| The Divorcées by Rowan BeairdIn 1951, women from around the country spend six weeks at the Golden Yarrow divorce ranch in Reno, Nevada while waiting to end their marriages. At first, Lois Saunders doesn't mesh with the others, then lively, lovely Greer appears and takes her under her wing. If you like this slow burn debut's divorce ranch setting, try Julia Claiborne Johnson's Better Luck Next Time or Sofia Grant's Lies in White Dresses. |
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| The Garden by Clare BeamsAfter several miscarriages, Irene Willard is pregnant again. Desperate for a child, she goes to a private Berkshires hospital where a husband-and-wife doctor duo specialize in helping people like her. She clashes with the wife, but also makes friends and finds a very strange garden. Readers who enjoy this intricately plotted Gothic novel set in 1948 New England can try The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas. |
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| James by Percival EverettIn this critically acclaimed retelling of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, readers get the viewpoint of Jim, an enslaved man in danger of being sold who escapes with young Huck on a raft down the Mississippi River while longing for his enslaved wife and child. Read-alikes: My Jim by Nancy Rawles; The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead; Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts. |
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| Glorious Exploits by Ferdia LennonIn 412 BCE Sicily, best friends Lampo and Gelon use food and water to bribe captured Athenian invaders into reciting Greek poetry before casting the prisoners in productions of Greek tragedies. This lyrical, moving, and often surprisingly funny debut uses anachronistic language to present a creative story that examines friendship, art, and war. |
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| Parasol Against the Axe by Helen OyeyemiThree women who used to be close friends gather in the mysterious city of Prague (which sometimes narrates) in a wondrously unconventional novel that includes a book that changes stories depending on who is reading it and when. If you enjoy this "metatextual masterpiece" (Publishers Weekly), try Julia Alvarez's The Cemetery of Untold Stories or Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges. |
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| The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev SahotaMiddle-aged Nayan Olak is up for union leader at the Chesterfield, England, company where he works, but a surprise opponent upends the race and things get ugly. At home, he forges a relationship with a new woman...who may have a secret connection to the tragic deaths of Nayan's mother and young son years ago. Read-alikes: The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar; Love Marriage by Monica Ali. |
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| Worry by Alexandra TannerIn 2019, 28-year-old Jules Gold lets her younger sister Poppy temporarily move into her Brooklyn apartment. As the months go by, the two bitingly funny siblings-turned-roommates navigate their messy relationship and the absurdities of the modern world in this highly quotable first novel. Read-alikes: Day by Michael Cunningham; Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly; Grown Ups by Emma Jane Unsworth. |
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| Help Wanted by Adelle WaldmanThis darkly humorous, sharply observed novel follows a big box store's poorly paid workers as they take deliveries at 4 a.m., unpack goods, and concoct a plan to get their obnoxious boss promoted in order to create a management position for one of them. Read-alikes: Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher; Finna by Nino Cipri. |
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| Women of Good Fortune by Sophie WanLulu's wedding will be a huge Shanghai society event -- but she doesn't actually want to get married, and her two best friends aren't happy with their lives either. So they hatch a plan to steal the red money envelopes at the wedding in order to procure the different futures they each want. Read-alikes: Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen; Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan. |
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| A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas WesterbekeIn 1885 Paris, nine-year-old Aubry Tourvel keeps a toy instead of sacrificing it, cursing her with immortality and the need to move locations every few days. Embarking on a (mostly) solo journey spanning centuries and continents, Aubry looks for healing, connection, and meaning. Read-alikes: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab; How to Stop Time by Matt Haig. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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