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Social Issues FictionUnpublished

New and recommended books that take on social issues

Updated April 17, 2024

Rochester Public Library RPL Staff

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Social Issues Fiction

New and recommended books that take on social issues

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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<...

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 : a novel

Alderman, Naomi

Paper Book

In this stunning bestseller that inspired the Amazon Prime series, praised as "our era's Handmaid's Tale," a fierce new power has emerged--and only women have it (Washington Post). In The Power, the world is a recognizable place: there's a...

The personal librarian

Benedict, Marie

Paper Book

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. But Belle has a secret, she is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate...

The vanishing half

Bennett, Brit

Paper Book

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP BESTSELLER #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 'An utterly mesmerising novel..I absolutely loved this book' Bernardine Evaristo, winner...

Alone with you in the ether a love story

Blake, Olivie

Paper Book

From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six, comes a literary, intimate study of time, space, and the nature of love. Alone with You in the Ether explores what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as...

The red arrow

Brewer, William

Paper Book

'It was a strange time. He felt like he was happy. It was strange because it wasn't so long ago that he was convinced the only way out of the depression that had crippled him since he was a child, was death.' But now, he is on a high-speed train travelling from Rome to Modena, a failed...

0101816023275

CAR

Paper Book

*NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES* "A book that sneaks up on you...I am hooked." --Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author This acclaimed and "welcome debut from a seriously talented author" (New York Post) is a disarmingly honest,...

Birnam Wood

Catton, Eleanor

Paper Book

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

What strange paradise

El Akkad, Omar

Paper Book

'Deserves to be an instant classic. I haven't loved a book this much in a long time . . . What Strange Paradise . . . reads as a parable for our times . . . Such beautiful writing . . . This is an extraordinary book' - The New York Times From the widely...

The sentence

Erdrich, Louise

Paper Book

If I survive you

Escoffery, Jonathan

Paper Book

FINALIST FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZE. LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION. Finalist for the 2023 Pen/Faulkner Award, the DUBLIN Literary Award, the Southern Book Award, and the Gordon Burns Award. Nominated for the 2022 National Book...

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...

Transcendent kingdom

Gyasi, Yaa

Paper Book

As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama, seeking escape in myths of heroism and romance. When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty...

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...

Open throat

Hoke, Henry

Paper Book

A queer and dangerously hungry mountain lion narrates this fever dream of a novel, carrying us on a universal journey through a wondrous and menacing modern day L.A.'A slim jewel of a novel . . . Open Throat is what fiction should be.' - The New York Times Book Review'A blinding spotlight beam of a...

The house of Eve

Johnson, Sadeqa

Paper Book

1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that...

The last story of Mina Lee

Kim, Nancy Jooyoun

Paper Book

A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Riveting and unconventional, The Last Story of Mina Lee traces the far-reaching consequences of secrets in the lives of a Korean immigrant mother and her daughter Margot Lee's mother is ignoring her...

Demon Copperhead

Kingsolver, Barbara

Paper Book

#1 NEW YORK TIMES READERS BEST BOOK OF THE 21ST CENTURY A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION TWICE WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION ...

Whalefall : a novel

Kraus, Daniel

Paper Book

Soon to be a major motion picture from 20th Century Studios A USA TODAY BESTSELLER Named a Best Book of 2023 by Book Riot, Shelf Awareness, and NPR The Martian meets 127 Hours in this "astoundingly great"...

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...

Scatterlings : a novel

Manenzhe, Rešoketšwe

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

Mc Ivor, Breanne

Paper Book

Sometimes you need to clash to make an impact. Bianca Bridge is like an eyeshadow palette. She's a vibrant kaleidoscope of big personality and even bigger dreams, with a tendency towards messiness and fallout. Case in point: ruining her career prospects and hopes...

Migrations : a novel

McConaghy, Charlotte

Paper Book

* INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Amazon Editors' Pick for Best Book of the Year in Fiction "Visceral and haunting" (New York Times Book Review) · "Hopeful" (Washington Post) · "Powerful" (Los Angeles Times) · "Thrilling" (TIME) ·...

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

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize '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 ...

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...

Things we lost to the water : a novel

Nguyen, Eric

Paper Book

A captivating novel about an immigrant Vietnamese family who settles in New Orleans and struggles to remain connected to one another as their lives are inextricably reshaped. This stunning debut is "vast in scale and ambition, while luscious and inviting ... in its intimacy" (The New York...

Sunshine nails a novel

Nguyen, Mai

Paper Book

The Dutch house : a novel

Patchett, Ann

Paper Book

Next, dive into TOM LAKE - the breath-taking newest novel from Ann Patchett Lose yourself in the story of a lifetime - the unforgettable Sunday Times bestseller 'Patchett leads us to a truth that feels like life rather than literature'...

Bewilderment

Powers, Richard

Paper Book

THE BRAND NEW NOVEL FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING, BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE OVERSTORY 'It changed how I thought about the Earth and our place in it. . . . It changed how I see things and that's always, for me, a mark of a book worth reading....

We are not like them

Pride, Christine

Paper Book

THE MOST IMPORTANT NOVEL YOU'LL READ THIS YEAR 'Harrowing and heartening in equal measure, this book is a breathtaking tale of racial fissures, fury and friendship' David Lammy, MP and author of Tribes 'A powerful story about friendship, race, love,...

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...

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

" The award-winning author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold returns with a rapturous and revelatory novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly...

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