Helen Plum Library

A recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings, Frankie Elkin has devoted her life to doing what no one else will--searching for the lost and forgotten. When the police have moved on, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking. A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from...

THE BELOVED #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER—FROM THE AUTHOR OF HANG THE MOON

The extraordinary, one-of-a-kind, "nothing short of spectacular" (Entertainment Weekly) memoir from one of the world's most gifted storytellers.
The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When...

"The story of the dangerous first love of two young men: Mungo and James. Born under different stars--Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic--they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all. Their environment is a hyper-masculine and sectarian one, for gangs of young men and the violence they might dole out dominate the Glaswegian estate where they live. And yet against all odds Mungo and James become best friends as they find a...

"Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh "Shuggie" Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's war on heavy industry has put husbands and sons out of work, and the city's notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings. Shuggie's mother Agnes walks a wayward path: she is Shuggie's guiding light but a burden for his artistic brother and practical sister. She dreams of...

When Nöel learns that his former flame is terminally ill and pregnant with a child she claims is his, he agrees to take care of the baby girl once she's born. But as a recovering alcoholic whose demons are barely under control, he can't do it alone. Luckily, he has an amazing network of family and friends who are ready to help. A tale of joy, heartbreak and hope in a close-knit Dublin community

"A gripping debut domestic suspense novel, Nora Murphy's thrilling The Favor explores with compassion and depth what can happen when women pushed to the limit take matters into their own hands. Staying is dangerous. Leaving could be worse. Leah and McKenna have never met, though they have parallel lives. They don't-ever-find themselves in the same train carriage or meet accidentally at the gym or the coffee shop. They don't-ever-discuss their problems...

"The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" is the second and final novel by the English author Anne Brontë. It was first published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell. Probably the most shocking of the Brontës' novels, it had an instant and phenomenal success, but after Anne's death her sister Charlotte prevented its re-publication. The novel is framed as a series of letters from Gilbert Markham to his friend and brother-in-law about the events leading to...

"From the moment she uttered the brave and honest words, "I am an alcoholic," to interviewer George Stephanopoulos, Elizabeth Vargas began writing her story, as her experiences were still raw. Now Vargas discusses her accounts of growing up with anxiety -- which began suddenly at the age of six when her father served in Vietnam -- and how she dealt with this anxiety as she came of age, to her eventually turning to alcohol for relief. She tells of...

Life for New England realtor Hildy Good begins to fall apart when she hooks up with an old flame of hers from New York

F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, The Beautiful and Damned explores many of the same themes and subjects that would animate his later work, including Tender is the Night and The Great Gatsby. This novel delves into the mysteries and complexities of marriage, taking as its focus the relationship of heir and bon vivant Anthony Patch and his wife Gloria, a couple that critics believe reflect many autobiographical elements of

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