Akron Public Library

When the young girl washes up on their shore, no one knew she had been a Vessel. That she had carried a Product. That it had been carved into her belly. Stolen. Claire had had a son. She was supposed to forget about him, but that was impossible. When he was taken from their community, she knew she had to follow. And so her journey began. But here in this wind-battered village Claire is welcomed as one of their own. In the security of her new home,...

"When newly single and unemployed Kerry Tolliver moves back home to her family's Christmas tree farm in North Carolina, she is guilt tripped into helping her brother, Murphy, sell trees in New York City. Then, Kerry meets Patrick, the annoying Mercedes owner who parked in her spot for the first two days. Patrick is recently divorced, a father to a six year old son, and lives in the neighborhood. Can Kerry's first impressions about the recently divorced,...

The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps at the turn of the twentieth century is the setting for the first meeting of Enza and Ciro, who meet as teenagers despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. But when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon Enza's family...

Charlotte Bronte's last and most autobiographical novel, Villette, explores the inner life of a lonely young Englishwoman, Lucy Snowe, who leaves an unhappy existence in England to become a teacher in the capital of a fictional European country. Drawn to the school's headmaster, Lucy must face the pain of unrequited love and the question of her place in society.

"The story opens when an unemployed farmhand, Michael Henchard, sells his wife, Susan, and daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, while in a drunken stupor at a fair, for five guineas to a sailor called Newson. On sobering up the following day, Henchard is filled with remorse, swears a twenty year abstinence from alcohol and begins a search for his family. Eighteen years later the reformed Henchard has become the mayor of Casterbridge, but his past is set to...

"Nick and Noah's rocky relationship is struggling through its worst moment, and it seems that nothing can go back to the way it was before. They will have to surmount a new and frightening set of challenges to finally understand if they are really made for each other or if being apart is their only chance to be happy. Love is not always enough, and forgiveness sometimes doesn't fix what's been broken. But can you forget such a strong connection? How...

A well-published, numerous-times-divorced woman leaves her lover to embark on a personal journey that begins on the Colorado River and traverses through her past and into her future, while her lover begins his own parallel voyage.

"All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She's stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation. Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming,...

In the five years since Julia last visited her aunt and uncle's home in Malibu, her life has been turned upside down by her daughter's death. She expects to find nothing more than solitude as she house-sits with only her dog, Bonnie, for company. But she finds herself drawn to the man who oversees the lemon orchard. Roberto expertly tends the trees, using the money to support his extended Mexican family. What connection could these two people share?...

"Piper's older brother leaves Peek-A-Book Island and Piper refuses to take off his old earmuffs, no matter what! Things are going from bad to worse... until she discovers The Fairy Tree"--