Written by Kevin Kwan, Lies and Weddings (2024) is a romantic comedy that follows Eden Tong as she navigates the complex interactions of the ultra-rich, aristocratic Greshams and develops a romance with her lifelong friend, Rufus Gresham. The novel incorporates themes similar to those that Kwan has explored in his other novels, including the trilogy that began with Crazy Rich Asians (2013) and his previous standalone novel, Sex and Vanity (2020). These themes include the... Read Lies and Weddings Summary

Life After Life is a work of adult historical fiction written by acclaimed British author Kate Atkinson and published in 2013. Atkinson’s debut novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, won the Whitbread Book of the Year prize and her subsequent novels have all been international bestsellers, including the mystery series featuring Jackson Brodie, which has been adapted to a BBC show. Other works by this author include Case Histories, A God in Ruins, and... Read Life After Life Summary

Ron Rindo’s 2025 literary novel, Life, and Death, and Giants, is a multigenerational saga set in the fictional town of Lakota, Wisconsin. The story chronicles the extraordinary life of Gabriel Fisher, a boy born with pituitary gigantism to an excommunicated Amish woman. Raised first by his older brother and later by his devout Amish grandparents, Gabriel’s size and strength eventually propel him from his quiet, rural world into the public spotlight as a national sports... Read Life, and Death, and Giants Summary

Life as We Knew It is the harrowing tale of a family trying to survive in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world. A young adult novel, the story is told from the point-of-view of sixteen-year-old Miranda and takes the form of her journal entries. Miranda finds her world thrown into complete chaos when an asteroid hits the moon and shifts it out of orbit, moving it closer to Earth. Though the event is expected, scientific calculations about... Read Life As We Knew It Summary

Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project is a work of creative nonfiction written by Jack Mayer and originally published in 2010. The book tells two overlapping stories. One is about Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker who helped save 2,500 Jewish children in Warsaw from the Nazis during World War II. The other is about three high school girls—Liz Cambers, Megan Stewart, and Sabrina Coons. In 1999, the girls, with the help of... Read Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Summary

Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black, published in 1995, is an autobiographical account of the childhood and adolescence of the American lawyer and educator Gregory Howard Williams. An exceptional achiever throughout his life, Williams devoted 10 years to penning this memoir that centers around his being raised to believe he’s white, only to be told as a 10-year-old boy that he’s of African American... Read Life on the Color Line Summary

Life’s Too Short (2021) is a contemporary romance novel by Abby Jimenez that follows Vanessa Price, a social media influencer, and Adrian Copeland, a lawyer. The story explores Living in the Present, The Transformative Power of Love and Connection, and Resilience Amid Adversity. This novel is part of Jimenez’s “Friend Zone” series, which mixes serious topics with romance and humor. Other books in the series include The Friend Zone (2019), featuring Kristen and Josh, and... Read Life's Too Short Summary

“Likes” by Chinese American author Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is a short story that addresses themes of Overcoming Generational Divisions, Coming of Age and Self-Discovery, and The Power of Non-Verbal Connection. First published in The New Yorker in 2017, it is also the titular story of Bynum’s 2020 short story collection. At the center of the narrative is Dave, the father of an adolescent girl who desperately tries to understand his daughter.Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is a... Read Likes Summary

Like Water for Chocolate is the debut novel of Laura Esquivel, published in Mexico in 1989 and then translated into English by Carol and Thomas Christensen. Esquivel has sold over four million copies of the novel worldwide. She is a novelist and active politician serving in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. She collaborated with her husband at the time to adapt the novel into a film in 1992, which was then nominated for a Golden... Read Like Water for Chocolate Summary

Published in 2015, Listen, Slowly is the second novel from Thanhhà Lại, a Vietnamese American author who incorporates her experience as a refugee into her work. The novel was named a New York Times Book Review Notable Book, Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, and one of NPR’s Best Books of 2015. This middle-grade novel is the follow-up to her debut Inside Out and Back Again which won the National Book Award and Newbery... Read Listen, Slowly Summary

Little Fires Everywhere is a New York Times bestselling novel by Celeste Ng published in 2017. In the town of Shaker Heights, Ohio, Elena Richardson rents her family’s property on Winslow Road to Mia and Pearl Warren, a mother and daughter duo who inspire her sense of charity. Mia is an artist, and her lack of rootedness and intense focus on her art unnerve Mrs. Richardson, who lives an orderly life. Their lives become further... Read Little Fires Everywhere Summary

Little House in the Big Woods was published in 1932 by American author Laura Ingalls Wilder. The first in a nine-book series, the autobiographical narrative relates the story of a family of homesteading pioneers living and laboring in Wisconsin. The story is illustrated by Garth Williams, whose drawings of the Ingalls family are often considered iconic and an integral part of the reading experience.This is a classic children’s tale set during an era of western... Read Little House in the Big Woods Summary

Written by Laura Ingalls Wilder with the extensive editorial help of her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, Little House on the Prairie (1935) is the third installment in a highly successful young-adult series that is based on the real-life experiences of the Ingalls family throughout the second half of the 1800s as they headed to the American West in a covered wagon, set on building a new life for themselves. Written in a close third-person perspective... Read Little House on the Prairie Summary

Little Liar (2024) is the second installment in Leigh Rivers’s Web of Silence duet. The dark, taboo romance delves into the tumultuous and forbidden relationship between Malachi Vize and his adoptive sister Olivia. As Malachi’s deep-seated obsession and desire for control collide with external threats, the couple navigates a perilous path between love and danger, testing the limits of their bond and their willingness to defy societal norms. The novel explores themes such as The... Read Little Liar Summary

Little Lord Fauntleroy is a children’s novel written in the sentimental style by Frances Hodgson Burnett, published serially from 1885-1886 and as a novel in 1886. Seven-year-old protagonist Cedric Errol lives with his mother in modest circumstances in New York after the death of his father. After he learns he’s heir to his grandfather’s earldom in England, he and his mother move there so that he can be trained to be Lord Fauntleroy. Cedric, with... Read Little Lord Fauntleroy Summary

Adrienne Brodeur’s Little Monsters (2023), a work of literary fiction, explores the story of an aging marine biologist and his adult children. Touching on trauma, resilience, and the costs of ambition, Little Monsters is a modernized Cain and Abel story set on Cape Cod. Brodeur lives part-time on the Cape and part-time in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She infuses Little Monsters with her knowledge of beaches and seaside towns. She examines mothers, family, and secrets, subjects of... Read Little Monsters Summary

Conor Grennan’s Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal is a memoir that details the author’s humanitarian work and travels in Nepal. The book’s storyline moves chronologically, beginning in 2004, when Grennan first volunteers at the Little Princes Children’s Home in Nepal. The story concludes in 2007, when the author moves back to the United States to establish a life with his fiancée Liz and grow his nonprofit organization... Read Little Princes Summary

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, originally published in two volumes in 1868, is set in New England and inspired by her own family and life events. It is a coming-of-age domestic novel about four sisters who grow up during the American Civil War. Due to its popularity, Alcott wrote two sequels: Little Men (1871) and Jo’s Boys (1886). The novel has been adapted many times for the screen, including the 1994 film for which Winona Ryder... Read Little Women Summary

Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro was published in 1971 and is composed of eight interlinked short stories. Munro examines the everyday life of a young girl, Del Jordan, as she comes of age in a small, Canadian town during the 1940s, against the backdrop of World War II. Inspired by Munro’s childhood, the narrator explores the setting, including local wildlife and the town’s inhabitants, and focuses on themes surrounding coming of age... Read Lives of Girls and Women Summary

Local Woman Missing is a 2021 domestic thriller by Mary Kubica. The novel details the fallout when several people go missing in quick succession, exploring themes such as suburban malaise, trauma, and individualism. Citations in this guide correspond with the Park Row Books edition of the text.Kubica is a New York Times bestselling author. Her other suspense thrillers include The Good Girl (2014), Pretty Baby (2015), Don’t You Cry (2016), Every Last Lie (2017), Nothing As... Read Local Woman Missing Summary