Bright Leaf, North Carolina, 1946: Young Maddie Sykes has just been whisked away by her mother to spend the summer sewing for her aunt Etta. This isn't any regular job, though—Bright Leaf is home to the booming tobacco business of the South, and Aunt Etta is a seamstress for the glamorous wives of tobacco executives. This is a brilliant, quick read about women finding their place in a male-dominated industry, despite the risks to their health and their status. And Maddie is an endearing character you'll want to root for, especially when she realizes the tobacco titans are hiding something monumental. Part of our Summer Reading Collection: Novels.