In the 1970s, a group of idealistic hippies come together with a vision of utopia, following their charismatic leader, Handy, on a cross-country trek which ends in western New York state at a decaying mansion known as Arcadia House. Bit (the littlest bit of a hippie) is the first child born to the new Arcadians and he grows up in the commune among the optimistic, romantic, and ultimately all-too-human adult founders. We see through his eyes as his mother struggles with a deep and abiding clinical depression, as his father challenges the increasingly haphazard “leadership” of Handy, as the commune grows from a tightly-knit core of like-minded individuals with a vision of cooperation into a sprawling morass of the lazy and the criminal and the insane, as the commune eventually dissolves away into nothing after Handy’s arrest. Having never lived “Outside,” young Bit is thrust into a whole new world and must make sense of it as well as he can until, as an adult, circumstances return him to an Arcadia very much changed, but still a place of refuge.

A plot summary cannot do justice to the lyrical and poignant power of this novel. Bit is a thoughtful, sensitive, and entirely sympathetic narrator and it is a pleasure to grow up alongside him, watching as his perceptions and understandings change with time. Highly recommended.

In this epic, illustrated love story, two young slaves who come to find one another against the harsh landscape of the Middle East, must struggle against overwhelming obstacles to be together. A mix of religious stories, mysticism and contemporary social commentary, Craig Thompson (author of Blankets) beautifully renders how a nine year-old Dodola and infant Zam escape slavery, grow into adulthood on an abandoned ship in the desert, and then are forced apart once more just as they begin to feel passion for one another as adults.

The complex plot follows both Zam and Dodola through their journeys apart while symultaneously telling the story of how they met and came to love each other. The magical saga is told through Thompson's outstanding illustrations that are able to convey both the lushness and barbarity of the characters' experiences and beliefs. Take a journey with Habibi and discover the power of love and fate.

Fearing that her powerful, abusive husband is planning to murder her as she suspects he murdered his first two wives, Rainie Hall fakes her own death with the help of her friends and moves to Crystal Falls, Oregon, to start anew. She is hesitant about applying for the bookkeeper job she sees listed at a local horse ranch—what if her employer checks her references and discovers she’s using a fake identity?—but she has to work so she takes the risk. Parker Harrigan, her new employer, is a handsome, strong, intelligent man; at first angry when he discovers her deception, he also realizes that she’s most likely running for a good reason and keeps her on. Meanwhile, back in Seattle, Rainie’s husband has hired a private investigator to locate his runaway wife and he's getting closer and closer to finding her.  As Rainie’s danger grows, so too does the attraction and affection between herself and Parker.

A touching romance, as well as a novel that addresses the serious issues of domestic abuse and the long, fraught process of healing from the psychological trauma. 

McCall Smith, well-known for his “Ladies’ No. 1 Detective Agency” series, brings his trademark warm humor and wise wit to the interlocking stories of a small group of Londoners. The stories here center around the inhabitants of an apartment building in the Pimlico neighborhood called Corduroy Mansions. William, a widowed wine merchant, schemes to oust his lazy freeloading twenty-something son from their shared apartment so William can get on with his life, and enlists Marcia, a single female friend with romantic ambitions toward William, to help him. Dee, a young woman who works in a vitamin shop, cannot understand why her young male coworker won’t let her give him the colonic irrigation she’s convinced he desperately requires. Art history student Caroline conceives a crush on a friend and fellow student who has recently decided he might not be gay after all. Poor Jenny works as a secretary for Oedipus Snark, an MP so odious that even his own mother can’t stand him and is working on his unauthorized biography in order to expose him to the world. These stories and others collide as McCall Smith’s characters each confront their quotidian, universal yet deeply personal, problems. (Dog lovers will particularly enjoy reading about the sprightly and intelligent pooch Freddie de la Hay!)