In Hall's Broken Country , characters do their duties, find wondrous love, feel heartbreak, suffer tragedies, sometimes act impulsively,...

My Oxford Year takes a light, romantic tone and within it, explores weighty issues like serious illness, loss, grief, vulnerability, and...

Intermezzo is one of my favorite Rooney novels yet, exploring complicated families, grief, unconventional relationships, forgiveness, and...

Crosley's memoir traces a treasured friendship and the gutting loss of that dear friend. She's vulnerable enough to allow the reader in...

Sarah Grunder Ruiz serves up an irresistible rom-com with great banter and with interesting and difficult, complex issues of loss, grief,...

Elif Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees explores past Turkish-Greek conflicts in a small island community while illustrating the...

Young mom Annie's abrupt death leaves her four children, husband, and best friend reeling. Each of them must find a way back to...

The slim novel Blue Hour explores ambivalence about motherhood, unflinching details of the experience of miscarriage, relationship...

Jiles's newest stark, beautiful, heartbreaking historical fiction tracks former Union soldier John Chenneville as he travels the country...

Joella's lovely exploration of three characters' loss and grief allows for deep human connection, the forging of messy paths forward, and...

ICYMI: Poet Elizabeth Alexander writes a gorgeous account of her love affair with her husband and the trauma of his sudden death in a...

ICYMI: Elizabeth McCracken shares her heartbreaking, gorgeous, terrible story of loss and love surrounding the loss of her baby at nine...

McCracken straddles the line between novel and memoir in a work whose heart is a love letter to her extraordinary mother. The author...

Hsu's memoir remembers his friend Ken, who was tragically killed during college. He reflects on friendship and on their connection,...

Garmus's debut is witty and smart, heartbreaking, infuriating, and lovely. Lessons in Chemistry explores deep issues, conflict, and dark...

Nagamatsu's science fiction centers around a resurgence of an ancient Arctic plague. These interconnected stories are odd, fascinating,...

Main protagonist Gifty's journey was full of challenges and not too easy or complete, and her voice had me hooked throughout Yaa Gyasi's...

The Guncle is full of heart and humor, quirky family love, and fun references to musicals and movies--yet Rowley also offers poignancy,...

Basi manages an incredible feat: the book involves messy feelings and grief, yet it isn't maudlin or sappy despite the tragedy and...

The Books I'm Reading Now Two of these books are largely about redemption, two focus on the twisted blessing-and-curse of technology, and...