|
|
|
|
|
|
Clutch
by Emily Nemens
White Lotus with more sincerity and heart. --Los Angeles Times A close-knit group of women navigate mid-life's biggest challenges--marriage, career, addiction--in this sharp, funny, utterly engrossing novel (Lynn Steger Strong) Named a Best Book by The New York Times Book Review, People, Los Angeles Times, Alta Journal, Bustle, and more Five friends, twenty years, one reunion trip. As undergrads, Gregg, Reba, Hillary, Bella, and Carson formed the kind of rare bond that college brochures promise--friendship that lasts a lifetime. Two decades later, the women are spread across the country but remain firmly tethered through their ever-unfurling group chat. They've made it through COVID and childbirth and midcareer challenges, but no one can anticipate what's coming down the pike. The five women converge on Palm Springs for a long overdue reunion: Gregg, who has forged a path as a progressive Texas legislator, is facing a huge decision about her political future. Reba, who moved back to the Bay Area after decades away, is deep in IVF treatments while caring for her aging parents and navigating a San Francisco she hardly recognizes. Hillary's medical career in Chicago is going great--but at home, her husband's struggles with addiction have derailed their life. In New York City, Bella faces the biggest case in her career as a litigator while her home life crumbles around her, and across the river in Brooklyn, Carson is working on a new novel as well as forging a possible relationship with the father she's never met. Twenty years into their shared friendship, the stakes are higher than ever, and they must help one another reconcile professional ambition with personal tumult. Clutch is a big, beautiful, and deeply absorbing novel that asks how much space and heart we can give to our friends and our families, and what space we can save for ourselves.
|
|
| Lost Lambs by Madeline CashA suburban family is in trouble in this buzzy, funny first novel. Bud and Catherine's relationship is sputtering, while their three girls have their own issues: Abigail, 17, is dating a security guard nicknamed "War Crimes Wes," Louise, 15, has an online boyfriend who encourages her to make bombs, and super-smart Harper, 13, investigates a sketchy local billionaire, who is her dad's employer. Read-alikes: Kevin Wilson's The Family Fang; Paul Murray's The Bee Sting |
|
|
|
We Love You, Bunny
by Mona Awad
Samantha Mackey returns to the New England campus where she first met the Bunnies, the wealthy, strangely symbiotic fellow MFA students she based her bestselling first novel on. But unhappy with how Sam has portrayed them, the women kidnap Sam to tell their own stories, covering events before, during, and after those depicted in the witty, creepy, and satirical 2019 book Bunny. Try this next: Lacey N. Dunham's The Belles.
|
|
|
|
The Heart of Winter
by Jonathan Evison
This poignant portrait of a marriage begins on Abe Winter's 90th birthday. While he's uncomfortable with the attention, his 87-year-old wife, Ruth, has a tooth that's causing her problems. When Ruth's diagnosed with oral cancer, Abe tries to care for her in this novel that looks back over 70 years, from their opposites-attract college romance to marriage problems, raising kids, and more. Try these next: Jessica Soffer's This Is a Love Story; Mikki Brammer's The Collected Regrets of Clover.
|
|
|
|
Scavengers
by Kathleen Boland
After losing her New York finance job, lonely Bea Macon visits her estranged free-spirited mom, Christy, who's a member of an internet forum devoted to finding a hidden treasure. With an online boyfriend and a plan, Christy heads to the desert and Bea tags along. This character-driven debut novel explores mother-daughter relationships and has an evocative Utah setting and romantic elements. For a more romance-forward treasure hunting tale, try Christina Lauren's Something Wilder.
|
|
| This Is Not about Us by Allegra GoodmanThis "unsparingly frank, wryly funny" (Kirkus Reviews) linked story collection is narrated by three generations of the Rubenstein family as they navigate 74-year-old Jeanne's death, a feud between her older sisters over apple cake, and various other gatherings for holidays, divorces, a bat mitzvah, and more. Read-alikes: The Family Izquierdo by Ruben Degollado; Underburn by Bill Gaythwaite. |
|
|
|
Sheer
by Vanessa Lawrence
In 2015 New York, 40-something beauty mogul Maxine Thomas has been suspended after a transgression. As she awaits her fate from the board, she ponders her past, including her 1980s childhood in the New Jersey suburbs and growing her business in college and beyond. This compelling tale provides a revealing look at the beauty industry, ambition, and secrets. For fans of: Olivia Wolfgang-Smith's Mutual Interest; Mona Awad's Rouge.
|
|
|
|
This Is Where the Serpent Lives
by Daniyal Mueenuddin
Spanning decades, this moving, lyrical look at life and social class in modern-day Pakistan follows memorable characters, from orphaned Bayazid, who rises to the position of chauffeur to Hisham, who's the heir to a large estate, to Hisham himself, who attended college in the United States, as well as others connected to these two. "This is a masterpiece," raves Publishers Weekly. Read-alikes: When the Fireflies Dance by Aisha Hassan; Aravind Adiga's novels.
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|