Metropolitan Library System

"Sloane Parker lives a small, contained life as a librarian in her small, contained town. She never thinks of herself as lonely...but still she looks forward to that time every day when old curmudgeon Arthur McLachlan comes to browse the shelves and cheerfully insult her. Their sparring is such a highlight of Sloane's day that when Arthur doesn't show up one morning, she's instantly concerned. And then another day passes, and another. Anxious, Sloane...

"Ever since an accident three years ago, Holly has been part of a lonely-hearts letter-writing club for the holidays. The tradition is something she has come to treasure: Each December, she writes to a stranger who is also spending Christmas alone and receives a letter from another lonely person. Usually, the letters go unanswered. That's the point--the letters are anonymous, and the sender writes whatever is in their heart. But this year, the letter...

In Tokyo, seven students are hiding in their darkened bedrooms, unable to face their family and friends -- until the moment they find the mirrors in their bedrooms are shining. At a single touch, they are pulled from their lonely lives into to a wondrous castle straight out of a Grimm's fairy tale. As time passes, only those brave enough to share their stories will be saved. As they struggle to abide by the rules of the game, a moving story unfolds,...

"A...novel set in near future New York about a young woman who finds herself tangled in a secret government project combating loneliness"--

"What would you do if everyone you love disappeared? What if it was your fault? For July Fielding, nothing has been the same since that summer before senior year. Once, she had Alex, her loyal best friend, the one who always had her back. She had Sydney, who pushed her during every cross-country run, and who sometimes seemed to know July better than she knew herself. And she had Sam. Sam, who told her she was everything and left her breathless with...

"From Man Booker International Prize-winning author Jokha Alharthi, Bitter Orange Tree is a profound exploration of social status, wealth, desire, and female agency. It presents a mosaic portrait of one young woman's attempt to understand the roots she has grown from, and to envisage an adulthood in which her own power and happiness might find the freedom necessary to bear fruit and flourish. Zuhour, an Omani student at a British university, is caught...

"Long out of print, Eugene Lim's wry and haunting debut novel returns to shelves with a new introduction from Renee Gladman and a fresh, reversible cover. Reconciling life after divorce, Jim secludes himself in the Midwest, living in an aimless nostalgia, while Sarah runs headfirst through New York in an attempt to bypass the grief of her dissolved marriage. Mystically connected by an old friend and the effects of his actions, they both attempt to...

"A powerfully emotional story of four people touched by a teen's death, award-winning author Gurjinder Basran's Help! I'm Alive is a clear-eyed exploration of meaningful connection in the modern era. After video footage of Jay's death is shared on social media, a suburban Vancouver community is left to try to make sense of what happened to Jay and whether his death was an accident or a suicide. Help! I'm Alive explores the aftermath through the eyes...

"A multilayered and rhythmic debut novel about her life as a Black German woman living in Berlin and New York during the chaos of the 2016 U.S. presidential election from playwright Olivia Wenzel. A young woman attends a play about the fall of the Berlin Wall--and realizes she is the only Black person in the audience. She and her boyfriend are hanging out by a lake outside Berlin--and four neo-Nazis show up. In New York, she is having sex with a stranger...