A BEST OF SUMMER READ ACCORDING TO NEWSWEEK, PARADE MAGAZINE, NBC
NEWS, LITHUB, AND POPSUGAR!
"The most heartfelt read of the summer...a surprising delight of a
novel."--Shondaland
An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter
with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between
two very different people in a London suburb.
Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley, in West London after
losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and
worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading
while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries.
Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library
for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the
back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It's a list of novels that she's never
heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the
checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list,
one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books
transport Aleisha from the painful realities she's facing at home.
When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with
his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading
list...hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared
books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps
them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again.
