-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A Novel
by Sue Halpern
From journalist and author Sue Halpern comes a wry, observant look at contemporary life and its refugees. Halpern's novel is an unforgettable tale of family... the kind you come from and the kind you create.
People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most come for the books themselves, of course; some come to borrow companionship. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems.
But that changes when fifteen-year-old, home-schooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary. The judge throws the book at Sunny—literally—assigning her to do community service at the library for the summer. Bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than her off-the-grid hippie parents, Sunny coaxes Kit out of her self-imposed isolation. They're joined by Rusty, a Wall Street high-flyer suddenly crashed to earth.
In this little library that has become the heart of this small town, Kit, Sunny, and Rusty are drawn to each other, and to a cast of other offbeat regulars. As they come to terms with how their lives have unraveled, they also discover how they might knit them together again and finally reclaim their stories.
"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." ―Booklist (starred review)
"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
"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 Deadbeat
This information about Summer Hours at the Robbers Library was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sue Halpern is the author of eight books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently Summer Hours at the Robbers Library. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the New York Review of Books, Rolling Stone, and Condé Nast Traveler. A former New Yorker staff writer, she lives in Vermont with her husband, the writer and environmental activist Bill McKibben, and is a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College.
If you liked Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, try these:
by Charlotte McConaghy
Published 2026
An enthralling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves.
by Sarah Moss
Published 2025
An unflinching memoir about childhood, food, books, and our ability to see, become, and protect ourselves.
by Lori Ostlund
Published 2025
Nine exquisite stories that explore class, desire, identity, and the specter of violence that looms daily over women and the LGBTQ+ community.
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from…or why…
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
