Historical Fiction

Count Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in a luxury Moscow hotel in 1922. Over decades, his small world becomes a masterclass in living with purpose, elegance, and love.

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker follows Patch Macauley, whose life is forever changed after a violent childhood event that binds him to a girl he saves. Spanning decades, the novel weaves a haunting mystery around missing girls and a suspected serial killer, while exploring love, trauma, and obsession. Blending literary depth with suspense, it examines how darkness and hope coexist, and how the past continues to shape who we become.

Blind French girl Marie-Laure and German orphan Werner’s lives collide in occupied France during WWII in this luminous story about humanity persisting in darkness.

1980, Houston. Joan Goodwin, physics and astronomy professor at Rice University, has been obsessed with the stars since childhood. Content teaching and doting on her precocious niece Frances, Joan’s carefully built life shifts when she sees an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space. She applies immediately.

Against all odds, she’s selected along with other pioneering women including Lydia Danes (pilot, cunning), Vanessa Ford (engineer, determined), and John Griffin (fellow mission specialist, easygoing). The novel alternates between 1980 (training begins) and December 1984 (mission STS-LR9, where everything changes). As Joan and her crew prepare for their historic flights, she finds passion and love she never imagined in Lydia, beginning to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe.

The astronauts navigate the intense physical training, media scrutiny as “first women,” complex team dynamics, and the weight of representing all women in space. Joan must balance her devotion to science with newfound desire, her obligations to Frances with professional ambition. Then December 1984 arrives—mission STS-LR9. An in-flight emergency occurs. Everything changes in an instant. The aftermath reverberates through all their lives.

The Plot/Key Appeal: Taylor Jenkins Reid at peak form—signature emotional storytelling meets space exploration. Dual-timeline structure (alternating 1980/1984) builds suspense masterfully. The 1984 emergency is based loosely on real shuttle program dangers, giving novel gravitas and tension. Reid captures NASA training authenticity (centrifuge tests, underwater EVA practice, flight simulations) while maintaining emotional intimacy. Joan is reserved, thoughtful, intellectual—refreshing protagonist for Reid. The sapphic romance between Joan and Lydia is tender, nuanced, complicated by 1980s homophobia and professional risks. The niece Frances subplot adds heartwarming family dimension. Reid doesn’t shy from hard truths: sexism in NASA, media reducing women to “firsts” rather than scientists, the Challenger disaster shadow looming. Space sequences are thrilling and technically accurate.

Why It’s Trending:

• GMA Book Club Pick June 2025.


• Winner 2025 Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction.


• #1 NYT Bestseller. Released June 3, 2025 as biggest book of summer.


• Book Riot called it “the biggest book of the summer.”


• Andy Weir (Project Hail Mary) praised: “NASA? Space missions? The 80s? Thrilling.”


• Kristin Hannah loved it.


• NPR’s Favorite Fiction Reads of 2025.

For fans of: Hidden Figures, The Right Stuff, space race history, sapphic romance, women breaking barriers, emotional family stories, Reid’s other novels. Book clubs devouring for discussions about ambition, sexuality in 1980s, women in STEM, love vs. career, representation.

“Beloved” (1987) by Toni Morrison is widely regarded as one of the most significant works of American literature. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize, it is a haunting, lyrical, and visceral exploration of the “liminal” space between life and death, memory and forgetting, and the psychological wreckage left by slavery.

The Plot: A Ghost Story of History

Set in 1873 in Cincinnati, the story follows Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman who escaped from a brutal plantation called “Sweet Home.” Sethe lives in a house (124) that is literally haunted by the malevolent spirit of her eldest daughter.

The narrative reveals a horrific past: years ago, when slave catchers arrived to take Sethe and her children back into bondage, Sethe chose to kill her own daughter to “save” her from a life of slavery.

The haunting takes a physical form when a mysterious young woman, calling herself “Beloved,” appears on Sethe’s doorstep. Beloved is simultaneously a needy child, a vengeful spirit, and a personification of the “Sixty Million and more” lost to the Middle Passage.

Key Themes: “Rememory” and the Body

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  Rememory: Morrison coined this term to describe the way a traumatic memory exists as a physical place. Even if a person dies or a building is torn down, the “picture” of the trauma remains in the world, waiting for someone else to stumble into it.

  
  


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  The Motherhood Paradox: The book explores the “impossible” choices of enslaved mothers. Sethe’s act of infanticide is framed not as a crime of malice, but as an act of “thick” love—a desperate claim of ownership over her children’s lives that the law denied her.

  
  


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  The “Sweet Home” Men: Through characters like Paul D, the novel explores the specific traumas of enslaved men—the systemic attempts to strip them of their manhood and the “tobacco tin” they keep in their chests to lock away their feelings.

  
  

Structural Mastery

The novel is famously difficult because its structure mimics trauma.

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  Non-linear Timeline: The story circles back on itself, revealing fragments of the past only when the characters are “strong enough” to face them.

  
  


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  Stream of Consciousness: In the middle of the book, the narrative dissolves into a series of monologues from Sethe, Denver (the surviving daughter), and Beloved, where the boundaries between their identities blur.

  
  

Why It’s a 2026 Essential

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  The “124” Legacy: In modern literary circles, the opening line—“124 was spiteful”—is studied as one of the greatest openings in fiction, setting the tone for the “haunted” nature of American history.

  
  


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  The Memorialization of Trauma: As discussions around reparations and historical memory continue in 2026, Beloved remains the primary text for understanding how the past is never truly “past.”

  
  


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  The 1998 Film: Starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover, the film remains a powerful (though harrowing) visual companion to the novel.

  
  

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West (1985) by Cormac McCarthy is widely considered one of the greatest—and most disturbing—works of American literature. It is an “anti-Western” that strips away the myth of the noble pioneer, replacing it with a landscape of unrelenting, biblical violence.

The Plot: A Trail of Scalps

Set in the mid-19th century along the Texas-Mexico border, the story follows “the kid,” a runaway from Tennessee. After a series of brutal encounters, he joins the Glanton Gang, a historical group of mercenaries hired by Mexican authorities to hunt Apaches.

The novel is essentially a “march into darkness.” The gang quickly descends into a mindless killing spree, murdering and scalping anyone they encounter—Indigenous people, Mexican villagers, and even peaceful travelers—for profit and sport. As they wander the desert, the narrative shifts from a historical account into a surreal, nightmarish exploration of human depravity.

Judge Holden: Literature’s Most Terrifying Villain

The heart of the novel’s horror is Judge Holden. He is an enigmatic, seven-foot-tall, completely hairless albino man of immense intellect and strength.

• The Polymath: He speaks every language, masters every science, and plays the fiddle with preternatural skill.


• The Philosophy: He believes that “War is God.” He argues that existence is a game of domination and that moral law is a human invention to protect the weak from the strong.


• The Supernatural: The Judge never seems to sleep and claims he will never die. Many scholars interpret him as an avatar of war, a demon, or even a gnostic archon.

Key Themes

• The Nature of Violence: McCarthy suggests that violence is not a departure from human nature, but its core essence.


• Gnosticism and Fate: The world of Blood Meridian is often seen as a “hellscape” where characters are trapped in a cycle of destruction they cannot escape.


• The Sublime Landscape: McCarthy’s prose is famous for its “biblical” rhythm, describing the indifferent, alien beauty of the desert in a way that contrasts sharply with the gore of the plot.


• The Lack of Interiority: You never know what “the kid” is thinking. McCarthy only describes what the characters do, making the violence feel clinical and inevitable.

Why It Is Called “Unfilmable”

For decades, directors like Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese have expressed interest in adapting the book, but many believe it cannot be made into a movie because:

• Extreme Violence: The book contains scenes of infanticide and torture that would likely receive an NC-17 rating if depicted faithfully.


• Lack of Plot Structure: The novel is episodic and lacks a traditional hero’s journey or “growth” for the protagonist.


• Prose vs. Visuals: Much of the book’s power lies in McCarthy’s unique writing style, which is difficult to translate to a visual medium.

Current Movie News (2026):

As of now, a film adaptation is officially in development helmed by John Hillcoat (who directed The Road), with a script by John Logan (Gladiator, Skyfall).

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (released September 2, 2025) is a sweeping, multi-generational American saga that has become a breakout literary hit, notably featured as a “Read with Jenna” Book Club Pick. It has been praised by everyone from Ann Patchett to Tom Hanks for its lyrical prose and profound emotional depth.

The Plot

Set in the fictional small town of Bonhomie, Ohio, the story spans sixty years, from the 1920s to the 1980s. The narrative is anchored by two families whose lives become inextricably linked by a single, impulsive moment.

On V-E Day in 1945, amidst the celebratory chaos of the Allied victory, two strangers share a stolen kiss in a hardware store. Those strangers are Cal Jenkins—a man born with one leg shorter than the other, leaving him with a deep-seated shame for being unable to serve in WWII—and Margaret Salt, a woman desperately trying to outrun a traumatic past.

The story follows the ripple effects of that encounter through the decades:

• The Spouses: Cal’s wife, Becky, is a genuine spiritualist who can communicate with the dead, while Margaret’s husband, Felix, is a closeted man trying to maintain the facade of a traditional 1950s life.


• The Next Generation: The children of both families, Skip and Tom, grow up as kindred spirits, eventually facing their own trials as the country shifts toward the Vietnam War.

Key Appeal Notes

• The “Midwestern Epic”: Ryan is being compared to authors like John Irving and Richard Russo for his ability to turn small-town domesticity into a grand, historical epic.


• The Mystical Element: Becky’s ability to speak to the dead is treated with a “matter-of-fact” realism that adds a layer of magical realism to an otherwise grounded historical novel.


• Themes of Forgiveness: The book focuses heavily on how long-held secrets and “sins of omission” can be repaired through a slow, difficult process of grace.


• The War Shadow: The book covers the “two wars”—the legacy of WWII and the arrival of Vietnam—exploring how the military industrial complex shapes American manhood and family structures.

Why it’s Trending

• The “Tom Hanks” Endorsement: Hanks’ vocal support for the book’s “soaring” connection between generations has kept it at the top of bestseller lists into 2026.


• Historical Nostalgia: It captures the “vanished America” of the mid-20th century with meticulous detail, making it a favorite for readers who enjoy Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful or Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water.


• Book Club Gold: With its heavy themes of closeted sexuality, infidelity, and the burden of secrets, it is designed for deep discussion.

Berlin, 1943: Hetty Heinrich, model Nazi daughter, discovers her adoption and Jewish heritage. She must choose between the only family she’s known and her true identity.

Three timelines converge around a legendary racehorse: 1850s enslaved groom, 1950s Smithsonian scientist, and present-day art historian and Nigerian-American scientist uncover buried history.

How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConigley (released January 2026) is a formally daring debut that has taken BookTok by storm. Though the title sounds like a “how-to” guide or a dry academic text, it is actually a razor-sharp, dark, and often funny coming-of-age story set in the 1980s.

The Plot

The story is set in Marley, Wyoming, in 1986. It is narrated by Georgie, a 12-year-old girl who, along with her older sister Agatha Krishna, is “brown in a very white place.” Their father works in the Wyoming oil fields, and their mother is an immigrant from India.

The sisters’ lives are upended when their Uncle Vinny moves in from India. He is a predator who begins to abuse the girls, but because he is their mother’s last remaining link to her home country, the girls feel they cannot tell her. Agatha Krishna decides there is only one solution: they must kill him. She convinces Georgie that the “British” are ultimately to blame for Vinny’s behavior, linking their personal trauma to the larger history of colonial violence and the Partition of India.

Key Appeal Notes

• Experimental Structure: The book is interspersed with magazine-style personality quizzes (e.g., “Do You Have What It Takes to Kill?”) that reflect the “teen girl” culture of the 80s while highlighting the loss of innocence.


• The “Blame the British” Logic: The sisters use postcolonial theory as a survival mechanism. If they can trace their uncle’s rot back to the British Empire, they can justify his murder as an act of “decolonization.”


• 80s Nostalgia with a Twist: It features 1980s touchstones like the Challenger disaster, Princess Diana, and Halley’s Comet, but viewed through the lens of outsiders who don’t quite fit the “All-American” mold.


• The “Ventriloquist” Voice: Georgie addresses the reader directly, often challenging our expectations of what a “brown immigrant story” should look like. She refuses to be the “pitied victim.”

Why it’s Trending in 2026

• Genre-Blending: It’s being marketed as “Literary Thriller meets Dark Comedy.” It satisfies the craving for a murder mystery while providing the intellectual depth of a postcolonial critique.


• The “Surprise Ending”: Like many of the books we’ve discussed, this one is famous for a twist that recontextualizes the entire narrative of the “murder.”


• Indie Darling: As a debut novel with a “nervy” voice, it has become the “it-book” for readers who want something more challenging than a standard domestic thriller.

1960s chemist Elizabeth Zott is fired from her lab job and becomes an unconventional cooking show host, using science and feminism to revolutionize both cooking and women’s lives.

“Lonesome Dove” (1985) by Larry McMurtry is widely considered the definitive Western novel—the “War and Peace” of the American frontier. While it features gunfights and outlaws, it is primarily a deeply human epic about aging, friendship, and the bittersweet end of an era.

The Plot: One Last Great Adventure

The story centers on two aging former Texas Rangers, Captain Augustus “Gus” McCrae and Captain Woodrow F. Call. After years of keeping the peace on the border, they find themselves running a dusty cattle outfit in the tiny, dead-end town of Lonesome Dove.

Bored and restless, Call decides they should drive a massive herd of stolen cattle 2,500 miles north to Montana, the last “unspoiled” territory. What follows is a grueling journey across a beautiful but indifferent landscape, filled with horse thieves, sandstorms, water moccasins, and a terrifying villain named Blue Duck.

The Dynamic Duo: Gus vs. Call

The heart of the novel is the interplay between the two leads, who represent two different ways of being a man in the West:

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  Augustus McCrae: The philosopher of the trail. He is talkative, loves whiskey and biscuits, and believes that life is meant to be enjoyed. He is the emotional heart of the group, constantly prodding Call to “be human.”

  
  


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  Woodrow Call: The silent, stoic worker. He is obsessed with duty and the cattle drive. He expresses his feelings through work rather than words, and he struggles to acknowledge his own vulnerabilities—or his own son.

  
  

Key Themes: The De-Mythologizing of the West

McMurtry wrote the book to strip away the “Hollywood glamour” of the Old West.

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  The Brutality of Nature: Death in Lonesome Dove is often sudden, random, and unheroic. Characters die from snake bites or lightning as often as they do in shootouts.

  
  


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  Regret and Lost Love: The characters are haunted by the “ones who got away,” particularly Clara Allen, the woman Gus loved but could never settle down with.

  
  


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  The Passing of the Frontier: By the time they reach Montana, the characters realize that the wild world they were so good at “taming” is disappearing, leaving men like them behind.

  
  

Why It’s a 2026 Masterpiece

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  The “Vibe” Shift: In 2025 and 2026, there has been a massive resurgence in “Modern Western” aesthetics (thanks to shows like Yellowstone). Lonesome Dove remains the gold standard that all modern Westerns are measured against.

  
  


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  The 1989 Miniseries: Starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, it is one of the few adaptations that fans agree is just as good as the book. Duvall famously called Gus McCrae his favorite role of all time.

  
  

“People of the Book” (2008) by Geraldine Brooks is a sweeping historical mystery that follows the “biography” of a single object: the Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the oldest and most beautiful Jewish illuminated manuscripts in existence.

The novel is structured like a forensic investigation. As the protagonist examines the physical book, each tiny artifact she finds—a butterfly wing, a wine stain, a white hair—triggers a flashback to a different century and city.

The Modern Frame: Hanna Heath

The story begins in 1996. Hanna Heath, an Australian book conservator, is called to Sarajevo to restore the Haggadah after it was saved from the shelling of the Bosnian War.

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  The Mystery: Why would a Muslim librarian risk his life to save a Jewish book?

  
  


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  The Clues: As Hanna works, she discovers microscopic traces that hint at the book’s perilous journey across Europe.

  
  

The Journey Backwards

The novel moves in reverse chronological order, telling the stories of the people who protected the book through history:

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  1940s Sarajevo: A Muslim librarian hides the book from the Nazis in a remote mountain mosque.

  
  


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  1890s Vienna: A Jewish doctor struggles with syphilis and the rising tide of anti-Semitism while rebinding the book.

  
  


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  1600s Venice: A priest working for the Inquisition chooses to save the book from a bonfire because he is moved by its beauty.

  
  


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  1400s Spain: During the Inquisition, the book’s illuminator (a woman of African descent) creates the stunning images while facing displacement.

  
  

Key Themes: Preservation and Shared Humanity

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  Interfaith Protection: The book’s central “miracle” is that it has survived for 500 years because people of different faiths—Jews, Muslims, and Christians—collaborated to protect it from extremists.

  
  


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  The Value of the Object: Brooks explores how a physical object can carry the “ghosts” of everyone who has ever touched it.

  
  


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  Conservation vs. History: Hanna must decide if her job is just to fix the book or to uncover the human stories hidden in its fibers.

  
  

Why It’s a 2026 Choice for Book Clubs

In 2026, the novel remains highly relevant for its portrayal of cultural heritage during wartime.

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  The “Lush” Prose: Brooks, a former war correspondent, writes with a journalistic eye for detail and a novelist’s heart.

  
  


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  Historical Accuracy: While the characters are fictional, the Sarajevo Haggadah is real. It is currently held at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and remains a symbol of Sarajevo’s multi-ethnic history.

  
  

“Redeeming Love” (1991) by Francine Rivers is a cornerstone of Christian fiction, famously reimagining the biblical Book of Hosea within the rugged, lawless setting of the California Gold Rush in the 1850s.

It is a story that explores themes of unconditional love, the struggle to overcome a traumatic past, and the concept of divine grace.

The Plot: A Journey from “Angel” to Sarah

The story follows Angel, a young woman who was sold into prostitution as a child. Years of abuse and exploitation have left her hardened, cynical, and convinced that she is beyond redemption or love. She views men only as predators to be survived.

Enter Michael Hosea, a devout farmer who feels a divine calling to marry Angel. Michael represents the “Hosea” figure—a man tasked with loving a woman who repeatedly runs away from him, both physically and emotionally.

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  The Pursuit: Michael “buys” Angel’s freedom and takes her to his farm, offering her a life of dignity. However, Angel’s self-loathing is so deep that she cannot accept his kindness.

  
  


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  The Cycle: She escapes several times, returning to her old life because the “known” pain of the brothel feels safer than the “unknown” vulnerability of Michael’s love.

  
  


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  The Transformation: Through Michael’s tireless patience and her own eventual spiritual awakening, Angel begins to shed her identity as a victim and embraces a new life as Sarah.

  
  

Key Themes

1. Unconditional Love (Agape)

Michael Hosea’s love is a metaphor for God’s love in Christian theology: it is not earned, it is persistent, and it remains even when it is rejected.

2. The Impact of Trauma

Rivers does not shy away from the psychological toll of Angel’s past. The “Redeeming Love” of the title isn’t just romantic; it’s the slow, painful process of healing a shattered self-image.

3. Forgiveness vs. Trust

A major arc in the book is Angel learning that while she has been forgiven, she also has to learn to trust—both her husband and herself.

The 2022 Film and Legacy

The book’s popularity led to a 2022 film adaptation starring Abigail Cowen and Tom Lewis. While the film brought the story to a wider audience, many long-time fans prefer the novel’s deeper internal monologues and slower pacing.

By 2026, the book remains a staple in “Romance with Substance” circles, often discussed for its intense emotional stakes and its portrayal of 19th-century frontier life.

“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” (2005) by Lisa See is a hauntingly beautiful work of historical fiction that explores the hidden lives of women in 19th-century China. It is specifically celebrated for its detailed portrayal of nu shu—a secret phonetic language created and used exclusively by women to communicate in a society that denied them formal education.

The Bond: Laotong

The story is narrated by eighty-year-old Lily as she reflects on her life and her relationship with her “old-same,” Snow Flower.

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  The Match: At age seven, Lily is paired with Snow Flower in a laotong (old-same) relationship. Unlike a marriage, which was for procreation and family duty, a laotong bond was a lifelong emotional contract between two girls, intended to provide companionship in a world where women were often isolated.

  
  


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  The Secret Language: The two girls communicate by writing nu shu on the folds of a white silk fan. They send this fan back and forth between their villages, sharing their innermost hopes, poems, and sorrows.

  
  

The Rituals of Womanhood

Lisa See provides a visceral, often painful look at the customs that defined a woman’s value in the 19th century:

1. Foot Binding

The book contains one of the most detailed and unflinching descriptions of foot binding in literature.

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  The Purpose: Having “seven-inch lilies” (perfectly bound feet) was the only way for a girl to marry into a higher social class.

  
  


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  The Pain: Lily’s narrative describes the physical agony and the psychological toll, viewing the process as a necessary sacrifice for a “better” life.

  
  

2. The “Inner Chambers”

Women lived their lives almost entirely in the upper rooms of their homes, separated from the world of men. The novel captures the claustrophobia of this existence, but also the rich emotional world women built within those walls.

The Conflict: Misunderstanding and Betrayal

The heart of the novel is the eventual breakdown of the bond between Lily and Snow Flower.

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  Class Shift: Lily, born into a poor family, marries “up” because of her perfect feet. Snow Flower, born into a high-status family, marries “down” into a life of hardship and abuse.

  
  


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  The Secret Fan: A tragic misunderstanding involving a message written on their fan leads Lily to publicly shame Snow Flower. The novel serves as a meditation on how pride and a rigid adherence to social codes can destroy the most precious human connections.

  
  

Why It’s a 2026 Classic

In 2026, the book remains a staple for its historical preservation of Nushu culture.

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  Feminist History: It highlights a rare instance of women creating their own literacy as an act of rebellion and survival.

  
  


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  Emotional Resonance: The story of a “female friendship” that is as intense and complicated as any romance resonates deeply with modern readers.

  
  

1947: Pregnant American Charlie searches for her missing cousin in post-war Europe. She enlists Eve, a bitter ex-WWI spy from the real Alice Network, for a dangerous quest.

“The Book Thief” (2005) by Markus Zusak is a modern classic of Holocaust literature, distinguished by its unique narrator and its lyrical, haunting prose. Set in Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1943, it tells the story of a young girl’s relationship with words and the power of the human spirit to find beauty in the midst of horror.

The Narrator: Death

The most striking feature of the novel is that it is narrated by Death.

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  A Weary Observer: Rather than being a sinister figure, Zusak’s Death is an overworked, philosophical, and strangely empathetic being who is “haunted by humans.”

  
  


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  Spoilers as Mercy: Death often reveals the end of a character’s story before it happens, arguing that the mystery isn’t in how they die, but in the beauty of how they lived.

  
  

The Plot: Liesel Meminger on Himmel Street

The story follows Liesel Meminger, a young girl sent to live with foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in the fictional town of Molching.

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  The First Theft: At her brother’s graveside, Liesel steals The Grave Digger’s Handbook. Though she cannot yet read, this book becomes her first anchor to the world she has lost.

  
  


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  The Accordion Player: Her foster father, Hans, is a gentle soul who teaches her to read in the basement by painting words on the walls. He represents the “quiet resistance”—the German citizens who refused to join the Nazi party.

  
  


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  The Secret Guest: The family’s life becomes infinitely more dangerous when they hide Max Vandenburg, a Jewish fist-fighter, in their basement. Max and Liesel bond over their shared nightmares and their love of stories.

  
  

Key Symbols and Themes

1. Words as Food and Weapon

Liesel realizes that Hitler used words to build his empire of hate. In response, she “steals” words back, using them to comfort the people in bomb shelters and to sustain Max’s will to live.

2. The Accordion

The accordion symbolizes hope and the presence of Hans Hubermann. Its music provides a rhythmic contrast to the mechanical, harsh sounds of the war and the marching of soldiers.

3. The Colors of the Sky

Death describes the world in colors to distract himself from his grim work. He notes the color of the sky at the moment every soul is “plucked,” emphasizing the individuality of every life lost.

Why It’s a 2026 Essential

In 2026, The Book Thief remains a top-tier recommendation for both young adults and adults because:

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  Moral Complexity: It focuses on “Ordinary Germans,” showing that courage doesn’t always look like a battlefield hero; sometimes it’s sharing a piece of bread or hiding a book.

  
  


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  Visual Storytelling: The book includes “The Standover Man” and “The Word Shaker”—short stories written and illustrated by Max on the painted-over pages of Mein Kampf.

  
  

Washington DC, 1950s: Four women in an apartment building form a secret club. When a Russian diplomat dies, their lives intersect with Cold War espionage and danger.

“The Count of Monte Cristo” (1844) by Alexandre Dumas is the ultimate tale of betrayal, transformation, and cold, calculated revenge. Often cited as the greatest “revenge thriller” ever written, it is a massive epic that explores whether a human has the right to act as the “hand of God” to dish out justice.

The Plot: A Life Stolen

The story follows Edmond Dantès, a young, talented, and kind-hearted sailor in Marseille who is about to be promoted to captain and marry the love of his life, Mercédès. However, his success sparks the jealousy of three men:

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   Danglars: A jealous colleague who wants the captaincy.

   
   


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   Fernand: A rival for Mercédès’ heart.

   
   


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   Villefort: A prosecutor who imprisons Dantès to protect his own political career.

   
   

Dantès is framed as a Bonapartist traitor and thrown into the dreaded Château d’If, a fortress prison, where he languishes for 14 years.

The Transformation: The Abbé Faria

While in prison, Dantès meets the Abbé Faria, a brilliant priest and scholar. Faria becomes Dantès’ mentor, teaching him languages, science, history, and “social grace.” Most importantly, Faria reveals the location of a hidden treasure on the uninhabited Isle of Monte Cristo.

After Faria dies, Dantès makes a daring escape by sewing himself into the priest’s burial shroud and being tossed into the sea. He finds the treasure, re-emerges as the fabulously wealthy and enigmatic Count of Monte Cristo, and begins a decades-long plot to systematically destroy the men who ruined him.

Key Themes

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  Divine Justice vs. Human Vengeance: The Count believes he is an agent of Providence, but by the end of the novel, he realizes that his revenge has caused “collateral damage” to innocent people, leading to a crisis of conscience.

  
  


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  The Power of Knowledge: Dantès’ true weapon isn’t the gold—it’s the education he received from Faria, which allowed him to manipulate the highest levels of Parisian society.

  
  


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  Persistence: The novel’s famous closing line is “Wait and Hope” (Attendre et espérer).

  
  

Why It’s Trending in 2026

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  The 2024 French Film Phenomenon: The massive-budget French adaptation (Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) released in late 2024 became a global sensation, leading to a huge spike in new readers throughout 2025 and 2026.

  
  


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  Modern Parallels: In the age of “receipts” and internet sleuthing, the Count’s meticulous gathering of dirt on his enemies feels surprisingly modern.

  
  

India, 1900-1977: A family cursed by drowning deaths spanning three generations. Epic saga exploring love, medicine, faith, and breaking curses across Kerala’s history.

WWII: Ukrainian librarian Mila Pavlichenko becomes legendary Soviet sniper with 309 kills. Her tour of America to rally support reveals courage, sacrifice, and friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt.

“The Four Winds” (2021) by Kristin Hannah is a powerful, heartbreaking epic set during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. It is a story of survival, motherhood, and the “American Dream” turned into a nightmare, centered on a woman who discovers her own strength when she has nothing left to lose.

The Plot: From the Dust to the West

The novel follows Elsa Wolcott, a woman who has always been told she is “too plain” and “too fragile.” In 1934, she is living on a farm in Texas, which is being ravaged by a years-long drought and catastrophic dust storms.

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  The Crisis: As the land turns to literal dust and the “Black Blizzards” kill livestock and children alike, Elsa’s husband abandons the family.

  
  


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  The Migration: To save her children, Elsa joins the “Exodus” of thousands of “Okies” and “Texies” heading west to California, lured by flyers promising high wages and plentiful work.

  
  


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  The Reality: Upon arrival, Elsa finds that California is not the Promised Land. She faces extreme prejudice, starvation wages in the cotton fields, and the brutal “company store” system that keeps migrants in a cycle of permanent debt.

  
  

Key Themes: The Resilience of Women

1. The “Invisible” Heroism

While history books often focus on the men of the Depression, Hannah focuses on the women who kept families together in “ditch camps.” Elsa’s journey is one of internal transformation—from a shy, rejected daughter to a fierce labor activist and protector.

2. The Dust Bowl as a Character

The “Dust” is the primary antagonist of the first half of the book. Hannah describes it as a sentient force that gets into the lungs, the food, and the soul.

3. Class and Labor

The second half of the novel shifts into a social commentary on the California labor strikes of the 1930s. Elsa is caught between her need to provide for her children and her dawning realization that the only way to survive is to fight for workers’ rights alongside organizers.

Historical Context: The “Great Migration”

Kristin Hannah meticulously researched the era, bringing to life the specific hardships of the time:

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  Dust Pneumonia: A real and deadly condition caused by inhaling fine silt.

  
  


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  Hoovervilles: Shanty towns built by homeless people during the Depression.

  
  


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  The 1938 San Joaquin Valley Flood: A pivotal and terrifying moment in the novel that mirrors real-world events.

  
  

Why It’s a 2026 Essential

In 2026, The Four Winds remains a top-tier historical fiction recommendation for its unflinching emotional honesty.

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  The Mother-Daughter Bond: The relationship between Elsa and her rebellious daughter, Loreda, provides the emotional arc of the story, as they move from resentment to a shared revolutionary spirit.

  
  


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  Relevance: The themes of environmental collapse and the struggle of “economic refugees” feel particularly poignant in the mid-2020s.

  
  

“The Frozen River” (2023) by Ariel Lawhon is a masterfully crafted work of historical fiction that blends a “whodunnit” murder mystery with a gritty, realistic portrayal of women’s lives in post-Revolutionary America. It was inspired by the real-life diary of Martha Ballard, an 18th-century midwife who never lost a mother in over a thousand deliveries.

The Plot: Murder on the Kennebec

The story begins in the winter of 1789 in Hallowell, Maine. The Kennebec River has frozen over, trapping the town in a sub-zero isolation. When a man’s body is found frozen in the ice, the town assumes it was an accident.

However, Martha Ballard—the town’s midwife and healer—is called to examine the body. She recognizes the man as one of two men accused of a local rape months earlier. Upon inspection, she finds evidence that he was murdered before he hit the water.

As Martha seeks justice, she finds herself at odds with the town’s male hierarchy, including a biased judge and a new physician who views her traditional medicine as a threat.

Key Themes: Justice and “Women’s Work”

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  The Midwife as Detective: In the 1700s, midwives were the only people present for the most intimate and often “criminal” moments of life. Lawhon uses Martha’s unique access to the town’s secrets to drive the mystery.

  
  


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  Law vs. Justice: The novel explores the massive gap between what the law says (especially regarding sexual assault in the 18th century) and what is actually true.

  
  


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  Marriage as a Partnership: One of the most beloved aspects of the book is the relationship between Martha and Ephraim Ballard. Unlike many historical novels that feature “loveless” marriages, the Ballards have a relationship built on deep respect, physical passion, and mutual support.

  
  

The Historical Martha Ballard

Ariel Lawhon based the novel on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography A Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

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  The Real Diary: Martha kept a diary for 27 years (1785–1812), recording every birth, the weather, and local scandals.

  
  


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  The Medical Conflict: The book highlights the historical shift where men (physicians) began to take over the field of obstetrics from women (midwives), often with disastrous results due to a lack of practical experience.

  
  

Why It’s a 2026 Must-Read

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  Atmospheric Writing: You can almost feel the “bone-deep” Maine cold while reading. It’s the perfect “winter read.”

  
  


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  The “Lawhon” Style: Ariel Lawhon is known for taking real historical women (like in The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress or Code Name Hélène) and giving them a modern, sharp-witted internal voice without making them feel anachronistic.

  
  


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  Book Club Gold: It provides endless discussion points regarding the history of forensic science and the evolution of women’s legal rights.

  
  

“The Great Alone” (2018) by Kristin Hannah is a harrowing, atmospheric survival story set in the unforgiving wilderness of Alaska in the 1970s. It explores the duality of nature—both its breathtaking beauty and its lethal cruelty—while mirroring that volatility in the character of a damaged father.

The Plot: A Final Frontier

The story follows thirteen-year-old Leni Allbright. Her father, Ernt, is a former POW who returned from the Vietnam War a changed man—volatile, paranoid, and prone to “dark nights.” When he inherits a cabin in the remote Kenai Peninsula, he convinces his wife, Cora, and Leni that moving to Alaska is the fresh start they need to outrun his demons.

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  The Reality of Alaska: The Allbrights arrive completely unprepared for the reality of “off-the-grid” living. They are saved by the local community—a hardened group of pioneers who teach them how to hunt, garden, and preserve food before the “Great Alone” (the winter) sets in.

  
  


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  The Domestic Storm: As the Alaskan winter approaches and the sun disappears for months, Ernt’s mental state deteriorates. The isolation feeds his paranoia, and the cabin becomes a pressure cooker of domestic violence. Leni and Cora find themselves trapped between the danger outside (bears, sub-zero temperatures, starvation) and the danger inside.

  
  

Key Themes: Love and Survival

1. The “Toxic” Bond

A central theme is the intense, destructive love between Cora and Ernt. Despite his violence, Cora remains fiercely loyal, creating a “us against the world” mentality that keeps Leni in a state of constant hyper-vigilance. The book examines the cycle of abuse and the difficulty of leaving when survival depends on the abuser.

2. Coming of Age in the Wild

Leni’s transformation from a frightened child to a resilient survivor is the heart of the novel. Her relationship with Matthew Walker, the son of a neighboring family, provides a glimpse of a different kind of love—one based on partnership and mutual respect—which stands in stark contrast to her parents’ marriage.

3. Alaska as an Antagonist

In Hannah’s writing, the landscape is a character. She emphasizes that “Alaska doesn’t give a damn if you live or die.” The transition from the “Big Bright” (summer) to the “Great Alone” (winter) dictates the emotional rhythm of the book, as the darkness brings out the worst in the characters.

Why It’s a 2026 Essential

In 2026, The Great Alone remains a powerhouse of emotional storytelling.

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  Historical Immersion: The 1970s setting—marked by the end of the Vietnam War and the rise of survivalist culture—provides a unique backdrop for a story about PTSD and trauma.

  
  


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  Resilience: It is a tribute to the “pioneer spirit” of women. Like Hannah’s other works, it highlights the invisible strength required to survive in environments designed to break you.

  
  

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride is a masterfully layered work of historical fiction that blends a murder mystery with a soulful exploration of community. It won the Kirkus Prize and was named Barnes & Noble’s 2023 Book of the Year, but it has seen a massive “second wave” of popularity in 2025 and 2026 as it became a staple for book clubs and “prestige” reading lists.

The Plot

The story begins in 1972 in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, when a construction crew discovers a human skeleton at the bottom of an old well in the Chicken Hill neighborhood. To solve the mystery of whose bones they are, the narrative jumps back to the 1920s and 30s, immersing us in the lives of the residents of Chicken Hill—a ramshackle, vibrant area where Black families and Jewish immigrants live side-by-side on the margins of white, Christian America.

At the center are Moshe Ludlow, a theater owner who integrates his dance hall, and his wife Chona, who runs the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. Chona is the neighborhood’s moral heart; despite her physical struggles with polio, she extends credit to everyone and refuses to leave the Hill for a “nicer” neighborhood.

The plot tightens when Dodo, a young deaf Black boy, is orphaned. To save him from being institutionalized in the horrific Pennhurst State Hospital, the Jewish and Black communities of Chicken Hill must form an unlikely, secretive alliance to hide and protect him from the state authorities—and from the town’s local doctor, a high-ranking member of the KKK.

Key Appeal Notes

• Interfaith and Interracial Solidarity: McBride explores how two marginalized groups, often pitted against each other, find common ground in their shared humanity and their common “enemies” (poverty, systemic racism, and the local elite).


• The “Tikkun Olam” Philosophy: Chona is motivated by the Jewish concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world). Her radical kindness is the catalyst for everything that happens in the book.


• Dickensian Character Depth: The book features a massive, “jazzy” cast of characters with names like Paper, Fatty, and Big Soap. Each has a rich backstory that McBride weaves into the larger tapestry of the town.


• Vivid Institutional Critique: The sections depicting Pennhurst are harrowing and serve as a powerful critique of how society treats the vulnerable and those with disabilities.


• Slow-Burn Mystery: While it starts with a skeleton, the “whodunnit” is almost secondary to the “how they lived” story. The mystery is resolved in a way that is both tragic and deeply satisfying.

Why it’s Trending

• The “Obama Effect”: Originally highlighted as one of Barack Obama’s favorite books, it carries a “modern classic” pedigree that keeps it trending.


• Multi-Generational Appeal: It’s a favorite for “Mother-Daughter” book clubs because it bridges the gap between historical weight and accessible, often humorous storytelling.


• “Heart-Blistering” Emotional Payoff: Much like Project Hail Mary, this book is famous for a specific, heartbreaking friendship—this time between Dodo and a boy he meets at Pennhurst named Monkey Pants.

France, 1714: Addie makes a Faustian bargain for immortality but is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. 300 years later, a man remembers her.

“The Lincoln Highway” (2021) by Amor Towles is a sprawling, stylish, and deeply American “picaresque” novel. Set over just ten days in June 1954, it follows four young men as they journey across a country that is rapidly changing, yet still steeped in the mythology of the Old West.

The Plot: A Ten-Day Odyssey

The story begins when eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of a juvenile work farm, where he has just finished serving time for involuntary manslaughter.

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  The Plan: Emmett intends to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and drive to California to start a new life. Billy has a map of the Lincoln Highway (the first transcontinental road for automobiles) and believes their mother, who abandoned them years ago, is waiting for them in San Francisco.

  
  


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  The Twist: Two of Emmett’s “friends” from the work farm, the charismatic but unpredictable Duchess and the quiet, traumatized Woolly, have stowed away in the warden’s trunk. They hijack Emmett’s plans—and his car—to head east to New York City instead, seeking a “legacy” Duchess believes he is owed.

  
  

The Characters: A Study in Archetypes

1. Emmett (The Pragmatist)

The steady hand. Emmett is focused on the future, on building things (he is a carpenter), and on his responsibility to his brother. He represents the classic American ideal of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.”

2. Duchess (The Schemer)

One of Towles’ most vivid creations. Duchess lives by a strict, warped moral code of “settling the score.” If someone does him a kindness, he must repay it; if someone wrongs him, he must extract a debt. This “balancing of the books” drives the novel’s chaos.

3. Billy (The Dreamer)

The moral center of the book. Armed with his book Abacus Abernathe’s Compendium of Heroes, Billy views the world through the lens of myths and legends. To him, their journey isn’t just a car ride; it’s an epic quest.

4. Woolly (The Innocent)

A gentle soul from a wealthy New York family who simply doesn’t fit into the modern world. His desire for a “one-of-a-kind day” provides the book with its most poignant and tragic moments.

Key Themes: Fate and the Open Road

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  The Path vs. The Destination: While the Lincoln Highway is the title, the characters spend very little time actually on it. The book is a meditation on how we are often diverted from our “planned” lives by the choices (and debts) of others.

  
  


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  American Mythology: Towles weaves in references to The Odyssey, Huckleberry Finn, and classic Westerns. He explores the idea of the “American West” not as a place, but as a promise of reinvention.

  
  


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  The Class Divide: Through Woolly’s aristocratic background and the other boys’ hardscrabble lives, the novel examines the different “Americas” that existed simultaneously in the 1950s.

  
  

Why It’s a 2026 Favorite

In 2026, The Lincoln Highway remains a beloved “vacation read” that feels substantial.

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  The Structure: The book uses a “countdown” structure, starting at Chapter Ten and counting down to One, creating a sense of propulsive inevitability as the characters converge on New York City.

  
  


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  The Prose: Towles (author of A Gentleman in Moscow) writes with a sophisticated, vintage elegance that makes 1954 feel both nostalgic and immediate.

  
  

The Mad Wife by Meagan Church (released September 30, 2025) is a haunting piece of historical suspense that serves as a spiritual successor to classics like The Bell Jar. While there is another thriller by the same name by Nell Pattison, Meagan Church’s version has become a major New York Times and USA Today bestseller, particularly noted for its 1950s setting.

The Plot

Set in 1955 suburbia, the story follows Lulu Mayfield, a woman who has spent five years perfecting the role of the “ideal housewife.” She is known for her impeccable gelatin salads and her spotless kitchen in the Stepford-esque neighborhood of Greenwood. However, Lulu’s internal world is fracturing under the weight of grief and the rigid expectations of post-war domesticity.

The tension escalates after Lulu gives birth to her second child and a new neighbor, Bitsy, moves in across the street. Lulu becomes obsessed with Bitsy, convinced that the woman’s permanent smile hides a dark secret. As Lulu digs deeper into the neighborhood’s shadows, her own mental state begins to spiral, leading her husband and friends to question her sanity. The novel is famous for a “jaw-dropping” mid-book twist that recontextualizes Lulu’s “hysteria” into a fight for survival.

Key Appeal Notes

• Historical Accuracy: Church meticulously details the 1950s lifestyle—from S&H Green Stamps to the “Good Housekeeping” schedules—to highlight how claustrophobic the “perfect life” truly was for women.


• Psychological Depth: It explores themes of postpartum mental health, the silencing of women, and the horrifying medical “cures” used for female dissatisfaction during that era.


• The “Jell-O Salad” Metaphor: The artificiality of the food mirrors the artificiality of Lulu’s life; the book captures the “savory bite” of a life that looks sweet but feels increasingly sour.


• Genre-Bending: It starts as a slow-burn historical fiction and shifts into a high-stakes psychological thriller.

Why it’s Trending

• Barnes & Noble Fiction Pick: It was the October 2025 Fiction Pick, which skyrocketed its visibility in book clubs.


• Social Commentary: In 2026, it is being widely discussed on social media for its parallels between the 1950s “housewife ideal” and the modern-day “trad-wife” aesthetic trending online.


• Author Pedigree: Meagan Church previously wrote the indie hit The Girls We Sent Away, and fans were eager for her more “suspenseful” pivot in this novel.

Two French sisters choose different paths of resistance during Nazi occupation—one through rebellion, one through survival—testing the limits of courage and sacrifice.

Biblical Dinah tells her story—daughter of Jacob, sister to Joseph—revealing ancient women’s lives, rituals, love, and trauma hidden in the red tent.

Bletchley Park codebreakers Osla, Mab, and Beth become friends during WWII. Post-war betrayal lands one in asylum. The others must crack the code to save her.

Aging Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo finally tells the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life, revealing the price of fame and her forbidden love story.

“The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller (2011) is a lyrical, heartbreaking reimagining of the Trojan War. While the Iliad focuses on “Achilles’ rage,” Miller shifts the lens to the perspective of Patroclus, transforming a bloody epic into one of the most celebrated love stories of the modern era.

The Plot: From Exile to Legend

The story follows Patroclus, a clumsy, “disappointing” young prince who is exiled to the court of King Peleus. There, he meets the “Golden Boy” Achilles—the son of the king and the sea-nymph Thetis.

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  The Bond: Despite their differences, the two become inseparable. Their childhood friendship blossoms into a deep, romantic bond, even as Achilles is prophesied to become the “Greatest of all Greeks.”

  
  


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  The Prophecy: When Helen of Sparta is kidnapped, Achilles is called to war. Thetis, his mother, tries to hide him, but destiny (and Odysseus) prevails. Patroclus follows Achilles to Troy, not as a warrior, but as his “other half.”

  
  


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  The Tragedy: The novel follows the ten-year siege of Troy, culminating in the famous rift between Achilles and Agamemnon, Patroclus’s fatal decision to don Achilles’ armor, and the devastating grief that follows.

  
  

Key Themes: Fame vs. Happiness

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  The “Best of the Greeks”: Achilles is haunted by a choice: a long, quiet life of obscurity, or a short, glorious life that ensures his name lives forever. Miller explores the heavy price of that “glory.”

  
  


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  The Humanity of Heroes: Miller strips away the marble-statue perfection of Greek myths. We see Achilles as a boy who plays the lyre and a man who is prideful and petty, while Patroclus is the moral anchor of the story.

  
  


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  Fate and Divine Interference: Thetis serves as the primary antagonist—a cold, immortal goddess who despises Patroclus for his mortality and for “distracting” her son from his divine destiny.

  
  

Why It’s a 2026 Cultural Icon

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  The “BookTok” Legend: Along with A Little Life, this is the book most famous for “making people cry on camera.” Its ending is notorious for its emotional impact, even for those who already know the Greek myths.

  
  


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  Queer Reclaimed History: Miller’s portrayal of Achilles and Patroclus as lovers (rather than just “cousins” or “companions”) drew from ancient interpretations and helped a new generation see themselves in classical literature.

  
  


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  Prose as Poetry: Miller, a classical scholar, spent ten years writing the book. Her prose is often described as “shimmering” and “dreamlike,” making the brutal setting of a bronze-age war feel hauntingly beautiful.

  
  

Identical twin sisters run away together, but choose opposite paths—one passes for white, one stays Black. Decades later, their daughters’ lives intersect, revealing family secrets.

Nurse Frankie McGrath volunteers for Vietnam, witnessing the brutal realities of war that transform her forever. Returning home, she fights to be recognized and heal from invisible wounds.

Estranged sisters Meredith and Nina care for dying father who demands their cold mother finally tell the Russian fairy tale to its end—revealing her harrowing Leningrad war past.