The Between the Lines Book discussion group meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm in Robeson Pavilion Room C. Following are the books, in order by date, the group will discuss from September 2011 through August 2012. Note: In April, we meet for a special joint discussion with the library’s Table Talk and Cover to Cover discussion groups; join us at the Douglass Branch on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 6:30 pm.

Five Quarters of the Orange By Harris, Joanne 2002-06 - Harper Perennial 0060958022 Check Our Catalog From the author of "Chocolat" comes an "unexpectedly sweet and powerful" ("New York Times") novel of a widow in her sixties returning to the French town she left as a child, and the clues to long-kept secrets she finds in her mother's recipe scrapbook. …More

The Apothecary's Daughter By Klassen, Julie 2009-01 - Bethany House Publishers 0764204807 Check Our Catalog Lilly Haswell remembers everything--whether she wants to, or not... As Lilly toils in her father's apothecary, preparing herbs and remedies by rote, she is haunted by memories of her mother's disappearance. Villagers whisper the tale, but her father refuses to discuss it. All the while, she dreams of the world beyond--of travel and adventure and romance. When a relative offers to host her in London, Lilly discovers the pleasures and pitfalls of fashionable society and suitors, as well as clues about her mother. But will Lilly find what she is searching for--the truth of the past and a love for the future? Blending romance, family drama, and fascinating historical detail, The Apothecary's Daughter is a novel to savor and share. Discussion questions included. "Klassen has captured the best of Austen and Bronte." --Michelle Griep, Novel Reviews "I highly recommend Lady of Milkweed Manor to anyone who delights in Regency romance." --Tamela McCann, Historical Novels Review …More

The Postmistress By Blake, Sarah 2010-02 - Amy Einhorn Books 0399156194 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title Filled with stunning parallels to today's world, "The Postmistress" is a sweeping novel about the loss of innocence of two extraordinary women--and of two countries torn apart by war. …More

The Elegance of the Hedgehog By Barbery, Muriel Translator Anderson, Alison 2008-09 - Europa Editions 1933372605 Check Our Catalog In this enthralling international bestseller, a girl and an older woman live inconspicuous lives in the center of an elegant Paris apartment building. It is only when a stranger moves into their building--and sees through their disguises--that Paloma and Rene discover their kindred spirits. …More

City of Thieves By Benioff, David 2009-04 - Plume Books 0452295297 Check Our Catalog Benioff follows up "The 25th Hour" with this hard-to-put-down novel based on his grandfather's stories about surviving World War II in Russia. …More

Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel By Walls, Jeannette 2010-09 - Scribner Book Company 1416586296 Check Our Catalog Walls reimagines the life of her grandmother, Lily Casey, who by age six was helping her father break horses. At 15, she left home to teach in a frontier town--riding 500 miles on her pony to get to her post. She learned to drive a car, fly a plane, and with her husband, managed a vast ranch in Arizona, surviving tornadoes, droughts, floods, and the Great Depression. …More

Room By Donoghue, Emma 2010-09 - Little Brown and Company 0316098337 Check Our Catalog 2011 Alex Award Winner Will discuss March 27, 2012 Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, "Room" is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another. …More

Sag Harbor By Whitehead, Colson 2009-04 - Doubleday Books 0385527659 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title Will discuss at the Douglass Branch at 6:30pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 In this deeply affectionate and fiercely funny coming-of-age novel, Whitehead--using the perpetual mortification of teenage existence and the desperate quest for reinvention--beautifully explores racial and class identity, illustrating the complex rhythms of the adult world. …More

A Thread of Grace By Russell, Mary Doria 2005-12 - Ballantine Books 9780449004135 Check Our Catalog Will discuss June 26, 2012 Set in Italy during the dramatic finale of World War II, this new novel is the first in seven years by the bestselling author of "The Sparrow and "Children of God. It is September 8, 1943, and fourteen-year-old Claudette Blum is learning Italian with a suitcase in her hand. She and her father are among the thousands of Jewish refugees scrambling over the Alps toward Italy, where they hope to be safe at last, now that the Italians have broken with Germany and made a separate peace with the Allies. The Blums will soon discover that Italy is anything but peaceful, as it becomes overnight an open battleground among the Nazis, the Allies, resistance fighters, Jews in hiding, and ordinary Italian civilians trying to survive. Mary Doria Russell sets her first historical novel against this dramatic background, tracing the lives of a handful of fascinating characters. Through them, she tells the little-known but true story of the network of Italian citizens who saved the lives of forty-three thousand Jews during the war's final phase. The result of five years of meticulous research, "A Thread of Grace is an ambitious, engrossing novel of ideas, history, and marvelous characters that will please Russell's many fans and earn her even more. "From the Hardcover edition. …More

The Weird Sisters By Brown, Eleanor 2011-01 - Amy Einhorn Books 0399157220 Check Our Catalog Will discuss July 24, 2012 A major new talent tackles the complicated terrain of sisters, the power of books, and the places we decide to call home. "There is no problem that a library card can't solve. " The Andreas family is one of readers. Their father, a renowned Shakespeare professor who speaks almost entirely in verse, has named his three daughters after famous Shakespearean women. When the sisters return to their childhood home, ostensibly to care for their ailing mother, but really to lick their wounds and bury their secrets, they are horrified to find the others there. "See, we love each other. We just don't happen to like each other very much." But the sisters soon discover that everything they've been running from-one another, their small hometown, and themselves-might offer more than they ever expected. …More

The Tiger's Wife By Obreht, Tea 2011-03 - Random House 0385343833 Check Our Catalog Will discuss August 28, 2012 Weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love, Obreht, the youngest of "The New Yorker's" 20 best American fiction writers under 40, spins a timeless novel about a young doctor who confronts the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather's recent death. …More