Cultural Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

Good People by Pameena Sabit

Catherine — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 08:02:41 +0000

When the Sharaf family emigrated from Afghanistan to the United States in the 1980s they were met by an Afghan community that understood not only the terrors of war they’d escaped, but the hardships they would face in building a new life in a foreign country. They were welcomed and aided in their early years […]

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The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

Catherine — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 08:16:24 +0000

I love Indian writers and fiction so was very excited for Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, but this story of two strangers from India who have been trying to make life in America work went all kinds of wrong for me. Sunny’s and Sonia’ families still live in India and are known […]

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The Satisfaction Cafe

Catherine — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 07:06:04 +0000

Joan is a Taiwanese woman in America in The Satisfaction Café. Her first marriage, through no fault of her own goes horribly wrong, leaving her destitute and living hand to mouth. She then meets and marries a wealthy, older man. They have their own children before he dies, leaving her very wealthy, but insecure, as […]

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Call Her Freedom

Catherine — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 07:49:23 +0000

A small village in the Himalayan foothills is the setting for Tara Dorabji’s debut novel, Call Her Freedom. Aisha’s mother is a midwife and teaches Aisha all about childbirth and herbal remedies when Aisha is not in school. An outstanding student it’s been her mother’s dream to see her go to university in the city. […]

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This Motherless Land

Catherine — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 08:30:06 +0000

A loving, happy, Nigerian family is torn apart when a daughter survives a horrific car crash that leaves her mother and brother dead and her father’s grief makes him hate her for surviving. This is This Motherless Land and Funke is the daughter, who at eight finds herself on a plane to England to live […]

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Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom

Catherine — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 08:34:31 +0000

In the northern territory of Montana in 1872 a 16-year-old Crow Nation girl named Goes First marries an American fur trader twice her age. Her life and travels with him form the center point of Kathleen Grissom’s engrossing novel, Crow Mary. Goes First’s life has been a typical one amongst her people, nomadic, with the […]

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A Song to Drown Rivers

Catherine — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 07:42:58 +0000

There is a Chinese folk tale about four sisters so beautiful they could be denied nothing. One of those sisters is Xishi and in Ann Liang’s novel, A Song to Drown Rivers, she is called upon to use her beauty for vengeance and destruction. For Xishi, growing up in a tiny village in the […]

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The Lion Women of Tehran

Catherine — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 07:18:40 +0000

When Ellie’s father unexpectedly dies, she and her mother find their circumstances dramatically changed for the worse. There is so little money left they have to sell their beautiful home and move to a tiny apartment in downtown Tehran. It is her mother’s worst nightmare, but for 7-year-old Ellie it means meeting Homa, the girl […]

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The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza

Catherine — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 07:55:20 +0000

Sara is at a low point when her favorite aunt dies. Her well-reviewed restaurant has closed, she’s bankrupt, and her husband is leaving her and wants custody of their daughter. It’s a mixed blessing when she’s given a letter left to her by the aunt containing a final request, a deed for a piece of […]

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A Great Country

Catherine — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 07:44:20 +0000

In every way but culture the Shahs consider themselves to be an embodiment of the American Dream. They’ve lived in California for over 20 years, their three children were all born here, and Ashok has gone from freelance work to owning his own company. In the latest example of their achievement, they’ve just purchased a […]

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