estate, uncovering secrets of a mysterious past.
Elspeth dies of leukemia. Her apartment, located beside Highgate cemetery in London, is left for the daughters of Edwina, her estranged twin sister. Elspeth's nieces, identical twins Julia and ... (Wikipedia)
The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton
Set in 17th century Amsterdam, a woman is given a mysterious gift of a dollhouse replica of her home.
Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam–a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion--a masterful debut steeped in atmosphere and shimmering with mystery, in the tradition of Emma Donoghue, ... (Goodreads)
The Lacuna
by Barbara Kingsolver
Exploring the ties between art, politics and identity in tumultuous 1930s Mexico.
The novel tells the story of Harrison William Shepherd beginning with his childhood in Mexico during the 1930s. His parents are separated so he lives back and forth between the United States with his ... (Wikipedia)
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the ... (Goodreads)
The Faraway Tree Stories
by Enid Blyton
A magical journey of fantastical adventures and discoveries with the mysterious inhabitants of a tree in an enchanted forest.
The Hours
by Michael Cunningham
Interwoven stories of three women and the impact of Virginia Woolf's novel, Mrs. Dalloway.
Note: This Summary does not contain the whole book, nor end at the ending. The stream-of-consciousness style being so prominent in this work, a summary of the plot based on physical action does not ... (Wikipedia)
The Sisters Brothers
by Patrick deWitt
A unique western, following two brothers on a quest to find and murder a prospector.
In 1851, Eli and Charlie Sisters, a pair of assassins of minor repute, are hired by a wealthy businessman known only as "the Commodore" to travel from Oregon City to California in order to murder a ... (Wikipedia)
A Visit from the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan
A mosaic of characters, lives, and relationships as they intertwine and evolve over time.
Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. ... (Goodreads)
The Bungalow
by Sarah Jio
A young nurse falls in love with a soldier during World War II, but their romance is cut short. Years later, she returns to the island where they met and uncovers secrets from the past.
A sweeping World War II saga of thwarted love, murder, and a long-lost painting. In the summer of 1942, twenty-one-year-old Anne Calloway, newly engaged, sets off to serve in the Army Nurse Corps on ... (Goodreads)
The Tell-Tale Heart
by Edgar Allan Poe
A man's obsession with the eye of an old man leads him to commit murder and ultimately drives him insane.
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a first-person narrative told by an unnamed narrator. Insisting that they are sane, the narrator suffers from a disease (nervousness) which causes " over-acuteness of the ... (Wikipedia)
Midnight's Children
by Salman Rushdie
A magical tale of India's history told through the story of a boy born at the stroke of midnight.
Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem ... (Goodreads)
The Aeneid
by Virgil
Epic tale of Aeneas and the founding of Rome, a fateful journey through the gods.
The Aeneid – thrilling, terrifying and poignant in equal measure – has inspired centuries of artists, writers and musicians. Virgil’s epic tale tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero, who flees his ... (Goodreads)
Afterwards
by Rosamund Lupton
A mother investigates her daughter's death from beyond the grave, uncovering secrets and protecting her family.
There is a fire and they are in there. They are in there... Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace, sees the smoke and rush. She knows her teenage daughter ... (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)
We Need to Talk About Kevin
by Lionel Shriver
A mother's struggle to come to terms with the monstrous acts of her disturbed son.
In the wake of a school massacre conducted by Kevin Khatchadourian, the 15-year-old son of Franklin Plaskett and Eva Khatchadourian, Eva begins writing letters to Franklin in November 2000. She ... (Wikipedia)
The Light Between Oceans
by M.L. Stedman
A lighthouse keeper and his wife make a heartbreaking decision that has lifelong repercussions.
Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found, here, Australia, 1926. After four harrowing years fighting on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns home to take a job as the lighthouse ... (Goodreads)
Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
An exploration of a post-apocalyptic world, and the power of human nature.
The novel focuses on a post-apocalyptic character called "Snowman", living near a group of primitive human-like creatures whom he calls Crakers . Flashbacks reveal that Snowman was once a boy named ... (Wikipedia)
Before I Go to Sleep
by S.J. Watson
A woman suffering from memory loss wakes up each day without the knowledge of her past.
The novel is a psychological thriller about a woman suffering from anterograde amnesia . , She wakes up every day with no knowledge of who she is and the novel follows her as she tries to reconstruct ... (Wikipedia)
Mary Poppins Comes Back
by P.L. Travers
Mary Poppins returns to the Banks family, bringing more magic and adventure to their lives.
'Pulled down from the clouds at the end of a kite string, Mary Poppins is back. In Mary’s care, the Banks children meet the King of the Castle and the Dirty Rascal, visit the upside-down world of Mr. ... (Goodreads)
The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield
A mysterious storyteller reveals a dark family secret, transforming the lives of those around her.
Vida Winter, a famous novelist in England, has evaded journalists' questions about her past, refusing to answer their inquiries and spinning elaborate tales that they later discover to be false. Her ... (Wikipedia)
