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Summaries of 9,841 books.

  1. Waiting to Exhale

    Terry McMillan

    ★ 4.0 (15k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    Four African American women in Phoenix navigate love, heartbreak, and sisterhood, waiting for a man who will make them feel at ease.

  2. The Midwife of Hope River

    Patricia Harman

    ★ 4.0 (15k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In Depression-era Appalachia, a resourceful midwife battles disease, the KKK, and her past to bring hope and new life to a struggling community.

  3. The Last Full Measure

    Jeff Shaara

    ★ 4.2 (15k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    Through the eyes of Grant, Lee, and Chamberlain, 'The Last Full Measure' shows the brutal, culminating two years of the Civil War, from the Wilderness to Appomattox, as the Confederacy's last breaths are drawn against the Union's relentless advance.

  4. Slammerkin

    Emma Donoghue

    ★ 3.7 (15k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In a grimy 18th-century London, a spirited schoolgirl named Mary Saunders rejects a life of servitude, clawing her way through a perilous journey to seize a liberty society denies her, even if it means becoming the very 'slammerkin' they despise.

  5. Half Blood Blues

    Esi Edugyan

    ★ 3.7 (15k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In Nazi-occupied Paris, a jazz musician vanishes, leaving his bandmates to confront buried betrayals and the dangerous truth of his fate fifty years later.

  6. The Accident

    Linwood Barclay

    ★ 4.0 (15k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    After his wife dies in a supposed car accident and is blamed for it, an ordinary contractor uncovers a terrifying web of suburban corruption and violence while fighting to clear her name and protect his daughter.

  7. Glengarry Glen Ross

    David Mamet

    ★ 3.9 (15k) average on GoodreadsFiction

    In a cutthroat Chicago real estate office, four desperate salesmen claw and backstab for leads, their careers, and their very masculinity as a high-stakes sales contest threatens to strip them of everything.

  8. The Hungry Tide

    Amitav Ghosh

    ★ 4.0 (15k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In the tiger-filled Sundarbans, an American biologist's search for rare dolphins connects her with a local fisherman and a translator, pulling them into a political struggle as unforgiving as the landscape.

  9. The Underworld

    Jessica Sorensen

    ★ 4.1 (15k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Gemma must descend into the treacherous Underworld to uncover Stephan's dangerous plot and discover who she can truly trust before a celestial star falls from the sky.

  10. How Green Was My Valley

    Richard Llewellyn

    ★ 4.2 (15k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In a Welsh mining valley, a boy's coming-of-age happens as traditions disappear and memory keeps the landscape alive.

  11. I Wish You All the Best

    Mason Deaver

    ★ 4.1 (15k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    Thrown out by their parents for being nonbinary, an anxious Ben finds unexpected solace and burgeoning love with a charismatic classmate while navigating a new school and the complexities of chosen family.

  12. The Charterhouse of Parma

    Stendhal

    ★ 3.8 (15k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    Fabrizio del Dongo, a young aristocrat, seeks glory with Napoleon at Waterloo but instead finds himself caught in scandals and political plots by his cunning aunt and her lover in post-Napoleonic Italy.

  13. The Flight of Gemma Hardy

    Margot Livesey

    ★ 3.6 (15k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    Orphaned and adrift, Gemma Hardy navigates a life of hardship and unexpected passion from the windswept shores of Iceland to the remote Orkney Islands, echoing Jane Eyre's journey of resilience and self-discovery.

  14. Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret

    Obert Skye

    ★ 3.9 (15k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Leven Thumps must brave the treacherous Swollen Forest and confront a deadly secret to restore a toothpick king and find the power within himself.

  15. The Buddha of Suburbia

    Hanif Kureishi

    ★ 3.7 (15k) average on GoodreadsFiction

    In 1970s suburban London, a mixed-race teenager named Karim escapes his humdrum life and navigates his identity through the chaotic, often hilarious, world of experimental theater and burgeoning self-discovery.

  16. Henrys Freedom Box

    Ellen Levine

    ★ 4.5 (15k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    With courage and a wooden crate, Henry 'Box' Brown begins a dangerous journey to freedom, a story of a man escaping slavery.

  17. My Plain Jane

    Cynthia Hand

    ★ 3.8 (15k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    When Jane Eyre's classic story meets the supernatural, an aspiring author, a determined governess, and a skeptical ghost hunter must uncover Thornfield Hall's dark secrets before spirits rewrite a timeless romance.

  18. The Sea of Trolls

    Nancy Farmer

    ★ 4.0 (15k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Kidnapped by Vikings and forced on a dangerous quest by a shape-shifting half-troll queen, young Jack must navigate a world of dragons, giant spiders, and surprisingly friendly troll-boars to find Mimir's Well and save his sister, all while learning to "just say no to pillaging" in 8th-century Scandinavia.

  19. The Freedom Writers Diary

    Erin Gruwell

    ★ 4.1 (15k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    In a classroom fueled by urban tension and racial divides, a determined teacher empowers 'unteachable' students to confront intolerance and rewrite their own narratives through the shared power of diaries and the enduring legacy of Anne Frank.

  20. The False Princess

    Eilis O'Neal

    ★ 3.8 (15k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Stripped of her royal identity and exiled to a dyer's village, a 'false princess' unearths a dangerous magical heritage that will rewrite her destiny and the fate of her kingdom.

  21. The Tower Treasure

    Franklin W. Dixon

    ★ 3.9 (15k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    A dying thief's clue about 'tower treasure' sends the Hardy Boys on their first case, uncovering a secret that starts their legendary careers.

  22. Captain Blood

    Rafael Sabatini

    ★ 4.2 (15k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    Wrongfully condemned to slavery, a brilliant physician transforms into the Caribbean's most feared pirate, battling empires and his own conflicted heart for the love of a woman who despises his very name.

  23. Darius the Great Is Not Okay

    Adib Khorram

    ★ 4.3 (15k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    A clinically depressed, Klingon-speaking teen navigates his first trip to Iran, discovering his heritage and an unexpected friendship that helps him finally see himself beyond his anxieties.

  24. Alex and Eliza

    Melissa de la Cruz

    ★ 3.7 (15k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In 1777 Albany, an orphaned colonel and a Schuyler daughter begin a forbidden romance, defying expectations and intertwining their lives with the birth of a nation.

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