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Summaries of 9,843 books.

  1. The Magic Toyshop

    Angela Carter

    ★ 3.9 (9k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    After her childhood is shattered, Melanie is thrust into a bizarre, puppet-filled world ruled by her toy-making uncle, where she must navigate a grotesque coming-of-age among life-sized dolls and mechanical birds.

  2. Independent People

    Halldór Laxness

    ★ 4.2 (9k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In early 20th-century Iceland, a determined sheep farmer battles the elements, poverty, and tradition to build an independent life for his family.

  3. The Butterfly Lion

    Michael Morpurgo

    ★ 4.1 (9k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    Separated by continents and circumstance, a boy and his orphaned white lion cub forge an unbreakable bond, promising a reunion that transcends the boundaries of time and memory.

  4. Ready for Love

    Marie Force

    ★ 4.3 (9k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    A grieving widow returns to Gansett Island, hoping to rekindle a lost love and find happiness with the man who never forgot her.

  5. Victoria and the Rogue

    Meg Cabot

    ★ 3.6 (9k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    A spirited heiress, sent from India to London to marry, finds her engagement upended by a meddling ship captain who might be saving her from a charming rogue.

  6. The Vicar of Wakefield

    Oliver Goldsmith

    ★ 3.5 (9k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In a world of genteel poverty and unexpected troubles, the kind but naive Dr. Primrose faces misfortune, his Christian morality a guide against fate's twists.

  7. The Russian Concubine

    Kate Furnivall

    ★ 3.7 (9k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In 1928 China, a Russian exile and a Chinese freedom fighter fall in love amidst revolution, stolen jewels, and danger.

  8. Belly Up

    Stuart Gibbs

    ★ 4.2 (9k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    When a hippo dies at a new, high-tech zoo, 12-year-old Teddy Fitzroy must navigate corporate secrets, suspicious staff, and danger to find out why Henry the hippo died before he becomes the next victim.

  9. Bad Monkeys

    Matt Ruff

    ★ 3.6 (9k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A woman arrested for murder claims she belongs to the 'Bad Monkeys,' a secret group fighting evil; her sanity, and reality itself, break down under a psychiatrist's questioning.

  10. Evercrossed

    Elizabeth Chandler

    ★ 4.0 (9k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    After a fatal car crash, a girl is brought back to life by the kiss of her deceased first love, only to find their reunion has awakened a dangerous supernatural force.

  11. Jessica

    Bryce Courtenay

    ★ 4.2 (9k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In WWI-era Australia, a tomboy's mercy for a killer sparks a lifelong fight for justice, love, and the truth of her child's father, mirroring the era's tragedies.

  12. Submarine

    Joe Dunthorne

    ★ 3.8 (9k) average on GoodreadsYoung Adult

    Armed with a thesaurus and a vivid imagination, precocious Oliver Tate navigates the treacherous, hormone-fueled waters of adolescence, attempting to salvage his parents' crumbling marriage while simultaneously pursuing the enigmatic Jordana Bevan and losing his own virginity.

  13. By Nightfall

    Michael Cunningham

    ★ 3.4 (9k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A Manhattan art dealer's ordered life and idea of beauty unravels with the arrival of his wife's younger brother, forcing him to confront the nature of his own desires.

  14. The Voyage Out

    Virginia Woolf

    ★ 3.8 (9k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A young Englishwoman's sea voyage to a South American resort explores self-discovery, love, and the societal expectations for women in early 20th-century England.

  15. An Enemy of the People

    Henrik Ibsen

    ★ 3.9 (9k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    A small-town doctor's fight for public safety over money makes him an outcast, revealing the dangerous hypocrisy of a community blinded by self-interest.

  16. Sentence of Marriage

    Shayne Parkinson

    ★ 3.8 (9k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In 19th-century New Zealand, a farm girl's dreams of escaping her predetermined life collide with the arrival of two outsiders, forcing her to confront the steep price of a single, life-altering choice.

  17. Zeroes

    Scott Westerfeld

    ★ 3.8 (9k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Six superpowered but deeply flawed teens, led by a charismatic manipulator and a boy with a dangerously persuasive inner voice, must reunite their fractured group to stop a new, equally powerful threat that emerges from a botched bank robbery.

  18. Foe

    J. M. Coetzee

    ★ 3.4 (9k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A castaway asks a writer to immortalize her story of survival with Cruso and the silent Friday; this request becomes a deep look at truth, authorship, and narrative's power.

  19. A Perfect Storm

    Lori Foster

    ★ 4.2 (9k) average on GoodreadsThriller
  20. Primal Fear

    William Diehl

    ★ 4.2 (9k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A cynical defense attorney uncovers a shocking truth behind an archbishop's murder, only to realize his client's innocence is a more terrifying deception.

  21. White Lies

    Jayne Ann Krentz

    ★ 4.0 (9k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A human lie detector, already wary of deception in love, must team up with a mysterious consultant to unravel a deadly conspiracy after her brother-in-law's murder, forcing her to confront a dizzying storm of secrets and a sizzling, yet distrustful, attraction.

  22. The Eleventh Hour

    Graeme Base

    ★ 4.3 (9k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Join Horace the elephant's elaborate eleventh birthday costume party to uncover which of his exotic, rhyming guests devoured the magnificent feast, hidden within Graeme Base's sumptuously detailed illustrations and witty verses.

  23. Charly

    Jack Weyland

    ★ 4.0 (9k) average on GoodreadsSpirituality

    A BYU student's organized life changes when he meets Charly, a spontaneous woman who teaches him to live and laugh.

  24. The Cat Who Turned On and Off

    Lilian Jackson Braun

    ★ 4.0 (9k) average on GoodreadsMystery

    A reporter, his perceptive mustache, and two brilliant Siamese cats unravel a murder amidst the eccentric antique dealers and hidden secrets of Junktown.

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