Off the Shelf

Emily Henry's Great Big Beautiful Life follows two rival writers competing to tell the extraordinary story of a reclusive heiress—and discovering that every life has more than one story to tell. Allison Fiscus, adult services coordinate at Toledo Lucas County Public Library, joins the conversation to explore the novel's questions about ambition, storytelling, romance and the secrets we leave behind.

What happens when a family shows up at your door claiming they used to live in your house? Marcus Kliewer's We Used to Live Here takes that unsettling premise into a twisting psychological horror story, with Sam Ponke, an adult services librarian in the Local History and Genealogy Department at Toledo Lucas County Public Library, joining us to discuss the novel.

Kathryn Stockett's The Calamity Club brings three women together in Depression-era Mississippi, where friendship and resilience help them imagine lives beyond the circumstances they've been given. Amy Hartman, collection development specialist at Toledo Lucas County Public Library, joins the conversation to share their perspective on the novel.