Ann-Helén Laestadius

Rachel Willson-Broyles

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

New Jersey

A Novel

From the internationally bestselling author of the “extraordinary” (Fredrik Backman) novel Stolen comes a harrowing story—inspired by true events—of five Indigenous children forced to attend a government-run boarding school in 1950s Sweden, revealing the emotional scars they carry thirty years later. In the 1950s near the Arctic Circle, seven-year-olds Jon-Ante, Else-Maj, Nilsa, Marge, and Anne-Risten are taken from their families. As children of Sámi reindeer herders, the Swedish state has mandated they attend a “nomad school” where they are forbidden to speak their native language. As the children visit home only sporadically, their parents know little about the abuse they face, much of it at the hands of the housemother, Rita. Those who dare to speak up are silenced. Thirty years later, the five children have chosen different paths to cope with the past. Else-Maj holds strong in her Sámi identity but has turned to religion for comfort, while Anne-Risten now goes by Anne to hide her heritage from friends. Nilsa herds reindeer like his father but harbors a lot of anger, and Jon-Ante struggles with traumatic memories from the school. Then there’s Marge, who is about to adopt a daughter from Colombia, but can’t help questioning if it’s right to take a child from her homeland. Then suddenly, housemother Rita reappears. Now an old, frail woman claiming to have God on her side, she acts like nothing ever happened. But the five former students have neither forgotten nor forgiven her. As the narrative shifts between each of their perspectives, the novel asks: If you had the chance to punish the person who hurt you as a child, would you? Based on the author’s family story, Punished is a searing novel about loss, memory, cultural erasure, and community that vibrates with righteous rage over one nation’s greatest betrayals of its native people.

Punished

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Lindsay Hunter

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

"A father searches for his addict son while grappling with his own choices as a parent (and as a user of sorts)"--

Eat Only When You're Hungry

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Kamila Shamsie

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

"A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces." --Madeline Miller

"A shining tour de force about a long friendship's respects, disrespects, loyalties and moralities." --Ali Smith 

From the acclaimed author of Home Fire, the moving and surprising story of a lifelong friendship and the forces that bring it to the breaking point

Zahra and Maryam have been best friends since childhood in Karachi, even though--or maybe because--they are unlike in nearly every way. Yet they never speak of the differences in their backgrounds or their values, not even after the fateful night when a moment of adolescent impulse upends their plans for the future.
 
Three decades later, Zahra and Maryam have grown into powerful women who have each cut a distinctive path through London. But when two troubling figures from their past resurface, they must finally confront their bedrock differences--and find out whether their friendship can survive.
 
Thought-provoking, compassionate, and full of unexpected turns, Best of Friends offers a riveting take on an age-old question: Does principle or loyalty make for the better friend?
 
 
 

Best of Friends

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Kazuo Ishiguro

A reunion with two childhood friends draws Kathy and her companions on a nostalgic odyssey into their lives at Hailsham, an isolated private school in the English countryside, and a confrontation with the truth about their childhoods.

Never Let Me Go

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Nicola Yoon

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Natasha's a girl who believes in science and facts. Daniel has always been a good son and good student. But when he sees Natasha he forgets all that and believes there's something extraordinary in store for both of them.

The Sun Is Also a Star

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Erika Loiacono

Erika Loiacono

@erika963329

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Ann-Helén Laestadius; Rachel Willson-Broyles

Punished

Lindsay Hunter

Eat Only When You're Hungry

Kamila Shamsie

Best of Friends

Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go

Nicola Yoon

The Sun Is Also a Star

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Ann-Helén Laestadius; Rachel Willson-Broyles

Punished

Lindsay Hunter

Eat Only When You're Hungry

Kamila Shamsie

Best of Friends

Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go

Nicola Yoon

The Sun Is Also a Star

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