NCW Libraries

Busy working parents Mark and Jackie have not been intimate with each other in several months, so when Jackie discovers she is pregnant, it comes as an inexplicable shock to all. Jackie insists she's been faithful, but Mark reacts with rage, knowing the baby can't possibly be his. As the unnerving side effects of Jackie's condition worsen, will this seeming miracle bring the family closer together or tear them apart?

Dwelling on his past glory as a prize-winning author, Ryota wastes the money he makes as a private detective on gambling and can barely pay child support. After the death of his father, his aging mother and beautiful ex-wife seem to be moving on with their lives. Renewing contact with his initially distrusting family, Ryota struggles to take back control of his existence and to find a lasting place in the life of his young son.

A boat filled with Swedish emigrants comes to the Danish island of Bornholm. Among them are Lasse and his son Pelle who move to Denmark to find work. They find employment at a large farm, but are treated as the lowest form of life. Pelle starts to speak Danish but is still harassed as a foreigner.

In 1983, students and parents at a suburban Bratislava middle school must decide whether to go against new teacher Miss Drazdechova, a high-ranking official of the Communist Party who is tying pupils' grades to how helpful their families can be with favors. Not recommended for ages under 17 without parental permission.

When eight-year-old Shula turns up alone and unannounced in a rural Zambian village, the locals are suspicious. A minor incident escalates to a full-blown witch trial, where she is found guilty and sentenced to life on a state-run witch camp. There, she is tethered to a long white ribbon and told that if she ever tries to run away, she will be transformed into a goat. As the days pass, Shula begins to settle into her new community, but a threat looms...

Not recommended for ages under 17 without parental permission. Paradise tells the compelling story of three individuals, Olga, Jules and Helmut, whose paths cross amidst the devastation of war. Olga, a Russian aristocratic immigrant and member of the French Resistance, is arrested by Nazi police for hiding Jewish children during a surprise raid. As her punishment, she is sent to jail where she meets Jules, a French-Nazi collaborator who is assigned...

A private home-nurse has worked for the elder matriarch of a family for years and regards them as her own family. This quiet, routine life is shattered when a young member of the family is kidnapped by her nephew.

Haiti, 1962. A man is brought back from the dead only to be sent to the living hell of the sugarcane fields. In Paris, 55 years later, at a prestigious all-girls boarding school, Melissa, a young Haitian teenager, confesses an old family secret to a group of new friends, never imagining that this strange tale will convince a heartbroken classmate to do the unthinkable.

Sarah Obeng, a doctoral student at Columbia University, is weeks away from following her very married boyfriend to Ohio when her mother suddenly passes away. Her inheritance? King of Glory, a small Christian bookstore serving a Ghanaian immigrant community in the Bronx. Tasked with arranging her mother's funeral according to her family's traditional expectations, Sarah must simultaneously navigate her plans to relocate as well as the unexpected return...

Sarita goes out dancing one night at the insistence of her free-spirited sister, Bea. Uncharacteristically, Sarita dances the night away, heading home alone when the party drags on too late. The next morning, after calling friends and neighbors, Sarita begins to panic when she realizes that Bea never made it home. The police are indifferent and unhelpful, but Sarita suspects that Bea's disappearance has something to do with Andrés, her sister's dangerous...