The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
Hosted by Stratford Library staffer Linda LiDestri
December 18th – Noon to 1:00 PM
An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb.
Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley, in West London after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries.
Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a list of novels that she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home.
When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list…hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again.
“The most heartfelt read…a surprising delight of a novel.”—Shondaland
Copies of the book are currently available for loan at the library’s Circulation Desk. The titles are also available for loan on Kindle and Nook eReaders.
For further information call 203.385.4162, or visit the Stratford Library. Timely information is also available on the library’s website at: www.stratfordlibrary.org.
