No Pressure Book Club

 

All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy

In a dangerous era, Freedom and artistic expression are worth everything. Myshkin is determined to understand why his mother left India, and him, for Dutch-held Bali during the 1930s. This enthralling book offers a new perspective on a familiar time.

 

 

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman

In Regency London, Lady Augusta Colebrook, “Gus”, is determinedly unmarried and bored. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. Saving a young woman from her violent husband, and clearing the name of a handsome comrade, should do the trick!

 

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

In 1939 Nazi Germany, Liesel is one of many children taken from her parents and sent to live with a “proper” German family, losing her brother and gaining a love of reading along the way. Encouraged by her foster father, she steals books from the mayor and from the piles left burning by soldiers. When her family makes the dangerous decision to hide someone in their basement, her life and everything she knows is turned upside down.

 

 

The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker

Drawing from the Icelandic Sagas, The Half-Drowned King takes inspiration from the true story of Ragnvald of Maer, the right hand man of King Harald Fairhair, first king of all Norway, and his sister, Svanhild, as she tries to find freedom in a society where the higher her brother rises, the greater her worth as a political pawn.

 

 

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

On the Korean island of Jeju, Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls from very different backgrounds, begin working with their village’s all-female diving collective. Over many decades—through the Japanese colonialism of the 1930s and 1940s, World War II, the Korean War, and the era of cellphones and wet suits for the women divers—Mi-ja and Young-sook develop the closest of bonds. Nevertheless, their differences are impossible to ignore, and forces outside their control will push their relationship to the breaking point.

 

 

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

Two sisters in a remarkable period of time. Nefertiti, ambitious and charismatic, is beloved by the common people along with her heretical husband, Pharoah Amunhotep, but that may not be enough with powerful priests and others plotting against them.  Mutnodjmet has never shared her sister's desire for power and yearns for a quiet existence. But her independence might come at the cost of defying her powerful sister.

 

 

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

An elderly widower, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, travels through north Texas in the wake of the Civil War, giving live readings from newspapers to audiences hungry for news of the world. That is until he is offered $50 to escort a young orphan, raised by Native Americans, to San Antonio. They don’t see eye-to-eye, and the 400-mile journey tests both of their spirits, but the two eventually forge a bond that cannot be broken, even in the face of the law.

 

 

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Set in 12th century England, this epic tale details the stories of five very different characters: a master builder, a noblewoman, a prior, an artist, and a sorceress. Their lives intertwine around the building of the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known, and are colored by love, betrayal, and revenge. It starts with the execution of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

 

 

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Her name is Dinah. Her story begins with the story of her mothers—Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah—the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. This novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood—weaving betrayal, loss, hope, and perseverance in the face of neglect and disregard.

 

 

Violeta by Isabel Allende

Born in South America during a stormy day in 1920, Violeta has lived a long life. In a final letter, she’ll tell every detail, from poverty to wealth, from joy to sorrow, women’s rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, pandemics, from love to heartbreak. Her life has been shaped by some of the most extraordinary and tragic events of the last 100 years.

 

 

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia Manansala 

 

 

The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson

 

 

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack 

 

 

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perrin

 

 

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto