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Gin, turpentine, pennyroyal, rue : a novel / by Higdon, Christine,author.;
"Four working-class Vancouver sisters, still reeling from the impact of World War I and the pandemic that stole their only brother, are scraping by but attempting to make the most of the exciting 1920s. Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue is a love story--but like all love stories, it's complicated ... Morag is pregnant; she loves her husband. Georgina can't bear hers and dreams of getting an education. Harriet-Jean, still at home with her opium-addicted mother, is in love with a woman. Isla's pregnant too--and in love with her sister's husband. Only one soul knows about Isla's pregnancy, and it isn't the father. When Isla resorts to a back-street abortion and nearly dies, Llewellyn becomes hellbent on revenge. But can revenge lead to anything but disaster for a man like Llew--a policeman tangled up in running rum to Prohibition America? Gin, Turpentine, Pennyroyal, Rue is immersed in the complex political and social realities of the 1920s and, not-so ironically, of the 2020s: love, sex, desire, police corruption, abortion, addiction, and women wanting more. Beautifully written, with a loveable cast of characters, this novel is a tender account of love that cannot be acknowledged, of loss and regret, risk and defiance, abiding friendship, and the powerful bonds of chosen family."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Novels.; Abortion; Brothers; Families; Lesbians; Man-woman relationships; Nineteen twenties; Sisters; Triangles (Interpersonal relations); Women; Working class;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The stellar debut of Galactica MacFee / by McCall Smith, Alexander,1948-author.; McIntosh, Iain,illustrator.;
"Approached in the park by a shadowy figure, Angus Lordie is mistaken for a journalist and becomes privy to some controversial plans of the Scottish Parliament - but just what is he meant to do about it? At school, a new member of Bertie's class, Galactica MacFee, quickly comes between Bertie and Olive, leaving him no choice but to skip town. And the indomitable Irene finds herself yet again in Edinburgh ... but this time there might be romance in the air. Meanwhile, Matthew invests in a brand new Pictish Experience Centre, meant to allow residents to experience what life was like for Scotland's mysterious early people, the Picts. And they have made a fantastic discovery - the earliest known work of Scottish literature! But what exactly do those mysterious Pictish runes say? What's no secret, however, is that in the microcosm of 44 Scotland street, love, generosity, and goodwill abound"--
Subjects: Humorous fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Apartment houses; City and town life; Families; Friendship; Interpersonal relations; Neighbors;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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The enigma of garlic / by McCall Smith, Alexander,1948-author.; McIntosh, Iain,illustrator.;
It's the most anticipated event of the decade: Big Lou and Fat Bob's wedding and everyone is invited! After a wonderful day, Big Lou crashes back down to earth and finds that she is a victim of her own success. The lure of those famous bacon rolls is preventing her from leaving hungry customers without their daily dose of deliciousness - even to go for a long-awaited honeymoon. Will Big Lou find the happiness she so richly deserves? Everyone in Scotland Street hopes so, but, as Burns warned, the best laid plans ... The relative peace and tranquillity of 44 Scotland Street is about to be disrupted. Irene is to return for a two-month stay, consigning Bertie to a summer camp. Not satisfied with that, she somehow manages to come between the enigmatic nun, Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna, and her friend, the hagiographer, Antonia Collie. Can a person really change, even after being struck by lightning? Bruce's metamorphosis and new-found outlook on life is put to the test as he prepares to leave his creature comforts for the monastic simplicity of Pluscarden Abbey. His house sitter, meanwhile, gets a little too comfortable in his new life and discovers that the talented Bruce Anderson's shoes are all too easy to slip into. With great taste comes great responsibility.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Humorous fiction.; Novels.; Apartment houses; Families; Friendship; Interpersonal relations; Neighbors;
Available copies: 3 / Total copies: 3
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All the things we don't talk about / by Feltman, Amy,author.;
"Morgan Flowers has spent their adolescence following all the rules. Raised by their neuro-divergent father Julian and recently deceased grandmother, nonbinary Morgan grew up painfully aware of all they needed to do to stay out of trouble and maintain their scholarship, and of their mother Zoe's absence. Dazzling, dangerous, and increasingly alcoholic Zoe, who fled to Europe on a trust fund, believed that Julian and his mother would raise Morgan better than she could've. And she's right, in a sense. Julian has raised Morgan with care, but now at seventeen, Morgan is struggling with gender and trauma, while falling in love with the only other scholarship kid at school, in ways Julian can't quite understand. When Zoe reappears in New York on a bender after her ex kicks her out of their Lisbon apartment, she upends each of their lives. Through it all, Zoe's ex Brigid has been an unlikely pen-pal for Julian, whose autism keeps him at an arm's length from everyone besides Morgan-but Brigid understands what it's like to love and lose Zoe, and their secrets feel safe with each other. And when Zoe's return propels Morgan into a dizzying series of mistakes, Brigid might be the link that can pull them back from the edge. A story of betrayal, addiction, and angst alongside queer love, joy, and acceptance, ALL THE THINGS WE DON'T TALK ABOUT is as a celebration of and a reckoning with the power and unintentional pain of a modern family"--
Subjects: Bildungsromans.; Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Dysfunctional families; Families; Interpersonal relations; Lesbians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Paper Palace / by Cowley Heller, Miranda,author.;
"A story of summer, secrets, love and lies: in the course of a singular day on Cape Cod, one woman must make a life-changing decision that has been brewing for decades. Set against the summer backwoods and beaches of Cape Cod, The Paper Palace unfolds over 24 hours and across 50 years, as decades of family legacy, love, lies, secrets, and one unspeakable childhood tragedy lead wife and mother Elle Bishop to the precipice of a life-changing decision. With its transporting setting and propulsive pace, the story draws on the sweet promise of young love, as well as the heartbreaking damage incurred by too many secrets. It's a compulsively readable story about the tensions between the romantic childhood ideals we grow up with, and the family responsibilities that carry us into adulthood. Must our life choices remain irrevocable if the conditions are changed? It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at "The Paper Palace"-- the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different, because last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, over the next 24 hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, Peter, and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn't forever changed the course of their lives. As Heller colors in the experiences that have led Elle to this day, we arrive at her ultimate decision with all its complexity. Tender yet devastating, The Paper Palace considers the tensions between desire and dignity; the legacies of abuse; and the crimes and misdemeanors of families"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Families; Desire; Man-woman relationships; Triangles (Interpersonal relations);
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 3
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Summers at the Saint / by Andrews, Mary Kay,1954-author.;
"Welcome to the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, where traditions run deep and scandals run even deeper ... Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as "the Saint." If you grew up coming here, you were "a Saint." If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were "an Ain't." Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn't rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss's son. Now, she's the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help-including the daughter of her estranged best friend-Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair. Traci Eddings has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution. And it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, to see guilty parties put in their place, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Conduct of life; Hotels; Inheritance and succession; Interpersonal relations; Man-woman relationships; Self-realization in women; Social classes; Summer; Vacations; Women;
Available copies: 3 / Total copies: 4
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Clay footed giants [graphic novel] / by McGuire, Mark,author.; Chevarier, Alain,author,illustrator.; also issued as:McGuire, Mark.Géants aux pieds d'argile.;
Set in Montréal, Clay Footed Giants is a tragicomic meditation on parenthood, masculinity, and violence. Being a parent is so much harder than Pat ever imagined. While his partner Ester is away on a work trip. Pat loses his temper and transforms into a grizzly bear of a father, scaring his children and compounding his guilt. His friend Mathieu's stay-at-home-dad parenting advice is of no help, and only emphasizes Mathieu's professional shortcomings. The two men soon realize their children are mirrors reflecting old wounds that might never heal. Meanwhile, an unexpected package arrives from Pat's Estranged father containing letters, photos and a mysterious medal from his time as a soldier in Vietnam, and it propels Pat's obsessive quest to understand his family's dark past. As Pat plunges deeper into h i s research, he and his family reach their breaking point. With help from Mathieu and Pat's mom, Pat digs down to the roots of their family's intergenerational trauma and learns how to heal himself in the process Growth is possible, but so is oblivion. Eventually, the light pours in.Rated Teen+.
Subjects: Domestic comics.; Graphic novels.; Psychological comics.; Estranged families; Families; Fatherhood; Fathers; Generational trauma; Interpersonal relations; Masculinity; Parenting; Stay-at-home fathers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Our place on the island : a novel / by Montgomery, Erika,author.;
"For decades, the Campbell women have reunited at the family's rambling seaside cottage known as Beech House to celebrate life's many occasions. But this year, they will be called back to Martha's Vineyard for a celebration of a different sort: their beloved matriarch Cora is getting remarried. And all the town gossips are calling him the one who got away, years ago ... For renowned chef Mickey Campbell, this wedding isn't just a welcome excuse to return to the place she first learned to cook at her grandmother's side. It's also a chance to regroup while she figures out a way to tell her smoldering head chef boyfriend that she's mismanaged their restaurant into the red. Mickey's mother, Hedy, is still mourning the passing of her adored father three years earlier, and she isn't sure she's ready to welcome a new man into the fold--and she's not certain her own thorny relationship with her mother will weather the storm of her upcoming marriage. But everyone knows a woman's heart holds more than meets the eye. For Cora, drawing her daughter and granddaughter back to Beech House isn't just about a ceremony, but a chance to reveal a history she has kept close to her heart for decades. As the days leading up to the wedding unfold, secrets of Cora's past come to light-- a secret that will cause three generations of Campbell women to question marriage, motherhood, and ultimately learn to savor the delicious joy of following your own heart."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Secrecy; Cooks; Intergenerational relations; Mothers and daughters; Weddings;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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We rip the world apart / by Carr, Charlene,author.;
"A sweeping multi-generational story about motherhood, race and secrets in the lives of three women, perfect for readers of Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half and David Chariandy's Brother. When 24-year-old Kareela discovers she's pregnant with a child she isn't sure she wants, it amplifies her struggle to understand her place in the world as a woman who is half-Black and half-white, yet feels neither. Her mother, Evelyn, fled to Canada with her husband and their first-born child, Antony, during the politically charged Jamaican Exodus of the 1980s, only to realize they'd come to a place where Black men are viewed with suspicion--a constant and pernicious reality Evelyn watches her husband and son navigate daily. Years later, in the aftermath of Antony's murder by the police, Evelyn's mother-in-law, Violet, moves in, offering young Kareela a link to the Jamaican heritage she has never fully known. Despite Violet's efforts to help them through their grief, the traumas they carry grow into a web of secrets that threatens the very family they all hold so dear. Back in the present, Kareela, prompted by fear and uncertainty about the new life she carries, must come to terms with the mysteries surrounding her family's past and the need to make sense of both her identity and her future. Weaving the women's stories across multiple timelines, We Rip the World Apart reveals the ways that simple choices, made in the heat of the moment and with the best of intentions, can have deeper repercussions than could ever have been imagined, especially when people remain silent."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; African American women; Families; Family secrets; Identity (Psychology); Intergenerational relations; Pregnant women; Racially mixed people; Secrecy; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The deceptions : a novel / by Bialosky, Jill,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A middle-aged poet finds herself adrift in her marriage and life now that her child has moved away to college. Her job teaching Greek myth to high school boys at a prestigious New York City academy has its small pleasures-her students offer surprising insights to stories she's studied for decades-but as her debut poetry collection approaches publication she starts to notice the seams of her life becoming unloosed. The chorus of voices in her life -- a mysterious neighbor in a potentially dangerous situation, a visiting poet at the academy struggling with writer's block, the word-starved dialogue with her distant husband --start to become overwhelming. She finds solace only at the Met, its history and sculptures beckon as a comfort and a warning for what happens to people who love wrongly, who love ambitions. The collapse of her life reaches a fever pitch just as betrayals are revealed all around her, and she must confront the realities of her life or be lost to its mythology forever. Suffused with the motifs of classic Greek mythology, especially the story of Leda and the Swan, The Deceptions is a seductively told, deeply moving exploration of female sexuality and ambition and a celebration of beauty and the invisible yet powerful ties that bind together a marriage, a life, work of art and its beholder"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.); Empty nesters; High school teachers; Interpersonal relations; Man-woman relationships; Married people; Middle-aged women; Mythology, Greek; Poets; Women authors;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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