The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

London, 1888.  Jack the Ripper stalks the foggy streets of London's East End.  Fiona Finnegan and Joe Bristow are deeply in love, engaged, and saving every penny they can to open their own tea shop.  But dark events are at hand that will leave oceans and years between them.  When the Ripper strikes, murdering her mother, and Fiona's father is killed to stop his efforts to unionize the tea workers in Whitechapel, she is forced to flee London to New York to protect her baby brother, Seamie, leaving Joe and everything she knows behind.  An epic love story caught up in a whirl of history, lovers of historical fiction and family sagas will love The Tea Rose.  And when you're done with this page-turner, be sure to check out the rest of the trilogy, The Winter Rose and The Wild Rose!

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Honeymooning in the Scottish highlands in 1945 with her beloved historian husband, Frank, nurse Claire Randall is foraging for plants in the stone circle on Craigh na Dun when she hears the stones scream.  Hurled through the stone and back in time, Claire finds herself wandering in the remote Scottish country on the eve of the Jacobite rising, two hundred years earlier.  Rather abruptly kidnapped by a group of Highland raiders, who are themselves hiding from an English patrol, to dress young Highlander warrior Jamie Fraser's wounds, Claire finds herself inextricably tied to the MacKenzie clan - and Jamie. Unable to return to the stone circle despite all her best efforts, Claire must decide if she can face the future from the past.  A love story with astounding historical scope, Outlander is one of my absolute all-time favorite books.  Jamie will ruin all other fictional men for you (sorry, Mr. Darcy), and Claire's practicality, passion, and fierce devotion to those she loves will have you frantically turning the pages not just through this one, but through six more fabulously fat novels that take Claire and Jamie forward from the Rising to the American Revolution. The 20th anniversary of its original publication, don't let another year go by without adding Outlander to your must-read list!

The Long Song by Andrea Levy

This is the story of a slave woman, July, who was born on a sugar cane plantation in Jamaica at the beginning of the 19^th century.  Although she lives through many hardships--slavery, violence, motherhood, a slave rebellion and the difficulties of life under newly-won freedom, the book describes the horrors of slavery with ironic wit. Humor makes The Long Song an enjoyable read.

Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam

What would the world be like if the Y2K disaster had happened on January 1, 2000, as some expected? Things We Didn't See Coming is a collection of related short stories which offer one view, as a young man makes his way through a dystopian future. As the years go by, the problems people face change and the unnamed protagonist, as he moves about the country, changes his strategies for survival.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I am not a gamer at all but I loved reading about Parcival and his friends navigate an online adventure filled with eighties pop culture references left behind by a reclusive billionaire.  The game takes place in the OASIS, an online virtual reality where most of the population now spends their time because the real world has become a very depressing place.  The reward is the fortune the billionaire has left behind.  Will Parcival reach Halliday’s egg before the Sixers?  Read Ready Player One and find out!

On Persephone's Island by Mary Simeti

Here is a book for those who loved Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mays.  Mary Simeti went to Sicily in 1962 to do volunteer work, fell in love, married a Sicilian and remained in Sicily, running his farm on the island. This beautifully written book covers the year 1983, the rhythm of the farm work, the work and customs of the Sicilian people, and the history and mythology of the island.  Check out On Persephone's Island @ the library!

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

In 1799, a young clerk leaves Holland for Dejima, Japan. He plans to earn his fortune by working for five years for the only European company allowed to trade with the Japanese Empire. For various reasons, including wars back in Europe, his five years turn into eighteen, and Jacob’s character develops and matures as he struggles against corporate corruption, falls in love with a Japanese midwife and deals with people from many different nations and walks of life.  Readers of historical fiction, check out The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet @ the library!