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The Round House

by Louise Erdrich

Hardcover, 321 pages, Harper, $27.99, published October 2 2012 | purchase
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  • The Round House
  • Louise Erdrich

When his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of depression after being brutally attacked, 13-year-old Joe Coutts sets out with his three friends to find the person who destroyed his family.NPR Bestseller

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NW

NW

by Zadie Smith

Hardcover, 401 pages, Penguin Press, $26.95, published September 4 2012 | purchase
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  • NW
  • Zadie Smith

Growing up in the same 1970s urban planning development in Northwest London, four young people pursue independent and reasonably successful lives until one of them is abruptly drawn out of her isolation by a stranger who is seeking her help.NPR Bestseller

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The Orchardist by Amanda Coblin.

The Orchardist

by Amanda Coplin

Paperback, 426 pages, HarperCollins, $15.99, published March 5 2013 | purchase
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  • The Orchardist
  • Amanda Coplin

When two skittish pregnant girls appear on his homestead, solitary orchardist Talmadge — who carefully tends the grove of fruit trees he has cultivated for nearly half a century — vows to save and protect them. The Orchardist evokes a powerful sense of place in the American West, mixing tenderness and violence as Talmadge tries to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past and faces the dramatic consequences of his actions.NPR Bestseller

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The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

The Twelve Tribes Of Hattie

by Ayana Mathis

Hardcover, 243 pages, Knopf, $24.95, published December 6 2012 | purchase
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  • The Twelve Tribes Of Hattie
  • Ayana Mathis

In 1923, 15-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia, hoping for a chance at a better life. Instead, she marries a man who will bring her nothing but disappointment and watches helplessly as her firstborn twins succumb to an illness a few pennies could have prevented. Hattie gives birth to nine more children, whom she raises with grit and mettle and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave. Captured here in 12 luminous narrative threads, their lives tell the story of a mother's monumental courage and the journey of a nation.NPR Bestseller

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A Possible Life

A Possible Life

A Novel in Five Parts

by Sebastian Faulks

Hardcover, 287 pages, Henry Holt & Co, $25, published December 11 2012 | purchase
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  • A Possible Life
  • A Novel in Five Parts
  • Sebastian Faulks

Five interconnected stories trace the experiences of soldiers whose relationships are shaped by war, from a World War II prisoner who endures his incarceration by imagining a cricket match to a man in a Victorian poorhouse who shamefully remembers the son he gave away.

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The Life of Objects

The Life Of Objects

by Susanna Moore

Hardcover, 239 pages, Knopf, $25, published September 18 2012 | purchase
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  • The Life Of Objects
  • Susanna Moore

Drawn by a mysterious countess into the Berlin household of an aristocratic couple, Beatrice, a young Irish Protestant lace maker, is introduced to the highly rarified world of affluence and art collecting on the eve of World War II.

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Christmas at Eagle Pond

Christmas at Eagle Pond

by Donald Hall and Mary Azarian

Hardcover, 78 pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $14.95, published November 20 2012 | purchase
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  • Christmas at Eagle Pond
  • Donald Hall and Mary Azarian

A former Poet Laureate draws on childhood memories while sharing the story of 12-year-old Donnie, who visits his grandparents' farm during the holiday season of 1940, where he listens to his grandfather's spoken poetry and wonders at a beautiful but obsolete sleigh before a huge snowstorm challenges his ability to return home.

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The Twelve Rooms of the Nile

The Twelve Rooms Of The Nile

by Enid Shomer

Hardcover, 449 pages, Simon & Schuster, $26, published August 21 2012 | purchase
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  • The Twelve Rooms Of The Nile
  • Enid Shomer

The Twelve Rooms Of The Nile imagines shared encounters between Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert before their famous achievements, in a dramatic account inspired by their 1850 journey up the Nile during which they overcame considerable differences to forge a bond of intelligence, humor and passion.

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Between Heaven and Here

Between Heaven and Here

by Susan Straight

Hardcover, 234 pages, McSweeney's, $24, published September 12 2012 | purchase
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  • Between Heaven and Here
  • Susan Straight

When Glorette Picard is found dead in an alley, those who knew her struggle to come to terms with her death and discover the killer, all the while finding out how intertwined her life and death was with the dark history of her city, Rio Seco.

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The Testament of Mary

The Testament Of Mary

by Colm Toibin

Hardcover, 81 pages, Scribner, $19.99, published November 13 2012 | purchase
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  • The Testament Of Mary
  • Colm Toibin

A provocative imagining of the later years of the mother of Jesus finds her living a solitary existence in Ephesus years after her son's crucifixion and struggling with guilt, anger and feelings that her son is not the son of God and that His sacrifice was not for a worthy cause.

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Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

by Robin Sloan

Hardcover, 304 pages, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25, published October 2 2012 | purchase
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  • Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
  • Robin Sloan

After a layoff during the Great Recession sidelines his tech career, Clay Jannon takes a job at the titular bookstore in San Francisco; he soon realizes that the establishment is a facade for a strange secret.NPR Bestseller

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The Sense of an Ending

The Sense Of An Ending

by Julian Barnes

Paperback, 163 pages, Random House Inc, $14.95, published May 29 2012 | purchase
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  • The Sense Of An Ending
  • Julian Barnes

Tony Webster is a retired divorced man in his mid-60s who, after receiving notice of an unexpected bequest, is pulled back into a "powerful recollection of strong emotions" from his past. This leads to a reassessment of the accuracy of his memories, a rueful realization of how much he'd gotten wrong, and a harsh re-evaluation of his passive approach to life.NPR Bestseller, Literary Award Winner

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Wolf Hall

Wolf Hall

by Hilary Mantel

Paperback, 604 pages, St Martins Pr, $16, published August 31 2010 | purchase
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  • Wolf Hall
  • Hilary Mantel

Assuming the power recently lost by the disgraced Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell counsels a mercurial Henry VIII on the latter's efforts to marry Anne Boleyn against the wishes of Rome, a successful endeavor that comes with a dangerous price.NPR Bestseller, Literary Award Winner

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State of Wonder

State Of Wonder

by Ann Patchett

Paperback, 353 pages, HarperCollins, $15.99, published May 8 2012 | purchase
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  • State Of Wonder
  • Ann Patchett

A researcher at a pharmaceutical company, Marina Singh must step out of her comfort zone when she is sent into the heart of the Amazonian delta to check on a field team that has been silent for two years — a dangerous assignment that forces Marina to confront the ghosts of her past.NPR Bestseller

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The Marriage Plot

The Marriage Plot

by Jeffrey Eugenides

Paperback, 406 pages, Picador, $16, published September 4 2012 | purchase
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  • The Marriage Plot
  • Jeffrey Eugenides

Madeleine Hanna breaks out of her straight-and-narrow mold when she falls in love with charismatic loner Leonard Bankhead, while an old friend resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is his destiny.NPR Bestseller

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The Artist of Disappearance

The Artist of Disappearance

by Anita Desai

Paperback, 156 pages, Mariner Books, $13.95, published November 20 2012 | purchase
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  • The Artist of Disappearance
  • Anita Desai

Set in modern India, these three novellas move beyond the cities to places still haunted by the past, and to characters who are, each in their own way, masters of self-effacement. An unnamed government official is called upon to inspect a faded mansion of forgotten treasures where he discovers a surprise "relic." A translator blurs the line between writer and translator, and in so doing risks unraveling her desires and achievements. In the title novella, a hermit hidden away in the woods with a secret is discovered by a film crew, which compels him to withdraw even further until he magically disappears.

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Melmoth the Wanderer

Melmoth the Wanderer

by Charles Robert Maturin

Paperback, 560 pages, Oxford Univ Pr, $12.95, published August 1 2008 | purchase
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  • Melmoth the Wanderer
  • Charles Robert Maturin
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The Middlesteins

The Middlesteins

by Jami Attenberg

Hardcover, 273 pages, Grand Central Pub, $24.99, published October 23 2012 | purchase
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  • The Middlesteins
  • Jami Attenberg

Two siblings with very different personalities attempt to take control of their mother's food obsession and massive weight gain to save her life after their father walks out and leaves her reeling in the Chicago suburbs.

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History of a Pleasure Seeker

History of a Pleasure Seeker

by Richard Mason

Paperback, 305 pages, Vintage, $15.95, published November 13 2012 | purchase
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  • History of a Pleasure Seeker
  • Richard Mason

An opulent tale set at the height of Europe's belle epoque era follows the experiences of a handsome young tutor in the household of one of Amsterdam's most prominent and secretive bourgeois families who transforms his employers' lives through his charm and sensuality.

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Flight Behavior

Flight Behavior

by Barbara Kingsolver

Paperback, 436 pages, HarperCollins, $28.99, published November 6 2012 | purchase
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  • Flight Behavior
  • Barbara Kingsolver

Tired of living on a failing farm and suffering oppressive poverty, bored housewife Dellarobia Turnbow, on the way to meet a potential lover, is detoured by a miraculous event on the Appalachian mountainside. It ignites a media and religious firestorm that changes her life forever.NPR Bestseller

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The Casual Vacancy

The Casual Vacancy

by J.K. Rowling

Hardcover, 503 pages, Little, Brown & Company, $35, published September 27 2012 | purchase
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  • The Casual Vacancy
  • J.K. Rowling

The early death of a small-town councilman reveals deep-rooted conflicts in the seemingly idyllic community of Pagford, which rapidly deteriorates in the face of cultural disputes, generation clashes and a volatile election.NPR Bestseller

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Telegraph Avenue

Telegraph Avenue

by Michael Chabon

Hardcover, 480 pages, Harper, $27.99, published September 11 2012 | purchase
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  • Telegraph Avenue
  • Michael Chabon

Two longtime friends and bandmates are co-regents of Brokeland Records, a kingdom of used vinyl. Their wives are the Berkeley Birth Partners, two semi-legendary midwives. When an ex–NFL quarterback announces plans to build his latest megastore nearby, Nat and Archy fear it means certain doom for their little enterprise. Meanwhile, their wives also find themselves caught up in a battle for their professional existence.NPR Bestseller

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