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Serendipity
by Becky Chalsen
Returning home from LA after five years away, former Hollywood screenwriter Maggie James hopes to repair friendships during a weekend at the group's Fire Island share house, named Serendipity, where the old hurts of her departure have left deep scars.
For fans of: Happy Place by Emily Henry.
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Parade
by Rachel Cusk
A new novel follows G, an artist whose life contains many lives. This startling, exhilarating novel once again expands the notion of what fiction can be and do.
What else to try: Difficult Women by Roxane Gay.
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Same As It Ever Was
by Claire Lombardo
Finally, at age 57, Julie Ames feels she has a firm handle on things, but a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her teenaged daughter and a seductive resurgence of the past threaten to draw her back into the patterns that had previously kept her on a razor's edge.
For fans of: This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub.
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| This Strange Eventful History by Claire MessudTouching on themes of identity and home, this buzzy book, inspired by the author's family, follows an uprooted French Algerian pieds-noir family and their descendants as they move around the world between 1940 and 2010.
Read-alikes: My Beloved Life by Amitava Kumar; French Braid by Anne Tyler. |
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| Sandwich by Catherine NewmanRocky, her husband, her two kids, and her mom and dad have been going to the same Cape Cod rental for 20 years. This year, things feel different as Rocky navigates hot flashes, aging parents, nostalgia for her kids' youth, and old secrets in a funny, fast-paced, and moving novel that's perfect for beach reading.
Read-alikes: Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore; Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. |
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The Road to the Country
by Chigozie Obioma
In 1960s Nigeria as the country explodes in civil war, Kunle sets out on an impossible mission, which becomes a journey of atonement that will see him forced to fight a war he hardly understands while navigating the prophecies of a local Seer.
Read-alikes: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri; Exit West by Mohsin Hamid.
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| Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'ConnorManod is 18 years old in 1938 when a whale washes up on her remote Welsh island, drawing outside attention, including that of two Oxford ethnographers who want to study the 12 island families. Happy for a connection to the wider world, Manod agrees to help, a move she may regret.
For other reflective and atmospheric novels, try Clear by Carys Davies or A Northern Light in Provence by Elizabeth Birkelund. |
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| Godwin by Joseph O'NeillTwo incisive, connected storylines make up this "wonderous novel" (Booklist). Mark Wolfe, a technical writer at a Pittsburgh cooperative, heads to England to help his struggling soccer scout half-brother locate a young African phenom known only as Godwin. Back in the states, the co-op's steady cofounder, Lakesha, deals with major work problems.
For fans of: How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue; Selection Day by Aravind Adiga. |
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| Enlightenment by Sarah PerryIn 1997 Essex, England, Thomas Hart is a secretly gay newspaper columnist and the godfather of 17-year-old Grace Macaulay. As the Comet Hale-Bopp approaches, he becomes enamored by both the sky and an old letter related to a ghostly legend, while Grace falls for a local boy in a novel that "magnificently evokes the wonder of the cosmos" (Publishers Weekly).
Read-alike: The Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. |
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| Bear by Julia PhillipsIn Washington's San Juan Islands, two 20-something sisters work dead-end jobs and care for their dying mother. They talk about a future on the mainland, but when a bear suddenly shows up, one sister sees danger, while the other sees a magical beacon of hope, leading to the unraveling of their plans in this unsettling tale.
Read-alike: The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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