Recommendations based on Matrixby Lauren Groff

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

  1. Fates and Furies

    by Lauren Groff
    A tale of the secrets and passions of a marriage, exploring the depths of private lives.

    Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, ... (Goodreads)

  2. 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)

  3. Parable of the Sower

    by Octavia E. Butler
    A post-apocalyptic story of survival, hope, and the power of community.

    This highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from award-winning author Octavia E. Butler "pairs well with, 1984, or, The Handmaid's Tale," (John Green,, New York Times,)–now with a ... (Barnes & Noble)

  4. Station Eleven

    by Emily St. John Mandel
    Post-apocalyptic exploration of a world drastically changed after a pandemic.

    An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse,, Station Eleven, tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of ... (Barnes & Noble)

  5. 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)

  6. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

    by Ocean Vuong
    A letter from a son to his illiterate mother, exploring their family's history and his own coming-of-age as a gay Vietnamese-American.

    On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began ... (Goodreads)

  7. The Underground Railroad

    by Colson Whitehead
    An escaped slave's daring escape to freedom, fighting against the brutality of slavery.

    The story is told in the third person, focusing mainly on Cora. Scattered single chapters also focus on Cora's mother Mabel, the slavecatcher Ridgeway, a reluctant slave sympathizer named Ethel, and ... (Wikipedia)

  8. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

    by Angela Carter
    A collection of subversive, darkly fantastical tales exploring the power of femininity.

    Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Audrey Niffenegger, J. K. Rowling, Kelly Link, and other contemporary masters of supernatural ... (Goodreads)

  9. Middlemarch

    by George Eliot
    A grand narrative of life in a small English town, exploring the lives of its inhabitants.

    Middlemarch centres on the lives of residents of Middlemarch, a fictitious Midlands town, from 1829 onwards – the years up to the 1832 Reform Act . The narrative is variably considered to consist of ... (Wikipedia)

  10. The Last Train to London

    by Meg Waite Clayton
    A novel based on the true story of a woman who saved Jewish children from the Nazis by organizing their transport to England.

    The, New York Times, bestselling author of, Beautiful Exiles, conjures her best novel yet, a pre-World War II-era story with the emotional resonance of, Orphan Train, and, All the Light We Cannot ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Overstory

    by Richard Powers
    Nine strangers are brought together by their love for trees, leading to a fight to save the last of the remaining forests.

    Nicholas Hoel, Mimi Ma, Adam Appich, Ray Brinkman, Dorothy Cazaly, Douglas Pavlicek, Neelay Mehta, Patricia Westerford, and Olivia Vandergriff are people who had unique relationships with trees which ... (Wikipedia)

  12. Cutting for Stone

    by Abraham Verghese
    A sweeping journey of two twin brothers and their search for identity, belonging and family.

    The story is told by the protagonist, Marion Stone. He and his conjoined twin Shiva are born at Mission Hospital (called "Missing" in accordance with the local pronunciation), Addis Ababa , in ... (Wikipedia)

  13. The Other Americans

    by Laila Lalami
    A Moroccan immigrant is killed in a hit-and-run accident, and the aftermath affects the lives of those around her.

    From the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Moor's Account, here is a timely and powerful novel about the suspicious death of a Moroccan immigrant–at once a family saga, a murder mystery, and ... (Goodreads)

  14. Florida

    by Lauren Groff
    A collection of short stories set in Florida, exploring the lives of its inhabitants and the state's unique landscape.

    The stories in this collection span characters, towns, decades, even centuries, but Florida—its landscape, climate, history, and state of mind—becomes its gravitational center: an energy, a mood, as ... (Goodreads)

  15. Meet Me at the Museum

    by Anne Youngson
    A farmer's wife and a museum curator begin a correspondence that leads to a deep and unexpected connection.

    Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, From 70-year-old debut author Anne Youngson, a novel about a farmer's wife and a museum curator seeking second chances, hailed by NPR as "the charmer of ... (Barnes & Noble)

  16. Kindred

    by Octavia E. Butler
    A modern woman is thrown back in time, forced to confront the harsh realities of slavery.

    Kindred scholars have noted that the novel's chapter headings suggest something "elemental, apocalyptic, archetypal about the events in the narrative," thus giving the impression that the main ... (Wikipedia)

  17. The Likeness

    by Tana French
    A murder investigation reveals secrets of a young woman's past, threatening her present.

    The story follows the efforts of detective Cassie Maddox to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of Lexie Madison, a young woman who is her doppelgänger . , The dead woman not only ... (Wikipedia)

  18. Red Clocks

    by Leni Zumas
    In a dystopian future, women's reproductive rights are abolished. Four women navigate the consequences of this law.

    In this ferociously imaginative novel, abortion is once again illegal in America, in-vitro fertilization is banned, and the Personhood Amendment grants rights of life, liberty, and property to every ... (Barnes & Noble)

  19. The Uncommon Reader

    by Alan Bennett
    A humorous look at the journey of a monarch who discovers the joy of reading.

    The title's "uncommon reader" ( Queen Elizabeth II ) becomes obsessed with books after a chance encounter with a mobile library . The story follows the consequences of this obsession for the Queen, ... (Wikipedia)

  20. Alias Grace

    by Margaret Atwood
    A psychological thriller that examines the true story of a 19th century Canadian murderess.

    Grace Marks, the convicted murderess, has been hired out from prison to serve as a domestic servant in the home of the Governor of the penitentiary. A Committee of gentlemen and ladies from the ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Song of Solomon

    by Toni Morrison
    A tale of family, heritage, and identity, exploring the power of memory and its impact on the present.

    Song of Solomon opens with the death of Robert Smith, an insurance agent and member of The Seven Days, an organization that kills white people in retaliation for the racial killing of black people. ... (Wikipedia)

  22. Sing, Unburied, Sing

    by Jesmyn Ward
    A family's journey through the Mississippi Delta, confronting a traumatic past.

    It is Jojo's thirteenth birthday. To step into his new role as a man, Jojo tries to bravely help his grandfather, Pop, kill a goat. Jojo ends up throwing up at the sight although Pop is sympathetic. ... (Wikipedia)

  23. The Obelisk Gate

    by N.K. Jemisin
    A magical journey of survival, facing cosmic forces that threaten the universe.

    The story is told primarily from the perspectives of Essun, a powerful orogene driven out of her home at the beginning of the first book, and Nassun, her adolescent daughter. Schaffa, Essun's former ... (Wikipedia)

  24. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

    by Rachel Joyce
    An elderly man's unexpected quest of faith, discovering the power of hope and love.

    Harold Fry, 65, has cut the lawn outside his home at Kingsbridge on the south coast of Devon when he receives a letter. A colleague of twenty years ago, Queenie Hennessy, has cancer and is in a ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Sympathizer

    by Viet Thanh Nguyen
    Vietnam War refugee returns to his homeland and struggles to reconcile conflicting loyalties.

    It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be ... (Goodreads)

  26. No Exit

    by Taylor Adams
    A young woman's fight for survival against a mysterious captor.

    “What a box of tricks! This full-throttle thriller, dark and driving, rivals Agatha Christie for sheer ingenuity and James Patterson for flat-out speed. Swift, sharp, and relentless.” — A. J. Finn, ... (Barnes & Noble)

  27. The Monsters of Templeton

    by Lauren Groff
    A woman's search for her family history leads to a surprising discovery of her true identity.

    Willie Upton returns home to Templeton for the summer from her graduate studies in archaeology with several dark secrets. Her life seemingly in shambles, she moves back in with her mother for the ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

    by Judy Blume
    A young girl's journey of self-discovery, navigating the transition from childhood to adolescence.

    Margaret Simon is just eleven going on twelve when her family moves from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey. Margaret's mother is Christian and her father is Jewish . Margaret has been raised ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Difficult Women

    by Roxane Gay
    A collection of stories exploring the complexity of womanhood through the eyes of diverse characters.

    Award-winning author and powerhouse talent Roxane Gay burst onto the scene with, An Untamed State, and the, New York Times, bestselling essay collection, Bad Feminist, (Harper Perennial). Gay returns ... (Goodreads)

  30. Tracks

    by Louise Erdrich
    A Native American woman's journey of courage and resilience in her search for identity.

    Tracks alternates between two narrators: Nanapush, a jovial tribal elder, and Pauline, a young girl of mixed heritage. In Nanapush's chapters the point of view is that of Nanapush telling stories to ... (Wikipedia)