Fiction A to Z
April 2024
Recent Releases
American Spirits
by Russell Banks

The last book by the late great Russell Banks offers three gritty, character-driven tales set in rural Sam Dent, New York, where his acclaimed novel The Sweet Hereafter took place. The elegiac stories explore a kidnapping, the loss of family land, and problems with new neighbors. Read-alikes: Richard Russo's novels; Mariana Enriquez's Things We Lost in the Fire.
Say Hello to My Little Friend
by Jennine Capó Crucet

In Miami, 20-year-old Cuban American narrator Ismael "Izzy" Reyes is ordered to stop impersonating rapper Pitbull at parties, so he has a new goal: becoming his own version of Scarface's Tony Montana. Also narrating this creative, compelling novel is Lolita, a captive orca with a mental connection to Izzy. Read-alike: Sea Change by Gina Chung.
The Adversary
by Michael Crummey

In an early 19th-century coastal Newfoundland town, Abe Strapp's grand plan to marry well and combine two businesses is sabotaged by his smarter widowed sister. Furious, Abe seeks revenge, which divides loyalties and causes devastating consequences in this "enthralling masterpiece" (Kirkus Reviews). Read-alikes: Macbeth by Jo Nesbo; Chenneville by Paulette Jiles.
Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame
by Olivia Ford

This sweet debut follows 77-year-old Jenny Quinn as she applies for and competes on a British baking show, where making old recipes has her recalling events from the past, including a 60-year-old secret she's never shared with her beloved husband. Read-alikes: Hazel Prior's How the Penguins Saved Veronica; Bonnie Garmus' Lessons in Chemistry.
Anita de Monte Laughs Last
by Xochitl Gonzalez

In the 1980s, up-and-coming artist Anita de Monte is married to Jack, an established white artist, when she dies after a suspicious fall. In the 1990s, Brown University student Raquel Toro researches a project on Jack while starting her own relationship with a wealthy white man. This Reese's Book Club pick presents a witty, thought-provoking look at art, race, class, and gender. Read-alike: Hernan Diaz's Trust.
The Other Valley
by Scott Alexander Howard

Teenage Odile lives in a remote valley that's bordered by itself -- 20 years earlier on one side and 20 years later on the other -- and travel between them is rarely allowed. One day while in the woods with a friend, Odile sees something she shouldn't in this buzzy, thought-provoking debut novel and inspiration for an upcoming TV series. Read-alikes: Kazuo Ishiguro's novels; This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. 
The Kamogawa Food Detectives
by Hisashi Kashiwai; translated by Jesse Kirkwood

In an unmarked Kyoto restaurant, a father and daughter work to recreate special dishes from a person's past. They help a widower who wants a dish like one his wife used to make, a student requesting one of her grandmother's meals, and more in this charming Japanese bestseller. For fans of: Michiko Aoyama's What You Are Looking for Is in the Library; Toshikazu Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold.
How We Named the Stars
by Andrés N. Ordorica

In 2011-2012, nerdy first-generation college student Daniel de La Luna meets and grows ever closer to his freshman roommate, soccer star Sam Morris. But Sam's sudden death the following summer leaves Daniel trying to make sense of it all while visiting his family in Mexico. For fans of: powerful and moving first novels; Bryan Washington's Family Meal.
Lost man's lane : a novel
by Scott Carson

A teenager explores the darkness hidden within his hometown.
Greta & Valdin
by Rebecca K. Reilly

In Auckland, New Zealand, queer 20-something siblings Greta and Valdin navigate adulthood, explore their Russian and Māori family history, and long for love in this witty first novel that also includes a sojourn in Argentina when Valdin meets up with his ex. "Say hello to your new favorite fictional family" (Kirkus Reviews). For fans of: The Guncle by Steven Rowley; Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park.
Maya's laws of love
by Alina Khawaja

Maya Mirza's unlucky-in-love past seems to be turning around when she ends up in an arranged marriage to the on-paper perfect man; but as she heads to her wedding in Pakistan, she finally meets the man of her dreams, who isn't the man to whom she is arranged to be wed. Original.
Toxic prey
by John Sandford

When a renowned expert in infectious diseases disappears without a trace, Letty Davenport, with the world on high alert, calls in her father, Lucas, to locate him, and when their worst fears are confirmed, they must race against time to stop the virus he created from becoming the perfect weapon.
The Phoenix bride : a novel
by Natasha Siegel

After a plague devastates England in 1666, young widow Cecilia Thorowgood, isolated in her older sister's London townhouse, falls under the care of a new physician with whom she falls in love, but to be together, they must endure prejudice, heartbreak and calamity. Original.
Take two, Birdie Maxwell
by Allison Winn Scotch

Hiding in her hometown after an on-set feud goes viral, A-list actor Birdie Robinson, hoping a public reunion with an ex-boyfriend could fix her damaged reputation, searches for her long-ago ex with reporter Elliot O'Brien, retracing their own romantic history for clues, and coming face-to-face with their own romantic missteps. Original.
The painter's daughters
by Emily Howes

The daughters of one of England's most famous portrait artists of the 1700s, Peggy and Molly Gainsborough are inseparable due to Molly's bouts of mental confusion, and as Peggy goes to great lengths to protect her sister's secret, she falls in love with a charming composer, which sparks the bitterest of betrayals.
The smoke in our eyes
by James Grady

In 1959 Montana, when a fatal car accident shatters his world, 10-year-old Lucas finds himself confronting crime and vengeance, humor and heroism, all against the backdrop of growing up during the Space Race, the brutal racism of segregation and the hope of a new generation to move us forward.
The partner plot
by Kristina Forest

When successful celebrity stylist Violet Greene and her high school boyfriend Xavier Wright wake up married after hooking up in Vegas, they decide both their careers could benefit from the marriage, but instead get an unexpected second shot at happily ever after. Original.
The Happiness Blueprint
by Ally Zetterberg

When her dad is diagnosed with cancer, Klara begrudgingly agrees to run his construction company while he undergoes treatment and, way out of her comfort zone, meets Alex, a carpenter whose life has been upended by his brother's untimely death, and together they navigate life, family and unexpected changes. Original.
City in ruins : a novel
by Don Winslow

A Las Vegas casino mogul with a spotty past must fight for the life he created and everything he holds dear after old enemies surface, in the third novel of the series following City of Dreams. 250,000 first printing.
Jaded
by Ela Lee

A young lawyer wakes up the morning after a work gala with no memory of how she got home the previous night and must figure out what, exactly, happened—and how much she's willing to put up with to make her way to the top of the corporate ladder.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Duxbury Free Library
77 Alden Street, Duxbury, MA 02332
781-934-2721
www.duxburyfreelibrary.org
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