Fiction A to Z December 2025 |
|
|
|
| Evensong by Stewart O'NanIn Pittsburgh, a group of aging church women who call themselves the Humpty Dumpty Club help others in myriad ways, by baking cookies, taking care of pets, running errands, and sitting with the sick. Then one of their own has a bad fall. This quietly moving character-driven story portrays the importance of community and chosen family. For fans of: Elizabeth Strout. |
|
| The Second Chance Cinema by Thea WeissNewly engaged couple Ellie and Drake discover a magical movie theater down a cobblestone alley showing The Story of You. As moments from both of their pasts replay on the big screen, they wrestle with what they learn about each other and revisit their own upsetting secrets in this intriguing debut novel. For fans of: romantic magical realism stories. |
|
|
|
Helen of Wyndhorn
by Tom King
Following the tragic death of her late father C.K. Cole, the esteemed pulp writer and creator of the popular warrior character Othan; Helen Cole is called back to her Grandfather's enormous and illustrious estate: Wyndhorn House. Scarred by Cole's untimely passing and lost in a new, strange world, Helen wreaks drunken havoc upon her arrival; however, her chaotic ways begin to soften as she discovers a lifetime of secrets hiding within the myriad rooms and hallways of the expansive manor. For outside its walls, within the woods, dwell the legendary adventures that once were locked away within her father's stories.
|
|
| The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'NeillAfter years apart, all three Ryan sisters gather for Thanksgiving at their parents' home on the East End of Long Island. Though each brings her own current issues, it’s the tragic deaths of two young people in the past that cast shadows over all the Ryans. This debut novel and Read with Jenna pick features complex characters who have all sorts of secrets. Read-alikes: J. Courtney Sullivan’s Maine; Christina Clancy’s The Second Home. |
|
|
|
We'll Prescribe You a Cat
by Syou Ishida
Tucked away in an old building at the end of a narrow alley in Kyoto, the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul can only be found by people who are struggling in their lives and genuinely need help. The mysterious clinic offers a unique treatment to those who find their way there: it prescribes cats as medication. Patients are often puzzled by this unconventional prescription, but when they take their cat for the recommended duration, they witness profound transformations in their lives, guided by the playful, empathetic, occasionally challenging yet endearing cats. Through the chapters of a disheartened businessman who finds unexpected joy in physical labor, a young girl navigating the complexities of elementary school cliques, a middle-aged man struggling to stay relevant at work and home, a hardened bag designer seeking emotional balance, and a geisha unable to move on from the memory of her lost cat, the power of the human-animal bond is revealed. As the clinic's patients navigate their inner turmoil and seek resolution, their feline companions lead them toward healing, self-discovery, and newfound hope.
|
|
|
|
Clementine Crane Prefers Not to
by Kristin Bair
Clementine Crane has a few things on her plate: She keeps the peace, picks up the slack, and always puts everyone else first. But when her first hot flash strikes, peri-menopause sends her into a tailspin. Between a husband who can't navigate a revolving door without her, three kids who treat her as their fixer, and a career stuck in neutral, Clementine begins to wonder: When is enough enough? Overwhelmed and fed up, Clementine takes a stand--one small refusal at a time. She goes on strike, ditching obligations, setting boundaries, and venting her frustrations on social media. When her raw, hilarious, and unexpectedly poignant videos go viral, Clementine finds herself at the heart of a movement she never saw coming. Clementine can't stay on strike forever, but can she let a few things fall through the cracks--before she cracks again? Speaking to the emotional, and often invisible, labor that so many women bear, Clementine Crane finally asks: When does it become too much?
|
|
|
|
Good Hair Days
by Grace Helena Walz
Two sisters, a failing family business, a messy legacy, and a whole lot of hairspray--Good Hair Days is a modern twist on Steel Magnolias meets Hello Beautiful with some extra Dolly Parton flair.
|
|
|
|
The Gallagher Place
by Julie Doar
A layered exploration of family secrets, sibling misconceptions, and an unsolved murder in this chilling debut set in New York's Dutchess County. When Marlowe Fisher, an illustrator living in New York City, returns to her family's bewitching Hudson Valley home for the holidays, she discovers a body in the woods--a murder that draws her back into the haunting case of her teenage best friend's disappearance two decades earlier. What happened to Nora? As police descend on the sprawling Fisher property, Marlowe is pulled into an investigation that threatens to unravel the town's fragile loyalties and expose the shadowed legacy of a weekend home steeped in secrets. Marlowe must confront the fallibility of her own memory and the feeling that everyone--including her brothers--is hiding something if she's to uncover the shocking truth about her lost friend. In this gripping debut, Julie Doar delivers a chilling mystery that explores the corrosive power of silence and the tension of family secrets.
|
|
|
|
Wreck
by Catherine Newman
If you loved Rocky and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, wait until you join them at home two years later. (And if this is your first meeting with this crew, get ready to laugh and cry--and relate.) Rocky, still anxious, nostalgic, and funny, is living in Western Massachusetts with her husband Nick and their daughter Willa, who's back home after college. Their son Jamie has taken a new job in New York, and Mort, Rocky's widowed father, has moved in. It all couldn't be more ridiculously normal--until Rocky finds herself obsessed with a local accident that only tangentially affects them--and with a medical condition that, she hopes, won't affect them at all.
|
|
|
|
Secret Nights and Northern Lights
by Megan Oliver
Childhood best friends and first loves are reunited on a make-or-break work trip to Iceland, with old feelings coming to the surface in this charming romance from debut author Megan Oliver. Mona Miller lives her life by platitudes: she's just fine, thanks; all good; not a problem! Everything is right as rain--even if it's all a lie. Everyone at the travel magazine where she works knows her as a team player (in other words, the one who won't complain about the endless fluff pieces pushed her way). But, feeling snubbed after being passed over for a promotion, Mona jumps at an international assignment to Iceland, even though she's woefully unprepared. She's determined to prove her worth, though, and her can-do attitude will scale any glacier. But the freelance photographer paired with her is none other than Benjamin Carter. Ben, her childhood best friend who understood her even when her family didn't. Ben, her first love--first everything. And Ben, the boy who ghosted her fourteen years ago and left her brokenhearted. There is a decade's worth of resentment Mona needs to ignore if she wants to make it through this trip. She'll put on her No worries! façade and hold Ben at a distance. But the more time they spend together, the more the ice around her heart melts. And as those old feelings spark back to life, Mona must decide if she's willing to go on the biggest adventure of all.
|
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|