The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
Summary
Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in the London Borough of Ealing after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries.
Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a list of novels that she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home.
When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list… hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again.
Book Setting: Wembley, London, UK
Queen’s Park Library (Harrow Roads Library
Ealing Road
Islamic Cultural Center
Variety Food
Iceland Supermarket
Brent Civic Center
High Road
Corner Shop Food and Wine
Charing Cross Road
Creams Cafe
Hanwell Community Library
Reviews
“The most heartfelt read of the summer...a surprising delight of a novel.”
— Shondaland
“Thoughtful and heartwarming... An absolute delight to read, it will be catnip to book groups craving a story to remind them why we read and how very important libraries and book shops are.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
“A quietly beautiful novel about the magic of books and the joy of human connection.”
— Newsweek