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Fiction A to Z January 2026 |
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| Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan BraithwaiteYears ago, a man's first wife cursed a later wife, plus all of the women in her family for generations. Ebbing and and flowing in time, this moving Read with Jenna pick from the author of My Sister, the Serial Killer follows three of the cursed Nigerian women: Monife, who drowns herself after losing her lover; her cousin, Ebun, who has a child the day of Monife's funeral; and Ebun's child, Eniiyi, who looks and acts like Monife. Read-alike: Olufunke Grace Bankole's The Edge of Water. |
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| When the Fireflies Dance by Aisha HassanOn the edge of Lahore, Pakistan, seven-year-old Lalloo's family lives in modern indentured servitude, making bricks by hand with no hope of freedom. When his brother is murdered, young Lalloo is spirited away by his father to be a mechanic's apprentice. As Lalloo grows, he makes friends and saves money, wanting to free his parents and sisters in this slow-burn, haunting debut that examines grief, hope, and family love. For fans of: Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. |
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| The Eleventh Hour by Salman RushdieA New Yorker best book of 2025, this bestselling collection of five stories thoughtfully and wittily explores life and death for a variety of characters (older men, a ghost, a musician, and more) who live in various locations (India, England, and the United States). Try this next: The Largesse of the Sea Maiden: Stories by Denis Johnson; An Oral History of Atlantis: Stories by Ed Park. |
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| House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk; translated by Antonia Lloyd-JonesThis reissuing of a book first published in Polish in 1998 by a Nobel and Booker Prize winner explores life in a small village along the Polish-Czech border. Stylistically complex and using a variety of elements (stories, gossip, recipes, etc.), Tokarczuk's "scattered fragments are beautifully tied together to form a unified whole" (Library Journal). Try this next: Vaim by Jon Fosse. |
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Books You May Have Missed
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| My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel AllendeRaised by her Irish former nun mother and a loving stepdad in San Francisco, Emilia del Valle never knows her Chilean aristocrat father. As a young journalist covering the Chilean Civil War of 1891, she begins a romance and also finally meets the father who abandoned her. Isabel Allende fans will relish reading about the del Valles, whose various members often appear in her work. Try this next: Kaitlyn Greenidge's Libertie. |
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| Spent by Alison BechdelIn this comic graphic novel, author and cartoonist Alison Bechdel -- who shares a name and striking similarities with the author of the book -- lives on a goat farm in Vermont with her partner Holly and works on her next book project that deals with late-stage capitalism while helping her sister, spending time with friends, and pitching a reality show where people try to live more ethically. Kirkus Reviews raves, "Bechdel is incisive, tender, and funny -- often at the same time." |
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| The Heart of Winter by Jonathan EvisonThis 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. |
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| The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham JonesIn 2012, college professor Etsy Beaucarne learns about a 100-year-old diary written by her great-great-grandfather, Lutheran minister Arthur Beaucarne, and hopes she can utilize it to secure tenure. Contained within its pages are the confessions of Good Stab, a Blackfeet vampire seeking vengeance for the massacre of his people. For fans of: The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo; Lone Women by Victor LaValle. |
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| Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins ReidIn 1980, physics and astronomy professor Joan Goodwin is selected to train as an astronaut at Houston's Johnson Space Center. As the astronaut candidates work together and become friends, Joan unexpectedly finds herself falling in love with one of them. This acclaimed, suspenseful tale cuts back and forth between training and a 1984 mission gone wrong. Read-alikes: Eliana Ramage's To the Moon and Back; Bonnie Garmus' Lessons in Chemistry. |
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| Woodworking by Emily St. JamesIn autumn 2016, recently divorced 35-year-old Erica Skyberg, a closeted trans woman in small-town South Dakota, teaches, does community theater, and makes friends with openly trans transfer student Abigail. Though they bond, Abigail is also a snarky 17-year-old trying to find her own way. With characters who feel real, this debut novel is an "engrossing drama [and] a must-read" (Publishers Weekly). Try this next: Edward Underhill's The In-Between Bookstore. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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