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New and recommended historical fiction titles.
Updated February 8, 2024
RPL Staff
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EVERY RISING SUN
AHMED, JAMILA
Named one of NPR's Books We Love In this riveting take on One Thousand and One Nights, Shaherazade, at the center of her own story, uses wit and political mastery to navigate opulent palaces brimming with treachery and the perils of the Third...
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The wind knows my name a novel
Allende, Isabel
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * "The lives of a Jewish boy escaping Nazi-occupied Europe and a mother and daughter fleeing twenty-first-century El Salvador intersect in this ambitious, intricate novel about war and immigration" (People), from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea and...
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SHRINES OF GAIETY
Atkinson, Kate
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The award-winning author of Life after Life transports us to a restless London in the wake of the Great War--a city bursting with money, glamour, and corruption--in this spellbinding tale of seduction and betrayal. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR:...
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HOUSE IS ON FIRE
BEANLAND, RACHEL
A "wildly entertaining" (NPR), "gripping" (The Washington Post) work of historical fiction about an incendiary tragedy that shocked a young nation and tore apart a community in a single night, from the author of Florence Adler Swims Forever. Richmond, Virginia...
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FIRST LADIES
BENEDICT MARIE
The InstantNew York TimesBestseller! A novel about the extraordinary partnership between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune-an unlikely friendship that changed the world, from the New York Times bestselling authors of the Good...
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Hour of the witch
Bohjalian, Chris
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * From the acclaimed author of The Flight Attendant: "Historical fiction at its best.... The book is a thriller in structure, and a real page-turner, the ending both unexpected and satisfying" (Diana Gabaldon, bestselling author of the...
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The porcelain moon : a novel of France, the Great War, and forbidden love
Chang, Janie
From the critically acclaimed author of The Library of Legends comes a vividly rendered novel set in WWI France about two young women--one Chinese, one French--whose lives intersect with unexpected, potentially dangerous consequences. "East meets West in World War I...
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SECRET LIVES OF COUNTRY GENTLEMEN
CHARLES, K.J.
Abandoned by his father, Gareth Inglis grew up lonely, prickly, and well-used to disappointment. Still, he longs for a connection. When he meets a charming stranger, he falls head over heels-until everything goes wrong and he's left alone again. Then Gareth's father dies, turning the shabby London...
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Our last days in Barcelona
Cleeton, Chanel
An NPR Best Book of 2022 "A master class in family and political drama, in star-crossed love stories and in capturing the enormity of what home is."-NPR When Isabel Perez travels to Barcelona to save her sister Beatriz, she discovers a shocking family secret in New...
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SPECTACULAR
DAVIS, FIONA
From the New York Times Bestselling Author of The Magnolia Palace- A thrilling story about love, sacrifice, and the pursuit of dreams, set amidst the glamour and glitz of Radio City Music Hall in its mid-century heyday. New York City, 1956- Nineteen-year-old Marion...
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BEYOND THE DOOR OF NO RETURN
DIOP, DAVID
A Finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature One of The Atlantic's 10 Best Books of 2023 A Financial Times Best Book of 2023 | Named a best book of the year by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews<...
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LEARNED BY HEART
DONOGHUE, EMMA
"A wrenching love story" (Chris Bohjalian, The Washington Post) based on the true story of two girls who fall secretly, deeply, and dangerously in love at boarding school in 19th century York, from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder. Drawing on years of...
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WOMAN OF LIGHT
FAJARDO-ANSTINE, KALI
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A "dazzling, cinematic, intimate, lyrical" (Roxane Gay) epic of betrayal, love, and fate that spans five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West, from the author of the National Book Award finalist Sabrina & Corina ...
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BOOTH
FOWLER, KAREN JOY
Best Book of the Year Real Simple * AARP * USA Today * NPR * Virginia Living Longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize From the Man Booker finalist and bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves comes an epic...
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Of women and salt
Garcia, Gabriela
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF 2021A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK WINNER of the Isabel Allende Most Inspirational Fiction Award - International Latino Book Awards * WINNER of<...
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Tidelands
Gregory, Philippa
A #1 New York Times Bestselling AuthorThe Fairmile Series (Book 1)On Midsummer's Eve, 1648, England is in the grip of a civil war between a renegade king and a rebellious parliament. The struggle reaches even the remote, marshy Tidelands of the south coast. There, Alinor, a descendant of wisewomen,...
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VASTER WILDS
GROFF, LAUREN
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023 NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR, TIME, ESQUIRE, VOGUE, LA TIMES, SLATE, HARPER'S BAZAAR and others "Part historical, part...
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HULA
HAKES, JASMIN LOLANI
Named a Best Book of the Summer by Harper's Bazaar and ELLE * Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award Winner "Stunning . . . An intricately built novel that spans decades, moving in and out of a collective voice, while also telling Hi'i's deeply personal and devastating story...
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THIS OTHER EDEN
HARDING, PAUL
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...
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The Paris Daughter
Harmel, Kristin.
Instant New York Times bestseller! From the bestselling author of the "heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism" (People) The Book of Lost Names comes a gripping historical novel about two mothers who must make unthinkable choices in the face of the...
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Weyward : a novel
Hart, Emilia
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF TWO GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS (Best Debut Novel & Best Historical Fiction) An Indie Next March 2023 Pick * A LibraryReads March 2023 Pick * An Amazon "Best Books of the Year So Far" 2023 Pick
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Surviving Savannah
Henry, Patti Callahan
After a luxury steamship sank in 1838 with Savannah's elite on board, their fates were lost to history. Until, that is, the wreck was found 180 years later. When professor Everly Winthrop is asked to guest-curate a new museum collection of artifacts recovered from the steamship Pulaski, she can't...
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CARIBBEAN HEIRESS IN PARIS
HERRERA, ADRIANA
"A romp-filled and refreshingly diverse historical romance."--Buzzfeed Paris, 1889 The Exposition Universelle is underway, drawing merchants from every corner of the globe...including Luz Alana Heith-Benzan, heiress to the Caña Brava rum empire. ...
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A lady's guide to fortune-hunting
Irwin, Sophie
"Bridgerton fans will swoon over this entertaining romp through Britain's Regency-era high society." --People "A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting is a sharp, modern, and absolutely delicious take on the marriage plot. Sophie Irwin's debut is one of the most...
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LOOT
JAMES, TANIA
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION * A spellbinding historical novel set in the eighteenth century: a hero's quest, a love story, the story of a young artist coming of age, and an exuberant heist adventure that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across two continents and...
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LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DU BOIS
JEFFERES, HONOREE FANONNE
An instant New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today Bestseller * AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION * ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S "GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS" * BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021 * WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York...
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Yellow wife : a novel
Johnson, Sadeqa
A Best Book of 2021 by NPR and Christian Science Monitor "A fully immersive, intricately crafted story inspired by the pages of history. In Pheby, Sadeqa Johnson has created a woman whose struggle to survive and to protect the ones she loves will have readers turning...
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The prophets : a novel
Jones, Robert, Jr.
Best Book of the Year NPR * The Washington Post * Boston Globe * TIME * USA Today * Entertainment Weekly * Real Simple * Parade * Buzzfeed * Electric Literature * LitHub * BookRiot * PopSugar * Goop * Library Journal * BookBub...
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RIVER WE REMEMBER
KRUEGER, WILLIAM KENT
AN EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by a shocking murder, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling novel, an instant New York Times bestseller and "a work of art" (The Denver Post). On Memorial Day...
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MANIAC
LABATUT, BENJAMIN
Named One of the 10 Best Books of 2023 by The Washington Post and Publishers Weekly * One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2023 * A National Bestseller * A New York Times Editor's Choice pick * Nominated for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction ...
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The duke undone
Lowell, Joanna
An artist stumbles upon a naked duke and an unlikely love story begins in this captivating Victorian historical romance. When Royal Academy painting student Lucy Coover trips over a naked man passed out in an East End alley, she does the decent thing. She covers him up and...
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ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL
MAHER, KERRI
" A powerful, thought-provoking novel... not only important and timely, but deeply humanizing."-Good Morning America "Remarkable." -The Washington Post "Powerful. Dramatic. Insightful.... It's not only a timely novel, but storytelling at its finest - amust...
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UP WITH THE SUN
MALLON, THOMAS
A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * Through the curious life of Dick Kallman--a real-life celebrity striver, poisonously charming actor, and eventual murder victim--the unforgiving worlds of postwar showbiz and down-low gay sexuality are thrown into stark relief in this "page...
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KEEPER OF HIDDEN BOOKS
MARTIN, MADELINE
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER--for fans of All the Light We Cannot See and The Tattooist of Auschwitz! A BookBub Pick for Best Historical Fiction of Summer 2023 A heartwarming story about the power of books to bring us together, inspired by the true...
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SIREN OF SUSSEX
MATTHEWS, MIMI
As an incurable bluestocking from a family tumbling swiftly toward ruin, Evelyn knows she'll never make a match in a ballroom. Her only hope is to distinguish herself by making the biggest splash in the one sphere she excels: on horseback. In haute couture. But to truly capture London's attention...
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HEAVEN AND EARTH GROCERY STORE
MCBRIDE, JAMES
THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK FROM ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2024 NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR/FRESH AIR, WASHINGTON POST, THE NEW YORKER, AND...
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Our hideous progeny : a novel
McGill, C. E.
"A gripping Gothic tale of grief and ambition, passion and intrigue." -- Jess Kidd, author of The Night Ship "An immersive blend of historical and science fiction brims with surprises and dark delights. . . . An incisive exploration of women's rights within the field of science....
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Death and the conjuror
Mead, Tom
A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Best Mysteries of 2022 Selection In this "sharply-drawn period piece" (New York Times), a magician-turned-sleuth in pre-war London solves three impossible crimes In 1930s London, celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is...
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VELVET WAS THE NIGHT
MORENO-GARCIA, SILVIA
GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK * From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a simmering historical noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome enforcer, and the mystery of the missing woman they're both desperate to find. ONE OF...
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ALL HER LITTLE SECRETS
MORRIS, WANDA M
"All Her Little Secrets is a brilliantly nuanced but powerhouse exploration of race, the legal system, and the crushing pressure of keeping secrets. Morris brings a vibrant and welcome new voice to the thriller space." --Karin Slaughter, New York Times and international...
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The ship of brides
Moyes, Jojo
Sydney, Australia, 1946. Four women join 650 other war brides on a voyage to England aboard HMS Victoria, which still carries arms, aircraft, and a thousand naval officers. Rules are strictly enforced, from the captain down to the lowliest young deckhand. But the men and the brides will find their...
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Dust child : a novel
Nguyẽ̂n, Phan Qué̂ Mai
"Powerful and deeply empathetic. A heartbreaking tale of lost ideals, human devotion, and hard-won redemption. Dust Child establishes Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai as one of our finest observers of the devastating consequences of war, and proves, once more, her ability to...
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Hamnet
O'Farrell, Maggie
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The bestselling author of The Marriage Portrait delivers a luminous portrait of a marriage, a family ravaged by grief, and a boy whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays of all time. *...
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A history of burning
Oza, Janika
This epic, sweeping historical novel full of "wondrous complexity" spans continents and a century, and reveals how one act of survival can reverberate through generations (Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin). One of the New York Times 100 Notable...
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DID YOU HEAR ABOUT KITTY KARR?
PAUL, CRYSTAL SMITH
REESE'S BOOK CLUB MAY 2023 PICK BOOK OF THE MONTH MAY 2023 PICK A multigenerational saga that traverses the glamour of old Hollywood and the seductive draw of modern-day showbiz When Kitty Karr Tate, a White icon of the silver screen,...
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LONDON SEANCE SOCIETY
PENNER, SARAH
"An atmospheric and evocative whodunnit steeped in suspense, mystery, and illusion." --Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the author of the sensational...
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DIAMOND EYE
QUINN, KATE
Don't miss the thrilling new novel from Kate Quinn, The Briar Club, coming July 9th! New York Times Bestseller The bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history's deadliest female sniper. Based...
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LAST ROSE OF SHANGHAI
RANDEL, WEINA DAI
In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, two people from different cultures are drawn together by fate and the freedom of music... 1940. Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out...
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Go as a river
Read, Shelley
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Finalist for Goodreads Choice Award * Colorado Public Radio 2023 Books We Love * Set amid Colorado's wild beauty, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story of a resilient young woman whose life is changed forever by one chance encounter. A tragic and...
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The queen of Dirt Island
Ryan, Donal
"From its opening pages, this book exerts a quiet, propulsive hold over its reader. The three generations of Aylward women will break your heart and then put it back together again." -Maggie O'Farrell "This is a generous mosaic of a novel about the staying...
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ROARING DAYS OF ZORA LILY
SALAZAR, NOELLE
"Noelle Salazar captures the hazy, liquor-soaked days of the Jazz Age in this mesmerizing tale . . . of family, ambition, love, and self-discovery." --Entertainment Weekly "Beautifully written and vividly drawn . . . [a] dazzling and sexy, dangerous and inspiring journey...
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After Sappho : a novel
Schwartz, Selby Wynn
"The first thing we did was change our names. We were going to be Sappho," so begins this intrepid debut novel, centuries after the Greek poet penned her lyric verse. Ignited by the same muse, a myriad of women break from their small, predetermined lives for seemingly disparate paths: in 1892,...
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Loyalty
Scottoline, Lisa
#1 bestselling author Lisa Scottoline presents Loyalty, an emotional, action-packed epic of love and justice, set during the rise of the Mafia in Sicily. Loyalty can save a soul--or destroy one. Franco Fiorvanti is a handsome...
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The queer principles of Kit Webb : a novel
Sebastian, Cat
"The Queer Principles of Kit Webb kept me up all night! I simply couldn't put it down."-- Tessa Dare, New York Times bestselling author "Sharp, smart, and oh-so-swoony, The Queer Principles of Kit Webb reminds me that Cat Sebastian is an author...
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LADY TAN'S CIRCLE OF WOMEN
SEE, LISA
*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!* From "one of those special writers capable of delivering both poetry and plot" (The New York Times Book Review) an immersive historical novel inspired by the true story of a woman physician in 15th-century China--perfect for fans of...
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BEYOND THAT, THE SEA
SPENCE-ASH, LAURA
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VILLAGE IDIOT
STERN, STEVE
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2022 "A frothy picaresque that ... vibrates to the "sweet celestial confusion" of Soutine's painting- delirious and earthy, reverent and irreligious." -- The New York Times Book Review A wild, effervescent,...
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Memphis : a novel
Stringfellow, Tara M.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY * A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter's discovery that she has the power to change her family's legacy. "A rhapsodic hymn to...
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HOUSE OF DOORS
ENG, TAN TWAN
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER, NPR, SLATE, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, AND A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE WORK
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BRIGHTEST STAR
TSUKIYAMA, GAIL
A LIBRARYREADS PICK AND BEST BOOK CLUB PICK OF 2023 "A writer of astonishing grace, delicacy, and feeling."--Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay "A beautiful, haunting book."--Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times...
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GOOD NIGHT, IRENE
URREA, LUIS ALBERTO
This New York Times bestselling novel tells an exhilarating World War II epic that chronicles an extraordinary young woman's heroic frontline service in the Red Cross. "Urrea's touch is sure, his exuberance carries you through . . . He is a generous writer, not just in his...
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COVENANT OF WATER
VERGHESE, ABRAHAM
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SUBJECT OF A SIX-PART SUPER SOUL PODCAST SERIES HOSTED BY OPRAH WINFREY From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in...
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HANG THE MOON
WALLS, JEANNETTE
"A rollicking tale." --The Washington Post *"Propulsive." --Associated Press * "Wild, smart, energetic." --Los Angeles Times * "Brilliant and effervescent." --NPR From the #1 bestselling author of The Glass Castle, the instant New York Times bestseller a...
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LET US DESCEND
WARD, JESMYN
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * Instant New York Times Bestseller * Named one of the best books of 2023 by The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, Time, The New Yorker, and more. "Nothing short of epic,...
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BLACK CAKE
WILKERSON, CHARMAINE
NOW A HULU STREAMING SERIES * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY * Two estranged siblings delve into their mother's hidden past--and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake--in this immersive family saga, "a...
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Our woman in Moscow : a novel
Williams, Beatriz
"A captivating Cold War page-turner." -- Real Simple The New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives returns with a gripping and profoundly human story of Cold War espionage and family devotion. In the autumn of 1948, Iris Digby vanishes from her London home with her...
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BLACK CLOUD RISING
FALADE, DAVID WRIGHT
Already excerpted in the New Yorker, Black Cloud Rising is a compelling and important historical novel that takes us back to an extraordinary moment when enslaved men and women were shedding their bonds and embracing freedom By fall of 1863, Union forces...
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