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With her most recent novel, The Book of Goose (2022), author Yiyun Li gives us a coming of age story that explores the fraught friendship of two girls growing up in an impoverished village in rural France during the aftermath of World War II.

If you enjoy sweeping historical novels then you may want to dig into A Long Petal of the Sea (2020), one of the most recent books by the prolific Chilean-American author Isabel Allende. And if you especially appreciate books that shed light on dramatic past events less likely to be on our reading radar than, say, World War II, A Long Petal of the Sea just might be calling your name.

Ann Patchett probably needs no introduction. I have always loved how she fills her books with such relatable characters and a delightful sense of place and Tom Lake (2023) is no exception. This novel is told in the voice of Lara, a wife and mother to three daughters, all living back at home on their Michigan cherry farm to wait out the pandemic.

Everyone in this historical fiction novel seems to have a secret. The expats living in Malaysia in the early 1900s live a life reminiscent of The Great Gatsby; parties, illicit love affairs, murder and an added touch of revolution. When the author, W.

I just finished Happiness Falls (2023) by Angie Kim. The plot centers around a boy who has Angelman Syndrome, which is the same genetic disorder my daughter has. That level of representation was not something I ever expected to see in a mainstream fiction book.

Get yourself a cup of coffee, a pastry, and get cozy while reading A Season for Second Chances by Jenny Bayliss. For fans of romance who like a cozy setting and delicious descriptions of food and drink, this book has all that and then some.

Looking for a sweet, cozy story? Check out this heartwarming novel from perennial bestseller Mary Kay Andrews. In Bright Lights, Big Christmas (2023), Kerry Tolliver is between jobs and helping out her family’s business by living in a tiny trailer selling Christmas trees in New York City.

How would a twelve-year old boy survive losing his entire family of origin, mother, father, and older brother, in plane crash? How would he cope with being the only survivor of the crash, which took, in addition to his family, nearly two hundred passengers and crew? How could anyone survive this?

A Burning (2020), Megha Majumdar's debut novel, follows three characters in the wake of a firebomb attack at a railroad station in a Kolkata slum.

The Silent Patient (2019) is an amazing psychological thriller that takes you into the mind of, not only the title patient Alicia, but also into that of a psychotherapist.

I absolutely loved The Rachel Incident (2023) by Caroline O'Donoghue, set in Ireland during the aftermath of the global economic crisis of 2008. As an elder Millennial, I really identified with the main character Rachel, and her struggles as a college student during that economically depressing time.

It’s impossible to do justice to The Water Dancer (2019) in a book review. The story is powerful and haunting, the characters are expertly and thoughtfully portrayed throughout, and the time period and settings are drawn such that I felt that I was viewing the horrors of slavery on a Virginia plantation and experiencing the terrifying dangers of the flight to freedom.