The Darkest Child (2004) is a coming-of-age historical fiction novel by Delores Phillips. The teenage protagonist and first-person narrator, Tangy Mae Quinn faces racism and segregation in the Jim Crow South, as well as domestic abuse, poverty, and nonconsensual sex work. Despite these challenges, Tangy finds eventual escape when she leaves her abusive mother, Rozelle, and her past behind her to pursue her own goals, which are rooted in education. The novel explores The Role... Read The Darkest Child Summary

“Daughter of Invention” is one of 15 interconnected stories in Julia Alvarez’s acclaimed novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. The novel is written in reverse chronological order and follows the lives of the García family after immigrating to America from the Dominican Republic during the Trujillo dictatorship. “Daughter of Invention” takes place in New York when the four daughters are adolescents. Each story focuses on three or four family members, and “Daughter of... Read The Daughter of Invention Summary

Originally published in 1982, The Day They Came to Arrest the Book is Nat Hentoff’s only novel for youth. Hentoff was a multi-talented scholar and entertainer, known for his years as a columnist at the legendary Village Voice, an alternative newspaper in New York City. He was also a music critic and professor. Hentoff was regarded as an eloquent, tireless advocate for freedom of speech; he made his arguments in essay form for adults in... Read The Day They Came to Arrest the Book Summary

Written by Elle Kennedy, The Deal (2015) is a new adult sports romance novel that follows Hannah Wells and star hockey player Garrett Graham as they strike a mutually beneficial deal to achieve their individual goals but develop an unexpected romance in the process. In exchange for Garrett’s help in boosting her social confidence so that she can secure the affections of a popular football player, Hannah agrees to tutor Garrett in a difficult philosophy... Read The Deal Summary

Fredrik Backman’s 2017 philosophical novella, The Deal of a Lifetime, is a modern fable that meditates on the meaning of a life. The story is framed as a Christmas Eve letter from a successful, ego-driven businessman to his estranged son. From a hospital bed where he believes he is dying of cancer, the narrator describes his encounters with a five-year-old girl who is also a patient. He also describes being confronted by a mysterious woman... Read The Deal of a Lifetime Summary

The Dearly Beloved (2019) is a historical novel written by American author Cara Wall. The novel follows the lives of two couples, Charles and Lily Barrett and James and Nan MacNally, as they navigate faith, marriage, parenthood, and hardships over 17 years in 1950s and 1960s America. While writing the novel, Wall used her knowledge of Presbyterian churches and autism to inform her work on the novel’s serious and potentially controversial themes. These themes include... Read The Dearly Beloved Summary

The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) is a fictional novella by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). The story raises questions about what is important in life through Tolstoy’s observation of social interaction and individual priorities.Tolstoy was born into aristocracy and was popular at a time when Russia was under the autocratic rule of Tsar Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor of the Romanov Dynasty. Tolstoy, whose best-known works are War and Peace (1867) and... Read The Death of Ivan Ilyich Summary

Akwaeke Emezi’s novel The Death of Vivek Oji was published by Riverhead Books in 2020 and became an instant New York Times bestseller. The book follows the life and circumstances of death of Vivek Oji, a young Nigerian who experiences debilitating dissociative blackouts that leave him confused about his whereabouts. The book opens with his mother’s discovery of Vivek’s lifeless body on her doorstep and works backwards through multiple narrative threads to track how Vivek... Read The Death of Vivek Oji Summary

Nadine Burke Harris’s The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity is a 2018 nonfiction book that explores the evolving science on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and health disparities. Burke Harris is a pediatrician, a founder of San Francisco’s Center for Youth Wellness, and the first surgeon general of California. In her book, she recounts how her pediatric practice in San Francisco’s Bayview community helped her link childhood trauma to... Read The Deepest Well Summary

Published in 2025, The Defender is a contemporary sports romance by Ana Huang. The novel is the second interconnected standalone in the Gods of the Game series, which follows the players of the fictional Blackcastle Football Club in London. The story centers Vincent DuBois, the team’s celebrated captain, whose life is disrupted by anonymous threats from a stalker. For his own safety, he moves in with his coach’s daughter, a sports nutritionist named Brooklyn Armstrong... Read The Defender Summary

Written by Valerie Bauerlein, The Devil at His Elbow (2024) is a nonfiction true-crime novel and New York Times bestseller that covers the trial of Alex Murdaugh, who was convicted in 2023 of murdering his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul, two years prior. In this text, Bauerlein explores Alex’s personal and professional history, offering motives for the notorious crime while analyzing Alex Murdaugh’s character, his family’s legacy, and his habit of engaging in deception... Read The Devil at His Elbow Summary

The Devils is a 2025 grimdark fantasy novel and the first installment in the series of the same name by British author Joe Abercrombie. Set in an alternate medieval Europe, the novel follows Brother Diaz, a monk appointed to lead the shadowy Chapel of Holy Expediency, the Church’s covert branch that employs a ragtag group of monsters and criminals to achieve its less-savory ends. Their mission is to escort Alex, the secret heir to Troy... Read The Devils Summary

Devils, also known as Demons or The Possessed, is a novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, published over the course of 1871-1872. The story portrays the complex psychological drama of a small town that is taken over by political revolutionaries, leading to a string of deaths and a breakdown of the usual social order. The novel wrestles with many of the elements common to Dostoevsky’s major works: the problem of free will, the prevalence of... Read The Devils (The Possessed) Summary

Written between 1942 and 1944, The Diary of Anne Frank, aka The Diary of a Young Girl, is a collection of journal entries by Anne Frank, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, while in hiding with her family for two years in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. When Anne died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, her diary was given to her father, Otto Frank, the only known survivor of the family. The diary was first published... Read The Diary of a Young Girl Summary

The Dinner (2009) is a novel by Dutch author Herman Koch. In 2012, Sam Garrett translated it into English. The novel has been adapted into a film multiple times. It tells the story of a dinner at a restaurant, where the guests discuss a serious matter involving their children. Paul Lohman narrates the story, though his version of events may not be reliable.  Plot Summary Paul Lohman, a former history teacher and the narrator of the... Read The Dinner Summary

The Distance Between Us is a 2012 memoir by Reyna Grande, who is also the author of the novels Across a Hundred Mountains and Dancing With Butterflies. A finalist for the National Books Critics Circle Award and required reading in schools and colleges across the country, The Distance Between Us is followed by A Dream Called Home, which continues the story of Grande’s life. In addition to writing, Grande also teaches and works as a... Read The Distance Between Us Summary

The Distance Between Us: Young Reader’s Edition (2016) is a memoir by Reyna Grande. This edition is a modified version of Grande’s original adult memoir for young readers. The memoir details Grande’s childhood and youth, from her life in Mexico to her experiences as a young immigrant in California. Over the years, she faces many challenges at home and gradually learns how to develop her own dreams when she falls in love with learning and... Read The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition Summary

Freida McFadden’s The Divorce (2026) is a psychological thriller that plunges into the dark secrets of a seemingly perfect marriage. The novel opens with Naomi Roth, a stay-at-home mother, whose idyllic suburban life is shattered when her husband, Jeremy, unexpectedly locks her out of their home, drains their finances, and demands a divorce. Blindsided and increasingly isolated, Naomi becomes convinced that Jeremy’s beautiful young girlfriend, Veronica, is manipulative and must be stopped. Naomi’s investigation into... Read The Divorce Summary

The Doll People (2002) is a children’s novel by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, with illustrations by Brian Selznick. The story follows the adventures of Annabelle Doll—a doll who lives in a dollhouse with her parents, brother, baby sister, uncle, and nanny—as she searches for the missing eighth member of the family: Auntie Sarah. Along the way, Annabelle learns about Following One’s Own Moral Compass and Respecting People’s Differences, as well as The Importance... Read The Doll People Summary

Published in 1949, The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli is a novel for middle-grade readers. It tells the story of a boy in medieval London who suddenly has a disability and learns that no matter how hard life gets, there’s always a way through. De Angeli won the 1950 Newbery Medal for The Door in the Wall. She published more than two dozen books for children, many of them stories about underserved... Read The Door in the Wall Summary