Fiction - Family Life - General

In Fanny Fern's novel Ruth Hall, Miss Ruth Hall must learn to navigate life without her husband, Harry, after he unexpectantly dies from typhoid fever. This follows the death of Harry and Ruth's eldest daughter, Daisy, who passed tragically by contracting a respiratory illness....

"Charming characters, emotion galore, a small town--you're going to love Donna Kauffman!" --Lori FosterFord Maddox was running from his past when he came back to Blueberry Cove, Maine, where he'd tasted both heartache and comfort. With feisty Delia O'Reilly there to cheer him on,...

Gwen and Griff were supposed to be coasting through the first year of marriage. They'd known each other since childhood and there were no surprises left to discover. When their plans of growing their family take a detour, Gwen wonders if the road they're...

Sweet tea and love for family prevail and is the balm that soothes the heart.Exhausted after the grand wedding, Jack and Annie set off to California for their honeymoon only to be called back early because of a fire to the bakery. The fire...

A lot can happen in three years. Welcome back to Mulberry Lane! In just three years, the life of sixty-two-year-old Louise had irrevocably changed. Diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's, what the next three years would bring, remained to be seen.Kate's ex-husband has a new...

Book four in the Lowcountry series, Charleston Harbor Novels awaits you! All the characters you've come to love are back in this sweet, southern women's fiction. Come on in and sit a spell. Sweet tea, balmy nights, and mosquitos the size of a small...

In this poignant novel from million-copy bestselling author Imogen Clark, an extraordinary final wish brings five lives together forever.Just turned eighteen, Romany is on the cusp of taking her first steps into adulthood when tragedy strikes, and she finds herself suddenly alone without her...

In this life-affirming tale from bestselling author Amanda Prowse, one woman built a new life to escape her humiliation. Now, can she put the shame behind her and finally find happiness?Young and desperately in love, Merrin had the whole world ahead of her. But...

From the author of the "flawless" (The New York Times Book Review) classic Bastard Out of Carolina comes Cavedweller, once again demonstrating Allison's umatched strengths as a storyteller. Reading "like a thematic sequel" (The New Yorker) to her first novel, Cavedweller tackles questions of...

Since the 1922 publication of Babbitt, its eponymous antihero--a prosperous real estate broker and relentless social climber inhabiting a Midwestern town called Zenith--has become a symbol of stultifying values and middle-class hypocrisy. At once a conformist and a rebel, George F. Babbitt represents an...

The New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic is at her haunting, thought-provoking best with these interconnected stories about a Long Island family. Alice Hoffman casts her spell over a neighborhood filled with dreamers and dreams as she evokes the world...

A novel about a former soldier in Big Sky Country whose life is spiraling out of control, from the acclaimed author of Ninety-two in the Shade and Cloudbursts, who is "among the most arresting and fascinating [writers] of his generation" (San Francisco Chronicle). In...

At last, the novel for everyone who has ever loved something secondhand--the High Fidelity of garage sales, the On the Road of thrift shopping, The Moviegoer of the flea market. Richard owns a secondhand store ("Satori Junk") just outside Detroit. He's the kind of...

Few writers can enter their characters so completely or evoke their lives as viscerally as Andre Dubus III. In this deeply compelling new novel, a father, estranged for the worst of reasons, is driven to seek out the daughter he has not seen in...

"When my brother disappeared in 1984, I began to see myself in the third person as if my life were a story being told to someone else."Abigail Schiller lives a seemingly normal childhood in a rural Catholic commuinity in Wisconsin. But that life is...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER In this luminous story of family life--the first novel by Susan Minot, author of the highly acclaimed Evening--the seven Vincent children follow their Catholic mother to Mass and spend Thanksgiving with their father's aging parents who come from a world of New...

Called "an enduring literary achievement . . . astonishing" by The New York Times, this highly acclaimed debut novel from the bestselling author of Black Tickets introduces the Hampsons, an ordinary, small-town American family profoundly affected by the extraordinary events of history--from the Depression...

Abbie Fox hasn't seen her father or two younger sisters in almost two years. But now Lily, the baby of the family, is sending Abbie urgent emails begging her to return home. Their middle sister, Emma, has taken to her bed, devastated after losing...

"Irving looks cunningly beyond the eye-catching gyrations of the mating dance to the morning-after implications."--The Washington Post The darker vision and sexual ambiguities of this sensual, ironic tale about a m nage a quatre in a New England university town foreshadow those of The...

Tragedy erupts in an instant. Lives are shattered irrevocably. A young man drives off into the night, leaving a girl injured, perhaps fatally so. From that cliffhanger opening, Leipciger takes readers back and forward in time to tell the haunting story of one family's...

There's only room for one Queen Bee: A hilarious and touching novel about the social world of school mothers. It's the start of another school year at St. Ambrose. While the children are busy in the classroom, their mothers are learning sharper lessons. Lessons...

WINNER OF THE JANET HEIDINGER KAFKA PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST FOR THE COMMONWEALTH PRIZE Abbe is a restless young mother living on the outskirts of Honolulu with her husband, Greg, the pastor at a small church. Their lives are suddenly riven by tragedy when...

David Grossman's masterly fusing of vision, thought, and emotion make See Under: Love a luminously imaginative and profoundly affecting work. In this powerful novel by one of Israel's most prominent writers, Momik, the only child of Holocaust survivors, grows up in the shadow of...

Take Three, the third book in the Above the Line series by New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, follows filmmakers Chase Ryan and Keith Ellison as they celebrate their first successful movie. But in the midst of family relationships, broken budgets, and conflicting...

The fourth and final novel about the trials and joys of the residents of Cedar Circle. Sylvia Bryan has been feeling weak and tired, but is shocked when her internist finds a malignant lump in her breast. She and her husband can't understand why...

A New York Times Noteable Book Mesmerizing, exhilarating, and profoundly moving, Mr. Peanut is a police procedural of the soul, a poignant investigation of the relentlessly mysterious human heart. David Pepin has been in love with his wife, Alice, since the moment they met...

A trilogy of brilliant novels--The Sportswriter, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Independence Day, and The Lay of the Land--that charts the life and times of Frank Bascombe, one of the most beloved and enduring characters in modern fiction. When we meet Frank Bascombe in The Sportswriter,...

Here is the only available paperback edition of George Moore's powerful novel, Esther Waters. Controversial and influential on its first appearance in 1894, the book opened up a new direction for the English realist tradition. Unflinching in its depiction of the dark and sordid...

Winner of the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction--A darkly comic novel of twenty-first-century domestic life by a writer who is always "compelling, devastating, and furiously good" (Zadie Smith) Harold Silver has spent a lifetime watching his younger brother, George, a taller, smarter, and more...

The last of John Steinbeck's play-novelettes and his final attempt, after 1937's Of Mice and Men and 1942's The Moon is Down, to create what he saw as a new, experimental literary form A Penguin Classic Four scenes, four people: the husband who yearns...

Monsieur Goriot is one of a disparate group of lodgers at Mademe Vauquer's dingy Parisian boarding house. At first his wealth inspires respect, but as his circumstances are mysteriously reduced he becomes shunned by those around him, and soon his only remaining visitors are...

The second in Felicity Hayes-McCoy's Finfarran Peninsula series, and the sequel to The Library at the Edge of the World--a heartwarming story about secrets between four generations of Irish women, and the healing powers of books, love, and friendship.The Garden Café, next to Lissbeg...

From journalist and author Sue Halpern comes a wry, observant look at contemporary life and its refugees. Halpern's novel is an unforgettable tale of family...the kind you come from and the kind you create.People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most...

The dazzling narrator of The Wicked City brings her mesmerizing voice and indomitable spirit to another Jazz Age tale of rumrunners, double crosses, and true love, spanning the Eastern seaboard from Florida to Long Island to Halifax, Nova Scotia.1924. Ginger Kelly wakes up in...

A striking new collection of ten short stories and two novellas that explores the idea of property in every meaning of the word, from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of the National Book Award finalist So Much for That and the international...

"Perfect for fans of Big Little Lies." --Kirkus 7 December Books You'll Tear Through Faster Than the Wrapping On Your Holiday Gifts, InStyle8 Books We Can't Wait to Read in December, PureWow8 Unbelievable Books to Read December 2018, Women.comFrom well-loved women's fiction writer Kristyn...

The haunting debut novel that put Kate Zambreno on the map, O Fallen Angel, is a provocative, voice-driven story of a family in crisis--and, more broadly, the crisis of the American family--now repackaged and with a new introduction by Lidia Yuknavitch.Inspired by Francis Bacon's...

"A Masterpiece."--The New York Times Book Review (editor's choice) "In The Ruined House a 'small harmless modicum of vanity' turns into an apocalyptic bonfire. Shot through with humor and mystery and insight, Ruby Namdar's wonderful first novel examines how the real and the unreal...

When a fourteen-year-old runs away, her parents turn to social media to find her--launching a public campaign that will expose their darkest secrets and change their family forever, in this suspenseful and gripping debut for fans of Reconstructing Amelia and Gone Girl.Don't try to...

Lucy Silchester keeps receiving this strange appointment card and sweeping its gold embossed envelope under the rug. Literally. She busies herself with a job she doesn't like, helping out friends, fixing her car, feeding her cat, and devoting her time to her family's dramas....

A remarkable new voice in American fiction enchants readers with a moving and uplifting novel that celebrates the miracle of life. In The Midwife of Hope River, first-time novelist Patricia Harmon transports us to poverty stricken Appalachia during the Great Depression years of the...

From Nafisa Haji, author of the critically acclaimed novel, The Writing on My Forehead, comes The Sweetness of Tears, an emotional, deeply layered story that explores the far reaching effects of cultural prejudice, forbidden love, and hidden histories on a young woman and her...

Already a national bestseller in the U.K., Lola Jaye's By the Time You Read This is a profoundly beautiful story of a father's abiding love for the daughter he will never see grow up--and his determination to help guide her through the difficult crossroads...

Adele, the daughter of a celebrated Parisian actress, is a homesick, forlorn eight-year-old when first brought to Thornfield Hall by Edward Fairfax Rochester, her mother's former lover. Lonely and ill at ease in the unfamiliar English countryside, she longs to return to the glitter...

"Nights in Aruba succeeds wonderfully at being at the same time a deeply serious revelation and very lively, very satisfying company." -- New York MagazineAndrew Holleran's follow-up to Dancer from the Dance, Nights in Aruba is a classic novel of love shared and love...

On the surface, Brandon Willard seems like your average eight-year-old boy. He loves his mama, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and G. I. Joe. But Brandon's life is anything but typical. Wise beyond his years, Brandon understands he's the only one in this world...

The sequel to Judith Ryan Hendricks' absorbing debut novel, Bread AloneHaving found her calling, Wynter Morrison is blissful about her new career in Seattle as a baker -- cherishing the long days spent making bread and the comforting rhythms of the Queen Street Bakery....

From the author of Blues Dancing and Tumbling--a writer who "ought to be classified among the best of all contemporary fiction writers period" (Detroit Free Press)--comes a riveting novel about the desire for redemption and rebirth Moving across moments in time, Trading Dreams tells...

Why Mommy Swears is the much anticipated new novel from Gill Sims, author of the hilarious Why Mommy Drinks and online sensation Peter and Jane.It's every parents' nightmare - the start of the school holidays - and instead of sitting in the sun, reading...

***WINNER OF THE 2018 SPECULATIVE ROMANTIC NOVEL AWARD***'This is a pure joy' HeatIf you could turn back time, would you choose a different life?Forty-something Maggie is facing some hard truths. Her only child has flown the nest for university and, without her daughter in...