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Fiction A to Z October 2026 |
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| Under Story by Chloe BenjaminAfter a terrible loss and then a divorce, grieving Wisconsin scientist Laurel Salter takes a job washing dishes at Antarctica’s McMurdo Station. When a surreal light suddenly appears near the research base, it becomes known as the Arc and draws in more scientists, including Laurel’s ex, Eli. Believing the light is evidence of Eli’s theory of a second universe where time moves backward, Laurel tries to talk him into entering the Arc. For fans of: GMA Book Club books; Scott Alexander Howard’s The Other Valley. |
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Grieving her husband’s sudden death, Remi Landry heads to Napa Valley with her longtime best friend, Bianca, and their college-age daughters. As Remi considers the winery and future she once planned with her husband, Bianca seeks renewal after divorce and cancer. But a devastating secret about Remi’s marriage threatens the relationships both women rely on. Try this next: Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris. |
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Meet Me in the Garden by Nina Lacour In 1944 New Orleans, Odette dreams of becoming an artist and loving a woman, confiding only in her cousin Delphine, who has a secret romance of her own. Five years later, Odette is a widowed mother in Los Angeles, estranged from Delphine, who is passing as white. A crisis forces Odette to make a devastating choice to hold her family together. For another narrative account of the Great Migration from the author's family history, try Coleman Hill by Kim Coleman Foote.
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| Queen Mab by Emily McBrideWhen 23-year-old Mab, a literature doctoral student, gets pregnant, she and her new husband are surprised but pleased. After a difficult birth, Mab is at first drawn to daughter Maud, but as her husband goes back to his studies, she's left alone to care for a baby that she increasingly believes is a changeling, with her real daughter taken by fairies. Emotionally intense and unsettling, this "stark portrait of maternal depression and psychosis is unflinchingly presented" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Sunrise by Téa ObrehtIn 2024, after the small plane her boyfriend was piloting crashes, Nina ends up alone in the Wyoming mountains, where she stumbles upon Sunrise, an abandoned town. In 2003, Coll is putting the finishing touches on Sunrise’s annual historical reenactment when a newcomer upsets things. In 1902, gunslinger Anton Vargas returns to Sunrise after years away. This buzzy novel is the lyrical latest from the author of The Tiger's Wife. Try this next: Elif Shafak's There Are Rivers in the Sky. |
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I Never Knew You at All by Christine Pride Simone Hartwell put aside her journalism career to raise a family with her wealthy white husband, Alex. When her first love, Kwame, returns to investigate a young Black man’s disappearance from Alex’s elite prep school, he uncovers a disturbing family connection. Old feelings and buried secrets force Simone to confront questions of loyalty, forgiveness, and her marriage’s future. Try these next: Friends and Family by Natalie Baszile; Leave Your Mess at Home by Tolani Akinola.
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Dead Weight by Hildur KnútsdóttirUnnur was living a normal, if lonely, life until a black cat showed up at her door. When she tracks down the cat's wayward owner, she finds a young woman just as lost and in need of help. Like a gust of cold air in a Reykjavík night, Ásta and her pet slip into Unnur's life. It's unexpected, but welcome. Unnur likes the company, and she begins to rely on Ásta in turn. But like a black cat, trouble has been tailing her new friend, and Unnur is the only one there for Ásta when things take a violent turn. The two women quickly learn: nothing tests a friendship like blood on your hands. Try this next: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.
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| You'll Love It Here by Natalie SueAfter her estranged dad dies, Mona talks back to a client and is put on leave from her marketing job. Then her elderly landlady lands in the hospital, leading Mona to make a sketchy deal with the woman's niece: Mona will become the temporary super of the building and secretly prep the place for sale. But getting to know her quirky neighbors and the handsome guy at the neighborhood deli has her questioning her priorities. For fans of: engaging stories with heart that explore community and found family. |
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| The Book of Chuck by LaToya WatkinsIn 1936 Texas, babbling baby Nannie predicts her father’s death that same day. Forty years later, the son Nannie abandoned, Chuck, dreams of making a happy family, but things don’t go as planned. At the new millennium, Chuck’s youngest child, teenage Baby, begins to have surprising visions of death and investigates her lineage. “This astonishes,” raves Publishers Weekly. For another layered family saga with Texas roots and supernatural elements, try Luis Jaramillo’s The Witches of El Paso. |
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Whale Harbor by Mary Beth Keane After tragedy strikes an Irish family in the 1960s, eleven brothers take different paths across Ireland, England, and America. Macdara leaves for a Montana ranch, promising to bring his younger brother Rian over when he’s old enough. But Rian’s disappearance haunts the family for decades in this multigenerational saga of brotherhood, grief, and choices that echo across lifetimes. For another family saga of tragedy and resilience, try A Far-Flung Life by M.L. Stedman.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Forsyth County Public Library
660 W. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-703-2665forsythlibrary.org |
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