The Westport Library Resource Guides: Books &amp; Bites: July 2025

A-Ma

The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
Wolfe's novel is a big, panoramic story of the metropolis that reinforces the author's reputation as the foremost chronicler of the way we live in America.
The Doorman * by Chris Pavone
It brings a number of diverse characters together in a novel which is set in a New York City apartment building.
The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
Working at a homeless shelter, Laurel Estabrook encounters Bobbie Crocker, a man with a history of mental illness and a box of secret photos, but when Bobbie dies suddenly, Laurel embarks on an obsessive search for the truth behind the photos.
Emma by Jane Austen
As daughter of the richest, most important man in the small provincial village of Highbury, Emma Woodhouse is firmly convinced that it is her right--perhaps even her "duty"--To arrange the lives of others. Considered by most critics to be Austen's most technically brilliant achievement, "Emma" sparkles with ironic insights into self-deception, self-discovery, and the interplay of love and power.
Endure, Defy and Remember by Ann Nachbar (Contribution by); Joachim Nachbar
Endure, Defy and Remember is an intimate account of Joachim Nachbar’s unusual Holocaust survival story: In the first part of the book, the author meticulously chronicles how, step by step, the Germans and their Ukrainian collaborators closed in on him, his family and the 25,000 other Jews in Stanisɫawów ghetto. The second part of the book details the perils he confronted, as a circumcised Jew, while attempting to “pass” as a Polish Catholic in occupied Lwów.
Fair Play by Louise Hegarty
Gripping and playful, sharp and profoundly moving, Fair Play plumbs the depths of the human heart while subverting one of our most popular genres. DEBUT NOVEL
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
When a 13-year-old girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, secrets kept by the Van Laar family emerge.
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
The story of a young boy born a slave who joins John Brown’s antislavery crusade—and who must pass as a girl to survive.
The Great Divide by Cristina Henriquez
A powerful novel about the construction of the Panama Canal, casting light on the unsung people who lived, loved, and labored there.
The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
The 19th book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. Shifting alliances complicate the frenzied pursuit of a sinister threat.
Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? by Nicci French
A nerve-tingling and atmospheric thriller from master of suspense Nicci French about two families shattered by tragedy and the secrets that have been waiting decades to be revealed.
Heart of Darkness and Other Stories by Joseph Conrad; Gene M. Moore; Keith Carabine
"Heart of Darkness is a novella written in 1899 by Anglo-Polish novelist Joseph Conrad. It is about a voyage into the Congo Free State in the heart of Africa, by the story's narrator Marlow, an introspective sailor who takes a job as a riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian concern organized to trade in the Congo
Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian
The enthralling story of a young Puritan woman who marries the wrong man and soon finds herself caught up in the violence and hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials
How Beautiful We Were * by Imbolo Mbue
Ruthless capitalism imposed by an American oil conglomerate threatens to destroy the traditional lives of residents of an African village who suffer the deadly effects of environmental destruction.
How Countries Go Broke by Ray. Dalio
The author of “Principles” evaluates the forces that contribute to what he calls the “big debt cycle.”
The Art of a Lie * by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
In 18th-century England, a widowed confectioner is drawn into a web of love, betrayal, and intrigue and a battle of wits in this masterful historical novel
Head Cases by John McMahon
Head Cases follows an enigmatic group of FBI agents as they hunt down a murderer seeking his own justice in this electrifying-and commercial-series debut
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
A young Indian woman finds the false rumors that she killed her husband surprisingly useful—until other women in the village start asking for her help getting rid of their own husbands—in this razor-sharp debut.
Inside Man by John McMahon
In this sequel to McMahon's electrifying series debut, Head Cases, Gardner Camden and the PAR team return to investigate potentially connected cases.
King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
Roman Carruthers uses his finance skills to deal with criminals and try to hold his family together.
Landslide by Michael Wolff
The author of “Fire and Fury” and “Siege” portrays events during the final days of Trump’s presidency.
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
From New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz comes Magpie Murders, a brilliant and strikingly original reimagining of the classic whodunit (a la Agatha Christie) with a contemporary mystery wrapped around it"

Ma-Z

Marble Hall Murders * by Anthony Horowitz
Murder links past and present once again in this mind-boggling metafictional mystery from Anthony Horowitz featuring detective Atticus Pünd and editor Susan Ryeland, stars of the New York Times bestsellers Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders. (Susan Ryeland Series, 3)
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa; Stephen Snyder (Translator)
A deft and dark Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance, from the acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor
Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Featuring his famous literary detective Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland, hero of the worldwide bestseller Magpie Murders, a brilliantly complex literary thriller with echoes of Agatha Christie from New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz.
The Names by Florence Knapp
The story of one family told three different ways, leading to three different fates—a dazzling debut that asks: Can a name shape the course of a life?
Never Flinch by Stephen King
Holly Gibney does double duty by helping head off acts of retribution and protecting a women’s rights activist.
Nothing to See Here * by Kevin Wilson
A moving and uproarious novel about a woman who finds meaning in her life when she begins caring for two children with a remarkable abilit.
Our Dollar, Your Problem by Kenneth Rogoff
Rogoff shows how America's outsized power and exorbitant privilege can spur financial instability-not just abroad but also at home.
Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson
A story of children on a quest to find the father who abandoned them.
Saltwater by Katy Hays
A slow-burn psychological drama about an opulent family that unravels when a decades-old crime resurfaces.
The Sentence Is Death by Anthony Horowitz
Passion, deception, an unexplained death and a detective with quite a lot to hide lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz's new murder mystery, the second in the series starring Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne.
The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian
When a sleepwalker who has experienced episodes of near violence while unconscious goes missing, her eldest daughter, Lianna, finds herself drawn to a lead detective who seems to know more than he is revealing.
Strangers in Time * by David Baldacci
In London in 1944, two teenagers dealing with the dangers of World War II form an alliance with a bookshop owner.
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
This classic spy thriller sold a million copies before Buchan died in 1940, has been adapted countless times for film, television and the stage, and features the most exciting chase in the history of fiction.
Twist * by Colum McCann
An “urgent [and] ingenious” (The New York Times Book Review) novel of rupture and repair in the digital age, delving into a hidden world deep under the ocean
The Two Towers * (Book Two in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy) by J. R. R. Tolkien
Frodo and the Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. Now they continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin—alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.
Uncommon Measure by Natalie Hodges
"How does time shape consciousness, and consciousness, time? Do we live in time, or does time live in us? And how does music, with its patterns of rhythm and harmony, inform our experience of time? Uncommon Measure: Reflections on Music, Performance, and the Science of Time explores these questions from the perspective of a young Korean American
The Unheard * by Nicci French
In this new heart-pounding standalone that People calls "razor sharp," a single mother suspects her young daughter has witnessed a horrible crime when she draws a disturbing picture--but the deadly path to unravel the truth could cost her everything.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang; Deborah Smith (Translator)
The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.
We Do Not Part by Han Kang; E. yaewon (Translator); Paige Aniyah Morris (Translator)
A woman encounters dangers when she travels to Jeju Island to save her injured friend’s pet bird; translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Women is that rarest of novels―at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.
“Women can be heroes, too.”
The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
One bright spring morning in London, Diana Cowper enters a funeral parlor. She is there to plan her own service.Six hours later she is found dead.Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric investigator who's as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. Hawthorne needs a ghost writer to document his life; a Watson to his Holmes. He chooses Anthony Horowitz.