romance

 

Register for upcoming programs:

Writing workshops:
Thu Mar 12 5:30-7pm: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/15672103
Tue Mar 24 5:30-7pm: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/15672130

Crafterday open crafting social:
Sat Mar 14 10am-2pm: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/14685161

Medicare Made Clear:
Sat Mar 14 10:30am-12:30pm: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/15403048

Puzzle Piece Mosaics:
Thu Mar 19 6-8pm: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/15764038

Alabama Symphony ticket vouchers:
Fri Mar 20 Coffee Concert 11am-noon: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/14817030
Fri Mar 20 full concert 7-9pm: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/14817031
Sat Mar 21 full concert 7-9pm: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/14817032

Jigsaw Puzzle Competition:
Wed Mar 25 6-8pm: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/15766310

 

The next Books & Beyond (BAB) discussion group meeting is Tuesday, March 31st at 6:30pm and the topics we’ll be chatting about are sports & athletics. Read, watch, and/or listen to anything within the selected topic, and come tell us about it: https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/14436792

This month, BAB chatted about all things romance.

The Elopement by Gill Hornby

Mary Dorothea Knatchbull is living under the sole charge of her widowed father, but when he marries Miss Fanny Knight of Godmersham Park, Mary’s life is suddenly changed. Her new stepmother comes from a large, happy and sociable family and Fanny’s sisters become Mary’s first friends. Her aunt, Miss Cassandra Austen, is especially kind. Her brothers are not only amusing, but handsome and charming. As Mary Dorothea starts to bloom into a beautiful young woman, she forms an special bond with one Mr. Knight in particular. Soon, they are deeply in love and determined to marry. Each is from a good family and has known the other for some years. It promises to be the most perfect match. Who would want to stand in their way?

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternack

First published in Italy in 1957 amid international controversy, Doctor Zhivago is the story of the life and loves of a poet/physician during the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. Taking his family from Moscow to what he hopes will be shelter in the Ural Mountains, Zhivago finds himself instead embroiled in the battle between the Whites and the Reds. Set against this backdrop of cruelty and strife is Zhivago's love for the tender and beautiful Lara, the very embodiment of the pain and chaos of those cataclysmic times. 

Doctor Zhivago (1965, 3h17m, PG-13)

During the Russian Revolution, Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) is a young doctor who has been raised by his aunt and uncle following his father's suicide. Yuri falls in love with beautiful Lara Guishar (Julie Christie), who has been having an affair with her mother's lover, Victor Komarovsky (Rod Steiger), an unscrupulous businessman. Yuri, however, ends up marrying his cousin, Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin). But when he and Lara meet again years later, the spark of love reignites.

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

A smart, funny, gorgeous retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable. When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.

Fate by Pamela Leigh Starr (This title is not available in the JCLC)

Desperately trying to deny her attraction to Scott Halloway, Vanessa Lewis wonders if she can cast aside their racial differences and embrace the promise of love.

Blood Orange by Karina Halle (sequel is Black Rose)

From New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle comes a dark and delicious Dracula retelling filled with secrets and lies, dangerous liaisons and a forbidden, student-teacher, second chance love story with a twist.

Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon

As the daughter of an ambitious merchant, Guinevere’s path has been predetermined: marry into a noble house of the Dwendalian Empire, raise her family’s station, and live quietly as a lordling’s obedient wife. But Guinevere longs for a life unbounded by expectations, for freedom and passion and adventure. Those distant dreams become a sudden reality when her caravan is beset by bandits, leaving her guards slain and Guinevere stranded alone on the dangerous Amber Road. Her only chance of survival is to travel alongside Oskar, the aloof half-orc who saved her during the attack.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Persuaded by her wealthy family to break off her engagement to the young Frederick Wentworth, Anne Elliot finds herself unmarried nearly eight years later. By now, with the Elliot family all but ruined by the spendthrift Sir Walter and his enabling daughter Elizabeth, the prospect of marriage is not only a distant hope for Anne, but a bitter reminder of what could have been. When chance reunites her with Frederick, now the esteemed Captain Wentworth for his accomplishments in the Napoleonic Wars, she will have to navigate feelings both old and new with the reversal brought on by their opposing fortunes. As the two are drawn closer together, they will have to decide if it is possible to rekindle a love that has lain dormant much longer than their engagement was allowed to last.

One of this meeting’s participants let us know that The Jane Austen Society of North America has a regional chapter in Alabama!  The group is hosting a Regency Ball at the Homewood Public Library on Saturday, March 21st.  Doors open at 6:30pm, with dancing commencing at 7pm. Regency-era attired strongly encouraged. Practice dance sessions will be offered at the Homewood Library on the following evenings from 6:30-8:30pm:

February 26

March 5

March 12

March 19

Find out more about the Alabama chapter of The Jane Austen Society of North America at https://austenalweb.wixsite.com/alabama

The Return (2024, 1h56m, R)

After 20 years away, Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The King has returned from the Trojan War, but much has changed in his kingdom. His beloved wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is a prisoner in her own home, hounded by suitors vying to be king. Their son Telemachus faces death at the hands of these suitors, who see him as merely an obstacle to their pursuit of the kingdom. Odysseus has also changed--scarred by his experience of the Trojan war, he is no longer the mighty warrior from years past--but he must rediscover his strength in order to win back all that he has lost.

The Odyssey by Homer

Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty, and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home.

Time to Shine by Rachel Reid

For Landon Stackhouse, being called up from the Calgary farm team is exciting and terrifying, even if, as the backup goalie, he rarely leaves the bench. A quiet loner by nature, Landon knows he gives off strong “don’t talk to me” vibes. The only player who doesn’t seem to notice is Calgary’s superstar young winger, Casey Hicks. They couldn’t have less in common, but Landon needs a place to live that’s not a hotel room and Casey has just bought a massive house—and hates being alone.

And They Were Roommates by Page Powars

You can't resist this hilarious, unputdownable second-chance-romance about the most unlikely, gay roommate mishap. Romance is the last thing on Charlie’s mind. On his first day at Valentine Academy for Boys, Charlie’s carefully crafted plan to hide his identity as the school’s only trans student is set in motion. Only to be immediately destroyed. Charlie has been assigned the worst roommate in the world (possibly the universe): Jasper Grimes, the boy who broke Charlie’s heart the year before he transitioned. Except, Jasper doesn’t recognize Charlie.

The Incubus’s Assistant by Amy Padilla (Not available in the JCLC)

When Avery showed up for his temp job on Monday morning, he had certain expectations in mind. He was not expecting to end up as a feeder to his incubus boss. It was an innocent mistake, and he's determined to move on, but the experience left him breathless and more than a little curious. So when his new boss is left without a feeder, he volunteers to help. After all, that's what any good assistant would do. Right?

Sky Daddy by Kate Folk

Linda is doing her best to lead a life that would appear normal to the casual observer. Weekdays, she earns $20 an hour moderating comments for a video-sharing platform, then rides the bus home to the windowless garage she rents on the outskirts of San Francisco. But on the last Friday of each month, she indulges her true passion, taking BART to SFO for a round-trip flight to a regional hub. The destination is irrelevant, because each trip means a new date with a handsome stranger—a stranger whose intelligent windscreens, sleek fuselages, and powerful engines make Linda feel a way that no human ever could. . . . Both subversive and unexpectedly heartwarming, Sky Daddy hijacks the classic love story, exploring desire, fate, and the longing to be accepted for who we truly are.

Dandelion is Dead by Rosie Storey

When Poppy discovers unanswered messages from a charming stranger in her late sister's dating app, she makes an impulsive choice: She'll meet him, just once, on what would have been Dandelion's fortieth birthday. It's exactly the kind of wild adventure her vivacious sister would have pushed her toward. Jake is ready to find something real—and not least because his ex-wife's twentysomething boyfriend has moved into their old family home. When he meets the intriguing woman who calls herself Dandelion, their connection is undeniable, and he can think of little else. With sparkling wit and aching tenderness, debut author Rosie Storey gives us a modern love story about the courage it takes to live again after loss and finding hope in the most unexpected places.

The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller

If you've ever experienced the one true love of your life, a love that for some reason could never be, you will understand why readers all over the world are so moved by this small, unknown first novel that they became a publishing phenomenon and #1 bestseller. The story of Robert Kincaid, the photographer and free spirit searching for the covered bridges of Madison County, and Francesca Johnson, the farm wife waiting for the fulfillment of a girlhood dream, The Bridges of Madison County gives voice to the longings of men and women everywhere -- and shows us what it is to love and be loved so intensely that life is never the same again.

Item descriptions pulled from Amazon and Rotten Tomatoes.

 

gold rushes

 

Mark your calendars for the Friends of the O’Neal Library annual book sale!  The invitation-only Preview Party takes place on Thursday, February 19^th, then the sale is open to the public Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  For more information about the Preview Party, click here https://oneallibrary.org/support-friends

The next Books & Beyond Discussion Club will be on Tuesday, February 24^th at 6:30pm.  A slight venue change will be in effect as we’ll be meeting in the 2^nd floor Quiet Room.  As always, if you’d rather attend online, register an email address to receive a Zoom link: https://oneallibrary.org/support-friends

Enjoyable:

Golden Omegaverse duology by R. L. Randolph, Gold Rush and Gold Mine

Gold Rush is book one in a why choose (MMMMF) omegaverse duology set in the Golden Omegaverse. Part one ends on a cliffhanger, June's happily ever after is guaranteed in part two. Juniper Walden has lived a life of quiet obscurity as a Beta and romance author. When one of her novels gains traction and she's suddenly trapped in a broken elevator with two strangers the night before her UK book tour, she realizes her future might not be so clear-cut.

The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West by Christopher Corbett

The Poker Bride vividly reconstructs a lost period of history when the first Chinese sojourners flooded into the country and left only glimmering traces of their presence scattered across the American West.

The Rush: America’s Fevered Quest for Fortune 1848-1853 by Edward Dolnick

In the spring of 1848, rumors began to spread that gold had been discovered in a remote spot in the Sacramento Valley. A year later, newspaper headlines declared "Gold Fever!" as hundreds of thousands of men and women borrowed money, quit their jobs, and allowed themselves- for the first time ever-to imagine a future of ease and splendor. In The Rush, Edward Dolnick brilliantly recounts their treacherous westward journeys by wagon and on foot and takes us to the frenzied gold fields and the rowdy cities that sprang from nothing to jam-packed chaos. 

Journey by James Michener

In 1897, gold fever sweeps the world. The promise of untold riches lures thousands of dreamers from all walks of life on a perilous trek toward fortune, failure—or death. Journey is an immersive account of the adventures of four English aristocrats and their Irish servant as they haul across cruel Canadian terrain toward the Klondike gold fields.

The Sisters Brothers (2018)

It's 1851, and Charlie and Eli Sisters are both brothers and assassins, boys grown to men in a savage and hostile world. The Sisters brothers find themselves on a journey through the Northwest, bringing them to the mountains of Oregon, a dangerous brothel in the small town of Mayfield, and eventually, the gold rush land of California -- an adventure that tests the deadly family ties that bind.

Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016)

In 1978 Canada, a bulldozer digs up a long-lost collection of 533 nitrate film prints from the early 1900s. Streams free with a valid library card for residents of cities that subscribe to Kanopy and/or Hoopla.  Streams on Tubi with free account.

Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet,Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are by Rebecca Boyle

 “A riveting feat of science writing that recasts that most familiar of celestial objects into something eerily extraordinary, pivotal to our history, and awesome in the original sense of the word.”—Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of An Immense World

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal1870-1914 by David McCullough

The National Book Award–winning epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal, a first-rate drama of the bold and brilliant engineering feat that transformed global trade routes and shaped modern American history, as told by Pulitzer Prize–winning author and master historian David McCullough.

Not as enjoyable:

Ghosts of Crook County: An Oil Fortune, a Phantom Child, andthe Fight for Indigenous Land by Russell Cobb

In the early 1900s, at the dawn of the “American Century,” few knew the intoxicating power of greed better than white men on the forefront of the black gold rush. When oil was discovered in Oklahoma, these counterfeit tycoons impersonated, defrauded, and murdered Native property owners to snatch up hundreds of acres of oil-rich land.

Writer and fourth-generation Oklahoman Russell Cobb sets the stage for one such oilman’s chicanery: Tulsa entrepreneur Charles Page’s campaign for a young Muscogee boy’s land in Creek County. Problem was, “Tommy Atkins,” the boy in question, had died years prior—if he ever lived at all. Ghosts of Crook County traces Tommy’s mythologized life through Page’s relentless pursuit of his land. 

Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewritesthe Rules by Karen Southwick

Originally published in 1999, this hasn’t aged well. BAB reader described it as “boring.”
“A hotbed of activity for far-sighted thinkers and determined doers, the high technology industry has given rise to a pioneering group of entrepreneurs and executives which is not only behind today's most innovative technological advances, but at the forefront of a dynamic new movement in business.”

General Discussion:

CBS 42: “Alabama’s Gold Rush: A Tiny Town Once Worth Millions”

https://www.cbs42.com/news/alabamas-gold-rush-a-tiny-town-once-worth-millions/

The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator by Timothy Winegard

A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, showing how through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity’s fate.

This Podcast Will Kill You https://thispodcastwillkillyou.com

This podcast might not actually kill you, but Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke cover so many things that can. In each episode, they tackle a different topic, teaching listeners about the biology, history, and epidemiology of a different disease or medical mystery. The do the scientific research, so you don’t have to.

BAB member (ME) shared information and a couple of published articles about controversies surrounding fanfiction and current evolutions in the subject.

“Should Stephenie Meyer have sued E.L. James when she had the chance?” by Danielle Binks https://daniellebinks.substack.com/p/should-stephenie-meyer-have-sued

“3 Harry Potter fan fiction authors are coming to a bookstore near you” by Dhanika Pineda
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/14/nx-s1-5261003/harry-potter-fanfiction-authors-publish-books

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families—the Trasks and the Hamiltons—whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group ofVictorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World by Edward Dolnick

In Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party, celebrated storyteller and historian Edward Dolnick leads us through a compelling true adventure as the paleontologists of the early 19th century puzzled their way through the fossil record to create the story of dinosaurs we kn
ow today.

Scavengers by Kathleen Boland

A rollicking debut novel about a cautious daughter and her eccentric, estranged mother venturing west in search of buried treasure—and a way back to each other—before they run out of patience, money, and options. Seems loosely inspired by the real 2010 hunt for buried treasure as explored in the Netflix docuseries, Gold & Greed: The Hunt for Fenn’s Treasure (An eccentric man named Forrest Fenn sets off a real-life treasure hunt when he hides a chest of gold in the Rockies and leaves clues in a cryptic poem. https://www.netflix.com/title/81636832)

Book and DVD descriptions pulled from Amazon and Rotten Tomatoes.

Books & Beyond

 

The next Books & Beyond Discussion Group (BAB) meeting will be Tuesday, January 27 at 6:30pm and the topic up for discussion is gold rushes.  Don’t get too bogged down in what that means!  If you’re looking for ideas, click here to find the BAB area on our Shelf Care page to see some of the books out on display at the 2^nd floor service desk.

Last week, BAB met for our final chat of 2025 and there was no assigned topic.  I’m always surprised and pleased at the great variety of information our members bring to the table!

A Taste of Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the KillersWho Use Them by Neil Bradbury

As any reader or listener of murder mysteries can tell you, poison is one of the most enduring—and popular—weapons of choice for a scheming murderer. It can be slipped into a drink, smeared onto the tip of an arrow or the handle of a door, even filtered through the air we breathe. But how exactly do these poisons work to break our bodies down, and what can we learn from the damage they inflict? In a fascinating blend of popular science, medical history, and true crime, Dr. Neil Bradbury explores this most morbidly captivating method of murder from a cellular level.

Hidden Killers BBC series (streaming on Tubi, the Roku Channel, and Youtube)

Suzannah Lipscomb reveals the killers that lurked in every room of the Tudor, Victorian, Edwardian, and Post-war home.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The first in a series of outlandishly clever adventures featuring the resourceful, fearless literary detective, Thursday Next. In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix.

The Black Girl Survives in This One: Horror Stories

Celebrating a new generation of bestselling and acclaimed Black writers, The Black Girl Survives in This One makes space for Black girls in horror. Fifteen chilling and thought-provoking stories place Black girls front and center as heroes and survivors who slay monsters, battle spirits, and face down death. Prepare to be terrified and left breathless by the pieces in this anthology.

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favorite criminal. But when Elizabeth meets Nick, a wedding guest asking for her help, she finds the thrill of the chase is ignited once again. And when Nick disappears without a trace, his cagey business partner becomes the gang’s next stop. It seems the duo have something valuable—something worth killing for.

Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

December 1952. While the young Queen Elizabeth II finds her feet as the new monarch, she must also find the right words to continue the tradition of her late father’s Christmas Day radio broadcast. But even traditions must evolve with the times, and the queen faces a postwar Britain hungry for change. 

As preparations begin for the royal Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, old friends—Jack Devereux and Olive Carter—are unexpectedly reunited by the occasion. Olive, a single mother and aspiring reporter at the BBC, leaps at the opportunity to cover the holiday celebration, but even a chance encounter with the queen doesn’t go as planned and Olive wonders if she will ever be taken seriously. 

Jack, a recently widowed chef, reluctantly takes up a new role in the royal kitchens at Sandringham. Lacking in purpose and direction, Jack has abandoned his dream to have his own restaurant, but his talents are soon noticed and while he might not believe in himself, others do, and a chance encounter with an old friend helps to reignite the spark of his passion and ambition. As Jack and Olive’s paths continue to cross over the following five Christmases, they grow ever closer. Yet Olive carries the burden of a heavy secret that threatens to destroy everything. 

Christmas Day, December 1957. As the nation eagerly awaits the Queen’s first televised Christmas speech, there is one final gift for the Christmas season to deliver… 

The Gown by Jennifer Robson

An enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century—Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown—and the fascinating women who made it.

The Twelve Topsy-Turvy, Very Messy Days of Christmas by James Patterson

At Christmastime, the Sullivans are missing someone dear to them ... until unexpected guests begin to arrive at their empty brownstone in Harlem—and they keep coming. And they stay. For twelve long, hard, topsy-turvy, messy days. But that’s when the Sullivans discover that the moments in life that defy hope, expectation, or even imagination, might be the best gifts of all.

Miranda Mills Youtube channel

Subscribe for weekly reading vlogs and seasonal living inspiration in the English countryside. I especially enjoy reading golden age mysteries, classic literature, vintage books and nature writing. Join me as I share reading vlogs, literary adventures, book hauls and reviews.

Lords & Ladles (requires an Acorn TV subscription, but there are many clips on Youtube)

Lords and Ladles feature three of Ireland's top chefs - Derry Clarke, Catherine Fulvio and Paul Flynn - who are challenged to recreate elaborate menus from different centuries in some of Ireland's grandest Country Homes.

London Rules by Mick Herron

Ian Fleming. John le Carré. Len Deighton. Mick Herron. The brilliant plotting of Herron’s twice CWA Dagger Award-winning Slough House series of spy novels is matched only by his storytelling gift and an ear for viciously funny political satire.

The Powers That Be by David Halberstam

Crackling with the personalities, conflicts, and ambitions that transformed the media from something that followed the news to something that formed it, The Powers That Be is David Halberstam's forceful account of the rise of modern media as an instrument of political power, published here with a new introduction by the author.

Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon by Michael Adams (not available in the JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)

In its seven years on television, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has earned critical acclaim and a massive cult following among teen viewers. One of the most distinguishing features of the program is the innovative way the show's writers play with language: fabricating new words, morphing existing ones, and throwing usage on its head. The result has been a strikingly resonant lexicon that reflects the power of both youth culture and television in the evolution of American slang. Using the show to illustrate how new slang is formed, transformed, and transmitted, Slayer Slang is one of those rare books that combines a serious explanation of a pop culture phenomena with an engrossing read for fans of the show, word geeks, and language professionals.

Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn

Meg Mackworth’s hand-lettering skill has made her famous as the Planner of Park Slope, designing custom journals for her New York City clientele. She has another skill too: reading signs that other people miss. Knowing the upcoming marriage of Reid Sutherland and his polished fiancée was doomed to fail is one thing, but weaving a secret word of warning into their wedding program is another. Meg may have thought no one would spot it, but she hadn’t counted on sharp-eyed, pattern-obsessed Reid. A year later, Reid has tracked Meg down to find out how she knew that his meticulously planned future was about to implode. 

Law & Order (tv show)

A BAB member reports that all 25 seasons have dropped for streaming on Hulu! Lives hang in the balance as detectives and prosecutors pursue justice in New York City. In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place -- and keep the worst offenders off the streets.

The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish

Set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century, The Weight of Ink is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history. Electrifying and ambitious, The Weight of Ink is about women separated by centuries—and the choices and sacrifices they must make in order to reconcile the life of the heart and mind.  

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity by an acclaimed and beloved author. Called “a tour de force” by the San Francisco Chronicle, this ambitious, electrifying work traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. When it falls to Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, to conserve this priceless work, the series of tiny artifacts she discovers in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—only begin to unlock its deep mysteries and unexpectedly plunges Hanna into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultranationalist fanatics.

A Traitor to Memory by Elizabeth George

When Eugenie Davies is killed by a driver on a quiet London street, her death is clearly no accident. Someone struck her with a car and then deliberately ran over her body before driving off, leaving nothing behind but questions.

What brought Eugenie Davies to London on a rainy autumn night? Why was she carrying the name of the man who found her body? Who among the many acquaintances in her complicated and tragic life could have wanted her dead? And could her murder have some connection to a twenty-eight-year-old musical wunderkind, a virtuoso violinist who several months earlier suddenly and inexplicably lost the ability to play a single note? For Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, whose own domestic life is about to change radically, these questions are only the first in an investigation that leads him to walk a fine line between personal loyalty and professional honor.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.

How High We Go In the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague—a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice. 

Children of Men by P.D. James

Civilization itself is crumbling as suicide and despair become commonplace. Oxford historian Theodore Faron, apathetic toward a future without a future, spends most of his time reminiscing. Then he is approached by Julian, a bright, attractive woman who wants him to help get her an audience with his cousin, the powerful Warden of England. She and her band of unlikely revolutionaries may just awaken his desire to live . . . and they may also hold the key to survival for the human race. Told with P. D. James’s trademark suspense, insightful characterization, and riveting storytelling, The Children of Men is a story of a world with no children and no future.

1923 (tv show)

This prequel spinoff from the Yellowstone series follows an earlier generation of The Duttons as they face a new set of challenges in the early 20th century, including the rise of Western expansion, Prohibition, and the Great Depression.

We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of ModernIreland by Fintan O’Toole

In We Don't Know Ourselves, Fintan O'Toole weaves his own experiences into Irish social, cultural, and economic change, showing how Ireland, in just one lifetime, has gone from a reactionary "backwater" to an almost totally open society - perhaps the most astonishing national transformation in modern history.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

Ireland’s Dirty Laundry documentary film (I don't find this readily streaming anywhere)

Built on the testimony of those who worked in Ireland's notorious Magdalene Laundries, this documentary tells the full, shocking story of a shameful system, created by the Irish State but supported by all levels of Irish society, which enslaved over 10,000 women for decades. The film bears witness to the women's experiences in their own words, before during and after their time in the laundries, and show how, even today, attempts are being made to try to silence them. We examine not only why and how the Magdalene phenomenon arose, but also how it was allowed to continue unchallenged for so long. At every level - family, parish and state - Irish society, at best, turned a blind eye; at worst, it supported, facilitated and even profited from the operation of these institutions, while perpetuating the stigma and shame of the women imprisoned there.

The Chieftans: Live Over Ireland, Water from the Well (I don't find this readily streaming anywhere)

Journey with The Chieftains to the special places and people of the home counties that formed the band’s musical soul. Derek Bell, Kevin Conneff, Martin Fay, Sean Keane, Matt Molloy, and Paddy Moloney tell the tales of their earliest memories of Irish music. Their thoughtful and often amusing stories capture the emotion behind the scenes of every performance.

Remastered: The Miami Showband Massacre (streaming on Netflix)

In 1974, while on the way home from a gig, the apolitical Irish rock group, The Miami Showband, fell into the crosshairs of a Protestant unionist paramilitary group that planted explosives on their bus when it was stopped at a fake checkpoint.

Philomena (film)

A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.

New Orleans' Irish Channel neighborhood 

Bound by Jackson Avenue and Delachaise, Magazine, and Tchoupitoulas streets, New Orleans’ Irish Channel is a quaint neighborhood named in honor of the wave of Irish immigrants who first settled there in the 1830s. Then, it was known for its shotgun homes, working-class community, and the ports and breweries where many residents worked. Today, the Irish Channel remains a mainly residential neighborhood with a thriving brewery scene and a number of local hangouts and restaurants. 

 

Item descriptions pulled from Amazon, Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Youtube.