The Reading List - Sara Nisha Adams

Written by Sara Nisha Adams
Read by Tara Divina, Sagar Arya, Paul Panting
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: HarperAudio
Release date: August 3, 2021
Duration: 12:47:54

An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb.

Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley, in West London 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.

Booklist. – “… This moving debut demonstrates the power of novels to provide comfort in the face of devastating loss and loneliness. After a rocky first encounter, Mukesh and Aleisha soon bond over the reading list, and between the messages each book has for them and despite their differences, they find the strength to meet their challenges head-on. The story shifts between the list’s first appearance in 2017 and Aleisha and Mukesh’s meeting in 2019, with relatable characters and a heartwarming tone throughout. “