Akron Public Library

Envisioning a summer vacation in the humble Singapore home of a boy she hopes to marry, Chinese American Rachel Chu is unexpectedly introduced to a rich and scheming clan that strongly opposes their son's relationship with an American girl.

To illuminate the changing times, Forster throws together three vastly dissimilar classes of people: the Schlegels, Helen and Margaret, educated, compassionate and independently wealthy; the Wilcoxes, nouveau riche Empire builders; and Leonard Bast, an ambitious but struggling bank clerk.

Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times are a-changing. Every year, the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same this year: Blair, the eldest sister, is stranded in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling...

A man and a woman born into radically different stations in Victorian society try to challenge the rigid caste system but are torn apart and left to dream of reconciliation in separate spheres of loneliness and shame.

This Edwardian social comedy explores love and prim propriety among an eccentric cast of characters assembled in an Italian pensione and in a corner of Surrey, England. A charming young English woman, Lucy Honeychurch, faints into the arms of a fellow Britisher when she witnesses a murder in a Florentine piazza. Attracted to this man, George Emerson--who is entirely unsuitable and whose father just may be a Socialist--Lucy is soon at war with the...

"The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives everywhere within a generation. A world filled with unrest wrestles for control over this new world order: A mother's husband is killed in a work accident due to negligence; a young woman fights to fund her school for impoverished children; a well-intentioned young man unexpectedly inherits a failing business; one man ruthlessly protects...

Rufus Leung Gresham, future Earl of Greshambury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel has a problem: the legendary Gresham Trust has been depleted by decades of profligate spending, and behind all the magazine covers and Instagram stories manors and yachts lies nothing more than a gargantuan mountain of debt. The only solution, put forth by Rufus's scheming mother, is for Rufus to attend his sister's wedding at a luxury eco-resort, a veritable...

The Schapens and the Grelliers are farm families whose histories have been entwinED since the 1850's. The Schapens have turned to old-time religion for security. When Gina Haring, a Wiccan, moves into a nearby farmhouse, the Schapens are so outraged that they begin a harassment campaign. Despite parental coutions, the Grelliers' teenage children are enraged by the Schapens. An angry confrontation causes Chip Grellier to be expelled from school and...

"Orphans Gig and Rye Dolan don't have a penny to their names. The brothers work grueling, odd jobs each day just to secure a meal, and spend nights sleeping wherever they can with other day laborers. Twenty-three-year-old Gig is a passionate union man, fighting for fair pay and calling out the corrupt employers who exploit the working class. Eager to emulate his older brother, Rye follows suit, though he can't quite muster Gig's passion for the cause....