Helen Plum Library

From the incomparable Anne Tyler, a wise, gently humorous, and deeply compassionate novel about a schoolteacher, who has been forced to retire at sixty-one, coming to terms with the final phase of his life

Winner of the 1978 National Book Critic's Circle Award for fiction. "Beautiful and satisfying ... an unusually wise and large-spirited book ... consistently picturesque, charged with startling images".--Baltimore Sun "Ravishingly beautiful and emotionally incendiary, Tar Baby is Toni Morrison's reinvention of the love story. Jadine Childs is a black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins....

"Bud Threadgoode grew up in the bustling little railroad town of Whistle Stop, Alabama, with his mother Ruth, church going and proper, and the fun-loving hell-raiser, his Aunt Idgie. Together they ran the town's popular Whistle Stop Café, known far and wide for its famous 'Fried Green Tomatoes.' And as Bud often said of his childhood, 'How lucky can you get?' But sadly, the railroad yards began to shut down and the town became a ghost town, with...

"Winter 1964. After a hit-and-run accident nearly kills her mother, Mike Hammer's partner (both in life and the PI business), Velda Sterling, learns her father is not who she thought he was. Seeking to uncover her true, troubling heritage, Velda and Mike travel to Phoenix, Arizona--and sunny Dreamland Park, where retired law enforcement officers protect and corral notorious criminals held under Witness Protection. Mike and Velda find themselves swept...

"Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she's living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement. But when a body turns up in Maggie's driveway, she knows it's a message from former foes who haven't forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends -- all retirees from...

"From award-winning novelist Betina González, a dizzying, luminous English-language debut about an American town overrun by a mysterious hallucinogen, forcing its citizens to confront the secrets of their past and rely on unexpected relationships"--Provided by publisher In a small Midwestern city, the deer population starts attacking people. Beryl, a feisty senior and ex-hippie, trains a squad of fellow retirees to hunt the animals down. At the...

Death-camp survivor Buck is 87, abrasive, and has trouble remembering. But his cop's watchfulness is intact, and he keeps his .375 Magnum close by. When he learns that the sadistic guard who brutalized him is likely still alive and the possessor of much stolen Nazi gold, Buck and his chatterbox grandson go on a quest. But who are these people who suddenly come out of the woodwork-- a loan shark, a scholar, a pretty Israeli soldier? And why does everyone...