Kit is a reference librarian at the library in Riverton, N.H., a once-booming mill town that has declined since the mills closed. Halpern's clever and touching latest (following A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home) unites a disparate cast of characters who have come to the town library for a variety of reasons. As they come to terms with how their lives have unraveled, they also discover how they might knit them together again and finally reclaim their stories. In this little library that has become the heart of this small town, Kit, Sunny, and Rusty are drawn to each other, and to a cast of other offbeat regulars. They’re joined by Rusty, a Wall Street high-flyer suddenly crashed to earth. Bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than her off-the-grid hippie parents, Sunny coaxes Kit out of her self-imposed isolation. The judge throws the book at Sunny-literally-assigning her to do community service at the library for the summer.

She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems.īut that changes when fifteen-year-old, home-schooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Most come for the books themselves, of course some come to borrow companionship. People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Halpern’s novel is an unforgettable tale of family.the kind you come from and the kind you create. From journalist and author Sue Halpern comes a wry, observant look at contemporary life and its refugees.

Summer hours at robbers library