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Susan Orlean, author of The Library Book

On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual false alarm. The fire was disastrous: It reached 2,000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more. Investigators descended on the scene, but over 30 years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library --- and if so, who?

Week of September 30, 2019

Paperback releases for the week of September 30th include THE NEXT PERSON YOU MEET IN HEAVEN, the enchanting sequel to THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN, in which Mitch Albom tells the story of Eddie’s heavenly reunion with Annie, the little girl he saved on earth; THE LIBRARY BOOK, Susan Orlean's unique and utterly compelling book that chronicles the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library and its aftermath, showcasing the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; GONE SO LONG, Andre Dubus III's first novel in over a decade, a riveting family drama about an ex-con who did time for murder, the estranged daughter he hasn’t seen in 40 years, and the grandmother angry enough to kill him; THESE TRUTHS by Jill Lepore, a magisterial account of the origins and rise of a divided nation, an urgently needed reckoning with the beauty and tragedy of American history; and A WELL-BEHAVED WOMAN, Therese Anne Fowler’s intriguing novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her illustrious family as they rule Gilded-Age New York.