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Fiction A to Z November 2025 |
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The Shocking Experiments of Miss Mary Bennet
by Melinda Taub
An utterly fantastical and undeniably queer melding of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein that recasts Mary Bennet as an insatiable scientist, one who creates a monster in an attempt to save herself from spinsterdom Awkward, plain, and overlooked, Mary Bennet has long been out of favor not only with her own family but with generations of readers of Pride and Prejudice. But what was this peculiar girl really doing while her sisters were falling in love? As, one by one, Mary's sisters get married, she hatches a plan. If the world won't give this fierce, lonely girl a place, she'll carve one out herself. In a desperate bid to avoid becoming a burden on her family or, worse, married to a controlling man, Mary does what any bright, intrepid girl would do. She takes to the attic and teach herself to reanimate the dead. If finding acceptance requires a husband, she'll get one. . . even if she has to make him herself. However, Mary's genius and determination aren't enough to control the malevolent force that she unwittingly unleashes. Soon, her attempts to rein in the destruction wreaked by her creations leads her to forge a perhaps unlikely friendship with another brilliant young woman unlike any she's ever known. As that friendship blossoms into something passionate and all-consuming, Mary begins to realize that she may have to choose between the acceptance she's always fought for and true happiness.
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Evensong
by Stewart O'Nan
The Humpty Dumpty Club is distraught when their powerhouse leader, Joan Hargrove, takes a bad fall down her stairs, knocking her out of commission. Now, as well as running errands and shepherding those less able to their doctors' appointments, they have to pick up the slack. Between navigating their own relationships and aging bodies and attending choir practice, these invisible yet indomitable women help where they can. They bake cookies, they care for pets, they pick up prescriptions, they sit vigil by the sick, and most of all, they show up for the people they've pledged to help. In the face of death, divorce, and the myriad directions our lives can take, the Humpty Dumpty club represents the power of community and chosen family.
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The Understudy
by Morgan Richter
After years of rigorous instruction and ensemble work, Kit finally gets her big break when she's hired to play the lead role in a new opera based on the 1960s cult classic, Barbarella. Entrusted with playing the beautiful and seductive titular role, Kit is on her way to the top - and then she walks into rehearsal and meets her understudy. Stunning, suggestive, and wildly confident, Yolanda is physically everything Barbarella is meant to be. But with no formal training, Kit isn't threatened, until Yolanda reveals that she deserves the role, and will do anything to get it. Yolanda is as cunning as she is beautiful, and as her schemes become increasingly dangerous, she draws an unwitting Kit into her seductive orbit. But when a shocking murder destabilizes the company and threatens her role, Kit begins to discover the wickedness beneath her understudy's glittery surface. Hunting down the betrayed friends and discarded lovers from Yolanda's past, and unearthing secrets 'she's worked hard to conceal, Kit discovers just how far Yolanda is willing to go to get what she wants.
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| The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran DesaiWhile her relatives in India worry about her, Vermont college student Sonia fights loneliness by dating a famous artist, though his affection is costly. Meanwhile, ambitious Manhattan journalist Sunny hasn't told his widowed mother in India that he has a white girlfriend. Then Sonia and Sunny meet in this sweeping saga, a “masterpiece” (Kirkus Reviews) that examines identity, art, love, and belonging. For fans of: Real Americans by Rachel Khong; Dry Spells by Archana Maniar. |
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The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes
by Chanel Cleeton
This captivating story is an ode to book lovers!--Woman's World A mysterious book with a legacy spanning from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day unites three women--and their secrets--in this unforgettable novel from New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton. London, 2024: American expat Margo Reynolds is renowned for her talent at sourcing rare antiques for her clients, but she's never had a request quite like this one. She's been hired to find a mysterious book published over a century ago. With a single copy left in existence, it has a storied past shrouded in secrecy--and her client isn't the only person determined to procure it at any cost.Havana, 1966: Librarian Pilar Castillo has devoted her life to books, and in the chaotic days following her husband's unjust imprisonment by Fidel Castro, reading is her only source of solace. So when a neighbor fleeing Cuba asks her to return a valuable book to its rightful owner, Pilar will risk everything to protect the literary work entrusted to her care. It's a dangerous mission that reveals to her the power of one book to change a life.Boston, 1900: For Cuban school teacher and aspiring author Eva Fuentes, traveling from Havana to Harvard to study for the summer is the opportunity of a lifetime. It's a whirlwind adventure that leaves her little time to write, but a moonlit encounter with an enigmatic stranger changes everything. The story that pours out of her is one of forbidden love, secrets, and lies... and though Eva cannot yet see it, the book will be a danger and salvation for the lives it touches.
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| Vianne by Joanne HarrisSet six years prior to the events in the bestselling Chocolat, this charming prequel finds a pregnant Vianne, who has recently scattered her mother's ashes in New York, working in a bistro in in Marseille, France, and discovering the magic of chocolate. But she has secrets and choices to make in this sweet blend of literary fiction and magical realism. Try this next: Erin Palmisano's The Secrets of the Little Greek Taverna. |
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| A Guardian and a Thief by Megha MajumdarIn a near-future Kolkata, India, climate change causes flooding and famine. Ma, her elderly father, and her young daughter have precious visas to join Ma’s scientist husband in Michigan. But a desperate resident of the shelter where Ma works follows her, convinced she’s skimming resources, and steals the documents. For seven days, Ma looks for the thief in this moving story that’s a National Book Award finalist. Try these next: Susanna Kwan’s Awake in the Floating City; Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind. |
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| To the Moon and Back by Eliana RamageAfter her mom leaves her abusive father, Steph Harper and her younger sister grow up in Oklahoma’s Cherokee Nation, where Steph dreams of space. She eventually goes to college, finds a girlfriend, and is chosen for astronaut training. But her goals strain her ties with her family in this stirring debut by a Cherokee author that’s perfect for book clubs. For fans of: Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere. |
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| Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron RindoIn a small Wisconsin town, an unwed Amish woman dies giving birth to a son without naming his father. Raised by family members, the kind-hearted boy grows over eight feet tall and finds success in athletics, which takes him into the wider world. Narrated by his grandmother, a veterinarian, a bar owner, and a football coach, this moving story has “unforgettable characters…[and] is a must-read” (Kirkus Reviews). For fans of: fantastical, lyrical coming-of-age novels. |
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Hot Desk
by Laura Dickerman
Rival editors Rebecca and Ben work for competing publishing houses that share a space in the same building. As they compete for the rights to a posthumous work based on notes left in a literary giant's desk, Rebecca learns startling information about her family, and herself, including her mother's connection to the late literary legend.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Plainfield Area Public Library
15025 S. Illinois St.
Plainfield, Illinois 60544
815.436.6639papl.info |
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