Plot Summary Library

Explore thousands of classic and contemporary titles in a quick-read format. SuperSummary Plot Summaries feature a full synopsis to guide you through key plot points. Browse titles alphabetically or by genre.

There’s more! Find comprehensive chapter-by-chapter summaries and in-depth analyses on over 10,000 more titles in our Study Guide Library.

All TitlesModern FictionClassic FictionNonfictionPlaysEssaysPoetryMiddle Grade/YA
The Usual Rules
Joyce Maynard

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

Necessary Lies
Eva Stachniak

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

Distant Star
Roberto Bolaño

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1996

The Little Stranger
Sarah Waters

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009

A Dry White Season
André Brink

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1979

Billy Bathgate
E. L. Doctorow

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1989

The Thousandth Floor
Katharine Mcgee

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Kate Wilhelm

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1976

The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession
Paulo Coelho

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005

The Rising of the Moon
Flynn Connolly

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

Rite of Passage
Alexei Panshin

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1968

Snowbound
Janice Kay Johnson

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1997

The Constant Gardener
John le Carré

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

Black and White
Jerri Blair

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014

The Stolen Child
Keith Donohue

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006

Reynard the Fox
Robert van Genechten

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1932

The Town
Conrad Richter

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1950

Drop City
T.C. Boyle

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

Empress Orchid
Anchee Min

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2004

Her Fearful Symmetry
Audrey Niffenegger

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009

In Evil Hour
Gabriel García Márquez

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1962

In the Heart of the Country
J. M. Coetzee

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1977

Portrait in Sepia
Isabel Allende

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

Rice Without Rain
Minfong Ho

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986

Stones for Ibarra
Harriet Doerr

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1984

The Body Farm
Patricia Cornwell

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1994

The Butcher Boy
Patrick Mccabe

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992

The Foreign Student
Susan Choi

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
Michael Ondaatje

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1970

The Serpent and the Rope
Raja Rao

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1960

Train Whistle Guitar
Albert Murray

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1974

Last Call
Tim Powers

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992

Ripper
Isabel Allende

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014

The Blue Flower
Penelope Fitzgerald

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

The Man in My Basement
Walter Mosley

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2004

My Abandonment
Peter Rock

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009

Mary Reilly
Valerie Martin

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1990

John Henry Days
Colson Whitehead

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

Peace Breaks Out
John Knowles

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1981

The Heather Blazing
Colm Tóibín

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992

Eye of the Storm: Eilida's Tragedy
Elle Klass

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

The Guardian
Dee Henderson

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

Descent into Hell
Charles Williams

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1937

Digging to America
Anne Tyler

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006

Gods Go Begging
Alfredo Vea

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1999

Habibi
Craig Thompson

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Adult | Published in 2011

Icy Sparks
Gwyn Hyman Rubio

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow
Peter Høeg

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992

Purgatory
Tomás Eloy Martínez

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008

The Lover
Robin Schone

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

Time's Arrow
Martin Amis

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1991

The Third Policeman
Flann O'Brien

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1967

A Simple Plan
Scott B. Smith

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993

Barabbas
Pär Lagerkvist

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1950

Black Box
Amos Oz

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1968

The Last Picture Show
Larry Mcmurtry

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1966

A Bend in the Road
Nicholas Sparks

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

Nightfall
Anne Stuart

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1996

The Third Life of Grange Copeland
Alice Walker

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1970

Bang the Drum Slowly
Mark Harris

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1956

Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
Vladimir Nabokov

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1969

A Very Long Engagement
Sébastien Japrisot

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1991

A Spell for Chameleon
Piers Anthony

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1977

Early Autumn
Robert B. Parker

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1981

Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon
Jorge Amado

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1958

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Oscar Hijuelos

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1989

The Music of Chance
Paul Auster

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1990

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Philip K. Dick

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1965

The Wapshot Chronicle
John Cheever

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1957

A Drink before the War
Dennis Lehane

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1994

Galatea 2.2
Richard Powers

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Marisha Pessl

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006

Memed, My Hawk
Yashar Kemal

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1955

A Severed Head
Iris Murdoch

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1961

Betsey Brown
Ntozake Shange

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1985

Death of a Red Heroine
Qiu Xiaolong

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

The Aguero Sisters: A Novel
Cristina García

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1997

The Big Money
John Dos Passos

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1936

The Gods Themselves
Isaac Asimov

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1972

The Grass Harp
Truman Capote

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1951

The Last of the Wine
Mary Renault

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1956

The Dry Grass of August
Anna Jean Mayhew

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011

The Thanatos Syndrome
Walker Percy

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1987

Thief of Time
Terry Pratchett

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

Patriot Games
Tom Clancy

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1987

Ark Angel
Anthony Horowitz

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005

Rabbit Redux
John Updike

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1971

The Road to Memphis
Mildred D. Taylor

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1976

Ali and Nino
Kurban Said

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1937

Bee Season
Myla Goldberg

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

Last of the Breed
Louis L'Amour

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986

Lucy Gayheart
Willa Cather

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1935

The Time of the Hero
Mario Vargas Llosa

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1963

The White Hotel
D.M. Thomas

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1981

The Underground Man
Mick Jackson

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1997

Citizen of the Galaxy
Robert A. Heinlein

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1957

Fever
Mary Beth Keane

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

Harvey
Hervé Bouchard

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Adult | Published in 2011

The Prize
Jill Bialosky

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

Portrait of a Lady: A Leonardo Da Vinci Mystery
Diane A.S. Stuckart

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007