Author: Stephanie

Getting Connected: Your Guide to Applying for a Government-Supported Phone

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Getting Connected: Your Guide to Applying for a Government-Supported Phone

As the holiday season approaches, staying connected with loved ones becomes more critical. For many, a phone is essential not only for holiday communication but also for accessing vital resources, managing appointments, and ensuring personal safety. This is why one of the most frequently requested resources at the Davenport Public Library’s social services desk is information on obtaining a government-supported phone, commonly known as ‘Obama phones.’

The Lifeline program is a federal program that helps low-income individuals and families pay for phone services. While many are aware of this federal benefit, few know how to apply for it or what the eligibility requirements are for receiving it. This month’s resource highlight offers a clear guide on obtaining a government-supported phone, including the application process, necessary documentation, and important considerations to remember. The federal government has simplified the application process for the Lifeline Assistance Program, which partners with various wireless providers to offer these phones to eligible individuals. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you navigate the process:

Step 1: Eligibility Verification

You may be eligible for Lifeline if you meet certain income and household size requirements and also if you receive benefits from a federal assistance program such as SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, federal public housing assistance, veterans’ pension and survivors’ benefits, and tribal programs. To start, it is recommended that you apply directly through the federal government’s Lifeline Program to verify your eligibility. (https://www.lifelinesupport.org). This initial approval is essential, as it confirms your qualification for the benefit. Once approved, you will receive eligibility approval with an application number to choose a provider.

Step 2: Choosing a Provider

After receiving your approval of eligibility, you can select from several participating providers in your area to receive your phone and service. Popular options include Assurance Wireless, Q-Link, Safelink Wireless, Premier Wireless, TruConnect, and U.S. Cellular. The availability of providers also depends on your area of residence. Make sure to go directly to the official website of your chosen provider to apply for the government-supported phone service. While there, ensure you select the government phone link, as clicking on the wrong link may lead you to sign up for a regular, non-subsidized plan.

Step 3: Completing the Provider Application

When completing the application on the provider’s website, the provider may verify your eligibility by checking with the federal Lifeline Program. This is where your eligibility or approval application number comes in handy. This number allows the provider to access your qualifying application information, simplifying the process.

If you began the application on a provider’s website without prior federal approval, you may be redirected to the National Verifier to confirm your eligibility before continuing. Providers may also request that you upload copies of your qualifying documents, so be sure to have these documents ready.

Important Considerations:

Household Verification: The Lifeline Program allows only one government-supported phone per household. If you live at a shared address, such as a shelter or nursing home, you may need to clarify that it is a multi-resident facility to avoid disqualification. Proof of separate household status may be required if multiple applicants use the same address.

How to Apply: You can apply online (https://www.lifelinesupport.org)or by printing a paper copy of the application, which you can then complete and mail. If you choose the paper application route, include copies of your eligibility documents to ensure the timely processing of your application.

Lost or Stolen Phones: If your phone is lost or stolen, it is at the provider’s discretion whether to replace it free of charge. Switching providers due to a lost or stolen phone requires you to cancel your current service first. The Lifeline system must show that you are not receiving other active services. Otherwise, you may be ineligible for a new phone until the previous service is fully canceled. Many people face this challenge as they do not know their service providers. Please ensure you know the service provider for your phone service. Write this information down if you must.

Documentation: To qualify, you will need to upload physical proof of your eligibility, such as a SNAP benefit letter, Medicaid card, or SSI benefit letter, during the application process. Many applicants find this step challenging, as they may not have these documents readily available.

Use this guide whenever you or someone you know needs assistance obtaining a government-supported phone.

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

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“everything we fear finds us eventually, so there’s no point trying to outrun it.”
― Stuart Turton, The Last Murder at the End of the World

Stuart Turton’s latest novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World, is a genre-bending murder mystery that contains elements of science fiction, crime thrillers, and dystopia.

An island in the middle of the ocean holds what is left of humanity. A fog swept the world, killing anyone and everything it touched. Thanks to the work of three scientists living on the island, a security system is in place keeping the fog at bay. 122 villagers live with the scientists, fishing and farming, supplying the island with what they need to survive.

Their idyllic lives are shattered when, upon waking one morning, they discover one of the scientists dead in a burning building. They quickly learn that the death triggered the security system to lower, bringing the fog closer and closer to the island. With only hours left before the fog destroys the island and kills them all, they must figure out what happened to the scientist. Obstacles repeatedly pop up during the investigation, leading the villagers chasing leads all over the island. The truth will be hard to figure out, but the clock is ticking. If they don’t solve this mystery, the fog will wipe their problems, and their lives, away.

This is a book that is hard to talk about without giving too much away. Let me start by saying that the beginning of this book gives off very much ‘hippie commune thrown for a loop by a crime’ vibes. I love that. The rest of the book is chock full of twists and turns as they try to solve the crime. This was a very quick read, but I found it to be difficult to follow at times in the audiobook as two of the characters’ accents were only *slightly* different. Overall, The Last Murder at the End of the World was intriguing and had me hooked to the very end.

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore

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“This world was a terrible place. It gave you people to love and then took them away before you stopped loving them. It made you mean and angry and cruel to those who needed you most. It ground you down until it was all you could do to get through the day. But most of all, it tried to convince you that you were alone in your suffering.”
― Lucy Gilmore, The Lonely Hearts Book Club

Sloane Parker is a cheerful librarian in her small town. When she brushes up against Arthur McLachlan, an old man with the power to send the other librarians scurrying away, Sloane takes an instant liking to him. She looks forward to Arthur’s daily visits to the library when she can spar and listen to his insults. Arthur’s visits are consistent and regular every day at the same time. When he doesn’t show up one day, Sloane is instantly concerned. When his absence continues, Sloane is torn. She wants to check up on Arthur, but to do so would put her job in jeopardy. Desperate, Sloane decides to check on Arthur to put her anxiety at bay.

When Sloane arrives at Arthur’s house, she is shocked to see that Arthur has suffered from a medical emergency and is not happy with his care home staff. Sloane inserts herself into Arthur’s life and soon realizes that there are other misfits in her orbit and in Arthur’s life willing to intervene. Sloane starts a book club as a form of intervention for Arthur that eventually becomes a safe space for Sloane and her band of lonely misfits. This group of lonely hearts starts to bond, helping each other and making sure Arthur takes care of himself.

Lucy Gilmore has written complex characters with deep storylines and even deeper issues. This story is heartwarming highlighting quality character development and superb writing quality. The Lonely Hearts Book Club is split into multiple points of view which allows readers to learn more about characters’ actions. This book pulled on my heart strings with its incredible insight, easy readability, and sharp wit. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

November’s Celebrity Book Club Picks

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It’s a new month which means that Jenna Bush Hager and Reese Witherspoon have picked new books for their book clubs! Reminder that if you join Simply Held, you can choose to have their selections automatically put on hold for you.

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Jenna Bush Hager has selected This Motherless Land by Nikki May for her November pick.

Curious what This Motherless Land is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

Quiet Funke is happy in Nigeria. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother (most of the time). But when tragedy strikes, she’s sent to England, a place she knows only from her mother’s stories. To her dismay, she finds the much-lauded estate dilapidated, the food tasteless, the weather grey. Worse still, her mother’s family are cold and distant. With one exception: her cousin Liv.

Free-spirited Liv has always wanted to break free of her joyless family. She becomes fiercely protective of her little cousin, and her warmth and kindness give Funke a place to heal. The two girls grow into adulthood the closest of friends.

But the choices their mothers made haunt Funke and Liv and when a second tragedy occurs their friendship is torn apart. Against the long shadow of their shared family history, each woman will struggle to chart a path forward, separated by country, misunderstanding, and ambition.

Moving between Somerset and Lagos over the course of two decades, This Motherless Land is a sweeping examination of identity, culture, race, and love that asks how we find belonging and whether a family’s generational wrongs can be righted. – Mariner Books

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Reese Witherspoon has selected We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anerson for her November pick.

Curious what We Will Be Jaguars is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest—one of the last to be contacted by missionaries in the 1950s—Nemonte Nenquimo had a singular upbringing.

She was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. At age fourteen, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture. She listened.

Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate change activism. She has spearheaded the alliance of indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and led her people to a landmark victory against Big Oil, protecting over a half million acres of primary rainforest. Her message is as sharp as a spear—honed by her experiences battling loggers, miners, oil companies and missionaries.

In We Will Be Jaguars, she partners with her husband, Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, digging into generations of oral history, uprooting centuries of conquest, hacking away at racist notions of indigenous peoples, and ultimately revealing a life story as rich, harsh, and vital as the Amazon rainforest herself. – Abrams Press

Join Simply Held to have Oprah, Jenna, and Reese’s adult selections automatically put on hold for you!

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

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“There is always a reason why people behave the way that they do. Sometimes bad people are just sad people in disguise.”
― Alice Feeney, Good Bad Girl

Good Bad Girl follows the lives of three women working through traumas from their past that haunt their lives today. One woman’s baby was stolen from a stroller in a grocery store twenty years ago. In a care home in present day, a woman is found murdered. Are the two crimes connected?

Edith has been tricked into living in a nursing home by her daughter, but she has a plan to escape with the help of one of the staff. Patience spends her days cleaning up at the nursing home and keeping Edith company. Patience’s intentions aren’t 100% pure though.

Edith’s daughter Clio is exhausted. She won’t talk to Edith no matter how hard she tries. It’s hard to spend time with someone who constantly berates her. Clio’s life is about to change when a new person shows up on her doorstep. Whether that change is positive or negative, time will tell.

This thriller is full of drama and twisting surprises. Each character has reasons to distrust, hiding parts of themselves from others. They question intentions, challenge histories, and push for the truth. This is a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. Figuring out who is who could prove deadly for all.

This title is also available as large print and CD audiobook.

Online Reading Challenge – November

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Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge searches for materials that span decades and time. Our main title for November is Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher:

In this New York Times bestseller, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan–the inspiration for the television series on Apple TV+.

In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger. When she discovers she is pregnant–and that her lover is married–she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son’s powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations. – Grand Central Publishing

Looking for some other books that span decades or time? Try any of the following.

As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!

Online Reading Challenge – October Wrap-Up

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Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in the future that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Klara stole my heart from the start and had me rooting for her to find her family.

Klara is an Artificial Friend anxiously awaiting a customer to choose her. Readers are introduced to Klara as she sits in a store full of other Artificial Friends. What marks Klara as different and ultimately helps decide her fate is her keen observational skills. She spends her days watching the people who come in to browse as well as the people who pass outside the store. Klara is highly intelligent, but misses the abilities to pick up on some nuances and cues that humans have. This book highlights relationships between humans and artificial intelligence, and the impact that artificial intelligence would have on society. As the world changes, Klara is there to see it all, but does she understand what is happening around her? That’s a whole other story.

I listened to the audiobook version of Klara and the Sun, which I felt lent more of an insight into Klara’s world as hearing her voice highlighted how much she wanted to adjust and do everything right. (I did try reading the print book first, but had a hard time engaging with the text). While I found Klara’s story and her interpretations of the lives of everyone around her intriguing, I was left wanting more. I felt dropped into a new world with little to no explanation of what was happening with hardly any world building. As I was reading, I was able to figure some issues out myself, but not others. With time away from the book, I realize that the way I felt mirrored how Klara felt when she changed environments. The author scattered tidbits of information throughout the book that you had to weave together. He writes scenes that surface level seemed pretty self-explanatory, but once you thought about them, they were actually quite complex. I think this is a book that I will appreciate more as time passes.

Next month, we will be spanning decades and time!

New Gardening Books

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Whether you’re an experienced gardener or a newbie gardener, the Davenport Public Library has books for you! We have many new gardening books that have hit the new shelves recently. Below are a few of our newest ones. These books are all owned by the Davenport Public Library at the time of this writing. Descriptions have been provided by the publishers.

Container Gardening – The Permaculture Way: Sustainably Grow Vegetables and More in Your Small Space by Valery Tsimba

Anyone, anywhere can grow fresh, healthy produce, foster biodiversity, and reconnect with nature by using the permaculture approach—no matter your space or experience.

Permaculture—rooted in centuries-old techniques for growing food with care for the Earth—is the key to producing a bigger harvest than you ever thought possible on your balcony, patio, driveway, deck, and anywhere in between!

With sustainability as her guiding principle, Valéry Tsimba enthusiastically instructs home gardeners of all skill levels and backgrounds in her proven container gardening methods, from start to finish.

Containers make gardening more accessible for everyone. Whether you live in an apartment, have a disability or chronic illness, have never gardened before, or are an experienced gardener new to permaculture, Container Gardening—The Permaculture Way brings sustainable gardening within reach. – The Experiment Publishing

Shade Garden: Essential Know-How and Expert Advice for Gardening Success by Zia Allaway

Discover how to assess, grow, and maintain a shady garden.

Ideal for first-time gardeners, Grow Shade Garden contains everything you need to create a flourishing garden full of color, texture, and scent in a shady space. Learn how to grow and care for various shade-loving plants with tips on selecting the right site and varieties. Once you understand different types of shade and have assessed your space, select the best plants for your garden with the help of handy directories that profile different shrubs, perennials, bulbs, and trees and provide key growing information. Projects on tree planting, container displays, and creating a fernery also get you started on planting techniques and ideas to make the most of a shaded space.

Whether you are an avid gardener or want to create an easy-to-maintain garden, this book can guide you and answer important questions like how plants react to shade. And How do I check my soil and climate? – DK

How to Grow Flowers in Small Spaces: An Illustrated Guide to Planning, Planting, and Caring for Your Small Space Flower Garden by Stephanie Walker

Take your gardening to the next level…with flowers! After learning how to manage their houseplants and grow their own food, this highly stylized, fully illustrated, modern guidebook teaches reluctant green thumbs to brighten up their gardens with flowers.

Did you know that begonias can be dug up in the fall, stored indoors in the winter, and be ready to be planted and bloom again in the spring? That daylilies need to be divided every three to four years to produce more blooms? Or that marigolds can be both a beautiful and helpful addition to a vegetable garden as a natural deterrent to common garden pests?

Whether you’re a first-time gardener or an experienced green thumb looking to learn more about flowers, this book is your must-have guide! 

No more trips to the florist—with How to Grow Flowers in Small Spaces, your home and garden will be bursting with color to keep you healthier and happier than ever. From peonies and marigolds to snapdragons and foxgloves, grab your gloves and get to gardening! – Adams Media

The Container Garden Recipe Book: 57 Designs for Pots, Window Boxes, Hanging Baskets, and More by Lana Williams

Over 50 step-by-step recipes for stunning outdoor planters of all shapes and sizes, in Artisan’s bestselling flower recipe book format.

We’re taking the Recipe Book series outside! In the Container Garden Recipe Book, Lana Williams of the Oakland-based Tender Gardener offers readers dozens of step-by-step recipes for lush outdoor planters, from classic terra-cotta pots to window boxes, urns, bowls, and more. There are recipes specifically designed to adorn your porch or patio (a rustic birdcage-cum-hanging basket, a stately Japanese maple planted in a painted terra-cotta urn) and others that are perfect for backyard entertaining (an elegant tabletop trough of succulents, a concrete water garden that’s sure to be a conversation starter). And with Lana as their guide, readers’ yards will never be bare thanks to creative designs for all seasons, from urns bursting with spring bulbs to a summer trough brimming with fresh herbs and an heirloom pumpkin converted into the perfect home for fall blooms.

And recreating these stunning designs couldn’t be simpler! Each recipe includes a detailed ingredients list and step-by-step instructions, along with hundreds of photos showing where and how to place each plant. Also included is foundational information on planting techniques, care instructions, choosing the right container, as well as plant spotlights highlighting foolproof options for all climates and seasons, from spring bulbs to evergreens. – Artisan

The Propagation Handbook: A Guide to Propagating Houseplants by Hilton Carter

In The Propagation Handbook, plant stylist Hilton Carter reveals how to grow and increase your own plant family by propagating existing plants.

Not only a plant lover, Hilton is passionate about propagation, the process of growing a brand new healthy and happy plant from part of an existing one. In this, his fifth book, Hilton talks us through the process of propagation and explains all the necessary techniques, from the very simplest to more complex methods, such as air layering and grafting. He describes exactly which method to use for different types of plant, and lists the tools essential for the process. In Hilton’s own words: “You hear so much about plant ‘parenthood’, but knowing how to propagate and then watching as your little plant takes shape and develops into a full-grown plant is the very definition of this.” – CICO Books

The Fragrant Flower Garden: Growing, Arranging & Preserving Natural Scents by Stefani Bittner

Make your garden and home look and smell heavenly with this accessible gardening guide that explains how to grow fragrant flowers outdoors and bring natural scents indoors by creating floral arrangements, scented beauty products, and more.

There is nothing like the beauty and scent of a flower-filled garden and home. The Fragrant Flower Garden shows you how to grow flowers that are a feast for the nose as well as the eyes, from a naturally perfumed carpet of sweet alyssum and the warm, spicy scent of gardenia to the heavenly aroma of lilacs.

A beautiful garden is one where you can find joy in every sense—literally. The Fragrant Flower Garden makes this dream a reality with garden design guidance for a year’s worth of flowers, foliage, and fragrance. Then, reap the wellness benefits of your fragrant flowers through DIY projects such as making floral arrangements, perfumes, tub soaks, and tinctures.

Whether you prefer the smell of classic lavender or something more adventurous like chocolate cosmos, The Fragrant Flower Garden opens the door to creating a scented flower garden that is a delight for all. – Ten Speed Press

More New Gardening Books:

Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena

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Do you keep a list of what you’re reading? I do! When looking over my list recently, I noticed that it’s been a while since I read a psychological thriller. For my latest read, I turned to Shari Lapena, a psychological thriller writer, and her 2023 book, Everyone Here is Lying. This domestic suspense title is quickly paced, well-written, and ripe with suspicion. The author switches between multiple points-of-view which adds layers to this book, making readers unsure of who is actually telling the truth and what their true motivations are. While some parts of this book had me rolling my eyes, the twist caught me out of nowhere and I didn’t see the ending coming!

Stanhope is a safe neighborhood where nothing bad ever happens. Saying that practically guarantees that something bad is going to happen immediately and destroy many families. Well, the residents of Stanhope are about to have their worlds shattered on the afternoon of a normal Tuesday.

William Wooler is a stand-up guy. He’s a family man, a practicing doctor, but he’s also been having a torrid affair. Every Tuesday for months he’s been meeting his mistress at a motel in town. He thought they would leave their spouses and start a new life. Those plans are shattered when the affair ends horribly at the at motel. Left shattered and angry, William returns home, hoping for silence. His bad mood only worsens when he walks into the house to find his nine-year-old daughter Avery in the kitchen, sent home early from choir practice. Avery is difficult. Their conversation soon turns testy and William lashes out, losing his temper.

Flash forward a couple hours and Avery is declared missing. The community rallies around the Wooler family as they are united in grief over the missing Avery. When the detectives start poking around, they soon realize that Avery’s disappearance isn’t what they thought it was. William isn’t the only one lying. Others in their neighborhood are keeping secrets. When witnesses start coming forward, the detectives must wade through their stories to determine who is telling the truth. They all want the same thing after all. They all want to know who took Avery. They all want Avery to come home safely. Right?

As always, Lapena ends this book leaving you wanting more, yet sadly she writes standalone. You’ll have to come to your own conclusions about what happens to the characters after the book ends!

This title is also available in large print, CD audiobook, and Playaway audiobook.

October’s Simply Held Fiction Picks

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Four fiction picks are available for you to choose from: diverse debuts, graphic novel, historical fiction, and international fiction. Our fiction picks are chosen quarterly and are available in regular print only. If you would like to update your selections or are a new patron who wants to receive picks from any of those four categories, sign up for Simply Held through our website!

Below you will find information provided by the publishers and authors on the titles we have selected for October from the following categories: Diverse Debuts, Graphic Novel, Historical Fiction, and International Fiction.

Diverse Debuts:

Diverse Debuts: Debut fiction novel by a BIPOC author, LGBTQ+ author or an author from another marginalized community.

Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi

Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman’s fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she’ll go to secure her future.

Òdòdó’s hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the warrior king of Yorùbáland, and living conditions for the women in her blacksmith guild, who were already shunned as social pariahs, grow even worse.

Then Òdòdó is abducted. She is whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Ṣàngótẹ̀, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper is none other than the vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior. But now that he is swathed in riches rather than rags, Òdòdó realizes he is not a vagrant at all; he is the warrior king, and he has chosen her to be his wife.

In a sudden change of fortune, Òdòdó soars to the very heights of society. But after a lifetime of subjugation, she finds the power that saturates this world of battle and political savvy too enticing to resist. As tensions with rival states grow, revealing elaborate schemes and enemies hidden in plain sight, Òdòdó must defy the cruel king she has been forced to wed by reforging the shaky loyalties of the court in her favor, or risk losing everything—including her life.

Loosely based on the myth of Persephone, O.O. Sangoyomi’s Masquerade takes you on a journey of epic power struggles and political intrigue which turn an entire region on its head. – Forge Books

Graphic Novel:

Graphic Novel: Fiction novel for adults of any subgenre with diverse characters depicted by color illustrations, sketches, and photographs.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

In Pumpkinheads, beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell and Eisner Award–winning artist Faith Erin Hicks have teamed up to create this tender and hilarious story about two irresistible teens discovering what it means to leave behind a place—and a person—with no regrets.

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.

Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1.

But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.

Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if—instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut—they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years . . .

What if their last shift was an adventure? – First Second

Historical Fiction:

Historical Fiction: Historical fiction novel written by a BIPOC author, LGBTQ+ author or an author from another marginalized community, with main character(s) from a marginalized community.

The Unicorn Woman by Gayl Jones

Marking a dramatic new direction for Jones, a riveting tale set in the Post WWII South, narrated by a Black soldier who returns to Jim Crow and searches for a mythical ideal

Set in the early 1950s, this latest novel from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Gayl Jones follows the witty but perplexing army veteran Buddy Ray Guy as he embodies the fate of Black soldiers who return, not in glory, but into their Jim Crow communities.

A cook and tractor repairman, Buddy was known as Budweiser to his army pals because he’s a wise guy. But underneath that surface, he is a true self-educated intellectual and a classic seeker: looking for religion, looking for meaning, looking for love.

As he moves around the south, from his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, primarily, to his second home of Memphis, Tennessee, he recalls his love affairs in post-war France and encounters with a variety of colorful characters and mythical prototypes: circus barkers, topiary trimmers, landladies who provide shelter and plenty of advice for their all-Black clientele, proto feminists, and bigots. The lead among these characters is, of course, The Unicorn Woman, who exists, but mostly lives in Bud’s private mythology.

Jones offers a rich, intriguing exploration of Black (and Indigenous) people in a time and place of frustration, disappointment, and spiritual hope. – Beacon Press

International Fiction:

International Fiction: Fiction novel originally written in another language with main character(s) from marginalized communities.

Aednan by Linnea Axelsson, translated by Saskia Vogel

In Northern Sámi, the word Ædnan means the land, the earth, and my mother. These are all crucial forces within the lives of the Indigenous families that animate this groundbreaking book: an astonishing verse novel that chronicles a hundred years of change: a book that will one day stand alongside Halldór Laxness’s Independent People and Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter as an essential Scandinavian epic.

The tale begins in the 1910s, as Ristin and her family migrate their herd of reindeer to summer grounds. Along the way, forced to separate due to the newly formed border between Sweden and Norway, Ristin loses one of her sons in the aftermath of an accident, a grief that will ripple across the rest of the book. In the wake of this tragedy, Ristin struggles to manage what’s left of her family and her community.

In the 1970s, Lise, as part of a new generation of Sámi grappling with questions of identity and inheritance, reflects on her traumatic childhood, when she was forced to leave her parents and was placed in a Nomad School to be stripped of the language of her ancestors. Finally, in the 2010s we meet Lise’s daughter, Sandra, an embodiment of Indigenous resilience, an activist fighting for reparations in a highly publicized land rights trial, in a time when the Sámi language is all but lost.

Weaving together the voices of half a dozen characters, from elders to young people unsure of their heritage, Axelsson has created a moving family saga around the consequences of colonial settlement. Ædnan is a powerful reminder of how durable language can be, even when it is borrowed, especially when it has to hold what no longer remains. “I was the weight / in the stone you brought / back from the coast // to place on / my grave,” one character says to another from beyond the grave. “And I flew above / the boat calling / to you all: // There will be rain / there will be rain.” – Knopf

Join Simply Held to have the newest fiction picks automatically put on hold for you every quarter.