Recommendations based on Standard Deviationby Katherine Heiny

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. This Must Be the Place

    by Maggie O'Farrell
    A story of a family's journey through life, love, and loss, spanning continents and decades.

    A dazzling novel from bestselling writer Maggie O'Farrell, winner of the Costa Novel Award—an irresistible love story that crisscrosses continents and time zones as it captures an extraordinary ... (Goodreads)

  2. Instructions for a Heatwave

    by Maggie O'Farrell
    A family's struggles with secrets and lies amidst a summer of record-breaking heat.

    Sophisticated, intelligent, impossible to put down, Maggie O'Farrell's beguiling novels - After You'd Gone, winner of a Betty Trask Award; The Distance Between Us, winner of a Somerset Maugham Award; ... (Goodreads)

  3. Here I Am

    by Jonathan Safran Foer
    A multi-generational Jewish family struggles to make sense of the chaos of the 21st century.

    Christian Lorentzen has described the plot as a blend of several different events, including "[a] divorce, a suicide, a bar mitzvah, an earthquake, an all-out Middle Eastern war, and the putting to ... (Wikipedia)

  4. Night School

    by Lee Child
    A former military policeman investigates a mysterious school where students have gone missing.

    In 1996, U.S. Army Major Jack Reacher is in Virginia to receive a medal for eliminating two militants in the Balkans when he receives orders from his superior officer and trusted friend, Leon Garber, ... (Wikipedia)

  5. 4 3 2 1

    by Paul Auster
    An exploration of alternate realities, tracing the lives of four identical boys who go their own ways.

    Nearly two weeks early, on March 3, 1947, in the maternity ward of Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the one and only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. ... (Goodreads)

  6. A God in Ruins

    by Kate Atkinson
    An exploration of the life of a World War II pilot and the effects of trauma on his family.

    The novel is about the life of Teddy Todd (younger brother of Ursula Todd, the protagonist of the companion work,, Life After Life, ). Events in his life are not revealed in chronological order. The ... (Wikipedia)

  7. Britt-Marie Was Here

    by Fredrik Backman
    A woman's quest for independence and self-discovery, learning to embrace life and take risks.

    The plot of the novel focuses on a "nag-hag" woman who has recently left her cheating husband and has taken on a job in the city of Borg, working at the recreation center. The city itself is barely a ... (Wikipedia)

  8. My Name Is Lucy Barton

    by Elizabeth Strout
    A woman's journey of self-reflection, uncovering secrets from her past.

    Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn't spoken for many years, comes to see her. Her unexpected visit forces Lucy to confront ... (Goodreads)

  9. Commonwealth

    by Ann Patchett
    Intertwining story of two families across multiple generations, and how their lives become intertwined.

    It started at Franny Keating’s christening party. Bert Cousins wasn’t even invited, but looking for an excuse to get out of the house, away from his three noisy children and pregnant wife for a few ... (Wikipedia)

  10. The Buried Giant

    by Kazuo Ishiguro
    An elderly couple's journey through a mythical land, confronting the forgotten secrets of the past.

    Following the death of King Arthur , Saxons and Britons live in harmony. Along with everyone else in their community, Axl and Beatrice, an elderly Briton couple, suffer from severe selective amnesia ... (Wikipedia)

  11. The Queen of the Big Time

    by Adriana Trigiani
    A coming-of-age story of a young Italian-American girl in the early 20th century, navigating love, family, and tradition.

    Known and loved around the world for her sweeping Big Stone Gap trilogy and the instant New York Times bestseller Lucia, Lucia, Adriana Trigiani returns to the charm and drama of small-town life with ... (Goodreads)

  12. Paperweight

    by Meg Haston
    A young woman struggles with an eating disorder and the loss of her best friend. She finds hope and healing in unexpected places.

    This emotionally haunting and beautifully written young adult debut delves into the devastating impact of trauma and loss, in the vein of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls. Seventeen-year-old ... (Barnes & Noble)

  13. Little Bee

    by Chris Cleave
    A Nigerian refugee's quest for survival and a British woman's search for redemption.

    Using alternating first-person perspectives , the novel tells the stories of Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, and Sarah O'Rourke (née Summers), a magazine editor from Surrey . After spending two years ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Words on Bathroom Walls

    by Julia Walton
    Adam, a high school senior, navigates life with a new diagnosis of schizophrenia and falls in love with a girl who accepts him for who he is.

    Now a Major Motion Picture starring Charlie Plummer, AnnaSophia Robb, and Taylor Russell! Fans of More Happy Than Not and The Perks of Being a Wallflower will cheer for Adam in this uplifting and ... (Barnes & Noble)

  15. The Woman Who Stole My Life

    by Marian Keyes
    A woman's life changes after a mysterious illness leaves her paralyzed and famous. She must navigate newfound success and family drama.

    Stella Sweeney is back in Dublin. After living the dream in New York for a year - touring her self-help book, appearing on talk shows all over the USA and living it up in her 10-room duplex on the ... (Goodreads)

  16. Dear Daughter

    by Elizabeth Little
    After being released from prison for a murder she didn't commit, Janie Jenkins sets out to uncover the truth about her mother's death.

    As soon as they processed my release Noah and I hit the ground running. A change of clothes. A wig. An inconspicuous sedan. We doubled back once, twice, then drove south when we were really headed ... (Goodreads)

  17. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

    by Gabrielle Zevin
    Life of an isolated bookseller is transformed when an unexpected visitor brings unexpected joy.

    “Marvelously optimistic about the future of books and bookstores and the people who love both.”—, The Washington Post, A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his ... (Barnes & Noble)

  18. Mr. Mercedes

    by Stephen King
    Detective investigates a series of murders by a maniacal driver in a stolen Mercedes.

    Many jobless people are standing in line for a job fair , but then a Mercedes plows into the crowd, killing sixteen and severely injuring many. Bill Hodges, a recently retired detective from the ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Swear on This Life

    by Renee Carlino
    A woman reads a novel about her past and first love, forcing her to confront buried memories and unfinished business.

    When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J.Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own ... (Goodreads)

  20. To Say Nothing of the Dog

    by Connie Willis
    Time-traveling historian visits Victorian England in search of an artifact, amidst a comedy of errors.

    Ned Henry is a time traveler in 1940 studying Coventry Cathedral after the Coventry Blitz of World War II . He is specifically searching for the location of the "Bishop's bird stump ", a MacGuffin ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Rush Home Road

    by Lori Lansens
    A woman's journey through life, love, and loss as she takes in a young girl and confronts her own past.

    Sharla Cody is only five, but has already lived a troubled life – only to find herself dumped on an elderly neighbor's doorstep when her mother takes off for the summer. Although Sharla is not the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  22. Saints for All Occasions

    by J. Courtney Sullivan
    Two Irish sisters immigrate to Boston in the 1950s, and their lives take different paths. A family secret threatens to tear them apart.

    A sweeping, unforgettable novel from The New York Times best-selling author of, Maine, about the hope, sacrifice, and love between two sisters and the secret that drives them apart. Nora and Theresa ... (Goodreads)

  23. Promise Canyon

    by Robyn Carr
    A woman moves to a small town to start over and falls in love with a local man. But their pasts threaten to ruin their future together.

    After years spent on ranches around Los Angeles, Clay Tahoma is delighted to be Virgin River's new veterinary assistant. The secluded community's wild beauty tugs at his Navajo roots, and he's been ... (Goodreads)

  24. Lincoln in the Bardo

    by George Saunders
    A spiritual exploration of death, exploring the afterlife through the eyes of President Lincoln.

    In his long-awaited first novel, American master George Saunders delivers his most original, transcendent, and moving work yet. Unfolding in a graveyard over the course of a single night, narrated by ... (Goodreads)

  25. One

    by Sarah Crossan
    A teenage girl, separated from her twin, navigates a dystopian world in search of freedom.

    Grace and Tippi. Tippi and Grace. Two sisters. Two hearts. Two dreams. Two lives. But one body. Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, joined at the waist, defying the odds of survival for sixteen ... (Goodreads)

  26. Heir to Sevenwaters

    by Juliet Marillier
    A young woman must navigate political intrigue and magical forces to save her family and the land she loves.

    Set mainly in ancient Ireland, the series covers four generations in the family of Sevenwaters, which enjoys a special relationship with the people of the Otherworld. As well as battles between the ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Seer of Sevenwaters

    by Juliet Marillier
    A young woman with the gift of sight must navigate political intrigue and personal sacrifice to save her family and her people.

    Get swept away in the romantic fantasy of this national bestselling author's world of Sevenwaters The young seer Sibeal is visiting an island of elite warriors, prior to making her final pledge as a ... (Goodreads)

  28. Heroes of the Frontier

    by Dave Eggers
    A mother takes her two children on a road trip through Alaska, escaping her past and searching for a new beginning.

    A captivating, often hilarious novel of family, loss, wilderness, and the curse of a violent America, Dave Eggers's Heroes of the Frontier is a powerful examination of our contemporary life and a ... (Goodreads)

  29. Dangerous Girls

    by Abigail Haas
    A group of friends vacationing in Aruba becomes embroiled in a murder investigation. Secrets and lies are exposed as the truth is uncovered.

    During summer break, at Camp Blue Moon, the vampire Lorenzo "Renz" Angelini sinks his fangs into the throat of sixteen-year-old Destiny Weller. Afterwards, she and her twin sister Livvy return home ... (Wikipedia)

  30. In the Shadow of Blackbirds

    by Cat Winters
    In 1918, a teenage girl navigates the spiritualism craze and the horrors of World War I while trying to solve her own murder.

    In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a ... (Barnes & Noble)