Summer reading list: five new books tied to Detroit

DETROIT. Five books published this year carry Detroit connections, from historical fiction to a political handbook. Ruta Sepetys, a New York Times bestselling author, set "A Fortune of Sand" in 1927 Grosse Pointe during Prohibition; she spent five to seven years researching it, including visits to the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House. She discussed the book at a June 3 panel at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial, and her book tour runs through August 5.

Donna Givens Davidson, president and CEO of Eastside Community Network, published two books this year: "Divining Freedom," a novel tracing five generations of Black Detroiters from 1898 to the present, out in May, and "Black Detroit Democracy Handbook," a nonfiction guide out in early July. Both are sold on Amazon; "Divining Freedom" is also at the Howard Family Bookstore.

Andre Ebron's memoir "The Sketch Collection" is out through Amazon and his own website. Lisa Peers' queer romance novel "Motor City Love Song," published in February by Penguin Random House, is on shelves at Next Chapter Books in Detroit, Sidetrack Bookshop in Royal Oak, and Love & Other Books in Ferndale.