The Freedom Community Book Group typically meets the last Monday of each month at the library at 10:30am.
You are invited to join the discussion!
This longstanding book group is managed and organized by Freedom community members. The group selects their own reading lists and members alternate to moderate discussions.
The FPL orders copies of titles through interlibrary loan and happily offers a space for the Freedom Community Book Group to meet.
Interested in participating? Visit the library to inquire about the next title.
If you would like to participate via Zoom, please contact Molly: director@freedompubliclibrary.org
What types of books does the Freedom Community Book Group typically read?
Check out the titles the group is considering below (please note, this list was provided to the FPL and was not edited!)
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS 2026
BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall – when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog,
her former lover Gabriel, returns to her life. His reappearance unearths deadly secrets
and forces Beth to choose between her past and present.
NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason – Tale of a New England cabin and its diverse
inhabitants across centuries, weaving together stores of love, mystery and nature’s
presence.
ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK by Chris Whitaker – After Patch is abducted and
held in darkness, he falls in love with an unseen girl. Upon escape, he spends his life
searching for her while his friend Saint shadows his journey seeing the truth.
THE ART OF A LIE by Laura Shepherd Robinson – in 18th century England, a widowed
confectioner is drawn into a web of love, betrayal, and intrigue and a battle of wits in
this masterful historical novel.
THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans – through letters to various recipients
Sybil Van Antwerp examines her life and confronts a painful past, learning to find
forgiveness and move forward.
HEAR ME ROAR by Erna Walraven – A memoir about zoo keeping, and what animals
taught her about feminism.
WATERGATE’S UNEXPECTED HERO by Lawrence Spinelli – “Larry Spinelli does
a masterful job of capturing the life and service of Peter Rodino, one of the most
impressive and impactful leaders of the modern age” quote from William S. Cohen.
THE ANTIDOTE by Karen Russell – during America’s Dust Bowl, a prairie witch who
stores people’s memories faces crisis when a devastating storm erases them all. A young
aspiring witch and allies help confront the town’s curse.
THE AUTHENTICITY PROJECT by Clare Pooley – a solitary green notebook brings
together six strangers, leading to unexpected friendship and even love as they reveal
their deepest selves.
SOLDIERS AND KINGS: Survival and hope in the world of human smuggling by Jason
De Leon – National Book Award-winning investigation reveals the complex world of
human smuggling through a seven-year embedded study, following coyotes and their
operations across Mexico’s migrant trails.
EMPIRE OF PAIN: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
– Chronicles the history of the Sackler family, their pharmaceutical company Purdue
Pharma, and their central role in the opioid epidemic. The book details how the family
built its fortune through the marketing of drugs like Oxycontin and used its wealth to
cultivate a public image of philanthropy while allegedly evading accountability for the
drug epidemic.
BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE by Dee Brown – First published in 1970,
this book is Dee Brown’s eloquent, meticulously documented account of the systematic
destruction of American Indians during the second half of the 19th century.
THE GALES OF NOVEMBER; by Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U.
Bacon – This book explores the human stories of the 29 crew members and their
families, the history of Great Lakes shipping, and the likely causes of the disaster
drawing on over 100 interviews. It is described as a gripping narrative that details the
ships final hours and the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind.
STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. John Mandel – A 2014 post-apocalyptic novel that
follows a troupe of actors called the Traveling Symphony who perform Shakespeare in
the Great Lakes region twenty years after a devastating flu pandemic collapses
civilization. The story weaves together multiple timelines and characters, including a
famous actor who dies on stage the night the pandemic begins, to explore themes of art,
memory, and what makes life worth living after a catastrophe.
SAVAGE THE BONES by Jesmyn Ward – a novel about an impoverished Mississippi
family who struggles to survive as Hurricane Katrina approaches, revealing resilience
amidst hardship.
THE WOMEN by Kristen Hannah – in 1965, a nursing student Frankie McGrath joins
the Army Nurse Corps in Vietnam, facing life-and-death situations and deep friendships,
before confronting challenges of returning to a divided America.
THE DIAMOND EYE by Kate Quinn – in snowbound Kiev, historian Mila Pavlichenko
becomes a deadly Nazi sniper during Hitler’s invasion. Sent to America, she allies with
Eleanor Roosevelt while facing a dangerous enemy from her past.
THE GLASS MAKER by Tracy Chevalier – a family of glass makers in Venice, Italy
spanning six centuries, endures heartbreaking losses, creative triumphs and the city’s
transformation from a trade center to a tourist destination.
THE PERFECT HORSE by Elizabeth Letts – Winner of the Pen Award for Research
Nonfiction, this book recounts how during WWII’s final days, American soldiers
discover Hitler’s secret, purebred horse farm and mount a daring rescue mission to save
prize stallions for starving Russian forces.
THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by Taylor Jenkins Reed – an aging
Hollywood movie icon reveals the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life to an
unknown magazine writer.
ETCHED IN GRANITE by M.J. Pettengill – tells the story of Abigail Hodgdon, a young
women sent to a New England poor farm in Ossipee NH (where the current nursing
home is). The book explores themes of courage, survival and hidden secrets. She also
based this book on an actual paupers cemetery in Ossipee where the deceased were
buried from the poor farm.
ANGEL DOWN by Daniel Kraus – Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the
unspeakable horrors of the Great War through his wits and deception, swindling fellow
soldiers at every opportunity. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when
he and four other grunts are given a deadly mission: venture into the perilous No Man’s
Land to euthanize a wounded comrade. ANGEL DOWN plunges you into the heart of
World War I and weaves a polyphonic tale of survival, supernatural wonder, and moral
conflict.