Cary Regional-NPR Readers Corner-Radio/Podcast

"April 1941: Belfast has escaped the worst of the Second World War--so far. Over the next two months, it will be so destroyed from above that people will say, in horror, "My God, Belfast is finished." Many won't make it through, and those who do will be forever changed. Living amid the rubble are sisters Emma and Audrey. One is engaged to be married; the other is in a secret relationship with another woman. As the bombs fall, and tomorrow feels further...

"On her first night in New York City, Kay Sohini sits on the tarmac of JFK Airport making an inventory of everything she's left behind in India: her family, friends, home, and gaslighting ex-boyfriend. In the wake of that untethering she realizes two things: she's finally made it to the city of her literary heroes--Kerouac, Plath, Bechdel--and the trauma she's endured has created gaping holes in her memory. As Kay begins the work of piecing herself...

4 stars

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Tinkers, a novel inspired by the true story of Malaga Island, an isolated island off the coast of Maine that became one of the first racially integrated towns in the Northeast. In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife, Patience, discover an island where they can make a life together. Over a century later, the Honeys' descendants and a diverse group of neighbors are desperately poor, isolated,...

4.8 stars

"Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult, though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right? But nothing with fairies is ever simple. Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm...

"A heartrending family saga following three generations of women connected by a fantastic tapestry through which they inherit the experiences of those that lived before them, sweeping readers from Partition-era India to modern day Brooklyn. Ayukta is finally sitting down with her wife Nadya to respond to a question she's long avoided: Should they have a child? The decision is complicated by a secret her family has kept for centuries, one that Ayukta...

3.7 stars

"When a massive earthquake hits, a pregnant woman must make excruciating decisions toward survival in this ... debut novel set over the course of one day."--

"A Tiny Upward Shove is a fictionalized account of real life Canadian serial killer Willie Pickton and his final victim. In the debut novel of award-winning essayist, Melissa Chadburn, we follow the life of Filipina foster youth Marina Salles and are submerged in the confluence of violence and empathy, fabulism and realism. A story of how both victim and monster emerge from the same world."--

"An ... exploration that unveils the lesser-known dimensions of this legendary writer and her legacy, revealing the cultural icon's profound impact as a visionary editor who helped define an important period in American publishing and literature"--

4.5 stars

The mystery of a missing translator sets three lives on a collision course that will have a ripple effect across the stars in this powerful novel from a Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author. "When Enae's grandmaman passes away, Enae inherits something entirely unexpected: a diplomatic assignment to track down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. No one actually expects Enae to succeed; it's an empty assignment meant...

5 stars