Publication year 1677
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Love, Guilt, Conflict, Revenge, Daughters & Sons
Tags Tragedy, Drama, Mythology, French Literature, Neoclassicism
Guilt
In Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, a character remarks, "If he has a conscience he will suffer for his mistake; that will be punishment—as well as the prison." In other words, guilt is its own form of imprisonment, from which someone may never be released. In this collection explore titles that probe the questions and implications raised by the idea of guilt.
Phèdre
Picture Us in the Light
Plain Truth
Platform Decay
Please Look After Mom
Poems & Prayers
Portrait of a Lady
Preparation For The Next Life
Presumed Innocent
Pretty Little Liars
Problematic Summer Romance
Projekt 1065
Promise Me Sunshine
Psycho Shifters
Queen of Shadows
Ragged Company
Rashomon
Rebel Witch
Redhead by the Side of the Road
Reflections On The Revolution In France
Publication year 1677
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Love, Guilt, Conflict, Revenge, Daughters & Sons
Tags Tragedy, Drama, Mythology, French Literature, Neoclassicism
Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Grief, Guilt, Hope, Self Discovery, Community, Art, Truth & Lies, Friendship
Tags Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ+, Coming of Age, Arts & Culture, Depression & Suicide, Grief & Death, Mental Illness, Modern Classic Fiction
Picture Us in the Light is a young adult novel written by Kelly Loy Gilbert and published in 2018 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Gilbert is the author of three young adult novels, all of which focus on the young Asian American experience. Picture Us in the Light is written in the first-person perspective of protagonist Danny Cheng, but Gilbert includes flashbacks to China to connect Danny to a past his parents have... Read Picture Us in the Light Summary
Publication year 2000
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Truth & Lies, Religion & Spirituality, Guilt, Mothers, Justice
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction
Jodi Picoult’s legal and psychological drama, Plain Truth (2000), plunges into the insulated world of the Old Order Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When a newborn baby is found dead in a barn, circumstantial evidence points to Katie Fisher, an unmarried 18-year-old Amish woman, as the mother and murderer. A disillusioned Philadelphia defense attorney, Ellie Hathaway, takes the case, driven by a distant family connection and a burgeoning personal crisis. To satisfy bail conditions, Ellie... Read Plain Truth Summary
Publication year 2026
Genre Novella, Fiction
Themes Guilt, Loneliness, Love, Mental Health, Space, Family, Self Discovery, Economics, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger
Publication year 2008
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Guilt, Death
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Magical Realism, Health, Asian History, Gender & Feminism, Parenting, Asian Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Asian Literature
Translated from the Korean by Chi-young Kim, Please Look After Mom (2008) by Kyung-sook Shin is an international work of best-selling fiction. When 69-year-old So-nyo Park goes missing one Saturday outside Seoul Station, her disappearance sets in motion a desperate search not only for where So-nyo might be but for who So-nyo was to her shocked and confused family members. One by one, So-nyo’s family comes to terms with the fact that they didn’t know... Read Please Look After Mom Summary
Genre Poetry Collection, Nonfiction
Themes Perseverance, Forgiveness, Guilt, Hope, Midlife, Self Discovery, Good & Evil, New Age, Power & Greed, Religion & Spirituality, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies
Tags Lyric Poem, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 1915
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Guilt, Truth & Lies, Music, Coming of Age, Midlife
Tags Poetry: Dramatic Poem, Narrative Poem, Modernism, British Literature, American Literature, Relationships, Love & Sexuality, Social Class, Classic Fiction
Publication year 2014
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Guilt, Hope, Love, Gender Identity, Mental Health, Race, Immigration, Politics & Government, War
Tags US History, Military & War, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction
Atticus Lish’s novel Preparation for the Next Life tells the stories of Skinner, an Iraq war veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and Zou Lei, an undocumented immigrant from Central Asia, and how their unlikely love changes them both forever. Preparation for the Next Life explores the challenges that undocumented immigrants and war veterans face in the United States as well as the complexities of cross-cultural relationships. The novel has been highly praised by critics... Read Preparation For The Next Life Summary
Publication year 1987
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Loyalty & Betrayal, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies, Justice, Conflict, Forgiveness, Guilt, Revenge, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Midlife, The Past, Family, Fathers, Marriage, Mothers, Politics & Government
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Crime & Law
Presumed Innocent (1987) is Scott Turow’s first novel, originally published by Farrar Straus & Giroux. The hit novel stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 44 weeks and is often credited as an early example of the modern legal thriller, helping to shape the genre’s conventions. Turow went on to publish 12 additional novels and three nonfiction works. He also continued to practice law, specializing in criminal defense, contrasting with Presumed Innocent’s protagonist... Read Presumed Innocent Summary
Publication year 2006
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Friendship, Loyalty & Betrayal, Community, Safety & Danger, Revenge, Memory, Guilt, The Past, Shame & Pride, Fear, Trust & Doubt, Grief, Coming of Age, Truth & Lies
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Romance, Coming of Age, Horror & Suspense
Pretty Little Liars is a young adult fiction novel written by Sara Shepard. It is the first book in the Pretty Little Liars series, which features 16 books, along with seven companion novels. The highly successful series was featured on The New York Times best-seller list and adapted into a television show in 2010. The popular show lasted seven seasons and aired on the Freeform Network. Although Shepard had only written eight books in the... Read Pretty Little Liars Summary
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Guilt, Loneliness, Love, Nostalgia, Regret, Shame & Pride, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Mental Health, Sexual Identity, Marriage, Siblings, Self Discovery, Equality
Tags Romance
Publication year 2016
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Guilt, Good & Evil
Tags Historical Fiction, Children`s Literature, World War II, Military & War, World History, Action & Adventure
Projekt 1065 is a young adult historical novel by Alan Gratz, first published in 2016. The novel, which centers on the son of the Irish ambassador to Germany during World War II, received starred reviews in Kirkus and the School Library Journal. The novel’s protagonist, 13-year-old Michael O’Shaunessey, his ambassador father, and Irish Intelligence member mother all work to spy on the Nazis and secretly aid the Allied forces, despite Ireland’s officially neutral stance in... Read Projekt 1065 Summary
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Grief, Guilt, Mental Health, Family, Siblings, Self Discovery, Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Romance, Grief & Death
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Perseverance, Guilt, Shame & Pride, Self Discovery, Social Class
Tags Fantasy, Romance
Published in 2022, Jasmine Mas’s Psycho Shifters is a dark fantasy romance novel that blends elements of the Omegaverse and reverse harem subgenres. It is the first installment in Mas’s popular Cruel Shifterverse series, which gained significant traction on BookTok and became a bestseller on Amazon. The novel follows Sadie, a 20-year-old servant whose world is upended when a mandatory test reveals her to be the first-ever female alpha, a dominant class previously thought to... Read Psycho Shifters Summary
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Perseverance, Guilt, Love, Femininity, Race, Coming of Age, Nature Versus Nurture, Place, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Colonialism, War, Good & Evil, Loyalty & Betrayal, Power & Greed
Tags Fantasy, Romance, Action & Adventure, Fairy Tale & Folklore
Publication year 2008
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Friendship, Fate, Family, Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Hope, Love, Memory, Forgiveness, Guilt, Indigenous Identity, Justice, Community
Tags Poverty, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Grief & Death, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction, Canadian Literature
Publication year 1915
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Good & Evil, Guilt, Power & Greed
Tags Poverty, Japanese Literature
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s short story, “Rashōmon,” originally published in 1916, is a fictional story that details a man on the brink of death who must decide between maintaining his morals and dying or becoming a thief to save his own life. “Rashōmon” sets about to tackle themes of poverty, morality, and survival. Akutagawa is a renowned Japanese author who has been widely named the “father of Japanese short stories.” In addition, Japan’s most prestigious literary award... Read Rashomon Summary
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Love, Memory, Family, Friendship, Marriage, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Community, Politics & Government, War, Equality, Fate, Good & Evil, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Order & Chaos, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Wins & Losses
Tags Fantasy, Romance
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Siblings, Family, Loyalty & Betrayal, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Forgiveness, Memory, Guilt, Love, Perseverance, Nostalgia, Conflict, Loneliness, Hope, Order & Chaos
Tags Realistic Fiction, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1790
Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction
Themes Guilt
Tags European History, Education, Education, World History, French Literature, Philosophy, Philosophy, Classic Fiction, Politics & Government
Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, first published in 1790, is written as a letter to a French friend of Burke’s family, Charles-Jean-François Depont, who requests Burke’s opinion of the French Revolution to date. Burke is a well-connected politician and political theorist of the late eighteenth century, though this tract would become his first significant work on the subject. In Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke speaks at length on the development... Read Reflections On The Revolution In France Summary