The Ladies' Lending Library

In the summer of 1963, the year of the sensational release of the movie Cleopatra, the women of Kalyna Beach prepare for their annual end-of-season party. With their husbands away in the city all week, the women’s days are ruled by the predictable rhythms of children and chores, lightened by the “racy” books they trade amongst themselves and by their Friday afternoon gatherings for gin and gossip. But this is the summer when everything will change for the girls and women of Kalyna Beach, as innocence is exchanged for a new understanding of the possibilities open to them all. From the award-winning author of Honey and Ashes and Thieves, The Ladies’ Lending Library is a richly evocative story for anyone who has longed for the heady days of bygone summers and the risky promises of change.