Staff Picks Category: Fiction

Bleak House [Book]

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Though the title, age, and overall length (almost 1000 pages!) of this book may turn some readers away, this classic is well worth a read! Dickens’ writing style is evident in full force here and his lengthy descriptions of everything from fog to court judges contain beautiful insights and nuanced observations. It is the characters of this book that really shine though; fans of everything from Anna Karenina to Bridgerton will love the wide array of expertly named characters. From the somber and mysterious Lady Deadlock, to the cold and calculating Tulkinghorn, readers are pulled into the drama of the court case that the whole story centers around. There are twists and turns, triumphs and tragedies; a perfect book for a rainy day and an intrepid reader!

Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly [Book]

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All Girls by Emily Layden [Book]

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Layden’s debut novel, set in the fictional all-girls Atwater boarding school, is filled with longstanding traditions, social complexities, shifting alliances, and shocking secrets. The story of an academic year is told through the eyes of nine different students, month by month. From a freshman legacy student whose grandmother and mother both attended to a talented senior who is the school’s poster girl, each young woman reveals her motivations and concerns as she attends classes, participates in events, and lives her life. A twenty-year-old scandal resurfaces as students arrive to begin the year, and the school’s handling of the situation at the time has lasting effects for the institution itself and the students readers grow to care about over the months. Readers will find themselves thinking about the vividly and compassionately rendered characters long after their chapters end, and considering decisions they would make in the same situations. Give it to grown up fans of Gossip Girl and readers of Curtis Sittenfeld and Emma Straub. YA crossover appeal for, again, fans of Gossip Girl and aspirational prep school students.

The Queen’s Thief Series [Book]

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With some of the most unexpected twists in young adult literature, this “best series you have never heard of” is a great match for those looking for a mixture of Greek Mythology, adventure, humor, political intrigue, and mystery. The series follows that character of Gen, who begins the first novel languishing away in prison. With the proclamation “I can steal anything!” Gen is sent on a mission that brings him face to face with the gods and his destiny. The novels mature in both theme and writing style, much like the Harry Potter series, and by the end readers will have jaws tired from dropping from the twists that this intentionally vague review is leaving out. Lovers of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and genuinely good writing should flock to this series. Start with The Thief and make your way through the realm of Attolia, you won’t regret it!

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir [Book]

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If you liked Weir’s The Martian you will love Project Hail Mary. This is a tale of a good, but flawed man who has to think his way out of a seemingly impossible situation. A very plausible story, set in the near future, with more heart than The Martian because not only does the main character have to save himself, he has to save others. Science nerds will love the internal ruminations as the protagonist overcomes each problem. Non-nerds might learn some physics, painlessly.

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten [Book]

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Catherine Alexeyevna (Catherine I) was the second wife of Peter the Great, a woman who progressed from humble origins as a serf to Empress of all the Russias in her short life. The first woman to rule Russia in her own right, she was by the side of the man whose legacy of modernizing Russia in the early 18th century is well-documented in popular culture. Lesser known is the sometimes bloody story of the woman who spent more than twenty years coddling, supporting, and challenging him. Ellen Alpsten’s debut novel relates a compelling if unverified story of Catherine’s (then known as Marta) early years before she entered Peter’s orbit and became his companion and, later, wife. Catherine bore him twelve children, only two of whom lived to adulthood. She traveled with him to the front in his various wars over many years. She was a constant in his life through successes, failures, triumphs, disappointments, and numerous mistresses. She was the best thing that ever happened to him, and the one person who could soothe his rages and return him to reason. Illuminating the realities of life in premodern Russia and the growth and changes brought about in the Petrine Era, It’s a fascinating and extraordinary ride from slavery to royalty for an incredible woman.

“Fiction about real people” is a great genre for readers who like history and also like to listen in on conversations. Offer this to fans of historical fiction, Russia, political intrigue, and powerful women.

Fall or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson [Book]

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This is a cheeky poke at nerdy types and downright funny if you are one (with a sense of humor). Stephenson’s written a thoroughly enjoyable send-up of geek culture. Still underneath this near-future tale of the desire for immortality he asks some big questions and reflects on contemporary societal divisions and where they might lead.

Brontë’s Mistress by Finola Austin [Book]

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Austin’s debut novel expands on scholarly speculation that Branwell Brontë (brother to authors Anne, Charlotte, and Emily) had a passionate affair with Lydia Robinson, a married lady whose son Branwell tutored while Anne was governess to her daughters. Lydia is vain, aging, and longs for excitement. Branwell is young, passionate, and misguided. The story is told from Lydia’s viewpoint; we learn she grieves the recent losses of her mother and her youngest daughter, and is challenged by the management of her living children, interference from her mother-in-law, and her disinterested husband. We are privy to her flights of fancy as she imagines becoming involved with the much-younger Branwell and resists her urges, until she doesn’t. They begin an affair, communicating through a servant and meeting in an abandoned cottage to indulge their attraction. The scandal that follows exacerbates Branwell’s mental fragility and changes the lives of both families.

Offer this to fans of Victorian literature, readers who like their historical fiction populated with real people, and those who prefer their romances without happy endings.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan [Book]

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In 14th-century China, a fortune-teller reveals to twelve-year-old Zhu Chongba that he is destined to achieve greatness. But when he dies in a bandit raid on their impoverished village, his younger sister assumes his identity and his fate in order to achieve the thing she wants above all else: to survive. She Who Became the Sun is a beautifully written, character-driven story that follows the new Zhu Chongba as she fights to keep her secret and her life in a world upended by war and rebellion in the aftermath of the collapse of the Mongol Empire. Shelley Parker-Chan seamlessly weaves fantasy, humor, and romance into a queer historical military fantasy unlike anything else on the shelf.

Well-Behaved Indian Women by Saumya Dave [Book]

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Three generations of Indian women living in India, New Jersey, and Manhattan try in vain to do what is expected of them and all fail, in the same year, by following their dreams instead.

Simran is finishing her master’s degree in psychology and planning her wedding to Kunal, an altruistic medical student, when she meets someone who changes the way she sees herself. Nandini is anticipating her empty nest with a sense of dissatisfaction with her distant husband and her job in a family practice clinic where the bottom line is everything, when a former colleague gets in touch about an amazing opportunity. Mimi is enjoying a peaceful widowhood in her village in India, visiting the local school to teach girls around the edges of what the curriculum offers, when parental complaints bring her to the attention of the superintendent. All three of them face these surprises with their own strength and the support of the others, in ways they didn’t realize were possible.

A compelling and complicated family story filled with secrets, assumptions, and growth through communication, Saumya Dave’s debut renders these women’s lives realistically, with stumbles and corrections as they go along.

This debut is a good fit for readers who like layered stories of women’s lives, complex social structures, and families finding balance between tradition and progressiveness.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo [Book]

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In 1950’s San Francisco, seventeen-year-old Lily Hiu’s Chinatown community, including her parents, are constantly under scrutiny for not being “American enough.” Lily works hard to fit in at school and with her friends, but she has a secret she can’t share with anyone: she’s attracted to other girls, a dangerous realization that could put her family’s citizenship at risk. When classmate Kathleen Miller invites Lily to the Telegraph Club, a bar for San Francisco’s underground lesbian community, Lily is torn between her duty to her family and her fascination with the forbidden Telegraph Club—and with Kathleen. At turns hopeful and heartbreaking, Last Night at the Telegraph Club paints a vivid portrait of mid-century San Francisco and the people whose lives were endangered by the fear-mongering and needless moral panic of the Red Scare.

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde [Book]

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The Big Over Easy is a nonsensical but compelling police procedural. Detective Inspector Jack Spratt heads the Nursery Crimes Division, an underfunded and overworked department of the Reading Police Department, with jurisdiction over People of Dubious Reality. In this alternate universe, Reading, Berkshire, is home to a not insignificant number of characters from nursery rhymes, fables, fairy tales, and the like. From the the three little pigs to Old Mother Hubbard and a substantial number of woodcutters and millers’ sons, Reading is full of folks whose identities as storybook characters are obvious to everyone but themselves.

The story begins when Sergeant Mary Mary is assigned to work with DI Spratt on what seems a straightforward case: Humperdinck Jehoshaphat Aloysius Stuyvesant van Dumpty has fallen off a wall. Their investigation soon reveals, however, that Humpty’s death was anything but accidental. Forensics quickly reveals that Humpty was shot, but further conclusions are harder to come by due to the lack of ballistics research on large egg. Inquiries into Humpty’s past reveal all sorts of shady dealings, including involvement in a straw-into-gold racket. And interviews with Solomon Grundy, Rapunzel, and Wee Willie Winkie bring up more questions than answers.

The Big Over Easy is a delightful read, prefect for when you want something both clever and silly.