The Wicked King, by Holly Black, is a young adult fantasy novel that brings mythology and folklore to a contemporary audience. It is the second novel in the Folk of Air trilogy, following The Cruel Prince and preceding The Queen of Nothing. The Wicked King was a finalist for both the Lodestar Award and the Locus Award in 2020 and won the Goodreads Best Book Award for Young Adult Fantasy in 2019. This study guide... Read The Wicked King Summary

John Grisham’s 2025 legal thriller, The Widow, follows Simon Latch, a disillusioned small-town lawyer whose personal and professional life is in shambles. When an elderly widow, Eleanor “Netty” Barnett, hires him to draft a new will for a secret multimillion-dollar fortune, Simon sees a chance to escape his financial desperation. He schemes to gain control of her wealth, but his plans unravel after Netty’s death is ruled a murder and he is charged with the... Read The Widow Summary

The Wind Knows My Name is the 22nd novel by Isabel Allende, published in 2023 by Ballantine Books. The book has some elements of magical realism, for which Allende is known, but is predominantly a work of historical fiction.In addition to her works of fiction, Allende has authored five works of nonfiction, including memoirs. She grew up in Peru, moving to Chile during her childhood and later to Bolivia and Lebanon. After Chile’s president Salvador... Read The Wind Knows My Name Summary

Published in French in 1967, The Woman Destroyed is a collection of three short stories by the celebrated French existentialist philosopher and writer Simone de Beauvoir. A work of psychological fiction, the book presents intensely personal portraits of three middle-aged women confronting the upheaval of their identities. The stories follow an accomplished academic whose carefully constructed life unravels when her son and husband reject her values; a bitter and isolated woman reckoning with her isolation... Read The Woman Destroyed Summary

The Women by Kristin Hannah follows Frances “Frankie” McGrath, a young nurse who serves during the American conflict in Vietnam in the late 1960s. Raised in privilege, 20-year-old Frankie is eager to find purpose and quickly grows from a naïve woman to a skilled Operating Room (OR) nurse. However, the horrors of war make acclimation to civilian life challenging. Through Frankie, Hannah hopes to elucidate the lesser-known women of the Vietnam War.Kristin Hannah is a... Read The Women Summary

Kerry Washington is an award-winning actor who is most known for her role as Olivia Pope in Scandal, an ABC network drama about a political fixer in Washington, DC. She also appeared in Ray (2004), The Last King of Scotland (2006), Django Unchained (2012), and Little Fires Everywhere (2020), among other films, documentaries, and television series. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for Live in Front of a Studio Audience:... Read Thicker than Water Summary

This Book Is Gay is a 2014 young adult self-help book written by Juno Dawson to help teenagers understand the world of LGBTQ+ identities. Dawson is a prolific author, writing both fiction and nonfiction for a young-adult audience. This Book Is Gay also addresses parents and cisgender heterosexual teenagers with LGBTQ+ friends and loved ones, providing support with a variety of resources. The book faced censorship in Alaska in 2015 for its sexual education material... Read This Book is Gay Summary

This Motherless Land (2024) is a novel by Anglo-Nigerian novelist Nikki May. As a retelling of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, it tells the story of Funke who, at the age of nine, loses her mother and brother in a car accident in Nigeria. She is sent to live with her mother’s sister in England, where she struggles to adapt to a life of change, dislocation, and unbelonging. She befriends her cousin, Liv, and the novel... Read This Motherless Land Summary

This Side of Paradise (1920) is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was Fitzgerald’s first novel and became an instant hit, launching Fitzgerald into literary fame for its social commentary on a younger generation fueled by indulgence and materialism. This Side of Paradise is also a historical depiction of the Jazz Age, like Fitzgerald’s most famous novel, The Great Gatsby.This Side of Paradise follows Amory Blaine’s coming of age during prep school and four... Read This Side of Paradise Summary

Three Daughters of Eve (2016) is a novel by Elif Shafak. It follows the story of Nazperi “Peri” Nalbantoğlu, a Turkish woman who navigates questions of faith throughout her childhood in a household with divided views, her friendships as a young woman at Oxford, and her encounter with a professor who teaches a seminar on God. The book explores themes of Navigating Conflict About Belief and Faith, The Harmful Impact of Shame, Trauma, and Passivity... Read Three Daughters Of Eve Summary

In Meghan Quinn’s Till Summer Do Us Part, Scottie Price’s white lie about her marital status snowballs into a chaotic and ultimately transformative experience at a summer marriage camp. The novel addresses themes of Professional Environments Rewarding Conformity, Developing a Sense of Self-Worth, and The Essentiality of Emotional Honesty through a blend of romantic comedy and heat. Quinn’s writing career is prolific, with over 60 books, from standalone novels to multi-book series that cover various... Read Till Summer Do Us Part Summary

Book DetailsTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) is a thriller written by John Le Carré. It is the first entry in a series of books called the Karla trilogy, followed by The Honourable Schoolboy (1977) and Smiley's People (1979). The trilogy features an aging spy named George Smiley and has been adapted into television and radio shows as well as a feature film. Author DetailsJohn Le Carré is the pen name of David John Moore Cornwell, a... Read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Summary

To Kill a Kingdom is a YA romance fantasy novel written by Alexandra Christo and first published in 2018. It is a retelling of “The Little Mermaid” that reimagines the mermaid princess from Hans Christian Andersen’s story as a bloodthirsty siren whose kind has been engaged in a war against humanity for centuries. It follows Lira, the siren princess of the sea, who is tasked with taking the hearts of human princes each year for... Read To Kill a Kingdom Summary

Tower of Dawn (2017) is a young adult fantasy by Sarah J. Maas that follows Chaol Westfall, a soldier experiencing partial paralysis due to a severe injury sustained in battle against the former tyrannical King of Adarlan, who journeys to the Southern Continent in search of the famous healers of the Torre Cesme. In the capital city of Antica, Chaol must face both external and internal demons to heal from his debilitating injuries and attempt... Read Tower of Dawn Summary

Transcendent Kingdom is a 2020 novel by Ghanaian American writer Yaa Gyasi, whose debut novel, Homegoing, won the 2017 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Narrated by the main character, Transcendent Kingdom tells the story of Gifty, a 28-year-old neuroscience PhD student, and her severely depressed, Ghanaian-born mother. When the latter comes to visit after another depressive episode, Gifty is sparked into a series of reflections on what led her there and the narrative of her family’s collapse... Read Transcendent Kingdom Summary

Ben Lerner’s 2026 novel Transcription is a work of autofiction that interrogates the nature of memory, truth, and artistic creation. The novel follows a middle-aged writer who travels to Providence, Rhode Island, to conduct a final interview with his brilliant, enigmatic, and ailing former mentor, Thomas. When the narrator accidentally destroys his only recording device, he makes the fateful decision to pretend to record their conversation, forcing him to later reconstruct the interview from his... Read Transcription Summary

Translation State is a 2023 science fiction novel by American author Ann Leckie. Although it is technically a standalone novel, it takes place in the same universe as Leckie’s critically acclaimed science fiction trilogy, Imperial Radch, and another standalone novel, Provenance. In all of her science fiction, Leckie explores the role of gender across various cultures, including how gender intersects with authoritarianism. Many characters in Translation State use pronouns besides he/him or she/her. This guide... Read Translation State Summary

Tropesick (2026) is the sophomore contemporary romance novel by American author Lauren Okie. The story centers on Katie Caruso, a ghostwriter for the world’s most famous and reclusive romance novelist, Meredith Bradford. Katie’s carefully constructed life is upended when she is forced to collaborate on a new book with Tyler McNally, the estranged best friend of her older brother, Mikey, who died eight years prior. As the former neighbors begin writing a novel set in... Read Tropesick Summary

True Colors (2009) is a novel penned by award-winning and bestselling American author Kristin Hannah. The book follows the lives of three sisters as they cope with a crime that tests their loyalties to each other. It explores themes of The Bonds of Sisterhood and Family Loyalty, The Effect of Insecurities on Personal Relationships, and The Enduring Power of Love. Hannah’s other works include The Nightingale (2015), which was named a Best Book of the... Read True Colors Summary

Anna Deavere Smith’s solo play relives three tumultuous days of rioting in Los Angeles in the wake of the first Rodney King verdict, issued April 29, 1992, when four, white Los Angeles Police Department officers were acquitted of charges of assault and police brutality in connection with King’s roadside arrest and beating on March 3, 1991. Caught on video, the King assault became a national media sensation, a disturbing vision of black-white race relations, and... Read Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 Summary