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Recommendations based on Close Your Eyes, Hold Handsby Chris Bohjalian
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Midwives
by Chris Bohjalian
A midwife's journey of self-discovery, uncovering secrets of her own past.
The time is 1981, and Sibyl Danforth has been a dedicated midwife in the rural community of Reddington, Vermont, for fifteen years. But one treacherous winter night, in a house isolated by icy roads ... (Goodreads)
Chestnut Street
by Maeve Binchy
A collection of short stories set on Chestnut Street, each revealing the secrets and lives of its inhabitants.
Maeve Binchy imagined a street in Dublin with many characters coming and going, and every once in a while she would write about one of these people. She would then put it in a drawer; “for the ... (Goodreads)
The Boy in the Suitcase
by Lene Kaaberbøl
A nurse discovers an abandoned suitcase containing a young boy, uncovering a sinister criminal network.
Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a compulsive do-gooder who can’t say no when someone asks for help—even when she knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a ... (Goodreads)
The Double Bind
by Chris Bohjalian
A young woman working at a homeless shelter becomes obsessed with the photographs of a former client. A psychological thriller that explores the nature of memory and trauma.
In Chris Bohjalian's astonishing novel, nothing is what it at first seems. Not the bucolic Vermont back roads college sophomore Laurel Estabrook likes to bike. Not the savage assault she suffers ... (Goodreads)
The Sandcastle Girls
by Chris Bohjalian
A love story set during the Armenian Genocide, exploring the complexities of human relationships and the horrors of war.
The Sandcastle Girls is a sweeping historical love story steeped in Chris Bohjalian's Armenian heritage. When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Aleppo, Syria she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke, a crash ... (Goodreads)
Small Great Things
by Jodi Picoult
A gripping story of racism and justice, exploring the intersections of power and privilege.
#1, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER • With richly layered characters and a gripping moral dilemma that will lead readers to question everything they know about privilege, power, and race,, Small Great ... (Barnes & Noble)
Incendiary
by Chris Cleave
A mother's quest for justice after her family is tragically taken from her.
A young mother's life is blown apart when her husband and four-year-old son are killed during a bombing at a football match. Following this, the young mother falls into a depression. While the young ... (Wikipedia)
The One Man
by Andrew Gross
A WWII spy mission to uncover secrets of the Nazis' nuclear program.
1944. Physics professor Alfred Mendl is separated from his family and sent to the men’s camp, where all of his belongings are tossed on a roaring fire. His books, his papers, his life’s work. The ... (Goodreads)
Black and Blue
by Anna Quindlen
A woman's journey of self-discovery, as she escapes an abusive marriage and reclaims her life.
For eighteen years, Fran Benedetto kept her secret. And hid her bruises. And stayed with Bobby because she wanted her son to have a father. And because, in spite of everything, she loved him. Then ... (Wikipedia)
The Storyteller
by Jodi Picoult
A storyteller's quest to restore faith in the power of storytelling and to mend the wounds of her past.
25-year-old Sage Singer lives in the small town of Westerbrook, New Hampshire . , A couple of years before the story began, Sage and her mother were in a car accident while Sage was driving. Sage's ... (Wikipedia)
Old School
by Tobias Wolff
An aspiring writer's journey of self-discovery, competing against his peers for the attention of a prestigious school's faculty.
The book is narrated by a school senior ("sixth former" in prep-school vernacular) at an unnamed elite boarding school in the northeastern United States in 1960–61. The unnamed protagonist is a ... (Wikipedia)
The Hypnotist's Love Story
by Liane Moriarty
A hypnotherapist's new love interest is stalked by his ex-girlfriend, who happens to be one of her patients.
Ellen O’Farrell is a professional hypnotherapist who works out of the eccentric beachfront home she inherited from her grandparents. It’s a nice life, except for her tumultuous relationship history. ... (Goodreads)
Mr. Mercedes
by Stephen King
Detective investigates a series of murders by a maniacal driver in a stolen Mercedes.
Many jobless people are standing in line for a job fair , but then a Mercedes plows into the crowd, killing sixteen and severely injuring many. Bill Hodges, a recently retired detective from the ... (Wikipedia)
And the Mountains Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini
Interconnected stories of family and love, tracing the consequences of decisions made throughout life.
The novel opens in the year 1952. Saboor, an impoverished farmer from the fictional village of Shadbagh, decides to sell his three-year-old daughter Pari to a wealthy, childless couple in Kabul. ... (Wikipedia)
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)
The Secret Place
by Tana French
A murder investigation leads to a girls boarding school, uncovering dark secrets and powerful emotions.
Much of the novel takes place at St. Kilda's, a girls' boarding school in Dublin. The chapters alternate between the points of view of detective Stephen Moran and the students of St. Kilda's. The key ... (Wikipedia)
Leaving Time
by Jodi Picoult
A young girl's quest to uncover the truth behind her mother's disappearance.
For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe she was abandoned, Jenna ... (Goodreads)
The Lowland
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Two brothers in Calcutta take different paths in life, leading to tragedy and a search for redemption.
Raised in Tollygunge in Calcutta , brothers Subhash and Udayan are inseparable; they find joy in fixing and listening to radios, learning Morse Code , and looking out for each other at school. When ... (Wikipedia)
The Signature of All Things
by Elizabeth Gilbert
A woman's quest for knowledge and self-fulfillment, spanning through the 19th century.
A glorious, sweeping novel of desire, ambition, and the thirst for knowledge, from the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love and Committed. In The Signature of All Things, ... (Goodreads)
If You Stay
by Courtney Cole
A young woman falls in love with a troubled man, and together they navigate the challenges of their pasts and present.
For fans of Jessica Sorensen, J.A. Redmerski, and Abbi Glines... Twenty-four-year-old Pax Tate is an asshole. Seriously. He's a tattooed, rock-hard bad boy with a tough attitude to match. His mother ... (Barnes & Noble)
End of Watch
by Stephen King
A retired detective confronts a powerful and mysterious force that has returned to terrorize a small town.
Retired detective Bill Hodges, who now with his sidekick Holly runs the private investigation agency Finders Keepers, is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer . Given only months to live, he finds himself ... (Wikipedia)
Winter of the World
by Ken Follett
Epic saga of war, family, and love during the tumultuous times of the 20th century.
The story follows characters from Germany , Britain , the United States and the Soviet Union , who become linked by events leading to World War II , and continues through the war and its immediate ... (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)
Doctor Sleep
by Stephen King
A man confronts his dark past as he defends a young girl from a supernatural evil.
Following the events of The Shining , after receiving a settlement from the owners of the Overlook Hotel, Danny Torrance remains psychologically traumatized as his mother Wendy slowly recovers from ... (Wikipedia)
Nine Women, One Dress
by Jane L. Rosen
A little black dress becomes the center of attention, weaving together the stories of nine women and their romantic adventures in New York City.
A charming, hilarious, irresistible romp of a novel that brings together nine unrelated women, each touched by the same little black dress that weaves through their lives, bringing a little magic ... (Goodreads)
California
by Edan Lepucki
In a post-apocalyptic world, a couple seeks refuge in the wilderness of California, only to find themselves caught up in a dangerous power struggle.
Main characters Frida Ellis and Calvin Friedman are young lovers who, having fled a nearly-destroyed Los Angeles, are living in an abandoned house in Northern California as subsistence foragers and ... (Wikipedia)
Here's to Us
by Elin Hilderbrand
Three women, ex-wives of a famous chef, gather on Nantucket to scatter his ashes and confront their past.
Three romantic rivals in one crowded house equals plenty of room for jealousy in this surprising and heartwarming story from, New York Times, bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand. Laurel Thorpe, ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Opposite of Everyone
by Joshilyn Jackson
A woman confronts her past and family secrets while searching for the brother she never knew existed.
A fiercely independent divorce lawyer learns the power of family and connection when she receives a cryptic message from her estranged mother in this bittersweet, witty novel from the nationally ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
by Michael Chabon
A murder mystery set in an alternate reality, with characters that explore the boundaries of identity and tradition.
The book opens with Meyer Landsman, an alcoholic homicide detective with the Sitka police department, examining the murder of a man in the hotel where Landsman lives. Beside the corpse lies an open ... (Wikipedia)
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)
