Best Books: Literary Fiction

Breaking bestselling records even today, this dystopian society hits uncomfortably close to home. A world where handmaids are prized for their fertility and the price of rebellion is unthinkable.

A nuanced and epic novel that tackles the Europe’s colonization of Africa. Okonkwo, a wealthy and powerful Igbo warrior, comes face to face with the religious and political forces that will end his way of life.

A beloved novel of childhood and self-discovery. Esperanza Cordero is a a young Latina girl in Chicago finding her way.

Set in WWII, Martha Hall Kelly’s novel celebrates the unsung women who fought for freedom, justice, and love.

Hosseini’s novel has touched millions of readers since its publication in 2003. It follows the tender and unlikely friendship between two boys – one wealthy, one the son of a servant. As they grow and change, they encounter political upheaval, betrayal, and forgiveness.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this novel follows Cora, a runaway slave. In Whitehead’s world, the Underground Railroad is literal – the secret transportation whisks Cora and her friend out of slavery, and into a terrifying escape.

Christopher John Francis Boone is singularly focused on a murdered neighborhood pet and sets out to find him. Told through an autistic boy’s eyes, the novel is tender, intimate, and barrier-breaking.

Ifemelu leaves Nigeria for the United States, and is suddenly confronted with a new identity – being black in America. She dives into academia and into her adoptive country’s history and racial issues.

Jenna has never been able to accept her mother’s disappearance, so  with the help of a psychic and a detective, she starts investigating her past, hoping to find answers.

Count Alexander Rostov is confined to house arrest in 1922… at least it’s in the glamorous hotel Metropol in Moscow! Despite the political upheaval just beyond his door, the Count comes to create a fulfilling life for himself (though its scope has shrunk considerably).

A dystopian vision of surveillance, privacy and invasive technology. Mae Holland starts working at The Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company. At first she’s impressed and delighted by the amenities and status, but soon begins to wonder about larger implications of total online control.

Celeste Ng’s novel follows a Chinese American family in 1970’s Ohio. We learn in the first pages that the beloved teenage daughter is dead… what follows is an intimate and engaging family portrait: misunderstandings, pressure, love.

It’s every reader’s dream: the perfect book chosen just for you. Monsieur Perdu mans a floating bookstore on the Seine and prides himself on finding the most appropriate read for each customer.

Published in 1946, Camus’ tale of an ordinary man who commits murder still compels readers today. In this book, Camus explored what he termed “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd”.

When a virus wipes out a significant chunk of the world’s population, civilization as we know it collapses. What’s left are the wanderers, banded together by memories of culture and science, their world before everything changed.

Inspired by the life of Sarah Grimke, this novel explores the history of abolition and women’s rights.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country.

A powerful and devastating novel following Sethe who escaped slavery years ago. No matter how long it’s been, she cannot rid herself of her painful memories and her new home is haunted by her late child.

The nameless narrator traces his life from his Southern childhood to Harlem where he becomes a spokesperson for “The Brotherhood”.