The Reading List

A remarkable and touching novel debut about the odd connection that develops between two very different individuals in a London suburb via a fortuitous meeting over a list of library books.

After losing his cherished wife, Mukesh is a widower and leads a tranquil life in Wembley, West London. Every Wednesday, he shops, visits Temple, and worries about Priya, his granddaughter, who hides in her room to study while he watches nature programs in the evenings.

When Aleisha, a brilliant but nervous adolescent, finds a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird, she is working for the summer at the local library. It's an alphabetical list of books she has never read or heard of. She makes the rash decision to read every book on the list since she's intrigued and a touch tired of her sluggish work at the checkout counter. Aleisha is transported by the books away from the upsetting reality she faces at home as each tale relinquishes its charm.

Aleisha brings the reading list to Mukesh when he gets to the library, hoping that it would help him too, since he is eager to bond with his bookish granddaughter. Two lonely people gradually get to know each other via their shared books as fiction allows them to temporarily forget their sorrow and daily struggles and rediscover delight.