Central Kansas Library System

"Meg and Sylvie Townsend manage the family bookshop and care for their father, Stephen, a veteran still suffering in mind and spirit from his time as a POW during the Civil War. But when the Great Fire sweeps through Chicago's business district, they lose much more than just their store.The sisters become separated from their father, and after Meg burns her hands in an attempt to save a family heirloom, they make a harrowing escape from the flames...

Kat may be new in her faith, but she's embraced the more radical implications of Christianity with reckless abandon. She invited a homeless mother and her son to move into the apartment she shares with two other housemates. And she's finally found a practical way to channel her passion for healthy eating by starting a food pantry at the church. But not everyone thinks the food pantry is a good idea. When the woman she thought would be her biggest...

"After fleeing her hometown three years earlier, Alyssa Harrison never planned to return. Then the Silicon Valley start-up she worked for collapsed and turned her world upside down. She is broke, under FBI investigation, and without a place to go. Having exhausted every option, she comes home to Winsome, Illinois, to regroup then move on as quickly as possible. Yet, as friends and family welcome her back, Alyssa begins to see a place for herself in...

"Amid literature and lattes, three women come together and find that sharing one's journey with best friends makes life richer. When attorney Madeline Carter inherits her aunt's bookstore in a small town north of Chicago, she plans to sell it and add the proceeds to her nonexistent investment portfolio. But plans change when Madeline discovers the store isn't making money and she gets passed over for promotion at her firm. She quits in protest, takes...

"She promised a dying father she would keep his daughter safe. She can't fail now. The one thing Sylvie Townsend wants most is what she feared she would never have - a family of her own. But taking in Polish immigrant Rose Dabrowski to raise and love quells those fears - until seventeen-year-old Rose goes missing at the World's Fair, and Sylvie's life unravels. With nowhere else to turn, Sylvie seeks help from her boarder and Rose's violin instructor,...

"A birthday excursion turns deadly when the SS Eastland capsizes with Olive Pierce and her best friend on board. Hundreds perish during the accident, and it's only when Olive herself barely escapes that she discovers her friend is among the victims. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Olive returns to her work at a Chicago insurance agency and is immersed in the countless investigations related to the accident. But with so many missing, there are few...

A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

The continuing saga of the Crowns of Chicago, a family founded by a German immigrant who became a beer baron. The protagonists are an actress in Hollywood, a filmmaker documenting World War I and a college dropout who races cars for Henry Ford. By the author of Homeland.

"Beth Whitaker isn't supposed to be a small-town girl. She's always dreamed of leaving Willow Grove, Illinois, for the big city, but she feels trapped, struggling to make up for a mistake that's haunted her for years. Just when Beth is finally ready to break free, her sister impulsively buys a beloved but run-down farm on the outskirts of town, and she begs Beth to help with the restoration. Reluctantly, Beth agrees to help--and puts her own dreams...

Fifth-grader Emma faces many unpleasant changes as her best friend prepares to move away, her father goes to Turkey for five months, and her mother starts college, but with the help of her great-aunt Grace, Emma becomes a lot more independent and self-reliant.