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Recommended Reads: A world of fiction
Looking for a little escape as the days become shorter and colder? Check out these books that will take you on fantastic adventures around the globe!
We all may be hoping for a little escape as the days become shorter and colder. Luckily, we have access to books that can take us on adventures all over the world without even leaving the comfort of our homes (and blankets!). Join us as we travel through a world of fiction.
This list contains foreign setting fiction titles for all ages.
Digital book (DB), braille (BR), large print (LT or JL), and audio described video (DVD) copies of these titles are available from Perkins Library or the Worcester Talking Book Library. Please contact Perkins Library to order any of these books.
Prepared by Kelly Nolan, Reader Advisor, Perkins Library
Adult books
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
DB 037602, DB 046982 (Spanish), BR 014874, LT 011609, available as BARD download
Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy, longs to see the world and dreams about a treasure hidden in the Egyptian pyramids. He sells his flock and leaves his home in Spain, sails first to Tangiers, crosses the desert, and eventually reaches Egypt. Along the way, he is led by a series of spiritual guides, perhaps the most important of whom is the alchemist who advises him to follow his heart. 1988.
Download The Alchemist, DB 037602
All the Devils Are Here
by Louise Penny
DB 100484, BR 023341, LT 028733, available as BARD download
On their first night in Paris, the Gamache family gathers for a bistro dinner with Armand’s godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is a deliberate attempt on the elderly man’s life. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2020.
Download All the Devils Are Here, DB 100484
Download All the Devils Are Here, BR 023341
A Gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles
DB 085533, DBG 19814 (Spanish), BRG 04038, LT 020851, available as BARD download
Count Alexander Rostov has been judged by a Bolshevik tribunal and found to be an unrepentant aristocrat. Sentenced to house arrest for life, he joins the community in the luxurious Hotel Metropol. He tries to enjoy life and befriends a young girl who wants to be a princess. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2016.
Download A Gentleman in Moscow, DB 085533
The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
DB 029021, DB 065996 (Spanish), BR 007747, LT 005014, DVD 00367, available as BARD download
In 1949 four Chinese women living in San Francisco founded the Joy Luck Club where they met to play mah jong, tell stories, and “feast” on scraps. Forty years later one of the women dies, her daughter takes her place at the club, and a secret is revealed that unleashes in each person the need to reach back and remember. Bestseller. 1989.
A Man Called Ove: A Novel
by Fredrik Backman
DB 084392, BR 021609, available as BARD download
Ove has always been a grumpy man, and when he loses his wife and his job, he decides to commit suicide. But a lively family of new neighbors and a stray cat might give Ove a reason to keep living. First published in Swedish in 2012. 2013.
Mexican Gothic
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
DB 099404, DB 105547 (Spanish), BR 023483, LT 028623, available as BARD download
Mexico City, 1950. After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, socialite Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. Both the home and its owners seem to have a dark past. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller. 2020.
Download Mexican Gothic, DB 099404
My Sister, the Serial Killer
by Oyinkan Braithwaite
DB 093043, LT 025271, available as BARD download
Though it wears on her, Korede has grown very good at cleaning up her sister’s messes—namely, those left after she murders her boyfriends. The bright spot in Korede’s life is a kind doctor at the hospital where she works—until the day he meets Korede’s sister and asks for her number. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
by Alexander McCall Smith
DB 055503, BR 015865, LT 004481, available as BARD download
Mma “Precious” Ramotswe opens a detective agency in Botswana when she inherits her father’s cattle. People consult her about straying husbands, fraudulent business associates, and missing children. Along the way she learns their life stories and tales of Africa. Bestseller. 1998.
Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee
DB 086934, LT 022546, available as BARD download
Sunja, the beloved daughter of a prominent Korean family, finds herself pregnant and abandoned by her lover. To save her family’s reputation, she marries a tubercular minister and moves to Japan. She and her descendants deal with being separated from their homeland and never quite accepted. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2017.
The Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
DB 058940, available as BARD download
Barcelona, 1945. Young Daniel Sempere selects Julián Carax’s The Shadow of the Wind when his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Daniel loves the novel, investigates the author’s life and death, and meets a cast of characters hiding deadly secrets. Some descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2001.
The Switch
by Beth O’Leary
DB 100417, LT 029214, available as BARD download
When London dweller Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she swaps houses with her grandmother Eileen, who lives alone in rural Yorkshire. Both need a change, but are surprised when the switch offers them a chance for romance. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.
Weyward: A Novel
by Maureen Johnson
DB 113239, DB 119461 (Spanish), BR 024933, LT 033138, available as BARD download
“Three women. Five centuries. One secret. ‘I had nature in my heart, she said. Like she did, and her mother before her. There was something about us – the Weyward women – that bonded us more tightly with the natural world. We can feel it, she said, the same way we feel rage, sorrow or joy.’ In 2019, Kate flees an abusive relationship in London for Crows Beck, a remote Cumbrian village. Her destination is Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great Aunt Violet, an eccentric entomologist. As Kate struggles with the trauma of her past, she uncovers a secret about the women in her family. A secret dating back to 1619, when her ancestor Altha Weyward was put on trial for witchcraft…. Weyward is a stunning debut novel about gender and control – about the long echoes of male violence through the centuries. But more than that, it is a celebration of nature, female power and breaking free.” — Provided by publisher. — Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2023.
Young adult books
All the Bad Apples
by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
DB 096893, available as BARD download
Dublin, Ireland. After Deena starts receiving letters from her older sister Mandy—whom everyone thinks is dead—she embarks on a cross-country hunt to find her sister and heal their family’s rotten past. Some strong language. Commercial audiobook. For senior high and older readers. 2019.
Darius the Great Is Not Okay
by Adib Khorram
DB 092265, LT 026449, available as BARD download
Clinically depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor who changes his life. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. For senior high and older readers. 2018.
Love & Gelato
by Jenna Evans Welch
DB 089780, available as BARD download
After her mother dies from cancer, Lina keeps her promise and travels to Italy to live with Howard, someone she never met. There, Lina uncovers her mother’s past and finds romance along the way. For senior high and older readers. 2016.
Tokyo Ever After
by Emiko Jean
DB 109579, LT 030733, LT 032332, available as BARD download
Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in. But then Izzy discovers a clue to her previously unknown father’s identity—and he’s none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. But Japan isn’t what she expects. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. For senior high and older readers. 2021.
Middle grade books
Akata Witch
by Nnedi Okorafor
DBC 002131, DB 118448 (Spanish), available as BARD download
As an American recently transplanted back to her parents’ homeland of Nigeria, Sunny struggles to fit in at her school. If being an American with the nickname “akata” -wild animal- wasn’t enough, Sunny stands out in more ways than one: she is an albino who can’t be in the sun, and she is a prodigy at soccer but can’t play outside. When Sunny’s life seems everything but “sunny,” she discovers that she is a “free agent” with magical powers and is part of a secret world of magic. For grades 4-7.
The Bridge Home
by Padma Venkatraman
DB 094432, JL 000778, JLW 00004, available as BARD download
Four determined homeless children make a life for themselves on an abandoned bridge in India. But when illness strikes, they must decide whether to risk seeking help from strangers or keep holding on to their fragile, hard-fought freedom. Commercial audiobook. For grades 5-8. 2019.
Good Morning, Gorillas: Magic Treehouse Book 26
by Mary Pope Osborne
DB 054855, BR 014360, available as BARD download
The magic tree house takes Jack and Annie to a misty rain forest in Congo. They meet a young gorilla and spend time with the entire family, finding ways to communicate. For grades 2-4. 2002.
Samira Surfs
by Rukhsanna Guidroz
DB 104325, available as BARD download
A novel in verse. After months of rebuilding a new life in Bangladesh with her family, Samira, a Rohingya refugee, decides to become a Bengali surfer girl. Commercial audiobook. For grades 4-7. 2021.
Children’s books
Mad About Madeline: The Complete Tales
by Ludwig Bemelmans
DB 054416, BR 013202, available as BARD download
A collection of all six rhymed stories about Madeline. The first—published in 1939—introduces Madeline, the smallest of twelve girls who live together in Paris with Miss Clavel. She has various adventures involving animals, gypsies, travel, a boy called Pepito, and a magical Christmas. For grades K-3. 1961.
Waiting for the Biblioburro (Esperando el Biblioburro)
by Monica Brown
DB 116434 (English & Spanish), DB 110287 (English only), available as BARD download
On most days, teacher and librarian Luis Soriano Bohórquez packs his two burros, Alfa and Beto, with books and makes his way over mountains and through valleys to visit children in far-flung villages in rural Colombia-all for the sake of literacy and culture. Based on the work of a remarkable man and his intrepid burros, this bilingual English and Spanish edition celebrates the impact that a special mobile library-called the “biblioburro”-has had on the lives of real children.” — Provided by publisher. — Unrated. Commercial audiobook. For grades K-3. Spanish language.
La mayoría de los días, el maestro y bibliotecario Luis Soriano Bohórquez carga a sus dos burros, Alfa y Beto, con libros y atraviesa montañas y valles para visitar a los niños de pueblos remotos de la Colombia rural, todo por el bien de la alfabetización y la cultura. Basada en el trabajo de un hombre extraordinario y sus intrépidos burros, esta edición bilingüe en inglés y español celebra el impacto que una biblioteca móvil especial – llamada “biblioburro” – ha tenido en las vidas de niños reales. — Traducción proporcionada por NLS. — Traducido de la edición en inglés de 2011. Audiolibro comercial. Para grados K-3.
Download Waiting for the Biblioburro (English & Spanish), DB 116434
Download Waiting for the Biblioburro (English only), DB 110287
The Water Princess
by Susan Verde
DBC 09708, available as BARD Download
The story of one young girl’s quest to bring clean drinking water to her African village. For preschool-grade 2. 2019.
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