Your holiday is booked!
These reads will give everyone on your list comfort and joy
FOR FICTION FANS House of Gold (GP Putnam’s Sons) by Natasha Solomons
In 1911, the Goldbaum family heads up one of Europe’s biggest banks, their members enjoying great wealth and power throughout the continent. But when World War I breaks out, a freespirited Austrian heiress has to choose between the British family she’s married into — or the family to which she was born. An epic family saga.
Ohio (Simon & Schuster) by Stephen Markley
On a summer night in 2013, four former classmates all find themselves back in their struggling Ohio hometown, a decade after graduating. Each is there for different reasons, but none will leave the same.
Family Trust (William Morrow) by Kathy Wang
Stanley Huang is dying, but before he does his ex-wife and their two children are determined to figure out if the “small fortune” he boasts of is real or grossly exaggerated. A charming, funny portrait of Asian-American family life, money, success and the ties that bind.
Where the Crawdads Sing (GP Putnam’s Sons) by Delia Owens
Kya Clark has always been called the “Marsh Girl” by North Carolina locals who mock her wild existence on the marshes. Since being abandoned by her parents at a young age, she has eschewed school, fishing by herself in order to survive. When Chase Andrews, a handsome village boy, is found dead, Kya is immediately suspected.
The Great Alone (St. Martin’s) by Kristin Hannah
It is 1974, and angry Vietnam vet Ernt Allbright moves with his family to Alaska, seeking a life off the grid. The family is woefully unprepared and brings few supplies; locals take pity on them and show them how to survive the winter. Ernt becomes physically abusive to his wife, Cora, and as the weather gets colder, she and her daughter realize they will have to rely on each other to survive.
Lake Success (Random House) by Gary Shteyngart
Barry Cohen has just walked out on his marriage. Convinced that life’s answers rest with his college girlfriend, Barry sets off on a Greyhound bus tour that is by turns hilarious, infuriating and moving.
If You Leave Me (William Morrow) by Crystal Hana Kim
War, family and doomed love are all center stage in this debut novel about the Korean civil war, the years that follow and the choices that people are forced to make. Haemi Lee, the protagonist, will stay with you long after this haunting book is finished.
America for Beginners (William Morrow) by Leah Franqui
Pival Sengupta is a widow, and her only son has died. With nothing left to tether her to her upscale Kolkata life, she books a trip with the First Class India USA Destination Vacation Tour Company and sets out to understand America, the country her son lived in for the last years of his life. Gorgeous and moving.
Sweet & Low: Stories (Blue Rider Press) by Nick White
No one is quite what they seem in this story collection, which paints a picture of the modern South, tackling issues of sexuality, masculinity and place.
Rust & Stardust (St. Martin’s) by T. Greenwood
A fictional treatment of the real-life abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner, who was kidnapped from a Camden, NJ, Woolworth’s by a sexual predator named Frank La Salle, who held her for over a year.
An American Marriage (Algonquin Books) by Tayari Jones
Celestial and Roy are young black newlyweds embarking on their new lives together when Roy is accused and subsequently sentenced to 12 years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Celestial is left to pick up the pieces alone. Heartbreaking and raw.
Unsheltered (Harper) by Barbara Kingsolver
Willa Knox and her husband have done everything right in life, yet they’ve still ended up practically broke in a crumbling house Willa is desperately trying to landmark in hopes that this will pay for its much-needed restoration.
Melmoth (Custom House) by Sarah Perry
The follow-up to “The Essex Serpent,” which finds Helen Franklin in Prague working as a translator. She thinks she has found a refuge — but that all changes when her friend Karel disappears after finding a mysterious letter in the library.