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New and recommended books that take on social issues
Updated February 9, 2024
RPL Staff
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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.
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Homeland elegies : a novel
Akhtar, Ayad
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST AND ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR 'I read it in a fever, swept up in the kind of rapture you fall into when your most audacious friend kicks off on a hilarious, outrageous, but deeply sincere rant' Torrey Peters,...
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In every mirror she's Black : a novel
Akinmade Åkerström, Lola
Paper Book
'A sharply written story with messy, deeply moving characters' Taylor Jenkins Reid 'I was captivated by the writing from page one... Powerful' Lizzie Damilola Blackburn 'The story of Kemi, Muna and Brittany-Rae - Black women hoping to start anew in a...
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The power : a novel
Alderman, Naomi
Paper Book
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The personal librarian
Benedict, Marie
Audiobook
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!"* A remarkable novel...
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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...
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Alone with you in the ether : a love story
Blake, Olivie
Paper Book
From the internationally bestselling author of The Atlas Six, Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake is a glimpse into the nature of love, what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you're not broken. Chicago,...
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The selfless act of breathing : a novel
Bola, J. J.
Paper Book
A heartbreaking, lyrical story for all of those who have fantasised about escaping their daily lives and starting over. Michael Kabongo is a British-Congolese teacher living in London on the cusp of two identities. On paper, he seems to have it all - he''s loved by his...
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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...
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Starling days
Buchanan, Rowan Hisayo
Paper Book
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0101816023275
CAR
Paper Book
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 'Brilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking' Jojo...
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Birnam Wood
Catton, Eleanor
Paper Book
A MAJOR PUBLISHING EVENT: A gripping psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning and bestselling author of The Luminaries.
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Greenwood : a novel
Christie, Michael
Paper Book
'The truth is that all family lines, from the highest to the lowest, originate somewhere, on some particular day. Even the grandest trees must've once been seeds spun helpless on the wind, and then just meek saplings nosing up from the soil.' 2038. On a remote island off the...
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The new wilderness : a novel
Cook, Diane
Paper Book
'THE ENVIRONMENTAL NOVEL OF OUR TIMES.' Lemn Sissay, Booker Prize judge From a critically acclaimed author comes a searing novel about maternal love pushed to the brink by environmental crisis 'Brutal and beautiful in equal measure' (Emily St....
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Blacktop Wasteland A Novel
Cosby, S. A.
Paper Book
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How not to drown in a glass of water
Cruz, Angie
Paper Book
'Cruz once again offers a fresh glimpse of immigration, womanhood, aspiration and gentrification . . . told in Cara's unfailingly frank, sometimes hilarious, voice' Washington Post Write this down: Cara Romero wants to work. When Cara left the...
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Damnation spring : a novel
Davidson, Ash
Paper Book
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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.' - New York Times From the widely acclaimed author of American War, Omar El Akkad,...
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The sentence : a novel
Erdrich, Louise
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022 PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE NIGHT WATCHMAN ----------------------------------------------------- In this stunning and timely novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book...
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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 ...
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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...
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Of women and salt
Garcia, Gabriela
Paper Book
The New York Times Bestseller 'Extraordinary . . . stunning' - Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory 'Vivid details, visceral prose and strong willful women' - Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana 'Vivid, engrossing, luminous' -<...
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Transcendent kingdom
Gyasi, Yaa,
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021 **From the bestselling author of Homegoing** ______________________________________________ As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama,...
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This other Eden : a novel
Harding, Paul
Paper Book
'Masterful . . . has much to say to our times' Guardian 'Begs to be read' Spectator 'A luminous, thought-provoking novel' Esi Edugyan, author of Washington Black In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife,...
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Open throat
Hoke, Henry
Paper Book
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction 'An instant classic' - THE GUARDIAN 'A bloody masterpiece.' - MELISSA BRODER, author of THE PISCES 'Witty, emotional and gripping, Open Throat is a short but savage thrill...
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The book of mother : a novel
Huisman, Violaine
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE A gorgeous, critically acclaimed debut novel about a young woman coming of age with a dazzling yet damaged mother who lived and loved in extremes - in the bestselling tradition of Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle....
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The house of Eve
Johnson, Sadeqa
Paper Book
''Amazing'' Reese Witherspoon ''Heart-rending'' Taylor Jenkins Reid ''Luminous and moving!'' Kate Quinn ''Unforgettable'' Kristen Harmel The heartbreaking and completely unputdownable instant New York Times bestseller and Reese...
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The last story of Mina Lee
Kim, Nancy Jooyoun
Paper Book
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'I loved this book so much' REESE WITHERSPOON --- In 1987, Mina Lee flies from Seoul to Los Angeles to start a new life. Thirty years later, Margot...
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Demon Copperhead : a novel
Kingsolver, Barbara
Paper Book
A masterpiece in storytelling from the global bestselling author of Unsheltered and Flight Behaviour.
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Rabbits for food
Kirshenbaum, Binnie
Paper Book
A devastating, darkly comic story of a woman's slide into depression and institutionalisation from a master of razor-edged literary humour.
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Whalefall : a novel
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.
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The leftover woman : a novel
Kwok, Jean
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author comes an evocative family drama and riveting mystery about the ferocious pull of motherhood for two very different women.
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Severance
Ma, Ling
Ebook
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine: her work, watching movies with her boyfriend, avoiding thoughts of her recently deceased Chinese immigrant parents. So she barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps the world.<...
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Sorrow and bliss : a novel
Mason, Meg
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION THE BOOK EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT 'Just read it. It's unforgettable' India Knight, The Sunday Times 'It is impossible to read this novel and not be moved. It is...
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How beautiful we were : a novel
Mbue, Imbolo
Paper Book
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Behold the Dreamers, comes a sweeping story about the collision of a small African village and an American oil company.
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The god of good looks : a novel
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 of...
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Migrations A Novel
McConaghy, Charlotte.
Paper Book
'An extraordinary novel... as beautiful and as wrenching as anything I've ever read' Emily St. John Mandel A dark past. An impossible journey. The will to survive. Franny Stone is determined to go to the end of the earth, following the last of the Arctic...
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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...
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Hot stew : a novel
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 ...
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Our missing hearts : a novel
Ng, Celeste
Paper Book
THE REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK THE PANDORA BOOK CLUB PICK A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A hottest book for THE TIMES, DAILY MAIL, THE INDEPENDENT, VOGUE, STYLIST, TIME MAGAZINE, EVENING STANDARD, THE I and THE IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY.
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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'...
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Bewilderment A Novel
Powers, Richard.
Paper Book
SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021 LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2021 AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB SELECTION...
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We are not like them : a novel
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,...
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Afterparties Stories
So, Anthony Veasna.
Paper Book
A debut story collection about Cambodian-American life - immersive, comic and unsparing - by an indisputable talent. A Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club pick.
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Valerie, or, The faculty of dreams : amendment to the theory of sexuality
Stridsberg, Sara
Paper Book
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Land of milk and honey
Zhang, C Pam
Paper Book
A rapturous novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world 'A rich novel of ideas' GUARDIAN 'A tasty treat' iNEWS 'A genius balance of page-turning and lyrical prose'...
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