Winter Haven Public Library

THE GUEST By Emma Cline When a young woman is cast out of her wealthy boyfriend’s summer home, she drifts through the privileged enclaves of Long Island, surviving on charm and instinct. “The Guest” is emotionally uncomfortable on purpose. It’s not dramatic in a loud way; it unsettles you through anxiety, frustration, and moral discomfort. GARDEN SPELLS By Sarah Addison Allen In a small North Carolina town, two sisters reunite in their family home, where an enchanted garden and old wounds...

HEART THE LOVER By Lily King “Heart the Lover” examines that particular ache of a relationship that didn’t end because of a lack of love, but because of timing and youthful mistakes. Moving through time, the story evolves years later to address the shifting concept of love, adopting a more reflective tone as the narrator reconciles her stable present with the “one that got away.” It is a story about the kind of first love that never truly leaves you, and how the person you were with them...

GILEAD By Marilynne Robinson January doesn’t ask much of us. And “Gilead” is a good companion for the slower days at the start of the year, thoughtful, observant, and unhurried. Told as a letter from an aging minister to his young son, this novel moves at a gentle pace. The book lingers on grace, forgiveness, and finding holiness in ordinary days. PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK By Annie Dillard Dillard won a Pulitzer Prize for this classic. It is her observations of a year of changing seasons. It is...