Anne Tyler’s REDHEAD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD; Micha Mortimer’s particularly planned life is disrupted when his girlfriend drops him; then, an adolescent appears, and claims to be his son.

Sharon Robinson’s CHILD OF THE DREAM: A MEMOIR OF 1963; the daughter of Jackie Robinson recalls “living” through the tenuous times of the Civil Rights movement.

Philip Roth’s NEMESIS; Newark, New Jersey tries to beat back the polio epidemic during the summer of 1944.

Betty Smith’s JOY IN THE MORNING; a boy and a girl meet, fall in love, move away, and make a happy life despite difficult circumstances.