Leo Tolstoy famously begins the novel Anna Karenina with the sentence: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In this thematic collection, we have gathered noteworthy texts that navigate the joyous and sorrowful emotional terrain of the family unit.
Publication year 1998
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Natural World: Animals, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Friendship, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Society: Education
Tags Realistic Fiction, Action / Adventure, Relationships, Children's Literature, Animals, Classic Fiction
Publication year 2010
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Fate
Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Action / Adventure, Fantasy
Paolo Bacigalupi’s young adult dystopian novel Ship Breaker (2010) was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the recipient of both the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book and the Michael L. Printz Award for young adult fiction. The story takes place in a postapocalyptic future in the United States, somewhere west of old New Orleans. The human race is facing economic and environmental devastation due to climate change... Read Ship Breaker Summary
Publication year 2009
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family
Tags Historical Fiction, Children's Literature, Military / War, Realistic Fiction, Arts / Culture
Shooting Kabul is a middle-grade novel published in 2010 by American author N. H. Senzai. In July 2001, 11-year-old Fadi Nurzai and his family flee Afghanistan, where the Taliban are taking power, to live in San Francisco. While boarding the truck in Kabul that will take them across the Pakistani border, Fadi loses his six-year-old sister, Mariam, in the melee, and she is left behind. The novel focuses on Fadi’s struggle with his conscience over losing... Read Shooting Kabul Summary
Publication year 1994
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Society: Community, Natural World: Nurture v. Nature, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Emotions/Behavior: Hope
Tags Narrative / Epic Poem, Parenting
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Relationships: Friendship, Emotions/Behavior: Gratitude, Natural World: Appearance & Reality
Tags Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Children's Literature, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Identity: Disability, Society: Colonialism, Society: Community, Identity: Language, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Self Discovery
Tags Children's Literature, History: World, Historical Fiction, Race / Racism, Disability
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Relationships: Siblings, Self Discovery
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Society: Community, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt
Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, History: World
Publication year 2009
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Society: Immigration, Identity: Race, Identity: Gender, Relationships: Family, Identity: Language
Tags Latin American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction
Signs Preceding the End of the World is a 2009 novel by Mexican author Yuri Herrera. The novel examines personal and geopolitical issues concerning the United States-Mexico border, although it does not mention these nations by name, referring instead to North and South. Herrera is a writer, professor, and political scientist, currently teaching at the University of New Orleans. Herrera’s first novel, Kingdom Cons, won the Premio Binacional de Novela Joven Frontera de Palabras (Border... Read Signs Preceding the End of the World Summary
Publication year 1861
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Relationships: Family
Tags Classic Fiction, Victorian Period, Historical Fiction, Industrial Revolution, Education, Education, British Literature, History: World, Victorian Literature / Period
Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe is the third novel by Mary Ann Evans, published under the pseudonym George Eliot. The realist novel portrays the life of a weaver in 1800s England against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution. The novel has been adapted into films, radio plays, theatrical productions, and television shows.This guide refers to the 2021 Alma Classics edition. Content Warning: This guide discusses addiction and depression, which feature in Silas Marner.Plot SummarySilas... Read Silas Marner Summary
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Space & The Universe, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology
Tags Realistic Fiction, Children's Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness, Humor
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Identity: Sexuality, Society: Community, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Identity: Gender, Natural World: Appearance & Reality
Tags Romance, LGBTQ, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Music, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2001
Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Society: Immigration
Tags Psychological Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Drama / Tragedy, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Addiction / Substance Abuse, Immigration / Refugee, Food, Asian Literature
Madeleine Thien is a Canadian writer whose work explores the trans-cultural world of Asian art, politics, and family life within Canada’s diasporic Asian Communities. She was born in 1974 to a Malaysian Chinese father and a Hong Kong Chinese mother. Thien studied contemporary dance but switched to creative writing as an undergraduate in college. She earned her MFA in writing from the University of British Columbia.Thien’s collection of short stories, Simple Recipes (2001, Little Brown... Read Simple Recipes Summary
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family
Tags Race / Racism, Modern Classic Fiction, Magical Realism
Sing, Unburied, Sing is author Jesmyn Ward’s third novel, and her second (following 2011’s Salvage the Bones) to win the National Book Award for Fiction. Published in 2017, Sing, Unburied, Sing touches on many of the same issues Ward’s other novels do, including the racial and class divisions of the contemporary American South; the novel takes place against the backdrop of events like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as well as societal trends like... Read Sing, Unburied, Sing Summary
Publication year 2001
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love
Tags Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Children's Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Romance
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a young adult (YA) bildungsroman published in 2001 by Ann Brashares. It is the first in the eponymous series of five best-selling novels, two of which were adapted into feature films. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants follow Carmen, Lena, Bridget, and Tibby, four teenage girls who share an inseparable bond and a pair of “magical” pants that fit each of them perfectly. During their first summer apart... Read Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Summary
Publication year 1999
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Identity: Femininity, Identity: Gender, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Siblings, Self Discovery, Society: Class, Society: Colonialism, Society: Immigration
Tags Historical Fiction, Indian Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Asian Literature
In the novel Sister of My Heart, the Indian-born American author and poet Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores issues of family, womanhood, and diasporic experience, constantly affirming and exploring the redemptive power of storytelling. Divakaruni’s first collection of stories, Arranged Marriage, won an American Book Award, a PEN Josephine Miles Award, and a Bay Area Book Reviewers Award. Her novel The Mistress of Spices was released as a film of the same name in 2005. Sister of My Heart was made into a television series... Read Sister of My Heart Summary
Publication year 2014
Genre Graphic Memoir , Nonfiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Natural World: Animals, Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos
Tags Realistic Fiction, Humor, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Children's Literature, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1990
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family
Tags Education, Education, American Literature, History: World, Drama / Tragedy, Classic Fiction
As the play opens, a double-sided Kandinsky painting revolves above the stage, alternating between a vibrant side and a somber side. Ouisa and Flan Kittredge, a rich, middle-aged couple, come on stage and frantically tell the audience about the events of the previous evening. They had invited an extremely rich friend, Geoffrey, to dinner so that Flan, an art dealer, could borrow two million dollars to buy a Cezanne painting. Before they can leave for... Read Six Degrees of Separation Summary
Publication year 1809
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Marriage, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Beauty
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Teams, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt
Tags Children's Literature, Fantasy, Action / Adventure, Mythology, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman