|
|
Fiction A to Z September 2026 |
|
|
|
|
|
Under Story: A GMA Book Club Pick
by Chloe Benjamin
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK The New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists returns with an intimate yet epic love story--and a sweeping odyssey of scientific discovery. Under Story invites us to consider the promise of this life, what might lie beyond it, and how far we would go for more time with the people we love, cementing Chloe Benjamin's place among our best, and most lasting, storytellers. We wake up to tomorrow, never yesterday. At the edge of the world, biologist Laurel Salter is hiding from everything she's ever known. For ten hours a day, six days per week, she works as a dishwasher at McMurdo Station, an isolated research base in Antarctica. She tells no one that before she arrived, she was a renowned young scientist with a promising career and a family. But even in this remote outpost, Laurel can't escape her past. When a strange light appears across the ice--and draws a group of physicists to McMurdo--her former husband, Eli, won't be far behind. Laurel is captivated by the Arc: its surreal glow; the way it seems almost alive. And though Eli is reluctant to test her wildest theory, Laurel is convinced that the Arc leads down a rabbit hole and into a world they can barely imagine. Can she persuade him to risk everything to fix the burden that hangs between them--to turn back the clock and live their story a second time? A breathless page-turner and a love letter to our planet, Under Story grapples with the great questions of our time: human hubris, the precarity of the natural world, and the mysterious webs of consciousness that bind us. A modern epic of science and soul, of bravery and redemption, it offers a vision of the future that demands we reckon with what we owe to one another, and to the earth itself.
|
|
|
|
Dèy
by Edwidge Danticat
From the bestselling author of Everything Inside comes a vivid, timely story, moving from Haiti to Brooklyn to Miami, of a woman whose sense of self and family are called into question when she gets caught in a random act of violence one sunny Florida day. Is home the place where we are born? Or is it the place where we die? These questions haunt Magnolia, a successful Haitian American real estate agent in Miami. When she hears gunfire while at a shopping mall, she takes shelter in a nearby restaurant, cowering with fellow shoppers and diners. Once she's safely home, Magnolia keeps this traumatic event from everyone. But given her life back, she begins to see everything clearly: her extraordinary bond with her daughter, Zo ; her nearly broken relationship with Zo 's father; the challenges of her mentally troubled mother, whose unraveling patterns Magnolia worries she's spiraling toward herself; and her father's affair with a woman who has borne him a child. While struggling through the labyrinth of her past, Magnolia must also come to terms with the losses sustained that life-altering day, and nearly every day by her parents and sibling in Haiti. Can love or family protect us from harm? Does optimism or fear win out in one's heart? Which side will prevail for Magnolia? Pulled between these questions, each of which involves a high-stakes choice--Miami or Haiti, single or married, mortal or ghost, before or after--Magnolia is a narrator who is yon pati koukouy, part firefly flitting and shimmering between different worlds. Taking as its title a Haitian Krey l word for mourning, D y is a profoundly warm and moving novel about the importance not only of sharing grief but also of inseverable family ties. Brave and striking, D y is one of Danticat's most powerful and deeply affecting works yet, told with her signature unfaltering voice and evocative beauty (The Boston Globe).
|
|
|
|
The Thoroughbreds
by Elin Hilderbrand
Class is back in session New York Times bestselling authors of The Academy Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham return with The Thoroughbreds: what has more high-stakes drama, tension, and intrigue than senior year at a New England boarding school? September at Tiffin Academy is always a heady time, especially for the senior class--sixth formers, in Tiffin-speak--a season of college applications and intense pressure, of partying hard and last hurrahs. As the chapel bells ring in students and staff, everyone has something to look forward to--but in the midst of the anticipation and excitement, nagging questions and dark secrets lurk beneath the surface... Are Tiffin's It Couple, Charley and East, on the rocks? What sparked the rift between football star Dub and his best friend Hakeem? Will Pippa Sacks, posh day student, topple the delicate social hierarchy--or wreak even worse havoc? Can Head of School Audre Robinson save her job--and the school--after a disastrous financial mistake? And what was in that email attachment Cinnamon Peters sent to Dub before she died? Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter Shelby Cunningham answer these questions and more in The Thoroughbreds, a page-turning story about friendship, treachery, ambition, and growing up, at any age.
|
|
|
|
The Witches of Cambridge (a Read with Jenna Pick)
by Alice Hoffman
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK The brand-new series from the bestselling author of Practical Magic, following two brilliant young women in 1950s Cambridge, Massachusetts, as they become immersed in a mysterious secret group of witches at Radcliffe known as the Lilith Society. Once upon a time, women were drowned in the river and the only witnesses were the crows in the trees. The Puritans blamed Eve for the sins of the world. That was when we began to meet in the name of Lilith, Adam's first wife--banished for refusing to do as she was told. We Fly Together... By the 1950s, Cambridge, Massachusetts feels far removed from the legendary witch trials that marked its early days as a colony. Ava, a bright young woman from a small town in Maine, arrives for her first year at Radcliffe College. There, she meets Lauren, her opposite in every way--the wild and brazen daughter of a wealthy and well-established Cambridge family. But the two have more in common than they think. Both are recruited by the Lilith Society, a secret organization of witches at Radcliffe dating back to colonial times. As they learn more about their legacy, Ava and Lauren form a close bond that is put to the test as they learn to navigate their new power, friendship, and love. While Radcliffe seems like a safe haven, the shadow of McCarthyism looms large, an ever-present threat to the flourishing creative and intellectual life in Cambridge. And as girls from the Lilith Society begin to go missing, Ava and Lauren realize the witch trials of the past may not be as deeply buried as they once believed.
|
|
|
|
The Sixth Nik
by Daniel Kraus
Perfectly aligned for readers of Iain M. Banks's The Culture series and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, The Sixth Nik is a galaxy spanning adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angel Down and Whalefall. Deep into space, far past the triworld outposts, beyond range of the lethal trollbot internet, soars The Sickness: a ship woven from biomatter and capable of reacting to every need of its human crew. Sisilla, a nine-year-old cultist with a brain enhanced by arcane tech known as niks, has boarded to investigate the enigma of F m--a plague-riddled planet that has abruptly gone rogue. The mysterious crew includes a faceless assassin, a beautiful engineer jigsawed by plastic surgery, a peyote-addicted medic, and--most lethal of all--a rugged, NonModded captain with a score to settle with Sisilla. Other dangers abound. A hacked robot begins to believe Sisilla is its daughter. The Sickness itself is mutating, possibly even pregnant. And the secret of F m is more horrific than anyone could have imagined. To survive, Sisilla will need to forsake her predetermined fate and embrace the unknown.
|
|
|
|
Meet Me in the Garden
by Nina Lacour
A MASTERPIECE that stands as an EXCEPTIONAL work of historical fiction...This character-driven beauty is an immersive, heartfelt TRIUMPH. It is a fantastic MUST-READ that will resonate deeply with fans of Alice Walker and Brit Bennett. --Booklist (STARRED review) SWEEPING and PROFOUND. --People (MOST ANTICIPATED) Featured on NPR'S ALL THINGS CONSIDERED From BESTSELLING, AWARD-WINNING author Nina LaCour comes a GORGEOUS FAMILY STORY about self-discovery and love in all forms, inspired by the author's Creole roots New Orleans, 1944. Odette has always been one of the Honore sisters, glamorous and admired in their Creole community. But while Odette's older sisters are content to be wives and mothers, Odette has always wanted something else. It is only with her beloved cousin, Delphine, that Odette can tell her secret: she is in love with a woman, and she longs to be an artist. Delphine has a secret lover, too, a white man. In the hidden garden they've discovered, Odette and Delphine can dream of futures full of passion and freedom. But five years later, Odette's life is nothing like what she'd planned. She's a widowed mother, living in Los Angeles, and she and Delphine, who is passing as white, have spiraled away from each other. When Delphine reaches a breaking point, Odette must make a shattering choice to try to hold her family together. Profound and expansive, a story of love and longing, art and motherhood, friendship and desire, Meet Me in the Garden is a decades-spanning tour de force, inspired by the author's family and tracing the history of the Great Migration.
|
|
|
|
The Pirate Queen: A Novel from the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Frozen River
by Ariel Lawhon
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A sweeping historical adventure inspired by the life of Grace O'Malley, the legendary Irish folk heroine who risked everything to defend her people. Venture onto the high seas with the thrilling latest from the New York Times bestselling author of The Frozen River and I Was Anastasia. Grace O'Malley was born to be a sea captain. But despite her natural skill on the water, Grace learns early that her dreams of a life at the helm are not compatible with the expectations of her noble family. As the only daughter of a powerful chieftain, her role is to secure a strong alliance and bear children. But when she's sent to foster with a nearby clan, Grace falls for a clever and open-minded second son--a man she cannot have. Married off against her will to a brutal warrior, Grace performs her duty, all the while gathering followers loyal to her, and consolidating her husband's power, only to be ousted from his lands. But this betrayal offers Grace the opportunity to return to sea, finally leading clan O'Malley's mighty fleet. Just as she finds true independence, Queen Elizabeth's incursions into Ireland grow bolder and Grace must fight to defend her land, her ships, and the people she loves most against the cruel and power-hungry English deputies, who will stop at nothing to check her influence. Keenly observed and fiercely written, Ariel Lawhon's new action-packed novel channels the untamed beauty and harsh realities of sixteenth-century Ireland, as seen through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine who rightly became the Pirate Queen of Ireland.
|
|
|
|
Exit Party
by Emily St John Mandel
The award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility returns with a breathtaking novel of doubles, shadow worlds, and fractured timelines as a man disappears from a glittering Los Angeles party, and a woman--a gunrunner, an art collector, an operative of the State--searches for answers. Los Angeles, 2031: The first spring after the collapse of the United States, peacekeeping troops withdraw from the city, the Jacaranda trees blossom, and the curfew is finally lifted. Ari Waker and her roommate pass the gauntlet of bomb-sniffing dogs, the shanty towns, and the Red Cross tents as they walk across Silverlake to a party. The mood is ecstatic inside the apartment, people drink and dance, a woman wears a silver dress, pleated like tinfoil. And then: A shift. A bewildered twin, an uncanny doppelganger stumbles through the crowd and out into the night, and Kareem, the party's host, vanishes into thin air. As Ari Waker unravels the mystery of this inexplicable night, Emily St. John Mandel unfurls a story that takes us from a future America splintered by civil war to the seaside cliffs of Greece where weapons dealers hide in an elegant resort, and from the domed city of Paris to a colony on the moon. An unforgettable literary feat, Exit Party is a novel about the price of safety, the perils of the surveillance state, a requiem for a world not unlike our own, and a breathtaking story of resilience in the face of cataclysmic change.
|
|
|
|
Hollow Bones
by Jodi Picoult
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name comes a riveting novel about the risks we take to protect the ones we love in a world where crisis is always just around the corner. On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home. Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn't have loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters. Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics, and airplane crashes. She and her husband, Jesse--a police polygraph expert with his own history of crisis--have found a love that is a solace in a dangerous world. But then the unexpected upends their new marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they knew. Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
|
|
|
|
The Great Wherever
by Shannon Sanders
Underpaid 32-year-old Aubrey Lamb is still mourning her father when her boyfriend breaks up with her. Learning that she's inherited her dad's stake in a large Tennessee farm, she leaves D.C. to meet her three cousin co-owners, who explain their relative was one of the state's first Black landowners. Meanwhile, their ghostly ancestors watch, gossip, and discuss it all in this sweeping, witty, and moving debut. Read-alikes: Honorée Fanonne Jeffers's The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois; John Vercher's Devil Is Fine.
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|