AT THE LIBRARY
The following items are available at the Hancock County Public Library, 900 W. McKenzie Road. For more information on the library’s collection or to reserve a title, visit hcplibrary.org.
Adult fiction
“Little Fires Everywhere,” by Celeste Ng
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Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules, lives in a placid, progressive suburb where everything is planned — from the layout of the winding roads and colors of the houses to the successful lives its residents will lead. Enter Mia Warren — enigmatic artist and single mother — who arrives with her teenage daughter Pearl and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants as the Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this orderly community. When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover Mia’s secrets.
Adult nonfiction
“The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State,” by Nadia Murad
Nadia Murad was born and raised in a small village of farmers and shepherds in northern Iraq where she and her brothers and sisters lived a quiet life. Nadia dreamed of becoming a history teacher or opening her own beauty salon. On August 15, 2014, when Nadia was 21 years old, her quiet life ended. Islamic State militants massacred the people of her village, executing men who refused to convert to Islam and women too old to become sex slaves. Nadia’s six brothers were killed along with her mother, their bodies swept into mass graves. Nadia was taken to Mosul and forced — along with thousands of other girls — into the ISIS slave trade. She was held captive, raped and beaten before she managed to escape through the streets of Mosul. She found shelter in the home of a Sunni Muslim family whose eldest son risked his life to smuggle her to safety. Today, Nadia stands as witness to the Islamic State’s brutality, a survivor of rape and a refugee. “The Last Girl” is a call to action for the world to pay attention to the ongoing genocide in Iraq and families torn apart by war.
