Family life fiction Books

In Kanazawa, the first literary novel in English to be set in this storied Japanese city, Emmitt's future plans collapse when his wife, Mirai, suddenly backs out of negotiations to purchase their dream home. Disappointed, he's surprised to discover...

This harrowing and extraordinary story, based on a true event, is part of a series of tales illuminating the microcosm of all humanity contained in a typical Chinese "worker village." Here, an exploited young factory worker has nothing to live for beyond...

Kalina, born in Bulgaria and now living in Boston, has always been a spiritual seeker. Her fourteen-year-old son, Marko, who has spina bifida and is partially paralyzed, shares her curiosity about larger metaphysical questions, but also has his own...

Sinking Islands continues the story of Bronwyn Artair, a scientist who possesses the power to influence the natural forces of the Earth. After several successful interventions, including one in Siberia, she has gone into hiding, worried about unintended...

Jane is a Los Angeles nurse who grew up in a Christian cult that puts celebrities on trial for their sins. Daniel is a has-been actor whose career ended when the cult family members nearly killed him for flirting with her. Eight years after a romantic...

*SILVER MEDALIST in the 2022 International Latino Book Awards for Best Popular Fiction - English* Happily married, backed by a powerful mentor, and with career prospects that would take him abroad, Serguey has more than any young Cuban lawyer could ask...

Over the course of one fateful day, Trisha Donahue begins to reclaim her courage and discovers secrets in a familiar place. A surprising, quietly dramatic adventure story infused with Ellen Cooney's warm humor and wisdom.After years of skilled work and...

DeShawn lives a high, creative, and promiscuous life in San Francisco. But when he's called back to his cramped Southern hometown for his uncle's funeral, he s hit by flashbacks of handsome, doomed neighbors and sweltering Sunday services. Amidst prickly...

Emily Dickinson is as famous for being a recluse as she is for her poetry. In this stunning novel, we see her struggling to reconcile spirit and flesh, preferring letters and reflecting that the only way to have books and life is to live through one's...

Set in the British Columbia Interior, the novel Cambium Blue is an homage to resource towns, independent women and local newspapers.In 1994, at the outset of the bark beetle epidemic that will decimate millions of acres of pine forest in western North...

A writer and former ski jumper facing a terminal diagnosis takes one more leap-into a past of soaring flights and broken family bondsA brilliant ski jumper has to be fearless-Jon Bargaard remembers this well. His memories of daring leaps and risks might...

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1916) is a novel by Vicente Blasco Ibez. Published at the height of his career as a popular Spanish author, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was adapted into a 1921 silent film starring Rudolph Valentino and later...

Krishna Kanta's Will (1878) is a novel by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. Recognized as a pioneering work of Bengali literature with universal romantic themes, Krishna Kanta's Will is a story that engages with the subjects of widow remarriage, land ownership,...

No More Parades (1924) is a novel by Ford Madox Ford. Set during the First World War, the novel is the story of Christopher Tietjens, a brilliant statistician and wealthy aristocrat known as "the last Tory." As he moves from a faithless marriage into an...

The Good Soldier (1915) is a novel by Ford Madox Ford. Set just before the First World War, the novel is superficially the story of Edward Asburnham, a man with a reputation for philandering. Considered an important proto-modernist novel, The Good...

An American Family (1918) is a novel by Henry Kitchell Webster. Written at the height of Webster's career as a popular author of magazine serials, An American Family is a story of war, ambition, and tragedy. Exploring the effects of the burgeoning labor...

Many Marriages (1923) is a novel by Sherwood Anderson. Inspired by his own decision to abandon his family and career in order to establish himself as a professional writer, Anderson explores the guilts, routines, desires, and disappointments driving the...

Mrs. Craddock (1902) is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. Controversial for its portrayal of infidelity and marriage across social classes, Mrs. Craddock was instrumental in establishing Maugham's reputation as a leading author of the late Victorian era...

Fanny Herself (1917) is a novel by Edna Ferber. Inspired by her experience as a young Jewish woman from the Midwest, Fanny Herself is the story of a young woman who recognizes the unhappiness in her life and decides to risk it all for something better...

The Dualitists (1887) is a short story by Irish author Bram Stoker. Written at the beginning of his career, The Dualitists helped to establish the Irish master of Gothic horror's reputation as a leading writer of the early-twentieth century...

The Primrose Path (1875) is the debut novel of Irish author Bram Stoker. Written over two decades before Dracula, his masterpiece, The Primrose Path helped to establish the Irish master of Gothic horror's reputation as a leading writer of the...

Fruitfulness (1899) is a novel by French author mile Zola. Published as the first installment of his Les Quatre vangiles, a series of four novels inspired by the New Testament gospels and aimed at investigating prominent social issues, Fruitfulness was...

"As a child, my hero was Jo March [...] But as an adult, it's Louisa May Alcott." Greta GerwigThe Mysterious Key and What It Opened (1867) is a novella by American author, feminist, and abolitionist Louisa May Alcott. Although less popular than her famed...

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...

Rip Van Winkle is an easy-going Dutch American settler living in New York. Though he is happy to help his friends, Rip Van Winkle is unmotivated to complete the much-needed repairs or chores for his family's farm. Worried about their financial...

"Wharton has done nothing that equals this."New York Times Book Review (1923)"Extraordinarily poignant...Heartrending, tragic, powerful, this is not to be missed."-Publishers WeeklyEdith Wharton's A Son at the Front (1923) is a stirring rumination of...

Little Women is the triumphant novel by Louisa May Alcott that has inspired nearly all who've read it. The inspiration for several major motion pictures, miniseries, plays, and more, discover the fantastical adventures set about by the memorable March...

The Simple Case of Susan (1908) is a romance novel by Jacques Futrelle. Published at the height of his career as a leading popular detective and science fiction writer, The Simple Case of Susan is unique example in Futrelle's oeuvre as a lighthearted...

Born into slavery, Clotel is a white-passing woman who conceals her identity and uses a disguise to infiltrate a plantation to rescue her loved ones. It's a story of survival that's deeply rooted in the cruelest part of American history.Clotel and...

Eight Cousins (1875) is a novel by American author, feminist, and abolitionist Louisa May Alcott. Based on her experience of being raised by a father dedicated to education reform, and grounded in her radical beliefs on the role of women in society,...

The House Behind the Cedars (1900) is African-American writer Charles Chesnutt's debut novel. Inspired by his own experience as a Black man capable of passing for white-which Chesnutt consciously chose not to do-as well as by Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, The...

"Six generations of readers have found in the story of the March family universal truths about girls, families and growing up." -The Guardian"A Natural source of stories...she is, and is to be the poet of children." -Ralph Waldo Emerson "The novelist of...

Howards End (1910) is a novel by English author E.M. Forster. Inspired by his interactions with the famous Bloomsbury Group of writers and intellectuals, as well as by his personal experience growing up with a large inheritance on the family estate of...

When Fanny Price is sent away from her struggling family to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle, life doesn't suddenly transform for her. At least, not for the better. From failed marriage proposals to unavoidable class conflicts, Fanny must learn to...

Set in both England and colonial India, The Woman in the Bazaar follows Captain George Coventry as he wrestles with guilt and the consequences of his actions. Rigid even by old fashioned standards, George Coventry holds misogynistic beliefs regarding...

On his deathbed, John Bergson, the head of a Swedish American family, decided to will the family farm to his daughter, Alexandra, instead of her two older brothers. Though it upset his sons, John was firm in his decision, knowing that the conditions in...

The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories (1917) is a collection of nine stories by Russian writer Anton Chekhov. Recognized today as foundational for the development of the modern short story, Anton Chekhov has transcended Russian literature to become one...

Catherine Morland is modest and well mannered, more comfortable reading her novels than socializing with people. When she is unexpectedly invited to the English resort city of Bath for the winter season, where many wealthy families reside, Catherine...

"[James] is the most intelligent man of his generation." -T. S. Eliot "Reading Henry James is like putting a new faculty to the test. This is the true morality."-Anita Brookner "A very modern story about aimless lives and messy marriages"- Paul...

The People of the Mist, an intoxicating mix of adventure, fantasy, and romance, is an underappreciated classic of English literature. Lesser-known among Rider's works, this novel is perhaps more famous for being the origin of the phrase "Per Ardua ad...

The Bondman (1890) is a novel written by British author Hall Caine. Inspired by the epic scale of the ancient Icelandic sagas as well as the Biblical tale of Jacob and Esau, Caine sought to explore the narrative possibilities of brotherhood and fate...

Originally published in Robin Goodfellow magazine, Lady Audley's Secret is the essential work of Mary Elizabeth Braddon and is considered a staple of sensation fiction. The story centers on a mysterious woman, whose dark past slowly comes to light.Lady...

Villette (1853) is a novel by English writer Charlotte Bront. It was the third and final novel she published in her lifetime, followed only by The Professor, her posthumously released first novel which was largely reconceived and rewritten as Villette...

"The greatest writer of his time."-Edmund Wilson "One of the great poets of the novel, a genius of his art"-Edgar Johnson"His characters are marvelous, his insights wonderful...you don't expect reality but you get something bigger and better."-Ruth...

Mademoiselle Giraud, My Wife (1870) is a novel by Adolphe Belot. Written at the height of his career as a popular playwright, the novel proved immensely popular and caused a stir with its depiction of homosexuality. Recognized today as an important work...

A Marriage Below Zero (1889) is a novel by Alan Dale. Recognized as one of the first English language novels to openly depict homosexuality, the novel is a poignant study of the institution of marriage and the policing of desire in Victorian England...

Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912) is a collection of short stories by Sui Sin Far. Inspired by her experience living among Chinese Americans in San Francisco and Seattle, Mrs. Spring Fragrance is considered one of the earliest works of fiction published in...

The Unlit Lamp (1924) is a novel by Radclyffe Hall. After publishing several collections of poems, Hall turned to fiction in 1924 with two successful novels. The Unlit Lamp is the story of a young woman with an unhappy home life who falls in love with an...