International Women's Day : What to read

Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who wants an education. The daughter of a broke father, she is a valuable commodity. Taken from school & sold, Adunni's life amounts to this: four goats, two bags of rice, some chickens & a new TV. When unspeakable tragedy swiftly strikes in her new home, she is secretly sold as a servant to a household in the wealthy enclaves of Lagos, where no one will talk about the disappearance of her predecessor, Rebecca. No one but Adunni... As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, & a powerless servant, fourteen-year-old Adunni is told that she is nothing. But Adunni won't be silenced.

Pip is not a detective anymore.
With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her. But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell & Sal Singh. The police won't do anything about it & if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?

In The Power the world is a recognizable place: There's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; & a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root & flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power: They can cause agonizing pain & even death. With this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.

'Everybody remembers where they were the day they heard that Paddy de Courcy was getting married'. But for four women, the big news about the charismatic politician is especially momentous. Stylist Lola has every reason to be interested in who Paddy's marrying because she's his girlfriend, yet she isn't the bride. Journalist Grace wants the story on the de Courcy engagement & thinks Lola holds the key. While Grace's sister, Marnie, still can't forget her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What of the soon-to-be Mrs de Courcy? Alicia will do anything for her fiancé & is determined to be the perfect wife. But does she know the real Paddy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man & the dark secret that binds them all.

Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks" is strong, swift & irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath. They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war & medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before & demand a terrible sacrifice.

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls & all she has of her past is her mother’s journal, which seems to unravel into madness. Then a letter invites Olivia to come home, to Gallant. When Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls. Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets & she is determined to uncover them. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family & where her father may have come from. Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?

Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker & Nick, a soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more? Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn't been too great, but at least he's not being bullied anymore. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 & on the school rugby team. He's heard a little about Charlie, the kid who was outed last year and bullied for a few months but he's never had the opportunity to talk to him. They quickly become friends & soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, sometimes good things are waiting just around the corner.

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail - for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago. As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver & his friends play the same roles onstage & off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, & the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, & one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, & themselves, that they are blameless.

After being orphaned as a young girl, Asghar grapples with coming-of-age as a woman without the guidance of a mother, questions of sexuality & race, navigating a world that put a target on her back. Asghar's poems at once bear anguish, joy, vulnerability, and compassion, while exploring the many facets of violence: how it persists within us, how it is inherited across generations, & how it manifests in our relationships with friends & family, in our own understanding of identity. Using experimental forms & a mix of lyrical and brash language, Asghar confronts her own understanding of identity, place & belonging.

A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie & Nettie sustain their loyalty to & hope in each other across time, distance & silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich & memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug & Sofia. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic & sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain & struggle, companionship & growth, resilience & bravery.

On a hot summer night, a scientist from the Centers for Disease Control has been kidnapped. Vanished into thin air, the authorities try to save the doctor. One month later, the serenity of a sunny Sunday afternoon is shattered by the boom of a ground-shaking blast followed by another. One of Atlanta’s busiest neighborhood’s has been bombed, the location of a University, two hospitals, the FBI headquarters & the CDC. Medical examiner Sara Linton & her partner Will Trent, an investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, rush to the scene & into the heart of a deadly conspiracy. When the assailants abduct Sara, Will goes undercover to save her & prevent a massacre putting his own life on the line for the woman he loves.

When a letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter, a decade-old secret is revealed to him that apparently he's the last to know. His parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord's curse when Harry was just a baby, which he somehow survived. Leaving his unsympathetic aunt & uncle for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, Harry stumbles upon a sinister mystery when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor. Then he hears of a missing stone with astonishing powers, which could be valuable, dangerous or both. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to successfully mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12. Their fates are completely intertwined, every choice could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his tribute & must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive.

Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger & actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought. Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change & there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie, no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.