85 books tagged "Literary Fiction"
Brit Bennett’s chart topping novel, ***The Vanishing Half***, is a story that tracks the lives of twin African American twin sisters who, after witnessing the murder of their father, run away at age 16. One sister begins passing as white and the other sister remains true to her identity. ***The Vanishing Half*** explores the intricacies of identity, family, and race in a provocative, but compassionate way.
Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh “Shuggie” Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher’s policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city’s notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings.
Shuggie’s mother Agnes walks a wayward path: she is Shuggie’s guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. She dreams of a house with its own front door while she flicks through the pages of the Freemans catalogue, ordering a little happiness on credit, anything to brighten up her grey life. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, Agnes keeps her pride by looking good—her beehive, make-up, and pearly-white false teeth offer a glamorous image of a Glaswegian Elizabeth Taylor. But under the surface, Agnes finds increasing solace in drink, and she drains away the lion’s share of each week’s benefits—all the family has to live on—on cans of extra-strong lager hidden in handbags and poured into tea mugs. Agnes’s older children find their own ways to get a safe distance from their mother, abandoning Shuggie to care for her as she swings between alcoholic binges and sobriety. Shuggie is meanwhile struggling to somehow become the normal boy he desperately longs to be, but everyone has realized that he is “no right,” a boy with a secret that all but him can see. Agnes is supportive of her son, but her addiction has the power to eclipse everyone close to her—even her beloved Shuggie.
A heartbreaking story of addiction, sexuality, and love, Shuggie Bain is an epic portrayal of a working-class family that is rarely seen in fiction. Recalling the work of Édouard Louis, Alan Hollinghurst, Frank McCourt, and Hanya Yanagihara, it is a blistering debut by a brilliant novelist who has a powerful and important story to tell.
The Accidental is a 2005 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith. It follows a middle-class English family who are visited by an uninvited guest, Amber, while they are on holiday in a small village in Norfolk. Amber's arrival has a profound effect on all the family members. Eventually she is cast out the house by the mother, Eve. But the consequences of her appearance continue even after the family has returned home to London.
The novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, the Man Booker Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and it won the Whitbread Award.
The Mirror & The Light is a historical novel by English writer Hilary Mantel. Following [Wolf Hall](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL464512W) (2009) and [Bring Up the Bodies](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16547664W) (2012), it is the final instalment in her trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, minister in the court of King Henry VIII, covering the last four years of his life, from 1536 until his death by execution in 1540.
Mantel's twelfth novel, her first in almost eight years, The Mirror & The Light was published in March 2020 to widespread critical acclaim, and enjoyed brisk sales. In December 2020, Emily Temple of Literary Hub reported that the novel had made 13 lists of the best books of 2020. It won 2021 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction.
Condemned to shoulder the world "for ever" by the gods he dared defy, freedom seems unattainable to Atlas. But then he receives an unexpected visit from Heracles, the one man strong enough to share the burden, and it seems they can strike a bargain that might release him . . . Jeanette Winterson asks difficult questions about the nature of choice and coercion in her dazzling retelling of the myth of Atlas and Heracles. Visionary and inventive, believable and intimate, Weight turns the familiar on its head to show us ourselves in a new light.
At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He’s popular and well-adjusted, star of the school soccer team while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her housekeeping job at Marianne’s house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal.
A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years in college, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. Then, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.
Sally Rooney brings her brilliant psychological acuity and perfectly spare prose to a story that explores the subtleties of class, the electricity of first love, and the complex entanglements of family and friendship.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a novel by American author Kim Edwards that tells the story of a man who gives away his newborn daughter, who has Down syndrome, to one of the nurses. Published by Viking Press in June 2005, the novel garnered great interest via word of mouth in the summer of 2006 and placed on the New York Times Paperback Bestsellers List. The novel was adapted into a television film and premiered on Lifetime Television on April 12, 2008.
A Gentleman in Moscow is a 2016 novel by Amor Towles. It is his second novel, published five years after his New York Times best seller, Rules of Civility (2011).
Homegoing is the debut historical fiction novel by Ghanaian-American author Yaa Gyasi, published in 2016. Each chapter in the novel follows a different descendant of an Asante woman named Maame, starting with her two daughters, who are half-sisters, separated by circumstance: Effia marries James Collins, the British governor in charge of Cape Coast Castle, while her half-sister Esi is held captive in the dungeons below. Subsequent chapters follow their children and following generations.
The novel was selected in 2016 for the National Book Foundation's "5 under 35" award, the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Award for best first book, and was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2017. It received the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for 2017, an American Book Award, and the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature.
Het diner is een roman uit 2009 van de Nederlandse auteur Herman Koch. Het diner gaat over vier ouders (twee broers en hun echtgenoten) wier loyaliteit jegens hun kinderen op de proef wordt gesteld wanneer blijkt dat die een misdaad op hun geweten hebben: in hoeverre mag je je kinderen blijven beschermen?
Cutting for Stone (2009) is a novel written by Ethiopian-born Indian-American medical doctor and author Abraham Verghese. It is a saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mother's death at their births and forsaken by their father. The book includes both a deep description of medical procedures and an exploration of the human side of medical practices.
When first published, the novel was on The New York Times Best Seller list for two years and generally received well by critics. With its positive reception, Barack Obama put it on his summer reading list and the book was optioned for adaptations.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 novel by American author Michael Chabon. The novel is a detective story set in an alternative history version of the present day, based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Sitka, Alaska, in 1941, and that the fledgling State of Israel was destroyed in 1948. The novel is set in Sitka, which it depicts as a large, Yiddish-speaking metropolis.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union won a number of science fiction awards: the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best SF Novel, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Best Novel. It was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel and the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.
The Circle is a 2013 dystopian novel written by American author Dave Eggers. The novel chronicles tech worker Mae Holland as she joins a powerful Internet company. Her initially rewarding experience turns darker.
This is Stephen's fifth short story collection.
- [Willa](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19650880W/Willa)
- [The Gingerbread Girl](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14917109W/The_Gingerbread_Girl)
- Harvey's Dream
- Rest Stop
- [Stationary Bike](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL149163W/Stationary_Bike)
- [The Things They Left Behind](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19651736W/The_Things_They_Left_Behind)
- Graduation Afternoon
- [N.](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19651691W/N.)
- The Cat From Hell
- The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates
- [Mute](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19651758W/Mute)
- Ayana
- [A Very Tight Place](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19651790W/A_Very_Tight_Place)
"In stories that are more personal than any she's written before, Alice Munro pieces her family's history into gloriously imagined fiction. Other stories take place in more familiar Munro territory, the town and countryside around Lake Huron, where the past shows through the present and strong emotions stir beneath the surface of ordinary coming and goings. Evocative, gripping, sexy, unexpected - these stories reflect a depth and richness of experience" -- publisher website (May 2007).
The Sign of the Four (1890), also called The Sign of Four, is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
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Also contained in:
[Adventures of Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20624138W)
[Adventures of Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18191906W)
[Annotated Sherlock Holmes. 1/2](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518438W)
[Best of Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18195589W)
[Boys' Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8696809W)
[Celebrated Cases of Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16076930W)
[Complete Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18188824W)
[Complete Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14929975W)
[Illustrated Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518342W)
[Original Illustrated Strand Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL262529W)
[Sherlock Holmes: His Most Famous Mysteries](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14930414W)
[Sherlock Holmes: The Novels](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16018654W)
[The Sign of the Four, A Scandal in Bohemia and Other Stories](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20630338W)
[Sign of the Four and Other Stories](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20628655W)
[Tales of Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518350W)
[Tales of Sherlock Holmes](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1518418W)
[Works](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16173818W)
James Joyce's disillusion with the publication of Dubliners in 1914 was the result of ten years battling with publishers, resisting their demands to remove swear words, real place names and much else, including two entire stories. Although only 24 when he signed his first publishing contract for the book, Joyce already knew its worth: to alter it in any way would 'retard the course of civilisation in Ireland'. Joyce's aim was to tell the truth -- to create a work of art that would reflect life in Ireland at the turn of the last century. By rejecting euphemism, he would reveal to the Irish the unromantic reality, the recognition of which would lead to the spiritual liberation of the country. Each of the fifteen stories offers a glimpse of the lives of ordinary Dubliners -- a death, an encounter, an opportunity not taken, a memory rekindled -- and collectively they paint a portrait of a nation. - Back cover.
Dubliners is a collection of vignettes of Dublin life at the end of the 19th Century written, by Joyce’s own admission, in a manner that captures some of the unhappiest moments of life. Some of the dominant themes include lost innocence, missed opportunities and an inability to escape one’s circumstances.
Joyce’s intention in writing Dubliners, in his own words, was to write a chapter of the moral history of his country, and he chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to him to be the centre of paralysis. He tried to present the stories under four different aspects: childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life.\
‘The Sisters’, ‘An Encounter’ and ‘Araby’ are stories from childhood. ‘Eveline’, ‘After the Race’, ‘Two Gallants’ and ‘The Boarding House’ are stories from adolescence. ‘A Little Cloud’, ‘Counterparts’, ‘Clay’ and ‘A Painful Case’ are all stories concerned with mature life. Stories from public life are ‘Ivy Day in the Committee Room’ and ‘A Mother and Grace’. ‘The Dead’ is the last story in the collection and probably Joyce’s greatest. It stands alone and, as the title would indicate, is concerned with death.
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Contains
[Sisters](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15073389W/The_Sisters)\
[Encounter](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15073256W)\
[Araby](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20570121W)\
[Eveline](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15073302W)\
[After the Race](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18179262W)\
[Two Gallants](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20570300W)\
[Boarding House](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15073259W/The_Boarding_House)\
[Little Cloud](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18179222W)\
[Counterparts](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20570464W)\
[Clay](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18179205W)\
[A Painful Case](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5213767W)\
[Ivy Day In the Committee Room](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20571820W)\
[Mother](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18179244W)\
[Grace](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15073323W)\
[Dead](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15073437W/The_Dead)
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Also contained in:
- [Dubliners / Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15073371W/Dubliners_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man)
- [Essential James Joyce](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL86338W/The_Essential_James_Joyce)
- [Portable James Joyce](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL86334W/The_Portable_James_Joyce)
Reta Winters has many reasons to be happy. Then in the spring of her forty-fourth year, all the quiet satisfactions of her well-lived life disappear in a moment: her eldest daughter Norah suddenly runs from the family and ends up mute and begging on a Toronto street corner with a hand-lettered sign reading GOODNESS around her neck.
Piercing and sad, astute and evocative, full of tenderness and laughter, Unless will stand with The Stone Diaries in the canon of Carol Shields’s fiction.
([source][1])
[1]: http://www.carol-shields.com/unless.html
Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Published in 2006 by Fourth Estate, the novel tells the story of the Biafran War through the perspective of the characters Olanna, Ugwu, and Richard.
