Central Skagit Library District

"After her husband dies, Jean Taylor tells her story about the crime her husband was suspected of committing in this thriller that is equal parts psychological suspense and searing examination of the dark spaces that exist between a husband and wife"-- There's a lot Jean hasn't said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares...

*Now an Apple TV+ limited series starring Julianne Moore and Clive Owen*

The "haunting...tender, intimate book that makes an epic interior journey" (The New York Times), Lisey's Story is a literary masterpiece—an extraordinarily moving and haunting portrait of a marriage and its aftermath.
Lisey lost her husband Scott two years ago, after a twenty-five year marriage of profound and sometimes frightening...

"Two women, separated by a generation but equally scarred by war find hope, meaning and friendship through a garden of flowers. Iris Maynard lost her husband in World War II, her daughter to loneliness and, finally, her reason to live. Walled off from the world for decades behind a towering fence surrounding her home and gardens, Iris has built a new family ... of flowers. Iris propagates her own daylilies and roses while tending to an heirloom garden...

"Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya's husband, Joe--who had been brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and...

Managing sudden widowhood and joblessness by cooking bounteous and sumptuous feasts that she shares with her neighbors, Angelina D'Angelo is offered a job as cook for a retiree and his elderly sister and finds her culinary talents winning her a circle of friends and protectors.

The protagonist, Mary Emma Moody, widowed mother of six, has taken her family east in 1912 to begin a new life. Her son, Ralph, then thirteen, recalls how the Moodys survive that first bleak winter in a Massachusetts town. Money and prospects are lacking, but not so faith and resourcefulness. "Mother" in Little Britches and Man of the Family, Mary Emma emerges fully as a character in this book, and Ralph, no longer called "Little Britches," comes...

In the aftermath of her financier husband's suicide, Emma Shay Compton's dream life is shattered. Richard Compton stole his clients' life savings to fund a lavish life in NYC and, although she was never involved in the business, Emma bears the burden of her husband's crimes. She is left with nothing. So she goes home to Sonoma County. But starting over isn't easy, and Sonoma is full of unhappy memories, too. And people she'd rather not face, especially...

This novel provides an examination of contemporary America through the prism of a family tragedy: when a powerful parent dies, each of his adult children reacts in startling and unexpected ways, and his grieving widow in the most surprising way of all. Stark and penetrating, it's an exploration of psychological trauma, class warfare, grief, and eventual healing.

When her husband dies suddenly, Jane Bell becomes the reluctant landlady of The Bell, an inn in the village of Ivy Hill. Jane has no idea how to manage a business, but with the town's livelihood at stake and a large loan due, she must quickly find a way to save the inn. Despite their strained relationship, Jane turns to her mother-in-law, Thora, for help.

Retreating to the country after an injury robs him of his musical ability, Valentine Windham discovers, with the help of an impoverished young widow, that he can be loved for himself, not just his music.