New Mystery and Romance Books about Books

January 12, 2026December 4, 2025 - Stephanie Leave a comment

What’s more fitting for a library than to talk about books that are about books?! With this blog post, I wanted to focus specifically on two genres: mystery and romance. I have made a list of mystery and romance books about books that were published in 2025! As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

Mystery

The Librarians by Sherry Thomas

Sometimes a workplace isn’t just a workplace but a place of safety, understanding, and acceptance. And sometimes murder threatens the sanctity of that beloved refuge….

In the leafy suburbs of Austin, Texas, a small branch library welcomes the public every day of the week. But the patrons who love the helpful, unobtrusive staff and leave rave reviews on Yelp don’t always realize that their librarians are human, too.

Hazel flees halfway across the world for what she hopes will be a new beginning. Jonathan, a six-foot-four former college football player, has never fit in anywhere else. Astrid tries to forget her heartbreak by immersing herself in work, but the man who ghosted her six months ago is back, promising trouble. And Sophie, who has the most to lose, maintains a careful and respectful distance from her coworkers, but soon that won’t be enough anymore.

When two patrons turn up dead after the library’s inaugural murder mystery–themed game night, the librarians’ quiet routines come crashing down. Something sinister has stirred, something that threatens every single one of them. And the only way the librarians can save the library—and themselves—is to let go of their secrets, trust one another, and band together….

All in a day’s work. – Berkley

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman

Book conservator Tory Van Dyne and a woman claiming to be Agatha Christie on holiday from the Great Beyond join forces to catch a killer in this spirited mystery from Amanda Chapman.

Tory Van Dyne is the most down-to-earth member of a decidedly eccentric old-money New York family. For one thing, as book conservator at Manhattan’s Mystery Guild Library, she actually has a job. Plus, she’s left up-town society behind for a quiet life downtown. So she’s not thrilled when she discovers a woman in the library’s Christie Room who calmly introduces herself as Agatha Christie, politely requests a cocktail, and announces she’s there to help solve a murder— that has not yet happened.

But as soon as Tory determines that this is just a fairly nutty Christie fangirl, her socialite/actress cousin Nicola gets caught up in the suspicious death of her less-than-lovable talent agent. Nic, as always, looks to Tory for help. Tory, in turn, looks to Mrs. Christie. The woman, whoever or whatever she is, clearly knows her stuff when it comes to crime.

Aided by an unlikely band of fellow sleuths —including a snarky librarian, an eleven-year-old computer whiz, and an NYPD detective with terrible taste in suits—Tory and the woman claiming to be her very much deceased literary idol begin to unravel the twists and turns of a murderer’s devious mind. Because, in the immortal words of Miss Jane Marple, “murder is never simple.” – Berkley

This title is also available in large print.

Murder by the Book by Amie Schaumberg

Two dead students. A coded reference to Shakespeare. And the promise of darker things to come.

Near a small college campus, a student is found strangled in an abandoned barn on the outskirts of town. She’s been posed to look like a painting of Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the scene taunting the police with a message they don’t understand. Detective Ian Carter is known as a straitlaced cop, but seeing the girl’s body leaves him shaken and uncertain of where to turn—until a chance meeting with a charmingly awkward literature professor ends with her accidentally seeing, and solving, a clue left by the killer.

Professor Emma Reilly knows that the books she loves might hold the key to unraveling the killer’s crimes now that a second murder has been discovered, with the victim posed as the Lady of Shalott this time. However, when the murderer strikes too close to home and kills a third student, one from Emma’s classes, she realizes that the safety of her insular life might be nothing more than an illusion. She must find the strength to confront a killer who is turning the stories she loves into lurid scenes of death. – MIRA

A Novel Murder by E.C. Nevin

In the quaint English town of Hoslewit, the biggest names in crime writing have congregated to celebrate all things bookish and murderous. Author Jane Hepburn is determined to make her time at the Killer Lines festival worthwhile. This is her chance to change her fortunes and make her fictional Private Detective Baker a household name. And if she has to resort to sneaking into the book tent after hours to rearrange some books so hers are front and center, so be it.

But when Jane encounters the dead body of renowned (and reviled) literary agent Carrie Marks, the festival takes on a decidedly different tone. Joined by Carrie’s newest client, debut novelist Natasha Martez, and the agency’s hapless intern, Daniel Thurston, Jane decides to put her fictional sleuthing skills to use in the real world—she’s going to solve the murder. But the list of suspects is long: seemingly everyone at the festival has a motive to kill Carrie, and the more Jane and her new friends investigate, the closer they come to a dangerous truth—one that’s stranger than fiction. – Knopf

Romance

Girl Next Door by Rachel Meredith

In this charming debut rom-com, a young freelancer returns to her suburban hometown to uncover why her childhood next door neighbor’s bestselling book appears to be an epic love story about the two of them.

When MC Calloway’s best friend Joe, an editor at the notorious gossip website Jawbreaker, calls her in for an emergency meeting, MC is unprepared for how frantic he is. But when he shows her a copy of Girl Next Door, the steamy, bestselling rom-com taking the literary world by storm, written under a pen name, points to one of the women on the front cover, and says, “that’s you,” its MC who begins to panic.

Joe is convinced that the author is Nora Pike, MC’s prickly, childhood next-door neighbor, and their former high school classmate – and MC knows he’s right, since the book describes actual events that happened their senior year, down to the tiniest details. But in the book, the characters based on MC and Nora are desperately in love, rather than the awkward acquaintances MC remembers being in real life.

Joe begs MC to go home undercover and get the scoop on Nora. That’s the last thing MC wants to do, especially for an assignment that seems morally dubious at best, but she reluctantly agrees, knowing Joe is desperate to break a big story. Crashing in her childhood home with her older brother Conrad (now married to MC’s secret high school crush, Gabby), MC begins untangling truth from fiction, trying to get close to Nora, who is just as hot and prickly as ever – and now suspicious of MC to boot. But the more involved she gets with Nora, the more it becomes clear they’re both hiding secrets . . . and MC realizes she might be in over her head. – Harper Perennial

Here for a Good Time by Pyae Moe Thet War

A trip they’ll never forget…

Poe Myat Sabei has the publishing career that any writer would kill for: her first novel sold at auction, became an international number one bestseller, and is being turned into a Netflix film. But now on deadline for her second book, Poe is facing a catastrophic case of writer’s block. The solution? Book a two-week getaway to an exclusive island resort for her and her best friend Zwe where she’ll undoubtedly be inspired to write her next bestseller.

But the vacation of their dreams disintegrates in a flash when the resort is taken over by a group of masked women who are very armed and very angry. As they try to leave the island before the group can track them down, Poe and Zwe suddenly find themselves facing the kinds of conflicts that only come up when, well, you’re trapped in a life or death situation on a remote island with your (hot) best friend. – St. Martin’s Griffin

Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti

Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she’s also acquired an enemy: the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana’s own manuscripts. What’s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course.

But unmasking doesn’t go according to plan—because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter and object of Georgiana’s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.

Cat Lacey has spent a decade clawing her family out of poverty. The last thing she needs is to be distracted by the stunning(ly pretentious) Lady Georgiana Cleeve. But Cat can’t seem to escape her infuriatingly beautiful rival—including at the eerie manor where they both plan to set their next books. The plot unexpectedly thickens, however, when the novelists find themselves trapped in the manor together. In between ghostly moans and spectral staff, Cat and Georgiana come face-to-face with real danger: the scorching passion that’s been haunting their rivalry all along. – St. Martin’s Griffin

Love is an Open Book by Chandra Blumberg

Blurring the line between fiction and reality…

Mia Brady never imagined her romance novels would become bestsellers, much less inspire a hit TV show. However, after signing a deal to write the final book of the series, she’s struck by a serious case of writer’s block. Her fans are clamoring for a passionate payoff, but Mia’s own experience with heartbreak—and current lack of real-life romance—is getting in the way. Do friends who become lovers ever truly have a happy ending?

Gavin Lane would like to think so. As Mia’s ride-or-die BFF, he’s been by her side through it all and convinced himself his crush on her is a thing of the past. He’s not about to let his feelings ruin their friendship, and never will. But things get complicated when Mia pitches a bold idea to help save her career: testing out tried-and-true love story tropes…together.

From workplace romance to fish-out-of-water, Mia and Gavin embark on a series of “experiments” to spark a little creativity—but they are not prepared for the flame that ignites between them. Does their friendship even stand a chance when pure fantasy suddenly becomes a little too real? – Canary Street Press

The Re-Write by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

In this lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers rom-com, two exes are faced with one deadline. Will they make it to the end?

Temi and Wale meet in London. They flirt, date, meet each other’s friends.

Then they break up. And Wale goes on a reality dating show.

Instead of giving in to heartbreak, Temi throws herself into her dream: writing. She’s within touching distance of a book deal that would solve all her problems. But publishers keep passing on her novel and bills still have to be paid. So, when the opportunity to ghost-write a celebrity memoir arises, Temi accepts.

And, of course, the celebrity turns out to be Wale…

Will Temi and Wale repeat the patterns of their past? Or can they write a whole new story? – Penguin Books

January’s Bestsellers Club Fiction and Nonfiction Picks

January 9, 2026December 30, 2025 - Stephanie Leave a comment

It’s a new quarter and that means new fiction and nonfiction picks have been selected for you courtesy of Bestsellers Club! Four fiction picks are available for you to choose from: diverse debuts, graphic novel, historical fiction, and international fiction. Four nonfiction picks are available for you to choose from: biographies, cookbooks, social justice, and true crime. Our fiction and nonfiction 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 Bestsellers Club through our website!

Bestsellers Club is a service that automatically places you on hold for authors, celebrity picks, nonfiction picks, and fiction picks. Choose any author, celebrity pick, fiction pick, and/or nonfiction pick and The Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! Still have questions? Click here for a list of FAQs.

Below you will find information provided by the publishers and authors on the titles we have selected from the following categories in fiction: diverse debuts, graphic novel, historical fiction, and international fiction and the following categories in nonfiction: biographies, cookbooks, social justice, and true crime.

Acronym definitions
BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
LGBTQ+: Lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, and more.

FICTION PICKS

Diverse Debuts:

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

Little Movements by Lauren Morrow

Layla Smart was raised by her pragmatic Midwestern mother to dream medium. But all Layla’s ever wanted is a career in dance, which requires dreaming big. So when she receives a prestigious offer to be the choreographer-in-residence at Briar House, an arts program in rural Vermont, she leaves behind Brooklyn, her job, her friends, and her husband to pursue it.

Navigating Briar House and the small, white town that surrounds it proves difficult—Layla wants to create art for art’s sake and resist tokenization, but the institution’s director keeps encouraging Layla to dig deep into her people’s history. Still, the mental and physical demands of dancing spark a sharp, unexpected sense of joy, bringing into focus the years she’d distanced herself from her true calling for the sake of her marriage and maintaining the status quo.

Just as she begins to see her life more clearly, she discovers a betrayal that proves the cracks in her marriage were deeper than she ever could have known. Then Briar House’s dangerously problematic past comes to light. And Layla discovers she’s pregnant. Suddenly, dreaming medium sounds a lot more appealing.

Poignant, propulsive, and darkly funny, Little Movements is a novel about self-discovery, about what we must endure—or let go of—in order to realize our dreams. – Random House

Graphic Novel:

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

Sheets by Brenna Thummler

For Marjorie Glatt, being thirteen years old isn’t quite the same as it is for everyone else. Responsible for running her family’s laundromat while trying to survive middle school, Marjorie’s daily struggles include persnickety customers, snippy classmates, agonizing swim lessons, and laundry… always, always laundry.

Wendell is a bit different, too. Wendell is a ghost. His daily struggles include Dead Youth support groups and unavoidable stains. But when he escapes from the Land of Ghosts and bumbles into Marjorie’s laundromat–the perfect ghost playground–his attempts at fun and friendship begin to harm the family business.

Sheets is a powerful story about a young girl’s perseverance, even when all the odds are stacked against her. It shows that forgiveness and second chances can result in unlikely friendships. Above all, it is an invitation into an unusual, haunted laundromat that brings family, friends, and–yes–sheets to life. – Oni Press

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 Lost Baker of Vienna by Sharon Kurtzman

An historical novel inspired by the experiences of the author’s own family after the Holocaust, a sweeping saga about survival, loss, love, and the reverberating effects of war

In 2018, Zoe Rosenzweig is reeling after the loss of her beloved grandfather, a Holocaust survivor. She becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to her family during the war.

Vienna, 1946: Chana Rosenzweig has endured the horrors of war to find herself, her mother, and her younger brother finally free in Vienna. But freedom doesn’t look like they’d imagined it would, as they struggle to make a living and stay safe.

Despite the danger, Chana sneaks out most nights to return to the hotel kitchen where she works as a dishwasher, using the quiet nighttime hours to bake her late father’s recipes. Soon, Chana finds herself caught in a dangerous love triangle, torn between the black-market dealer who has offered marriage and protection, and the apprentice baker who shares her passions. How will Chana balance her love of baking against her family’s need for security?

The Lost Baker of Vienna affirms the unbreakable bonds of family, shining a light on the courageous spirit of WWII refugees as they battle to survive the overwhelming hardships of a world torn apart. – Pamela Dorman Books

International Fiction:

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

Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues by Kim De l’Horizon, translated from the German by Jamie Lee Searle

A prizewinning, boundary-breaking debut exploring family, class, history, and the true idea of the self.

A glorious, tender, unsparing exploration of language, family, history, class, self, and the human, Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues begins with the loss of memory. As their grandmother falls into dementia, the narrator begins to ask questions—to fill in the silences and the gaps. Childhood memories resurface, revealing a path into the past. The maternal line leads toward nature, witchcraft, freedom, and power. Could this be where the narrator belongs?

A quest toward understanding, a story of liberation—from generational trauma, gender constructs, class identity, the limits of language—this narrative invents its own forms, words, and bodies to conjure and cast out the very idea of the unspeakable. It searches for other kinds of knowledge and traditions, other ways of becoming, and reaches for wisdom beyond the human. In Sea, Mothers, Swallow, Tongues, Kim de l’Horizon reimagines family narratives, abandoning the linear in favor of a fluid, incantatory, expansive search into who we are. – Farrar, Straus and Giroux

NONFICTION PICKS

Biography pick

John Hancock: first to sign, first to invest in America’s independence by Willard Sterne Randall

A compelling, intimate portrait of John Hancock, going beyond the flamboyant signature to reveal the pivotal role that he had in the American Revolution

A contemporary of Samuel Adams, John Adams, George Washington, and the Marquis de Lafayette, Hancock had a list of contacts that read like a who’s who of the American Revolution. But shockingly little has been written about Hancock himself. John Hancock tells the story of a man who deserves far more credit for his contribution to the American Revolution than he previously received—and award-winning scholar Willard Sterne Randall is determined to give him his due at last.

Born into relatively modest means, Hancock was sent to live with his wealthy uncle and aunt as a child. The couple raised him as their own and prepared him to take over the family company. A remarkably successful businessman, Hancock got involved in politics in the mid-1760s. He quickly rose in the ranks, eventually serving as the president of the Continental Congress and the first governor of Massachusetts.

John Hancock details all of the major moments in the Revolution, from the Boston Tea Party to the battles of Lexington and Concord to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Hancock’s actions fundamentally altered each of these events—and ultimately the course of the United States—in ways never taught in the history books. Randall also dives into lesser-known parts of Hancock’s life with nuance and compassion, including his education and controversial work with Harvard; his long courtship and complicated marriage to Dorothy Quincy; and his close relationship and eventual bitter rivalry with Samuel Adams.

John Hancock enjoyed great popularity in Massachusetts during the Revolution, but he left behind few personal writings, making it hard to tell his story. Through extensive research, Randall aims to restore Hancock to his rightful place, celebrated for his achievements as one of our Founding Fathers at last. – Dutton

Cookbook pick

Good Things by Samin Nosrat

With all the generosity of spirit that has endeared her to millions of fans, Samin Nosrat offers more than 125 of her favorite recipes—simply put, the things she most loves to cook for herself and for friends—and infuses them with all the beauty and care you would expect from the person Alice Waters called “America’s next great cooking teacher.” As Samin says, “Recipes, like rituals, endure because they’re passed down to us—whether by ancestors, neighbors, friends, strangers on the internet, or me to you. A written recipe is just a shimmering decoy for the true inheritance: the thread of connection that cooking it will unspool.”

Good Things is an essential, joyful guide to cooking and living, whether you’re looking for a comforting tomato soup to console a struggling friend, seeking a deeper sense of connection in your life, or hosting a dinner for ten in your too-small dining room. Here you’ll find go-to recipes for ricotta custard pancakes, a showstopping roast chicken burnished with saffron, a crunchy, tingly Calabrian chili crisp, super-chewy sky-high focaccia, and a decades-in-the-making, childhood-evoking yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Along the way, you’ll also find plenty of tips, techniques, and lessons, from how to buy olive oil (check the harvest date) to when to splurge (salad dressing is where you want to use your best ingredients) to the best uses for your pressure cooker (chicken stock and dulce de leche, naturally).

Good Things captures, with Samin’s trademark blend of warmth, creativity, and precision, what has made cooking such an important source of delight and comfort in her life. – Random House

Social Justice pick

Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes by Harrison Browne and Rachel Browne

A crucial subversion of the misconceptions around the participation of gender diverse athletes—advocating for the inclusion of trans and nonbinary athletes across all levels of sport

The debate over the inclusion of gender diverse people in sport has become the latest battleground in the fight for basic human rights and equality. Trans and nonbinary people around the world are facing physical harm and violence—including death—at unprecedented rates. In Let Us Play, trans athlete Harrison Browne and investigative journalist Rachel Browne reveal how the opposition towards gender diverse athletes is fueled by fear and a moral panic as opposed to facts around what makes “a level playing field.”

Interweaving Harrison’s first-hand experience as a transgender athlete with exclusive accounts—from athletes, coaches, policymakers, and advocates on the front lines—Let Us Play dismantles the illusion that sports have ever been fair, that trans athletes pose a threat to women’s sports, and that gender-affirming healthcare for athletes should be prohibitive to play.

Calling for a reframing of the binaries from youth and high school levels all the way to the national leagues, Browne and Browne offer a new path forward, led by solutions proposed by gender diverse athletes themselves. – Beacon Press

True Crime pick

The Rent Collectors: Exploitation, Murder, and Redemption in Immigrant LA by Jesse Katz

Baby-faced teen Giovanni Macedo is desperate to find belonging in one of LA’s most predatory gangs, the Columbia Lil Cycos—so desperate that he agrees to kill an undocumented Mexican street vendor. The vendor, Francisco Clemente, had been refusing to give in to the gang’s shakedown demands. But Giovanni botches the hit, accidentally killing a newborn instead. The overlords who rule the Lil Cycos from a Supermax prison 1,000 miles away must be placated and Giovanni is lured across the border where, in turn, the gang botches his killing. And so, incredibly, Giovanni rises from the dead, determined to both seek redemption for his unforgivable crime and take down the gang who drove him to do it.

With The Rent Collectors, Jesse Katz has built a teeth clenching and breathless narrative that explicates the difficult and proud lives of undocumented black market workers who are being extorted by the gangs and fined by the city of LA—in other words, exploited by two sets of rent collectors. – Astra House

Join Bestsellers Club to have the newest fiction and nonfiction picks automatically put on hold for you every quarter.

Discover a Memoir

January 8, 2026December 8, 2025 - Jill Leave a comment

Among the various genres in literature, memoirs (autobiographical narratives) hold a unique place that can resonate deeply with the reader. A well written memoir can provide a vulnerable view into the personal experiences of others, often offering perspectives that are vastly different than our own – even from more distant, historical viewpoints. Memoirs can provide intimate glimpses into personal struggles, moments of transformation, and triumphs, and can reveal to us the complexities and resilience of the human spirit. Resonating with readers, both emotionally and intellectually, memoirs can inspire empathy, broaden understanding of diverse cultures and histories, and offer lessons that have the power to change us. They can comfort and connect readers, demonstrating that feelings of loss, love, doubt, and hope are universal to the human experience. By sharing real stories, memoirs remind us of the power of storytelling to illuminate life’s challenges and joys, encouraging reflection on our own journeys.

Here are a few memoirs that have been included on must-read lists:

The Wives: A Memoir by Simone Gorrindo is an account of her life as an Army spouse, exploring the often unseen sacrifices and internal struggles that come with loving someone in uniform. Gorrindo describes the loneliness, fear, and resilience that defined her years within a tight-knit military community, as well as the deep bonds formed among the women who supported one another through deployments and constant uncertainty. The memoir is about identity and belonging, and also about the complexity of marriage to someone who is deployed. Ultimately, it offers a portrait of the hidden emotional labor of military families and the strength found in vulnerability and connection.

Once More We Saw Stars by Jayson Greene chronicles the unimaginable grief and gradual path toward healing after the death of the author’s young daughter, Greta. Greene recounts the immediate aftermath of the tragedy with raw honesty, capturing the array of emotions that accompany such a loss. The memoir is also a testament to resilience and the slow, painful work of reclaiming life and love in the wake of profound sorrow. Greene explores the fragility of life, enduring family bonds, and the moments of hope and connection that make recovery possible. It is a heartrending human story of love, loss, and the courage to continue living.

This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear traces the author’s childhood in post-war England and the family stories that shaped her life. Winspear reflects on her parents’ resilience, the lingering shadows of war, and the everyday hardships and joys of growing up in a changing world. She weaves together themes of class, trauma, hope, and endurance, showing how these early experiences informed her worldview and her later writing. The memoir offers a heartfelt look at the memories and histories that define a family and the quiet strength found in ordinary lives.

Local Authors section is adding zines to the collection!

January 7, 2026December 29, 2025 - Beth Leave a comment

The Library is adding Zines to the Local Authors collection. If you are the creator of a zine (or zines) and are interested in donating to The Library, please drop off a copy at any Davenport Public Library branch. Please include a detailed synopsis along with the author’s contact information. Zines do not need an ISBN number or barcode.

Davenport Public Library considers a local author a person native to or currently residing in Rock Island or Scott counties. All Zine materials will be shelved in the Local Author area at the Fairmount branch of the Davenport Public Library.

Zines (pronounced “ZEEN” and short for “fanzine” or “magazine”) are small, independently produced publications. Zines are often created and photocopied by hand. Zines cover a wide range of topics, including art, politics, music, and personal experiences. They are often created as a way for marginalized groups to share their perspectives, and as a way for people to express themselves and connect with others who have similar interests.

If you have any questions, please email the Local Authors librarian Beth Paul at bpaul@davenportlibrary.com.

Reincarnated as a…

January 6, 2026December 23, 2025 - Elena Leave a comment

In recent years, reincarnation has become a common trope in manga and anime. The main character wakes up in a new body and discovers that they’ve reincarnated into a world of swords and magic. Luckily for them, they can use a unique power or their knowledge from our world to get ahead.

As the trope has become more popular, authors have expanded the range of reincarnations from fictional villains and side characters to non-human monsters and even objects. Check out following titles available through The Library. (Descriptions below provided by publishers.)

Reincarnated as a fictional character:

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom (Manga)
When a woman is reborn into an otome video game as the villainess, how can she play to win? A high school girl is stunned to find herself reincarnated as the conniving villainess from her favorite dating sim game, Fortune Lover. Now, as Catarina Claes, the impossibly rich and spoiled daughter of a Duke, her new life seems to perfectly sync up with the world of the game. This means big trouble! No matter how the game turned out, there were only two fates for Catarina: exile or death!

The Princess of Convenient Plot Devices (Manga)
After reincarnating into her favorite BL novel, Maki (now Octavia) has the perfect opportunity to fangirl over her favorite fictional couple, Sil and Prince Sirius, in real life—except she’s Sirius’s sister?! If that isn’t awkward enough, she’s expected to give up her firstborn child to be their heir! But the new Octavia won’t settle for a political marriage just to produce a baby. Her brother overcame many obstacles to be with the man of his dreams, and Octavia is prepared to do the same! Of course, she actually has to find a guy first…

Villainess Level 99: I May Be The Hidden Boss But I’m Not The Demon Lord (Anime)
This college kid wants nothing more than a quiet life. So when she’s reborn as Yumiella, the hidden villainess of an Otome RPG, she’s not exactly thrilled. Still yearning for peace, she abandons her evil duties to live a more discreet life. Until her gamer side kicks in and she accidentally reaches level 99! Now, everyone suspects that she’s the infamous Demon Lord. What future awaits her?

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History (Anime)
This young girl hates all those goodie-two-shoes heroines. So when she’s reincarnated as Alicia, the villain in her favorite fantasy dating sim, it’s like a dream come true! Now as Alicia, she’s ditching romance to be the world’s greatest villainess. There’s just one problem: the more she tries to be evil, the more the prince seems to fall for her. Alicia will have to work much harder if she ever wants to become the world’s greatest villainess.

Reincarnated as an object:

Reincarnated as a Sword (Manga) and Reincarnated as a Sword (Anime)
Live by the sword. Fran is a fiery, cat-eared girl whose luck couldn’t be worse–orphaned, consigned to slavery, and finally attacked by monsters. But everything changes when she finds a legendary talking sword. Inside the sword is the soul of a man from Earth, in search of answers about how he reached his current state. The two seal a pact to become sword and wielder, sharing power and magic between them. Together, Fran and sword cut their way to freedom, and the life of adventure that lies beyond!

Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon (Anime)
The future of this fantasy world now lies in the hands of…a vending machine! Boxxo was once a human, until he died in an accident and was reincarnated as a sentient piece of machinery. While he can still hear and see, there’s no way for him to move by himself or speak more than his programmed phrases. How can he make the most of this strange new life?

Reincarnated as a monster:

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (Manga)
Mikami’s middle age hasn’t gone as he planned: He never found a girlfriend, he got stuck in a dead-end job, and he was abruptly stabbed to death in the street at 37. So when he wakes up in a new world straight out of a fantasy RPG, he’s disappointed but not exactly surprised to find that he’s not a knight or a wizard but a blind slime demon. But there are chances for even a slime to become a hero…

So I’m a Spider, So What? (Manga)
I was your average, everyday high school girl, but now I’ve been reborn in a magical world–as a spider?! Wait–this isn’t how these stories are supposed to go! Can I get a do-over? No? But how am I supposed to survive in this big, scary dungeon as one of the weakest monsters? It’s “every spider for herself” in here! I gotta figure out the rules to this quick, or I’ll be kissing my short second life good-bye.

Woof Woof Story: I Told You to Turn Me Into a Pampered Pooch, Not Fenrir! (Manga)
“I just want an easy life, even as some rich person’s dog…” As corporate slave Routa Okami keels over in the middle of his busy office, he imagines how nice it would have been to live as the pet of some rich family instead of working himself to death. But when a goddess actually grants that wish and brings him back to life as a pampered pooch, Routa realizes he may have gotten more than he bargained for…

Skeleton Knight in Another World (Anime)
When Arc wakes up, he discovers that he has been transported to another world in the body of the character he was playing in an MMO. Looking like a suit of armor on the outside and a skeleton on the inside, he is the Skeleton Knight. If his identity is discovered, he could be mistaken for a monster and become a target! Arc decides to spend his time as a mercenary so as not to attract attention to himself. However, he’s not the kind of man who can stand idly by when he witnesses evil acts take place right before his eyes!

During the month of January, look for the “New Year, New Me: Reincarnation Stories” displays at all three branches for more reincarnation fiction.

She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

January 5, 2026December 29, 2025 - Stephanie Leave a comment

“Who am I but someone others define? It’s easier to be a stereotype. It hurts when you are yourself.”
― Trang Thanh Tran, She Is a Haunting

Trang Thanh Tran’s debut novel, She is a Haunting, is a young adult gothic fantasy and mystery with ghosts, colonialism, and queer themes. Honestly I don’t know what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised by this novel with the exception of the bugs. There are SO MANY bugs in this novel that I found myself having to take a break to make sure there weren’t any crawling near me. *shiver* Let’s get into the book!

Jade Nguyen wants to go to college, but her parents’ relationship is making things hard. Her parents have been separated for the last four years. Her father left the family and went to Vietnam to start a business, leaving Jade, her mother, her younger sister, and her younger brother behind. When Jade discovers that she isn’t eligible for loans, she strikes up a deal with her father. If she spends the summer with him in Vietnam fixing up an old house that he plans to turn into a bed and breakfast, he will pay for a year of her college. Sounds like a pretty easy deal to her, but as soon as she shows up in Vietnam, everything feels off.

Jade has never quite fit in – in America she’s not American enough, while in Vietnam she’s not Vietnamese enough. After a falling out with her best friend, Jade isn’t sure if she’s straight enough anymore. In Vietnam, Jade isn’t impressed with the decaying French colonial house that her family used to work in and that her father has chosen to restore, but when she believes she can make it the five weeks to get her tuition money. Quickly though, things start falling apart. She has paralyzing bad dreams, is visited by ghosts, and is certain there are bugs crawling around her. Her father and sister don’t believe her, leaving Jade with no choice but to stage some hauntings of her own. The downside is the house isn’t a fan of her meddling and has decided to make its presence known. Jade and her family are in danger, but she isn’t sure what to do to break the hold.

Interested in this book? She is a Haunting is the January See YA Book Club pick. We will be discussing this book on Wednesday, January 7th at 6:30pm at our Eastern Avenue branch. For more information about future See YA book picks, visit our website.

See YA Book Club

Join our adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the best seller lists.

Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Eastern Avenue library. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at Eastern at 6:30pm. Stop by the service desk for more information.

Wednesday March 4th session will be meeting in the Story Room.

January 7 – She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

February 4 – Better than the Movies by Lynn Painter

March 4 – The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

April 1 – Looking for Smoke by KA Cobell

May 6 – If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang

June 3 – Shut Up, This is Serious by Carolina Ixta

Online Reading Challenge – January

January 2, 2026December 29, 2025 - Stephanie Leave a comment

Welcome Readers!

New year means new reading challenge! I’m so excited to tell you that the theme for the 2026 Online Reading Challenge is … KNOW YOUR HISTORY! Each month we will be reading about a different observance month (think Black History Month, for example) and highlighting a main title about that month. I will pick a main title for us to read together if you would like, but feel free to read anything about that observance month! I can’t wait to start reading with you all.

For January, we will be reading books that commemorate the victims and honor the survivors of the Holocaust as January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Our main title for January is Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher:

To survive the Holocaust, a young Jewish woman must pose as a Christian farmer’s wife in this unforgettable novel from USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Robson—a story of terror, hope, love, and sacrifice, inspired by true events, that vividly evokes the most perilous days of World War II.

It is the autumn of 1943, and life is becoming increasingly perilous for Italian Jews like the Mazin family. With Nazi Germany now occupying most of her beloved homeland, and the threat of imprisonment and deportation growing ever more certain, Antonina Mazin has but one hope to survive—to leave Venice and her beloved parents and hide in the countryside with a man she has only just met.

Nico Gerardi was studying for the priesthood until circumstances forced him to leave the seminary to run his family’s farm. A moral and just man, he could not stand by when the fascists and Nazis began taking innocent lives. Rather than risk a perilous escape across the mountains, Nina will pose as his new bride. And to keep her safe and protect secrets of his own, Nico and Nina must convince prying eyes they are happily married and in love.

But farm life is not easy for a cultured city girl who dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, and Nico’s provincial neighbors are wary of this soft and educated woman they do not know. Even worse, their distrust is shared by a local Nazi official with a vendetta against Nico. The more he learns of Nina, the more his suspicions grow—and with them his determination to exact revenge.

As Nina and Nico come to know each other, their feelings deepen, transforming their relationship into much more than a charade. Yet both fear that every passing day brings them closer to being torn apart . . . – William Morrow Paperbacks

Looking for some other books that commemorate the victims and honor the survivors of the Holocaust? Try any of the following.

The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman
The Curator’s Daughter by Melanie Dobson
Death March Escape by Jack Hersch
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel
The Little Liar by Mitch Albom
One Good Thing by Georgia Hunter
Tehran Children by Mikhal Dekel
Three Sisters by Heather Morris
The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff

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

Online Reading Challenge – December Wrap-Up

December 31, 2025December 30, 2025 - Stephanie Leave a comment

How did your reading go this month? Did you read any historical fiction in December? This is our last month of the 2025 Online Reading Challenge! Are you finishing strong or do you still have some months to catch up on? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. This novel was a gut-wrenching, but necessary, read that sent me down a rabbit hole of research into the events described within.

Told through alternating timelines, readers follow Civil Townsend in 1973 fresh out of nursing school and decades later after her career is established. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1973, Civil has a job at the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, eager to help women make their own choices for their bodies and their lives. Her first patients out in the community are two young sisters, ages 11 and 13. Civil is shocked to learn that the clinic has decided that the girls need to be on birth control, given that they haven’t even kissed a boy and one hasn’t even started bleeding. Growing more concerned by the day, Civil discovers that something concerning is happening at the clinic and that those in power may be running an experiment similar to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study that ran from 1932 and 1972.

Her two patients are young, black, and poor, like many of the clinic’s patients. They may not understand the consequences of what they are agreeing to, given that many of them cannot read and are placing blind trust in the clinic staff and the government people. Civil wants to help so she spends time with her two young patients, growing closer with their family. One day she shows up at their house to discover that the unthinkable has happened. The consequences of what has happened will reverberate for decades through the community and through Civil’s relationships with family and friends.

Flash forward decades later and Civil has a grown daughter and an illustrious career. Called back to Alabama, she finds herself reliving her past on the cusp of retirement. She must not forget her past, even though it may make her uncomfortable.

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez is a historical fiction novel that I wish was required reading. Every part of this story had me yearning for justice: unregulated drugs were being given to women without proper knowledge, women and their families signed forms under duress, medical professionals decided amongst themselves who should or shouldn’t have children, and the government was using family planning clinics to sterilize people of color and minors without their consent. This isn’t even all the issues that Civil was fighting against in this story. While this story isn’t real, the events that happened within were actually happening to people in the past and still today. If you’re doubting whether reproductive injustice or medical racism exists, give Take My Hand a read.

Next month, we will be starting a brand new online reading challenge for 2026! I’m so excited to share the new challenge with you!

In addition to following the Online Reading Challenge here on our Info Cafe blog, you can join our Online Reading Challenge group on Goodreads and discuss your reads!

Family Dramas

December 29, 2025November 3, 2025 - Stephanie Leave a comment

When looking back at the books that I have read this year, I noticed that I don’t read much realistic fiction except for one major area: family dramas. I love novels that feature family drama, whether it’s a marriage in trouble story, a coming-of-age novel, or a multigenerational/decade-spanning tome. Add in a complicated inheritance, a messy road trip, or a holiday disaster and I am ready to devour a family drama. Lucky for me (and for you, dear reader), 2025 meant many new family dramas hitting the shelves at the Davenport Public Library. Below you will find a sampling of these new family dramas. This is by no means a complete list, so ask in the comments or stop by the library if you would like more recommendations! As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

The Accidental Favorite by Fran Littlewood

Vivienne and Patrick Fisher have done an excellent job raising their three daughters, Alex, Nancy, and Eva. They’re well-adjusted women with impressive careers, caring partners, exciting hobbies, and sweet children. So it’s with great anticipation that three generations of Fishers gather at a beautiful glass house in the English countryside for a weeklong celebration of Vivienne’s seventieth birthday. But when Patrick’s reaction to a freak accident on the first day of the trip inadvertently reveals that he has a favorite daughter, no one is prepared for the shockwaves it sends through the family.

Decades-old unresolved sibling rivalries are suddenly unmasked. And be it newly uncovered smoking habits, ancient crushes, or private doubts about life decisions both big and small, no one’s secrets are safe. Still-tender wounds are reopened amid an audience of friends, husbands, grandchildren, and even coworkers, and as the family’s past is re-written, they find themselves suddenly unmoored.

In a lively, poignant examination of memory, sisterhood, and family ties, Fran Littlewood reminds us just why it is that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. – Henry Holt and Co.

This title is also available in large print.

The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff

Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn’t told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn’t told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall.

When a shocking blow scatters their fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family’s history, and decide whether she can open up to love for them—or herself—while there’s still time.

Told from three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life, debut that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, restored by the power of grace and love. – Simon & Schuster

Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven

A decades-spanning family saga featuring the messy but loving Samuelson clan trying to make sense of the world after one event changes their lives forever

When Sally Samuelson was eight years old, her golden boy brother Ellis went missing the summer he graduated high school. Ellis finally turned up at the bucolic Bug Hollow, a last gasp of the beautiful Northern California counterculture in the seventies. He had found joy in the communal life there, but died in a freak accident weeks later.

From that point, the world of the Samuelsons never spins on the same axis, especially after Julia, Ellis’s girlfriend from Bug Hollow, shows up pregnant on their doorstep. Each Samuelson has sought their own solace: Sybil Samuelson pours herself into teaching and numbing her pain after the loss of her beloved son; her husband, Phil, had found respite in a love that developed while he was working as an engineer in Saudi Arabia; Katie, the high achieving middle Samuelson, comes home to try and make peace with her mother after a cancer diagnosis. And Sally has become the de facto caretaker to Eva, the child Ellis never knew. – Penguin Press

The Catch by Yrsa Daley-Ward

Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their familial bond severed after their mother vanished into the Thames. As infants they were adopted into different families, Clara sent to live with a successful, upper-class couple, and Dempsey with a sullen, unaffectionate city councilor. In adulthood, they are content to be all but estranged, until Clara sees a woman who looks exactly like their mother on the streets of London. The catch: this version of Serene, aged not a day, has enjoyed a childless life—the very life, it seems, she might have had if the girls had never been born.

As with most things, Clara and Dempsey cannot see eye to eye on the confounding appearance of this woman. Clara, a celebrity author with a penchant for excessive drinking and one-night stands, is all too willing to welcome the confident and temperamental Serene into her home. But cloistered Dempsey, who makes a modest living doing menial data entry work from the confines of her apartment, is dubious of the whole situation, believing this all to be the insidious ruse of a con woman. Clashing over this stranger who burrows deeper and deeper into their lives, the sisters hurtle toward an altercation that threatens their very existence, forcing them to finally confront their pasts—together.

In her riveting first foray into fiction, Yrsa Daley-Ward conjures a kaleidoscopic multiverse of daughterhood and mother-want, exploring the sacrifices that women must make for self-actualization. The result is a marvel of a debut novel that boldly asks, “How can it ever, ever be a crime to choose yourself?” – Liveright

Dominion by Addie E. Citchens

In this taut Southern family drama, the sins of a favorite son rock a small Mississippi town.

Reverend Sabre Winfrey, Jr., shepherd of the Seven Seals Missionary Baptist Church, believes in God, his own privilege, and enterprise. He owns the barbershop and the radio station, and generally keeps an iron hand on every aspect of society in Dominion, Mississippi. He and his wife, Priscilla, have five boys; the youngest, Emanuel, is called Wonderboy—no one sings prettier, runs as fast, or turns as many heads. But Wonderboy, his father, and all the structures in place that keep them on top are not as righteous as they seem to be. And when Wonderboy is caught off guard by an encounter with a stranger, he finds himself confronted by questions he’d never imagined. His response sends shock waves through the entire community.

Priscilla and Diamond, two women who love these men, bear witness to their charms and bear the brunt of their choices. Through their eyes and their stories, Dominion offers an intricate, intimate view of how secrets control us, how shame stifles us, how silence implicates us, and how even love plays a role in the everyday violence and casual sins of the powerful.

A brilliantly crafted Black Southern family drama told with the captivating force, humor, and tenderness carried in the hearts of these women, Addie E. Citchens’s Dominion wrestles with the many brutal, sinister ways in which we are shaped by fear and patriarchy, and studies how we might yet choose to break free. – Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Everybody Says It’s Everything by Xhenet Aliu

In this unforgettable novel from the award-winning author of Brass, twins growing up in the United States in the nineties unravel larger truths about identity and sibling bonds when one of them gets wrapped up in the war in Kosovo.

Raised in Connecticut, adopted twins Drita and Petrit (aka Pete) had no connection to their Albanian heritage. Their lives were all about Barbie dolls, the mall, and roller skating at the local rink. Although they were inseparable during their childhood, their paths diverged once they became teenagers: Drita was a good girl with good manners who was going to attend a good college; Pete was a bad boy going nowhere fast. Even their twinhood was not enough to keep them together.

Fast-forward to their twenties. Drita has given up on her dreams for the future, abandoning her graduate studies to move back home and take care of their mother. She hasn’t heard from Pete in three years when his girlfriend and their son unexpectedly show up without him and in need of help. Realizing that Pete’s child may offer the siblings a second chance at being family, Drita becomes determined to find her brother. But what she ends up discovering—about their connection to their Albanian roots, the war in Kosovo, and the story of their adoption—will surprise everyone, and become what brings them together, or tears them apart for good. – Random House

Favorite Daughter by Morgan Dick

A darkly funny debut novel about two estranged sisters who are unknowingly thrown together by their problematic father’s dying wish

Mickey and Arlo are half sisters. But they’ve never spoken and never met. Arlo adored her father—but always lived in the shadow of his magnetic personality and burdensome vices. Meanwhile, their father abandoned Mickey and her mother years ago, and Mickey has hated him since. When she receives news of her father’s passing, Mickey is shocked to learn that he’s left her his not-inconsiderable fortune. The catch: Mickey must attend a series of therapy sessions before the money can be released.

Unbeknownst to either woman, the psychologist Mickey’s father has ensured she meets with is her half sister, Arlo. Having cared for her beloved father on his sickbed, Arlo is devastated to discover he’s cut her out of his will. She resolves to learn where the money went and why.

Working together as therapist and patient—with no idea that they’re in fact sisters—Arlo and Mickey soon get under each other’s skin. Arlo, eager to outrun a mistake in her professional past, is keen to redeem herself with her new client. But Mickey is far from the model patient. As Mickey’s personal and professional lives spiral out of control and Arlo uncovers the truth about who her new patient really is, the sisters find themselves on a crash course that will break—or save—them both. – Viking

Flashlight by Susan Choi

A novel tracing a father’s disappearance across time, nations, and memory, from the author of Trust Exercise.

One summer night, Louisa and her father take a walk on the breakwater. Her father is carrying a flashlight. He cannot swim. Later, Louisa is found on the beach, soaked to the skin, barely alive. Her father is gone. She is ten years old.

Louisa is an only child of parents who have severed themselves from the past. Her father, Serk, is Korean, but was born and raised in Japan; he lost touch with his family when they bought into the promises of postwar Pyongyang and relocated to North Korea. Her American mother, Anne, is estranged from her Midwestern family after a reckless adventure in her youth. And then there is Tobias, Anne’s illegitimate son, whose reappearance in their lives will have astonishing consequences.

But now it is just Anne and Louisa, Louisa and Anne, adrift and facing the challenges of ordinary life in the wake of great loss. United, separated, and also repelled by their mutual grief, they attempt to move on. But they cannot escape the echoes of that night. What really happened to Louisa’s father?

Shifting perspectives across time and character and turning back again and again to that night by the sea, Flashlight chases the shock waves of one family’s catastrophe, even as they are swept up in the invisible currents of history.

A monumental new novel from the National Book Award winner Susan Choi, Flashlight spans decades and continents in a spellbinding, heart-gripping investigation of family, loss, memory, and the ways in which we are shaped by what we cannot see. – Farrar, Straus and Giroux

This title is also available in large print.

Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross

When Hazel Blum’s father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocate from Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing designer, and her father, Gus, an American Studies professor, Hazel and her eleven-year-old brother, Wolf, slowly acclimate to their new lives and connect with the town’s sprawling community. That is, until a dramatic fallout on the very first day of her senior year tips the fickle balance of idyllic Riverburg and impacts everyone in her family.

Tracking through the perspectives of each member of the Blum family, this relatable fish-out-of-water story handles big issues with great empathy and humor, capturing the love that unites one unforgettable family and the essence of life in small-town Maine. Emotionally deft, authentic, and compulsively readable, Hazel Says No is a debut novel not to be missed. – Hanover Square Press

Home of the American Circus by Allie Larkin

After an emergency leaves her short on rent, thirty-year-old Freya Arnalds bails on her lackluster life as bartender in Maine and returns to her suburban hometown of Somers, New York, to live in the house she inherited from her estranged parents. Despite attempts to lay low, Freya encounters childhood friends, familial enemies, and old flames—as well as her fifteen-year-old niece, Aubrey, who is secretly living in the derelict home. As they reconnect, Freya and Aubrey lean on each other, working to restore the house and come to terms with the devastating events that pulled them apart years ago.

Set in the birthplace of the American circus, this deeply moving novel is an exploration of broken families, the weight of the past, and the complicated journey of finding home. – Gallery Books

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

There is a heatwave across Europe, and four siblings have gathered at their family’s lake house to seek answers about their father, a famous artist, who recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his long-awaited masterpiece.

Now he is dead. And there is no sign of his final painting.

As the siblings try to piece together what happened, they spend the summer in a state of lawlessness: living under the same roof for the first time in decades, forced to confront the buried wounds they incurred as his children, and waiting for answers. Though they have always been close, the things they learn that summer—about themselves—and their father—will drive them apart before they can truly understand his legacy. Meanwhile, their stepmother’s enigmatic presence looms over the house. Is she the force that will finally destroy the family for good?

Wonderfully atmospheric, at heart this is a novel about the bonds of siblinghood—what happens when they splinter, and what it might take to reconnect them. – The Dial Press

This title is also available in large print.

Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein

Every summer, Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster spend a month with their father at his lake house — separately. Raised in New York City, Vivian is an ambitious sommelier with a secret that could derail her future. Lucy grew up in a tiny Maine town, where she now teaches high school English while watching her marriage unravel. They’ve never met. While Lucy envied her half-sister from afar, their father kept Vivian in the dark.

When Vivian arrives at the lake to spread his ashes and sell his cabin, she’s shocked to find Lucy there, awaiting his return. In an ideal world, they’d help each other through their grief. Instead, forced to spend the summer together, they fight through a storm of suspicion and hostility to untangle the messy truth about their parents’ pasts. While Lucy is desperate to hold onto the house, Vivian is scrambling after a betrayal. After thirty years apart, is it too late for them to be a family?

For fans of Carley Fortune and Elin Hilderbrand, this sister story set on a lush lake brims with the undeniable heart, depth, charm, and humor that have endeared Hannah Orenstein to legions of readers. – Dutton

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson

Ever since her dad left them twenty years ago, it’s been just Madeline Hill and her mom on their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. While it’s a bit lonely, she sometimes admits, and a less exciting life than what she imagined for herself, it’s mostly okay. Mostly.

Then one day Reuben Hill pulls up in a PT Cruiser and informs Madeline that he believes she’s his half sister. Reuben—left behind by their dad thirty years ago—has hired a detective to track down their father and a string of other half siblings. And he wants Mad to leave her home and join him for the craziest kind of road trip imaginable to find them all.

As Mad and Rube—and eventually the others—share stories of their father, who behaved so differently in each life he created, they begin to question what he was looking for with every new incarnation. Who are they to one another? What kind of man will they find? And how will these new relationships change Mad’s previously solitary life on the farm? – Ecco

Sleep by Honor Jones

Every parent exists inside of two families simultaneously – the one she was born into, and the one she has made.

Ten-year-old Margaret hides beneath a blackberry bush in her family’s verdant backyard while her brother hunts for her in a game of flashlight tag. Hers is a childhood of sunlit swimming pools and Saturday morning pancakes and a devoted best friend, but her family life requires careful maintenance. Her mother can be as brittle and exacting as she is loving, and her father and brother assume familiar, if uncomfortable, models of masculinity. Then late one summer, everything changes. After a series of confusing transgressions, the simple pleasures of girlhood, slip away.

Twenty-five years later, Margaret hides under her parents’ bed, waiting for her young daughters to find her in a game of hide and seek. She’s newly divorced and navigating her life as a co-parent, while discovering the pleasures of a new lover. But some part of her is still under the blackberry bush, punched out of time. Called upon to be a mother to her daughters, and a daughter to her mother, she must reckon with the echoes and refractions between the past and the present, what it means to keep a child safe, and how much of our lives are our own, alone. – Riverhead Books

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

Alice Storm hasn’t been welcome at her family’s magnificent private island off the Rhode Island coast in five years—not since she was cast out and built her life beyond the Storm name, influence, and untold billions. But the shocking death of her larger-than-life father changes everything.

Alice plans to keep her head down, pay her final respects (such as they are), and leave the minute the funeral is over. Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his family a final challenge—an inheritance game designed to upend their world. The rules are clear: spend one week on the island, complete their assigned tasks, and receive the inheritance.

But a whole week on Storm Island is no easy task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting with chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s unyielding arrogance. Her younger sister’s constant analysis of the vibes. Her mother’s cold judgment. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s intriguing and too-handsome second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape unscathed.

A smart and tender story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel explores past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms. – Ballantine Books

This title is also available in large print.

New Memoirs and Biographies

December 26, 2025December 23, 2025 - Stephanie Leave a comment

As someone who has a hard time reading nonfiction, when I’m feeling the need to read nonfiction, I gravitate towards memoirs and biographies. I love the life tidbits and secrets that are dropped. It sometimes feels like a peak behind the curtain into someone’s life when I’m reading a biography.

Below is by no means a complete list of all the new memoirs and biographies at the Davenport Public Library. Let us know in the comments, give us a call, or visit the Library for more recommendations! As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. All descriptions are provided by the publishers.

100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life by Dick Van Dyke

On the eve of his 100th birthday, national treasure Dick Van Dyke brings us this autobiographical collection of stories, reflections, and life advice on how he’s maintained a zest for life.

Dick Van Dyke danced his way into our hearts with iconic roles in Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Now, as he’s about to turn 100 years old, Dick is still dancing and approaching life with the twinkle in his eye that we’ve come to know and love. In 100 Rules for Living to 100, he reveals his secrets for maintaining your joie de vivre and making the most out of the life you’ve been given.

Through stories of his pivotal childhood, moments on film sets, his expansive family, and finding love late in life, Dick reflects on both the joyful times and the challenges that shaped him. His indefatigable spirit and positive attitude will surely inspire readers to count the blessings in their own lives, persevere through the hard times, and appreciate the beauty and complexity of being human. – Grand Central Publishing

Eternally Electric: The Message in My Music by Debbie Gibson

In her long-awaited debut, Debbie Gibson reflects on the lessons she learned in her years as a young pop pioneer and on her hard-earned journey to embrace her authentic self, allowing her to lead the healthy, engaged—and electric!—life she does today.

Debbie Gibson was just sixteen when she released her multi-platinum debut album Out of the Blue and recorded “Foolish Beat” in 1988, making her the youngest person to ever write, produce, and perform a Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper.

A child actress who became the original pop princess, Debbie had full creative control over her music and, when that no longer aligned with a transitioning arts scene, she went on to star in Broadway’s Les Misérables, Beauty and the Beast, and Cabaret, as well as in the London production of Grease. Yet, for all the accolades and achievements, her success came at a high price.

Anxiety, depression, financial struggles, illness—Debbie writes candidly about these and other challenges, and how she ultimately redesigned her life to overcome them. This is the story of her not only surviving, but thriving: returning to her musical roots, releasing new albums, going back out on tour, and living the best version of her authentic self to remain…Eternally Electric! – Gallery Books

Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum by Michael J. Fox

A poignant, heartfelt, and funny memoir about how, in 1985, Michael J. Fox brought to life two iconic roles simultaneously—Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties and Marty McFly in Back to the Future. An amazing true story as only Michael J. Fox can tell it

In early 1985, Michael J. Fox was one of the biggest stars on television. His world was about to get even bigger, but only if he could survive the kind of double duty unheard of in Hollywood. Fox’s days were already dedicated to rehearsing and taping the hit sitcom Family Ties, but then the chance of a lifetime came his way. Soon, he committed his nights to a new time-travel adventure film being directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg—Back to the Future. Sitcom during the day, movie at night—day after day, for months.

Fox’s nightly commute from a soundstage at Paramount to the back lot at Universal Studios, from one dream job to another, would become his own space-time continuum. It was in this time portal that Alex P. Keaton handed the baton to Marty McFly while Michael J. Fox tried to catch a few minutes of sleep. Alex’s bravado, Marty’s flair, and Fox’s comedic virtuosity all swirled together to create something truly special.

In Future Boy, Fox tells the remarkable story of playing two landmark roles at the same time—a slice of entertainment history that’s never been told. Using new interviews with the cast and crew of both projects, the result is a vividly drawn and eye-opening story of creative achievement by a beloved icon. – Flatiron Books

Heart Life Music by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason

Heart Life Music is a love letter to the journey: all the places I’ve gone and how we got here. This book takes you on the ride.

Knoxville. Moscow. Myrtle Beach. The Virgin Islands. Plentywood, Montana. Holmdel, New Jersey. Key West. New England. The Road. No Shoes Nation. Beyond.

We’ve had a lot of fun, a bunch of challenges, a few moments of wondering “what the hell?”—and more love than any artist deserves. You’re gonna meet so many people, some you’d never expect to see crossing my path, whether it’s the Wailers, Willie Nelson, John Madden, or Grace Potter. Maybe you won’t be surprised at all. I just know this: A whole lot has happened.

For anyone who’s found a piece of your life in any of my songs, this is for you. Open a cold drink, get out on your deck or your boat or wherever your happy space is, jump in, and live them along with me.

And if you’ve got dreams, whatever they are, know they don’t always come easy. But if you believe, do the hard work, and keep coming back, you’d be amazed at what can happen. I’m a pretty average guy, so look at this—know you might could do it, too.

It’s been a helluva trip around the sun. – William Morrow

Joyride: A Memoir by Susan Orlean

“The story of my life is the story of my stories,” writes Susan Orlean in this extraordinary, era-defining memoir from one of the greatest practitioners of narrative nonfiction of our time. Joyride is a magic carpet ride through Orlean’s life and career, where every day is an opportunity for discovery and every moment holds the potential for wonder. Throughout her storied career, her curiosity draws her to explore the most ordinary and extraordinary of places, from going deep inside the head of a regular ten-year-old boy for a legendary profile (“The American Man Age Ten”) to reporting on a woman who owns twenty-seven tigers, from capturing the routine magic of Saturday night to climbing Mt. Fuji.

Not only does Orlean’s account of a writing life offer a trove of indispensable gleanings for writers, it’s also an essential and practical guide to embracing any creative path. She takes us through her process of dreaming up ideas, managing deadlines, connecting with sources, chasing every possible lead, confronting writer’s block and self-doubt, and crafting the perfect lede—a Susan specialty.

While Orlean has always written her way into other people’s lives in order to understand the human experience, Joyride is her most personal book ever—a searching journey through finding her feet as a journalist, recovering from the excruciating collapse of her first marriage, falling head-over-heels in love again, becoming a mother while mourning the decline of her own mother, sojourning to Hollywood for films based on her work including Adaptation and Blue Crush, and confronting mortality. Joyride is also a time machine to a bygone era of journalism, from Orlean’s bright start in the golden age of alt-weeklies to her career-making days working alongside icons such as Robert Gottlieb, Tina Brown, David Remnick, Anna Wintour, Sonny Mehta, and Jonathan Karp—forces who shaped the media industry as we know it today.

Infused with Orlean’s signature warmth and wit, Joyride is a must-read for anyone who hungers to start, build, and sustain a creative life. Orlean inspires us to seek out daily inspiration and rediscover the marvels that surround us. – Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster

Last Rites by Ozzy Osbourne

“People say to me, if you could do it all again, knowing what you know now, would you change anything? I’m like, f*** no. If I’d been clean and sober, I wouldn’t be Ozzy. If I’d done normal, sensible things, I wouldn’t be Ozzy.”

Husband. Father. Grandfather. F*cking Icon.
1948 – 2025

In 2018, at the age of sixty-nine, Ozzy Osbourne was on a triumphant farewell tour, playing to sold-out arenas and rave reviews all around the world.

Then: disaster.

In a matter of just a few weeks, he went from being hospitalized with a finger infection to having to abandon his tour – and all public life – as he faced near-total paralysis from the neck down.

LAST RITES is the shocking, bitterly hilarious, never-before-told story of Ozzy’s descent into hell. Along the way, he reflects on his extraordinary life and career, including his marriage to wife Sharon, as well as his reflections on what it took for him to get back onstage for the triumphant Back to the Beginning concert, streamed around the world, where Ozzy reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates for the final time.

Unflinching, brutally honest, but surprisingly life-affirming, Last Rites demonstrates once again why Ozzy has transcended his status as ‘The Godfather of Metal’ and ‘The Prince of Darkness’ to become a modern-day folk hero and national treasure. – Grand Central Publishing

The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir by Roy Wood Jr.

When Roy Wood Jr. held his baby boy for the first time, he was relieved that his son was happy and healthy, but he felt a strange mix of joy and apprehension. Roy’s own father, a voice of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama, had passed away when Roy was sixteen. There were gaps in the lessons passed down from father to son and, holding his own child, Roy wondered: Have I managed to fill in those blanks, to learn the lessons I will one day need to teach my boy?

So Roy looked back to figure out who had taught him lessons throughout his life and which he could pass down to his son. Some of his father figures were clear, like a colorful man from Philadelphia navigating life after prison, who taught Roy the value of having a vision for his life, or his fellow comedians, who showed him what it took to make it as a working stand-up performer. Others were less obvious, from the teenage friends who convinced him to race “leaf boats” carrying lit matches in the middle of a drought to a drug-addicted restaurant colleague who played hoops while Roy scoured dirty dishes to big names in Hollywood, like Trevor Noah and more.

In The Man of Many Fathers, Roy shares what he’s learned with humor and heart, delivering the most memorable lessons, such as how to channel anger through a more successful outlet (hint: never ever try to outfox a single mom), how not to get caught snitching (hint: never snitch), and how to become a good man—and a good dad (hint: listen to your fathers). – Crown

Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They’re Too Much by Cynthia Erivo

In this vulnerable and enlightening book of life lessons, globally renowned performer Cynthia Erivo draws from her singular experience to show us how to embrace being “too much” and to live up to the fullest iteration of ourselves.

It is never too late to build the life you’re seeking.

Cynthia Erivo learned the music to Wicked a decade before she needed it, not knowing those same lyrics would change her life. Now she has performed those songs on the world stage, showing us there is always time to keep discovering ourselves. And to illustrate that it’s often the parts of ourselves we are told to bury that make us shine.

In a series of powerful, personal vignettes, Cynthia reflects on the ways she has grown as an actor and human and the practices she’s learned over years of performing and reminds us all we are capable of so much more than we think.

We all have hopes and dreams that we want to bring across the finish line. We all falter and take missteps. In this book, Cynthia draws from her experiences running marathons, both real and metaphorical, onstage and onscreen, to show how each challenge can help us. She urges readers to lean into the wisdom of their bodies, to understand and strive for a physical and mental balance. Because when we chase our deepest desires, each small step leads us closer to where we want to go. – Flatiron Books

Sister Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Family, and Finding Freedom by Christine Brown Woolley

From TLC’s Sister Wives star Christine Brown Woolley, a groundbreaking and heartfelt memoir about living in a family like no other and finding the strength to leave Mormonism—and the only life she’s known—behind.

Christine Brown Woolley had always dreamed of having a picture-perfect family—beautiful children, an adoring husband, and of course, a sisterhood of wives to share him with. Raised in Utah by practicing polygamists, Christine knew her life was less than normal, but that didn’t stop her from loving the full house of her childhood any less.

Becoming Kody Brown’s third wife in 1994, Christine finally found the big, happy family she had hoped for. When TLC’s hit show Sister Wives premiered in 2010, Christine knew it was her chance to shine a light on the brighter side of polygamy—the helping hands, the lively discussions, and their unmatched devotion to each other. But the cameras also revealed a much darker truth.

Now, in this candid tell-all, Christine shares for the first time the journey that led her away from polygamy and the bold path she is carving to live apart from all she has ever known. Moving, genuine, and insightful, this is a uniquely powerful tour de force of Christine’s journey toward and beyond her time in the spotlight as a sister wife. – Gallery Books

Softly, as I Leave You: Life After Elvis by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley with Mary Jane Ross

The long-awaited memoir by Priscilla Presley chronicling her difficult, inspiring journey beyond the walls of Graceland and behind the elegant image the world sees.

Priscilla Presley’s divorce from Elvis left his fans incredulous. How could she leave the man every woman wanted? From the outside, life in Elvis’s mansion looked glamorous and enviable, and in many respects, it was. But inside the mansion, her husband was constantly surrounded by a male entourage while at the gates, lines of beautiful women waited hopefully for an audience with the King. From the time she was seventeen years-old, that life was all Priscilla had known. During her ten years with Elvis, it became painfully apparent that she had no idea who she was outside Elvis’s world. The only way to find herself was to leave that world and seek a new life of her own, because leaving was the only way to survive, for herself and for her daughter.

Softly, As I Leave You, is the deeply personal story of what Priscilla lost and what she found when she walked away from the man she loved. Despite the legal separation, their love for one another transformed into a touching and tender dynamic that endured until Elvis’s untimely death four years later. Shattered by Elvis’s passing, she had to reinvent herself a second time as the single mother of a talented, often headstrong daughter who never really recovered from her father’s death. Priscilla’s dedication to motherhood was enriched by the birth of her second child, and she gradually found her footing as a businesswoman, actress, designer, and legislative advocate. She transformed Graceland into an international destination and helped guide the development of Elvis Presley Enterprises. But the unexpected, shattering loss of three immediate family members years later brought Priscilla to her knees. She shares her journey with a quiet dignity that will comfort and reassure anyone who has suffered – and survived – seemingly unbearable loss.

A passionate, compassionate, and inspiring story of finding your place in the world, Softly, As I Leave You, is a sweet Southern melody that will take the reader with Priscilla on her long road home. – Grand Central Publishing

This title is also available in large print.

Star of the Show: My Life on Stage by Dolly Parton with Tom Roland

A stunning celebration of Dolly Parton’s iconic career as a performer, featuring entertaining personal stories alongside more than 500 full-color photographs, including exclusive images and ephemera from her archive, and an eight-page gatefold listing her lifetime of performances.

In Star of the Show, the culminating book in Dolly Parton’s photographic trilogy—following Songteller (lyrics) and Behind the Seams (fashion)—the global superstar finally shares a definitive look at her career as one of the world’s most dazzling and beloved performers.

Featuring engaging stories and memories from Parton’s dynamic life behind the microphone, this book spotlights her signature performances and star-making moments, from singing in front of her family to premiering on the Grand Ole Opry stage and beyond. Her formative years performing with country legend Porter Wagoner are chronicled as she learns hard lessons from life on the road. Breaking out on her own at state fairs and critically acclaimed venues, she toured the world performing for millions of fans in arenas, stadiums, and at festivals. From making her onscreen debut in the blockbuster feature film 9 to 5 to playing the Dallas Cowboys’ 2023 Thanksgiving halftime show to 42 million viewers, this global superstar knows no limits. Along the way, Dolly shares the stage with Kenny Rogers, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and others, while offering insight on touring big, singing strong, and staying on top for seven decades.

Brimming with Parton’s trademark wit and heartfelt sincerity, Star of the Show: My Life on Stage is not only an homage to one of history’s most cherished artists, but also a must-have collector’s item for—and love letter to—any fan of the one and only Dolly Parton. – Ten Speed Press

Still Bobbi: A Master Class in Resilience and Reinvention by Bobbi Brown

Bobbi Brown has never written her life story…until now.

In Still Bobbi, she reveals how a young girl from suburban Chicago who was bored at school but had a budding entrepreneurial spirit that she inherited from her Papa Sam, grew up to become a makeup artist to the stars and a beauty industry icon who built two juggernaut brands. The development of Bobbi’s revolutionary, yet simple no makeup makeup philosophy was informed early by two powerful, yet diametrically different women in her life: her loving and very glamorous mother who struggled with mental health issues and her equally-loving, but very practical, non-nonsense, Aunt Alice. In Still Bobbi, Bobbi reveals how these two women, along with her own Midwestern work ethic and personal resilience, continue to inform her life and career to this day.

In the early ’90s, when makeup trends were about covering, contouring, and transforming, Bobbi blazed her own path, using makeup that accentuated a woman’s natural beauty. In the process, she revolutionized the makeup industry. At twenty-five, Bobbi moved to New York City to become a makeup artist and she hustled to break into the very gated fashion and beauty industry. Eight years, later, she got a Vogue cover. By age thirty-seven, she sold her namesake brand (and her name) to Estee Lauder for a life-changing sum. She spent the next twenty-two years building her brand into a one billion business until one day, she was called upstairs and unceremoniously told she was no longer in charge of the brand she built. At fifty-nine years old, she had to reinvent herself and begin all over again.

Bobbi’s vision, creativity, and resilience are fully visible in these pages. Through ups and downs, her North Star has remained consistent—embrace who you are, flaws, freckles, and wrinkles included. This is not just Bobbi’s beauty philosophy—it’s how she lives her life. Real is better than fake. Simple is better than complicated. Family comes first. And when real life throws you obstacles, pivot and just figure it out.

After all this time, after all, she’s Still Bobbi. – S&S / Marysue Rucci Books

That’s A Great Question, I’d Love to Tell You by Elyse Myers

Writer, comedian, and content creator Elyse Myers gets real about life’s awkward moments in her bold, funny, and unfiltered debut book

Elyse Myers is known to her twelve million followers as “The Internet’s Best Friend,” sharing her relatable stories and comedic sketches and serving as an advocate for topics such as neurodivergence, impostor syndrome, body image, and more. Whether she’s making people laugh with tales of disastrous dates or giving a voice to that awkward internal monologue many of us have, she has three simple goals behind everything she makes: To make people feel known, loved, and like they belong.

In That’s a Great Question, I’d Love to Tell You, Elyse delivers a debut collection of deeply personal stories and hand-drawn illustrations, offering even more intimate reflections beyond what fans have seen on her social media, including:

Spending 7 Minutes in Heaven accidentally friend-zoning her crush
How Lucy, the Magic 8 Ball keychain, changed her life by accident
Moving from California to Australia to Texas to Nebraska to like (maybe even love!) herself
How to Fold Hospital Corners in 10 EASY STEPS!—a practical guide and a rumination about…everything
The “meat cute” when she met her smoke show of a husband at a butcher’s counter in Australia—and how she revealed herself to be an emotional runner

Plus, tales involving bad dates and is-this-a-dates; the tempting yet futile urge to reinvent yourself, panic attacks and escape hatches, and favorite pens and systems to use them, all while loving and letting yourself be loved, preferably at the same time. – William Morrow

Truly by Lionel Richie

The long-awaited memoir of the legendary Lionel Richie.

As a storyteller second to none, Lionel Richie is ready to tell it all. In this intimate, deeply candid memoir, Lionel revisits hilarious and harrowing events to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don’t matter. Lionel chronicles lessons learned during his unlikely story of remarkable success—his dramatic transformation from painfully shy, “tragically” late bloomer to world-class entertainer and composer of love songs that have played as the soundtrack of our lives.

Funny, warm, and riveting, Lionel recalls his childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he grew up on its university campus during the heyday of the Civil Rights movement, raucous adventures as a member of The Commodores, coming-of-age in late 1960s Harlem, culture shock playing gigs on the French Riviera, the big break of being signed to Motown, his meteoric solo career that included an Olympics performance witnessed by two billion around the globe, all the way through to writing and recording “We Are the World” and his current multi-generational fame as a judge on American Idol. Even with its turbulence, loss, and near-calamity, Lionel’s journey takes us on a thrill ride and delivers a memoir for the ages—reminding us of the power of love to elevate our own lives and our world. – HarperOne

Vagabond: A Memoir by Tim Curry

This memoir is a celebration of Tim Curry’s life’s work, and a testament to his profound impact on the entertainment industry as we know it today.

There are few stars in Hollywood today that can boast the kind of resume Tony award-nominated actor Tim Curry has built over the past five decades. From his breakout role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show to his iconic depiction as the sadistic clown Pennywise in It to his critically acclaimed role as the original King Arthur in both the Broadway and West End versions of Spamalot, Curry redefined what it meant to be a “character actor,” portraying heroes and villains alike with complexity, nuance, and a genuine understanding of human darkness.

Now, in his memoir, Curry takes readers behind-the-scenes of his rise to fame from his early beginnings as a military brat to his formative years in boarding school and university, to the moment when he hit the stage for the first time. He goes in-depth about what it was like to work on some of the most emblematic works of the 20th century, constantly switching between a camera and a live audience. He also explores the voicework that defined his later career and provided him with a chance to pivot after surviving a catastrophic stroke in 2012 that nearly took his life.

With the upcoming 50th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the 40th anniversary of Clue, there’s never been a better time for Tim to share his story with the world. – Grand Central Publishing

We Did OK, Kid: A Memoir by Anthony Hopkins

Academy Award–winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins delves into his illustrious film and theater career, difficult childhood, and path to sobriety in his honest, moving, and long-awaited memoir.

Born and raised in Port Talbot—a small Welsh steelworks town—amid war and depression, Sir Anthony Hopkins grew up around men who were tough, to say the least, and eschewed all forms of emotional vulnerability in favor of alcoholism and brutality. A struggling student in school, he was deemed by his peers, his parents, and other adults as a failure with no future ahead of him. But, on a fateful Saturday night, the disregarded Welsh boy watched the 1948 adaptation of Hamlet, sparking a passion for acting that would lead him on a path that no one could have predicted.

With candor and a voice that is both arresting and vulnerable, Sir Anthony recounts his various career milestones and provides a once-in-a-lifetime look into the brilliance behind some of his most iconic roles. His performance as Iago gets him admitted into the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and places him under the wing of Laurence Olivier. He meets Richard Burton by chance as a young boy in his art teacher’s apartment, and later, backstage before a performance of Equus as an established actor meeting his hero. His iconic portrayal of Hannibal Lecter was informed by the creepy performance of Bela Lugosi in Dracula and the razor-sharp precision of his acting teacher. He pulls raw emotion from the stoicism of his father and grandfather for an unforgettable performance in King Lear.

Sir Anthony also takes a deeply honest look at the low points in his personal life. His addiction cost him his first marriage, his relationship with his only child, and nearly his life—the latter ultimately propelling him toward sobriety, a commitment he has maintained for nearly half a century. He constantly battles against the desire to move through life alone and avoid connection for fear of getting hurt—much like the men in his family—and as the years go by, he deals with questions of mortality, getting ready to discover what his father called The Big Secret.

Featuring a special collection of personal photographs throughout, We Did OK, Kid is a raw and passionate memoir from a complex, iconic man who has inspired audiences with remarkable performances for over sixty years. – S&S / Summit Books

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