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Social Issues FictionUnpublished

New and recommended books that take on social issues

Updated April 17, 2024

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Jackal : a novel

Adams, Erin E.

Paper Book

RECOMMENDED BY GILLIAN FLYNN ON THE TODAY SHOW * A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white rust belt town. But she's not the first--and she may not be the last. . . . "I read this thriller that is Get Out meets The Vanishing Half<...

Stay with me

Adebayo, Ayobami

Paper Book

This Nigerian debut is the heart-breaking tale of what wanting a child can do to a person, a marriage and a family; a powerful and vivid story of what it means to love not wisely but too well.

Homeland elegies

Akhtar, Ayad

Paper Book

In every mirror she's Black : a novel

Akinmade Åkerström, Lola

Paper Book

A Good Morning America Buzz Pick! As seen in Vulture, Essence, Good Morning America, The Independent, Goodreads, PureWow, and many more! "A sexy, surprising, searing debut about love, loss, desire, and the many dimensions of Black womanhood."--Deesha Philyaw, 2020 National Book...

The power

Alderman, Naomi

Paper Book

Suddenly - tomorrow or the day after - teenage girls find that with a flick of their fingers, they can inflict agonizing pain and even death. With this single twist, the four lives at the heart of Naomi Alderman's extraordinary, visceral novel are utterly transformed.

The personal librarian

Benedict, Marie

Paper Book

Over one million copies sold! The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Good Morning America* Book Club Pick! Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! Named a Notable Book of the Year by the Washington Post! "Historical fiction at its best!"...

The vanishing half

Bennett, Brit

Paper Book

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE * VANITY FAIR * GLAMOUR New York Times<...

Alone with you in the ether : a love story

Blake, Olivie

Paper Book

From the no. 1 international bestselling author of The Atlas Six.'Olivie Blake is a mind-blowing talent' - Chloe GongChicago, sometime. Two people meet in the armory of the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with...

Waiting for Bojangles : a novel

Bourdeaut, Olivier

Paper Book

An "oddball fairy tale" (The New York Times)--shortlisted for one of France's highest literary prizes--a dark, funny, and wholly charming novel about a young boy and his eccentric family, who grapple with the realities of mental illness in unique and whimsical ways. ...

Shades of light

Garlough Brown, Sharon

Ebook

Starling days

Buchanan, Rowan Hisayo

Paper Book

An orphan world

Caputo, Giuseppe

Paper Book

In a poverty-stricken neighbourhood wedged between the city and the sea, a father and son struggle to keep their heads above water. Rather than being discouraged by their difficulties and hardship, their response is to come up with increasingly bizarre and imaginative plans in order to get by....

Queenie

Carty-Williams, Candice

Paper Book

NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2019 BY WOMAN'S DAY, NEWSDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BUSTLE, AND BOOK RIOT! "[B]rilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking." --Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You<...

Birnam Wood

Catton, Eleanor

Paper Book

Greenwood

Christie, Michael.

Paper Book

This remarkable novel, structured like the rings of a tree, travels from a futuristic world in which barely any forests remain to the start of the twentieth century, where two young boys survive a train crash, setting them on a path that will change their lives. Moving from the future to the present...

Under color of law

Clark, Aaron Philip

Paper Book

The murder of a police recruit pins a black LAPD detective in a deadly web where race, corruption, violence, and cover-ups intersect in this relevant, razor-sharp novel of suspense. Black rookie cop Trevor "Finn" Finnegan aspires to become a top-ranking officer in the Los Angeles...

The new wilderness : a novel

Cook, Diane

Paper Book

A Washington Post, NPR, and Buzzfeed Best Book of the Year * Shortlisted for the Booker Prize "More than timely, the novel feels timeless, solid, like a forgotten classic recently resurfaced -- a brutal, beguiling fairy tale about humanity. But at its core, The New Wilderness is really...

Blacktop wasteland

Cosby, S. A

Paper Book

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner * New York Times Notable Book * NPR's Best Books of the Year * BookPage's #1 Mystery and Suspense of the Year * Sun Sentinel's #1 Best Mystery of the Year "I loved Blacktop Wasteland...[A] fast-paced,...

How not to drown in a glass of water

Cruz, Angie

Paper Book

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE · A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NOTABLE BOOK · REVIEWED ON THE FRONT COVER From GMA BOOK CLUB PICK and WOMEN'S PRIZE FINALIST Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana, an electrifying new novel about a...

Damnation spring : a novel

Davidson, Ash

Paper Book

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Named a Best Book of 2021 by Newsweek, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times "A glorious book--an assured novel that's gorgeously told." --The New York Times...

Exalted : a novel

Dorn, Anna

Paper Book

"A brutally funny and observant ride through astrology culture, love, and self-discovery." --NYLON's Most Anticipated Books of 2022 "A depressed Millennial astrologist, a self-hating lesbian with a rage...

What strange paradise

El Akkad, Omar

Paper Book

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR * From the widely acclaimed, bestselling author of American War--a beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic, and profoundly moving novel that looks at the global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child. "Told from...

The sentence : a novel

Erdrich, Louise

Paper Book

"Dazzling. . . . A hard-won love letter to readers and to booksellers, as well as a compelling story about how we cope with pain and fear, injustice and illness. One good way is to press a beloved book into another's hands. Read The Sentence and then do just that."--USA Today, Four Stars ...

If I survive you

Escoffery, Jonathan

Paper Book

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZE 'Dazzling' GUARDIAN 'Blistering' THE TIMES 'A delight' DIANA EVANS 'Fiction written at the highest level' ANN PATCHETT 'Hilarious, revelatory' MARLON JAMES An electrifying, hilarious and deeply moving...

Swimming back to Trout River : a novel

Feng, Linda Rui

Paper Book

A lyrical novel set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution that follows a father's quest to reunite his family before his precocious daughter's momentous birthday, which Garth Greenwell calls "one of the most beautiful debuts I've read in years." "A beautifully...

Unsettled ground

Fuller, Claire

Paper Book

Twins Jeanie and Julius have always been different. At 51 years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty. Their rented cottage is simultaneously their armour against the world and their sanctuary. Inside its walls they make music, in its garden they grow (and...

Of women and salt

Garcia, Gabriela

Paper Book

Abundance

Guanzon, Jakob

Paper Book

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION SELECTED BY THE TELEGRAPH AS ONE OF THE FOUR BEST DEBUTS OF THE YEAR 'A tense, yet tender portrait of a father and son trying to escape life on the margin. Determination and despair collide in this...

Transcendent kingdom

Gyasi, Yaa

Paper Book

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK! * Finalist for the WOMEN'S PRIZE Yaa Gyasi's stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national best seller Homegoing is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about a Ghanaian family in Alabama...

This other Eden : a novel

Harding, Paul

Paper Book

In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife, Patience, discover an island where they can make a life together. Over a century later, the Honeys' descendants and a diverse group of neighbors are desperately poor, isolated, and often hungry, but nevertheless protected from the...

The marsh queen

Hartman, Virginia

Paper Book

For fans of Where the Crawdads Sing, this "marvelous debut" (Alice McDermott, National Book Award-winning author of The Ninth Hour) follows a Washington, DC, artist as she faces her past and the secrets held in the waters of Florida's lush swamps and wetlands. Loni...

Open Throat

Hoke, Henry.

Paper Book

Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction 'An instant classic' - The Guardian I've never eaten a person but today I might . . . A queer and dangerously hungry mountain lion lives in the drought-devastated land under...

The gifted school

Holsinger, Bruce W.

Paper Book

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Wise and addictive... The Gifted School is the juiciest novel I've read in ages... a suspenseful, laugh-out-loud page-turner and an incisive inspection of privilege, race and class." -J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Friends...

Fugitive parce que reine

Huisman, Violaine

Paper Book

The house of Eve : a novel

Johnson, Sadeqa

Paper Book

"Amazing...I was completely surprised by the ending of this beautifully told and written book." --Reese Witherspoon "A triumph of historical fiction" (The Washington Post), an instant New York Times bestseller, and a Reese's Book Club pick, set in 1950s...

The last story of Mina Lee

Kim, Nancy Jooyoun

Paper Book

Demon Copperhead : a novel

Kingsolver, Barbara

Paper Book

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century * An Oprah's Book Club Selection * An Instant New York Times Bestseller * An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller * A #1 Washington Post...

Rabbits for food

Kirshenbaum, Binnie

Paper Book

Master of razor-edged literary humor Binnie Kirshenbaum returns with her first novel in a decade, a devastating, laugh-out-loud funny story of a writer's slide into depression and institutionalization. It's New Year's Eve, the holiday of forced fellowship, mandatory fun,...

Whalefall

Kraus, Daniel

Paper Book

The Martian meets 127 Hours in this powerfully humane thriller about a scuba diver who's been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

The leftover woman : a novel

Kwok, Jean

Paper Book

Recommended by The New York Times * Elle * Good Morning America * TIME * People * New York Post * Real Simple * Goodreads * LibraryReads * and many more! An evocative family drama and a riveting mystery about the ferocious pull of motherhood for two very different...

Severance

Ma, Ling

Paper Book

Maybe it's the end of the world, but not for Candace Chen, a millennial, first-generation American and office drone meandering her way into adulthood in Ling Ma's offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire, Severance. "A stunning, audacious book with a fresh take on both...

Scatterlings : a novel

Manenzhe, Reesoketeswe

Paper Book

A BEST NEW BOOK from *Vanity Fair *The Root *Vulture *People *The Washington Post *Christian Science Monitor *Los Angeles Times *Essence A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice Pick! A New Yorker Best Book of the Year! A lyrical, moving novel in the spirit of...

The deluge

Markley, Stephen

Paper Book

A New York Times Notable Book "This book is, simply put, a modern classic. If you read it, you'll never forget it. Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting." --Stephen King From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future...

Sorrow and bliss

Mason, Meg

Paper Book

Spiky, sharp, intriguingly dark and tender, full of pathos, fury and wit, Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason is a dazzling, distinctive novel from a boldly talented writer - now an instant Sunday Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Women''s Prize. ''Sorrow and Bliss is a...

How beautiful we were : a novel

Mbue, Imbolo

Paper Book

A fearless young woman from a small African village starts a revolution against an American oil company in this sweeping, inspiring novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Behold the Dreamers. ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York...

The god of good looks : a novel

Mc Ivor, Breanne

Paper Book

An NPR best book of the year and recommended by Oprah Daily, Good Housekeeping, Zibby Mag, Lit Hub, Electric Lit, and Katie Couric Media! "A summer read with bite."--NPR Disgraced model-writer Bianca Bridge can't stand hotshot makeup maven Obadiah Cortland. And he lets her know the...

Migrations

McConaghy, Charlotte

Paper Book

"Migrations is as beautiful and as wrenching as anything I've ever read. This is an extraordinary novel by a wildly talented writer." --Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven For readers of Flight Behavior and Station Eleven, a novel...

The fortune men

Mohamed, Nadifa

Paper Book

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2022 'Chilling and utterly compelling, The Fortune Men shines an essential light on a much...

Hot stew

Mozley, Fiona

Paper Book

'Ambitious, clever, brilliant and very funny . . . If Elmet announced the arrival of a bright new voice in British literature, Hot Stew confirms Mozley as a writer of extraordinary empathic gifts' Observer 'A dazzling Dickensian tale. . ....

Our missing hearts

Ng, Celeste

Paper Book

THE REESE WITHERSPOON OCTOBER BOOK CLUB PICK'Governments are right to fear words. They can change hearts and topple tyrannies....It's impossible not to be moved by Margaret Miu's courage, or to applaud her craftiness...And Bird is a brave and believable character, who gives us a relatable portal...

The Dutch house : a novel

Patchett, Ann

Paper Book

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize New York Times Bestseller | A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick | A New York Times Book Review Notable Book | TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 Named one of the Best Books of...

Bewilderment : a novel

Powers, Richard

Paper Book

The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He's also about to be expelled from...

We are not like them

Pride, Christine

Ebook

Afterparties : stories

So, Anthony Veasna

Paper Book

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE'S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK WINNER OF THE FERRO-GRUMLEY AWARD FOR LGBTQ FICTION Named a Best Book of the Year by: New York Times * NPR * Washington Post * LA Times * Kirkus Reviews...

Night of the living rez

Talty, Morgan

Paper Book

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection New England Book Award Winner, Fiction A Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction, The Story Prize, B&N Discover Book Prize A New York...

Where the forest meets the stars

Vanderah, Glendy

Paper Book

An Amazon Charts, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post bestseller, and a Goodreads Choice Award finalist. In this gorgeously stunning debut, a mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again. After the loss of her mother and her own...

White horse

Wurth, Erika T.

Paper Book

"This ghost story is a perfect example of new wave horror that will also satisfy fans of classic Stephen King." --Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic Erika T. Wurth's White Horse is a gritty, vibrant novel about an...

Land of milk and honey

Zhang, C Pam

Paper Book

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK Finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Award Longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary...

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Social Issues FictionUnpublished