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Restoration
by Olaf Olafsson - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Alice Orsini shocks everyone when she marries the son of a minor Italian landowner and begins restoring San Martino, a crumbling villa in Tuscany, to its former glory. But after years of hard work, Alice's growing restlessness pulls her into the heady social swirl of wartime Rome and a reckless affair that will have devastating consequences.

Besides discussion questions, which of the following material do you look at to enhance your book group discussion? (Please check as many as apply.)

March 1, 2012, 351 voters

March 2012

Spring is on its way, which means just around the corner I will move my weekend reading spot from the couch in the family room to the hammock on the patio and then later as we move into summer to a lounge chair poolside. This comes just as I have finally mastered how to make a fire in the fireplace where the snap of burning wood is background noise as I read. I guess it's my version of "white noise."

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Charlene Rue

Director of Collection Development, Brooklyn Public Library

Charlene Rue is currently the director of collection development for the Brooklyn Public Library, former chair of American Library Association’s Notable Books Council, and current member of the RUSA Awards Committee.

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Editorial Content for The Humming Room

Contributors

Sarah Rachel Egelman

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

Just over a hundred years ago, readers first met the surly orphan turned sensitive nature lover Mary Lennox in Frances Hodgson Burnett's now classic children's book, THE SECRET GARDEN. Author Ellen Potter's latest chapter book, THE HUMMING ROOM, was inspired by it but is an inventive and charming story in its own right. Read More

Teaser

Roo Fanshaw’s wealthy uncle agrees to take her into his home after she loses her parents. His strange house is teeming with ghost stories and secrets, and Roo keeps hearing eerie noises. People are lying to her, and Roo becomes determined to find the truth. Despite the best efforts of her uncle's assistants, Roo discovers the house's hidden room --- a garden with a tragic secret.

Promo

Roo Fanshaw’s wealthy uncle agrees to take her into his home after she loses her parents. His strange house is teeming with ghost stories and secrets, and Roo keeps hearing eerie noises. People are lying to her, and Roo becomes determined to find the truth. Despite the best efforts of her uncle's assistants, Roo discovers the house's hidden room --- a garden with a tragic secret.

Sipping From the Nile: My Exodus From Egypt
by Jean Naggar - Nonfiction

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February 23, 2012

Richard Mason: Why I Wrote HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER

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Richard Mason was born in South Africa in 1978 and lives in New York City. His first novel, The Drowning People, published when he was 21 and still a student at Oxford, sold more than a million copies worldwide and won Italy’s Grinzane Cavour Prize for Best First Novel. He is also the author of Natural Elements, which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the best books of 2009 and longlisted for the IMPAC Prize and the Sunday Times Literary Award. History of a Pleasure Seeker is his fourth novel. Here, he talks about the process of writing the book.  

Miriam Tuliao

Assistant Director of Central Collection Development, NYPL

Miriam Tuliao is the assistant director of Central Collection Development at The New York Public Library. She currently serves on the American Library Association’s Reference User Services Division’s Reading List and Collection Development Education committees. In late June, she plans to participate in the fourth annual Liberty Island Swim to help raise funds for ALA's Spectrum Scholarship program. Her contact information: [email protected].

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Joe Hartlaub

Senior Writer Emeritus

Joe Hartlaub retired as Bookreporter.com's senior writer/reviewer after 24 years with the site (1997-2021).

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