Pictures of You (43 page)

13. The novel asks, can we forgive the unforgivable? Do you think Charlie ever really forgives April? Do
you
?

14. At the end of the novel, on page 323, Sam wonders if his whole life might be perfect, “or just this moment? And wouldn’t that be enough?” What do you think he means? And what do you think the answer to that question might say about Sam’s worldview?

15. Leavitt has said that she wanted to create a never-ending story that would make readers wonder about the characters long after they turned the last page. What do you think happens to Sam? Do you think Charlie and Isabelle ever meet again?

Caroline Leavitt is the award-winning author of eight novels. Leavitt’s essays and stories have been included in
New York Magazine, Psychology Today, More, Parenting, Redbook, Salon
, and several anthologies. A book critic for the
Boston Globe
and
People
, she is a senior writing instructor at UCLA online. Her Web site is
www.carolineleavitt.com
.

A Reliable Wife
, a novel by Robert Goolrick

Rural Wisconsin, 1907. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt stands alone on a train platform anxiously awaiting the arrival of the woman who answered his newspaper ad for “a reliable wife.” The woman who arrives is not the one he expects in this
New York Times
#1 Bestseller about love and madness, longing and murder.

“[A] chillingly engrossing plot … Good to the riveting end.”—
USA Today

“Deliciously wicked and tense … Intoxicating.”—
The Washington Post

“A rousing historical potboiler.”—
The Boston Globe

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-977-1

Between Here and April
, a novel by Deborah Copaken Kogan

When a deep-rooted memory suddenly surfaces, Elizabeth Burns becomes obsessed with the long-ago disappearance of her childhood friend April Cassidy.

“The perfect book club book.”—
The Washington Post Book World

“[A] haunting page-turner … [A] compelling look at what it means to be a mother and a wife.”—
Working Mother

“Extraordinary … This is a story that needs to be told.”—
Elle
, #1 Reader’s Pick

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-932-0

Every Last Cuckoo
, a novel by Kate Maloy

In the tradition of Jane Smiley and Sue Miller comes this wise and gratifying novel about a woman who gracefully accepts a surprising new role in life just when she thinks her best years are behind her.

Winner of the ALA Reading List Award for Women’s Fiction

“Truly engrossing … An excellent book club selection.”—
Library Journal

“A tender and wise story of what happens when love lasts.”—Katharine Weber, author of
Triangle

“Inspiring … Grabs the reader by the heart.”—
The New Orleans Times-Picayune

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-675-6

Mudbound
, a novel by Hillary Jordan

Mudbound
is the saga of the McAllan family, who struggle to survive on a remote ramshackle farm, and the Jacksons, their black sharecroppers. When two men return from World War II to work the land, the unlikely friendship between these brothers-in-arms—one white, one black—arouses the passions of their neighbors. In this award-winning portrait of two families caught up in the blind hatred of a small Southern town, prejudice takes many forms, both subtle and ruthless.

Winner of the Bellwether Prize for Fiction

“This is storytelling at the height of its powers … Hillary Jordan writes with the force of a Delta storm.”—Barbara Kingsolver

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-677-0

Water for Elephants
, a novel by Sara Gruen

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski is tossed by fate onto a rickety train, home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Amid a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, Jacob becomes involved with Marlena, the beautiful young equestrian star; her husband, a charismatic but twisted animal trainer; and Rosie, an untrainable elephant who is the great gray hope for this third-rate show. Now in his nineties, Jacob at long last reveals the story of their unlikely yet powerful bonds, ones that nearly shatter them all.

“[An] arresting new novel … With a showman’s expert timing, [Gruen] saves a terrific revelation for the final pages, transforming a glimpse of Americana into an enchanting escapist fairy tale.”—
The New York Times Book Review

“Gritty, sensual and charged with dark secrets involving love, murder and a majestic, mute heroine.”
—Parade

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-560-5

Breakfast with Buddha
, a novel by Roland Merullo

When his sister tricks him into taking her guru, a crimson-robed monk, on a trip to their childhood home, Otto Ringling, a confirmed skeptic, is not amused. Six days on the road with an enigmatic holy man who answers every question with a riddle is not what he’d planned. But along the way, Otto is given the remarkable opportunity to see his world—and more important, his life—through someone else’s eyes.

“Enlightenment meets
On the Road
in this witty, insightful novel.”
—The Boston Sunday Globe

“A laugh-out-loud novel that’s both comical and wise … balancing irreverence with insight.”
—The Louisville Courier-Journal

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-616-9

Saving the World
, a novel by Julia Alvarez

While Alma Huebner is researching a new novel, she discovers the true story of Isabel Sendales y Gómez, who embarked on a courageous sea voyage to rescue the New World from smallpox. The author of
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
and
In the Time of the Butterflies
, Alvarez captures the worlds of two women living two centuries apart but with surprisingly parallel fates.

“Fresh and unusual, and thought-provokingly sensitive.”
—The Boston Globe

“Engrossing, expertly paced.”—
People

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-558-2

The Ghost at the Table
, a novel by Suzanne Berne

When Frances arranges to host Thanksgiving at her idyllic New England farmhouse, she envisions a happy family reunion, one that will include her sister, Cynthia. But tension mounts between them as each struggles with a different version of the mysterious circumstances surrounding their mother’s death twenty-five years earlier.

“Wholly engaging, the perfect spark for launching a rich conversation around your own table.”—
The Washington Post Book World

“A crash course in sibling rivalry.”—
O: The Oprah Magazine

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-579-7

Coal Black Horse
, a novel by Robert Olmstead

When Robey Childs’s mother has a premonition about her husband, who is away fighting in the Civil War, she sends her only son to find him and bring him home. At fourteen, Robey thinks he’s off on a great adventure. But it takes the gift of a powerful and noble coal black horse to show him how to undertake the most important journey in his life.

“A remarkable creation.”—
Chicago Tribune

“Exciting … A grueling adventure.”—
The New York Times Book Review

“Gripping … Echoes the work of Cormac McCarthy.”—
The Cleveland Plain Dealer

AN ALGONQUIN READERS ROUND TABLE EDITION WITH READING GROUP GUIDE AND OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES • FICTION • ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-601-5