The Last Bookshop in London by Madelin Martin

 In 1939, young Grace Bennett and her best friend Viv want nothing more than to leave the quiet streets of Norfolk for the excitement of London.  Both dream of working at Harrod's but without recommendations from a previous employer, that can't happen.  Viv is not above a little white lie and fakes a letter which lands her a coveted job on Harrod's shopping floor.  Grace, instead, must rely on the generosity of her mother's friend and temporarily work as an assistant to the curmudgeonly Mr. Evans,` owner of Primrose Hill Books.  Tucked away on a side street, far away from stylish Paternoster Row where multiple bookstores looked out on each other, the shop is dusty and disorganized. With little interest in reading, Grace hopes she can survive her 6 months of employment with enough skill that she will earn her a good  recommendation and be off to join Viv.  But the war and the blitz and Grace's own journey to self discovery change all that. A warm fuzzy tribute to the power of reading and small book stores everywhere.

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

 In 1862 Marie Blackbird sewed seeds into the hem of her skirt. Whatever might happen with the approaching soldiers, she knew she would need to grow the food to sustain her family. In 2002, Rosalie Iron Wing struggles to find her way back to her Dakhota roots.  The emptiness she carries is the result of choices she has made to survive, choices that separated her both from her past and possibility of the future she hoped to share with her son.  In between the lives of the two women is a family story of stolen lands, kidnapped children, and brutal educational practices. As much as this is the history of a Native American family, it is also a warning about the loss of the native farming tradition, of forgetting to cherish the earth that sustains us and the mistakes we make when faced with the promise of wealth.

The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict

 Mileva Mirec was born with a hip defect that made her limp.  Convinced that this made her unattractive and unsuitable for marriage, she threw herself into the study of the mathematics and physics she loved.  Luckily her father supported her studies.  Even luckier she met a young brilliant physicist who seemed to find her mind attractive enough to propose marriage.  His name was Albert Einstein.  Unfortunately Mileva was expected to step back from her studies to raise their children.  However she never stopped grappling with the tricky questions that Albert shared.  As their marriage unravels,  a trip on a train causes her to provide a specific perspective on one of those problems.  Mileva disappears into obscurity.  Albert develops his Theory of Relativity but whose idea was it really?

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

 So here's a bit of history I didn't know.  During the Revolutionary War, the British promised freedom to any slave who would help them defeat the colonists.  Unfortunately the British lost but before there was any kind of USA and before the Red Coats headed back to England, they tried to make good on their promise.  They collected the names of any Negro who could show that they had helped and put those identified on ships to Nova Scotia with promises of free land. This record became the real "Book of Negroes."  Pages of this book can be found in museums in Canada, England and our National Archives Public Records Office.  The promise of free land was not so real.  

This is the story of Aminata Diallo who could` have been one of the names in that book.  But her story starts much earlier.  As an 11 year old girl, in 1745, she is taken from her village and marched to the West Coast of Africa where she joined hundreds of others on a ship bound for the Americas. Her mother had trained her to deliver babies and her father had taught her to read some of the Koran but neither parent survived to make the horrible journey across the Atlantic.  For various reasons, Aminata has some freedom to move about the ship and, as she does, those who are chained together call out their names to her.  As she moves back and forth, she calls them back proving that she will remember.  It is a belief in many of the West African cultures that you die twice.  Once when your body dies and again when your name is no longer spoken. This struggle to remember is one of my favorite parts of the book.

Hill wisely starts the book with Aminata's adult story so you know she not only survives but has obtained a position of some importance.  Knowing this made the heart braking story of her life possible to read.  This is one of the best personal slave stories I have ever read.  I hope that the strong and brilliant ways she manages to make her way to freedom were just as possible as the horrible side of slavery was true.  And that we will remember.

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

 When slavery ended many people went in search of family members that were sold off long ago.  Ads were placed in the Southwestern Christian Advocate giving names, dates and places related to those who were lost.  These real ads from this real paper were read aloud in black churches at the time hoping to reconnect these families.  It is these ads that form the basis of this story.  

In 1885, Hannie, a freed slave, gets into a whole mess of trouble with two young women connected to her former master's household.  Hannie is in search of anyone who is possession of three blue beads similar to the ones she wears around her neck. She also hopes to help Lavinia and Juneau Jane find the truth of their inheritance.  In 1985, Benny Silva finds herself teaching in rural Louisiana searching for anything that will excite and engage her mostly poor students. So much history to discover as the stories work their way toward each other.  So much culture to explore.  Not sure how real the ending is but it is definitely sigh worthy.

The Lost Book of the Grail by Charlie Lovett

Arthurian legend; British history; questions of faith; contemporary mystery; even a love story - what's not to like?  In 2016, Professor Arthur Prescott is happiest in the library of Barchester Cathedral among medieval texts and his own Penguin copies of P.G. Wodehouse.  But our story really starts in A.D. 560 in the ruins of St. Ewolda Monastery.  Barchester and Ewolda are figments of Lovett's imagination but the story hangs on many real people and events in British and literary history.  Pure escapist fun for anyone who believes in the magic of books and libraries ... and maybe the grail.

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

 In 1905 J. Pierpont Morgan was one of the wealthiest men in the world.  He was also passionate about collecting art and rare books.  He had already completed the grand structure necessary to hold the collection. He just needed the right person to be his personal librarian.  Meanwhile his nephew Junius Morgan, an honorary staff member of the Princeton University library,  had taken notice of a young librarian, Belle de Costa Greene and arranged for her interview at the Morgan Library. The rest is history.  With the brilliant Belle at the helm, the Morgan Library went on become the repository of an amazing art and rare book collection.  But Belle's success came at great personal cost for she must keep secret the truth of who she really is.  Belle's story and the history surrounding her life are both disturbing and fascinating.  I especially respect Benedict's choice to include Murray in the writing to make it all the more authentic. One of my favorites this year.