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Book Club Picks March 2026 |
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Good Dirt
by Charmaine Wilkerson
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick Engrossing . . . Wilkerson masterfully weaves these threads of love, loss and legacy into] a thoroughly researched and beautifully imagined family saga.--The New York Times LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: TIME, NPR, Marie Claire, People, Chicago Public Library, Christian Science Monitor, Denver Public Library When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well. The crime was never solved--and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England--the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby's high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that's exactly what they get. So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what's happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago--the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family's history--it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future. In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.
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Hum
by Helen Phillips
In a city addled by climate change and populated by intelligent robots called 'hums,' May loses her job to artificial intelligence. In a desperate bid to resolve her family's debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance. Seeking some reprieve from her recent hardships and from her family's addiction to their devices, she splurges on passes that allow them three nights' respite inside the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams, and animals flourish. But her insistence that her son, daughter, and husband leave their devices at home proves far more fraught than she anticipated, and the lush beauty of the Botanical Garden is not the balm she hoped it would be
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Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A] word-of-mouth smash hit. --The New York Times One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from...or why... His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers. Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their rightful owners. With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered. A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.
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Heartwood (a Read with Jenna Pick)
by Amity Gaige
In the heart of the Maine woods, an experienced Appalachian Trail hiker goes missing. She is forty-two-year-old Valerie Gillis, who has vanished 200 miles from her final destination. Alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping. At the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the determined Maine State Game Warden tasked with finding Valerie, who leads the search on the ground. Meanwhile, Lena, a seventy-six-year-old birdwatcher in a Connecticut retirement community, becomes an unexpected armchair detective. Roving between these compelling narratives, a puzzle emerges, intensifying the frantic search, as Valerie's disappearance may not be accidental.--Provided by publisher.
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The Naysayers
by Liz Fenton
From bestselling authors Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke comes a witty, sharp-edged tale of corporate greed, unexpected romance, and the quiet power of our shared humanity.At Naysay Inc., rising star Megan's job is to whisper negative thoughts straight into the minds of clients in the Real World. It's all in a day's dirty work in Naysayland, the parallel reality where your negativity is manufactured and self-doubt is a commodity.But when she is assigned to sabotage a romance between lifestyle influencer Lily and author Jasper, Megan's carefully constructed reality begins to unravel. The project teams her with Ben, the smug but cute whisperer in the next cubicle. As they work to tear down Lily and Jasper's situationship, Megan and Ben are catching feelings for each other. And it's making them lose their negative edge.As their empathy grows, and they start rooting for the relationship they're tasked with destroying, dreaded HR is sniffing around. Now they're facing a choice: keep crushing dreams for a paycheck, or risk everything for their own fairy tale. Who knew professional pessimists could be such hopeless romantics?
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