If you love crying with sadness, crying with happiness, and feeling like you have been wrapped in the blanket of someone else's life, read this.' - Debbie Johnson, bestselling author of Maybe One Day A captivating and exquisitely crafted debut.' - Heidi Swain, bestselling author of The Winter Garden 'A remarkable, heartwarming debut about the power of fiction.' - Popsugar A quiet and thoughtful look into loneliness, community, and the benefits of reading-suited for true bibliophiles.' - Kirkus Reviews Although the pace starts off slow, things pick up in the later pages and reach a satisfying conclusion. 'The author explores many difficult topics with grace, like mental illness, grief, abandonment, and self-doubt. Readers will be charmed and touched.' - Publishers Weekly

'Adams's winsome debut follows a widower who takes up reading in order to honor the memory of his wife.Adams is a brisk and solid plotter, and has an easy hand with creating characters who are easy to root for. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again. When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list…hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she's facing at home. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. It's a list of novels that she's never heard of before. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries.Īleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley, in West London after losing his beloved wife. An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb.

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