03/05/2018 Halpern’s clever and touching latest (following A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home) unites a disparate cast of characters who have come to the town library for a variety of reasons. Kit is a reference librarian at the library in Riverton, N.H., a once-booming mill town that has declined since the mills closed. Though residents moved away and shops were shuttered, the library has remained open, and Kit has taken refuge there to escape her irreparably fractured marriage. Kit is mostly a loner who takes solace in books, but she opens up to Sunny, a teen sentenced to community service at the library for stealing a dictionary. Sunny, a bright, inquisitive young woman, makes friends with the regular library patrons and manages to put some cracks in Kit’s carefully erected shell as they spend more time together. Sunny also befriends library patron Rusty, an unemployed former employee of a New York investment firm who has come to town to visit the bank where his mother had a secret savings account. Rusty’s story line gives the novel a light mystery element, but the characters are the highlight here: their relationships are illuminating and evolve throughout, resulting in a crowd-pleasing tale of friendship. (Feb.)
Finely choreographed and lucidly told, Halpern infuses this tale of derailments and second chances with free-ranging empathy, lithe humor, and penetrating insights into the human psyche. [Halpern is] a discerning and sensitive novelist.” — Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
“Sometimes the best stories in the library aren’t found on its shelves; they’re walking through its doors and congregating by the reference desk. Sue Halpern knows this and mines the setting for comic and tragicomic gold.” — Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book Is Overdue! and The DeadbeatMarilyn Johnson, author of This Book Is Overdue! and The Deadbeat
“This novel presents a full cast of intriguing, complex characters and a heart-warming message about how our losses are often what allow us to connect with each other.” — Julia Alvarez, New York Times bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies
“Summer Hours at The Robbers Library is whip-smart, funny and moving all at once. A rare combination.” — Maggie Gyllenhaal, Academy Award-nominated actress
This novel presents a full cast of intriguing, complex characters and a heart-warming message about how our losses are often what allow us to connect with each other.
Summer Hours at The Robbers Library is whip-smart, funny and moving all at once. A rare combination.
2017-12-14 In the faded industrial town of Riverton, New Hampshire, the local library becomes a beacon for lost souls.Journalist-author Halpern (A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home, 2013, etc.) has written a sweet if mild novel with genuine charm. Prominent among the lost souls is the librarian, Kit, 44, a sardonic, highly secretive woman trying to recover from a bad marriage. Fifteen-year-old Sunny is working at the library over the summer—court-ordered penance for stealing a dictionary—and trying to figure out her oddball parents, latter-day hippies with a secret of their own. Then there's Rusty, 39, a one-time Wall Street high roller, down on his luck but with an improbable scheme to collect money from an old Riverton bank account that belonged to his mother. Joining in are The Four, lovable old-timers who "treated the [library] like a clubhouse." The book meanders amiably, filling in the back stories of the central characters, until about the last third, when the narrative kicks into high gear with a death and a fire that lead to various resolutions. If the book were a TV show, you'd call it a dramedy. It's about recovering from loss and building a family with people to whom you're not necessarily related. There are a number of affecting moments, but there are also missteps: the big reveal—i.e., what happened with Kit's husband—is complicated and verges on over-the-top. The last part suffers from too many teachable moments, mostly involving Kit's overly wise shrink, Dr. Bondi. And the switching back and forth between narrators is distracting.Still, the novel is suffused with a love of books and reading—each section starts with a line of poetry from a noted poet—and in the end, the library's endearing denizens prove to be very good company.
…the novel pays off in sheer plotting. Much as she gave the in-laws a very particular kind of awfulness, Halpern crafts a gratifyingly unexpected, effective answer to the question of what happened between Kit and Cal, with outed secrets and surprising solutions that she plays for minimum melodrama and with realistic warmth. Like Riverton itself, Summer Hours at the Robbers Library feels artfully balanced between the reality of loss and a carefully guarded hope for renewal.
The New York Times Book Review - Michelle Wildgen
Sometimes the best stories in the library aren’t found on its shelves; they’re walking through its doors and congregating by the reference desk. Sue Halpern knows this and mines the setting for comic and tragicomic gold.
Finely choreographed and lucidly told, Halpern infuses this tale of derailments and second chances with free-ranging empathy, lithe humor, and penetrating insights into the human psyche. [Halpern is] a discerning and sensitive novelist.