Back when Andrew Carnegie was building public libraries in every city
across America, the town of Riverton, NH, had its own mogul, whose name
was Robers, which morphed into "Robbers" through probably equal parts
humor and resentment. In Sue Halpern's latest,
Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, the town barely hangs on, but the library is now
its best-maintained building. Halpern brings together three oddball characters in this setting and follows
them through their encounters with multiple points of view. There is
librarian Kit, fresh from therapy following marriage to a controlling
monster, Solstice (Sunny), a teenager whose parents live off the grid
and hide a secret past, and Rusty, a fugitive from Wall Street. When
Sunny is assigned community service at the library after being arrested
for shoplifting, she soon connects with Kit and Rusty. Readers will be
taken with this beautifully written novel with appealing characters
.Halpern subtly tests our assumptions about self, love, marriage, family,
vocation, and ethics, both personal and communal. Along the way, she
offers a realistic view of the struggles and triumphs of a small public
library, while framing it as a safe place in which to search for answers
and solace.
