I felt that knowing the story of the nonspeaking author of this novel added significant depth and poignancy to this big-hearted, heartbreaking story of the clients and staff of an adult daycare center, their personal stories, and their inner lives. In his debut novel, author Woody Brown, who is nonspeaking and autistic, shares a portrait of an adult daycare center in California through glimpses of its varied clients and staff members, their motivations, their frustrations, th

Quindlen's key characters find themselves in messy situations whose resolutions are all but assured. The small moments between characters bring them to life (and link them inextricably together), and while their heartwarming, heartbreaking paths are not all smooth, More Than Enough offers a version of a happy ending. I loved this. Polly is a high school English teacher who leans on her close-knit, longtime book club for support, reason, venting, and laughter. Along with her

This is gorgeous Niall Williams literary fiction, centering around an Irish country village, a young man searching for his path, and his unofficial mentor, zigzagging his way through life, embracing adventure, and bridging the gap between the old ways and modernity. Quiet connections and reflections make the story, with understated poignancy, humor, and heartbreaking moments that bring the book's world to life. We’re all, all the time, striving, and though that means there’s

Woodworking explores interconnected transgender characters' experiences, fears, challenges, and joys as they work toward living true, fulfilling lives. Emily St. James's debut novel is poignant, funny, heartbreaking, often surprising, and heartwarming. It's called woodworking. Someday they will wake up and you will be gone. To have a future, you cannot have a past. You will have to disappear into the woodwork to finally be seen. Emily St. James crafts a tender, funny story wi

The Everlasting involves jaunts through multiple versions of the same story, as our fantastic main protagonists shift and change, bravely outsmart those who would control them, dare to hope for a future together, and fight dark forces until the bitter end. This is adventure-heavy, sometimes tender, and always intriguing. I loved it. Sir Una Everlasting was a legendary knight in the kingdom of Dominion, an orphan who rose to greatness and died in service to her queen. Her bra

Carr's newest novel is a captivating series of character studies within a tightly knit Irish seaside community in the late 1900s. While...

Whitehead, inspired by a real-life reform school that abused and terrorized boys for over a century, shares a tale of racial injustice,...

Kennedy writes poignantly about the Irish Troubles through the point of view of Cushla, a young adult stretching her wings despite her...

Annis is a young Southern woman enslaved, sold, and abused in the years before the Civil War. In Let Us Descend , she leans on the...

David Nicholls's characters, some of whom are strangers to each other, meander through the English countryside on a days-long jaunt--and...

This captivating story involves time travel, but it's primarily about deep human connections, complete with fantastic, funny banter;...

Read's debut novel is gorgeously written, with vivid details of mid-century Colorado, moments that change everything, impossible...

Keegan offers a gorgeously wrought Irish story of childhood, hope, love, and loss that is spare, lovely, heartbreaking, and that brought...

ICYMI: This funny, wry, silly, sweet, heartbreaking story feels light on the surface but has deep meaning churning underneath. “I look at...

The Humans is about mathematics, aliens, and shape shifters, but at its heart it's about a hurting family and an unimaginable, shocking,...

Amy Bloom writes with brutal honesty about her heartbreak and her determination to support her husband Brian Ameche's desire to end his...

In The Love of My Life, Rosie Walsh offers a twisty contemporary fiction novel and psychological thriller centered around a fascinating...

Betty is based on the author's family stories of difficulties, abuse, tragedies, and a hardscrabble life in the Appalachian foothills of...

Marilynne Robinson offers another gentle yet affecting book in her Gilead series, this time about faith, grace, human connection, and a...

Teenaged April has been dealt a difficult hand in life, and watching her struggle to make her way and connect with others in Allison...