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Recommendations based on Foreign Affairsby Alison Lurie
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
A Thousand Acres
by Jane Smiley
A family's story of death and inheritance, exposing secrets of their past.
Larry Cook is an aging farmer who decides to incorporate his farm, handing complete and joint ownership to his three daughters, Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. When the youngest daughter objects, she is ... (Wikipedia)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
by Thornton Wilder
Unexpected tragedy brings together a disparate group of strangers, revealing the interconnectedness of all lives.
The first few pages of the first chapter explain the book's basic premise: the story centers on a fictional event that happened in Peru on the road between Lima and Cuzco , at noon on Friday, July ... (Wikipedia)
The Dive from Clausen's Pier
by Ann Packer
After her fiancé becomes paralyzed, a young woman must decide whether to stay or leave. A poignant exploration of love, loyalty, and self-discovery.
A suspenseful, richly layered first novel that asks: How much do we owe the people we love? THE DIVE FROM CLAUSEN'S PIER will speak to all those who have ever thought about leaving when they knew ... (Goodreads)
Angle of Repose
by Wallace Stegner
A man's search for his ancestors and their stories, leading to a journey of self-discovery.
Lyman Ward narrates a century after the fact. Lyman interprets the story at times and leaves gaps that he points out at other times. Some of the disappointments of his life, including his divorce, ... (Wikipedia)
The Fixer
by Bernard Malamud
A Jewish handyman is wrongly accused of murder in Tsarist Russia and must navigate a corrupt legal system to prove his innocence.
A classic that won Malamud both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. The Fixer (1966) is Bernard Malamud's best-known and most acclaimed novel—one that makes manifest his roots in Russian ... (Goodreads)
The Keepers of the House
by Shirley Ann Grau
A multigenerational saga of a Southern family's history, secrets, and racial tensions in the aftermath of the Civil War.
The first William Howland did not return home to Tennessee on his way back from the War of 1812 . Instead, he settled on a hill in rural Mississippi, overlooking a small river. He was later killed in ... (Wikipedia)
Ironweed
by William Kennedy
An exploration of the struggles of the homeless, and the power of redemption.
Ironweed is set during the Great Depression and tells the story of Francis Phelan , an alcoholic vagrant originally from Albany, New York , who left his family after accidentally killing his infant ... (Wikipedia)
Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh
A nostalgic reflection on a wealthy family and the enduring power of love.
The novel is divided into three parts, framed by a prologue and epilogue. The prologue takes place during the final years of the Second World War . Charles Ryder and his battalion are sent to a ... (Wikipedia)
Independence Day
by Richard Ford
A Midwestern family's struggles to hold on to their values in the face of economic hardship.
The novel follows Frank Bascombe, a New Jersey real estate agent (and ex-sportswriter), through the titular holiday weekend as he visits his ex-wife, his troubled son, his current lover, the tenants ... (Wikipedia)
Did You Ever Have a Family
by Bill Clegg
A tragic event shatters a woman's life, forcing her to leave her hometown and confront her past. A story of grief, loss, and redemption.
The novel focuses on June Reid, a beautiful, rich Connecticut woman. On the night before her daughter’s wedding, June Reid loses her daughter, her daughter’s fiancé, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend ... (Wikipedia)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
by Lisa See
Story of two women in 19th-century China, exploring the power of female friendship.
In rural Hunan province called Puwei (nicknamed the Common Beauty Village), a county in China, Lily is destined to become a, laotong, pair with Snow Flower, a girl of the same age from Tongkou (the ... (Wikipedia)
The Age of Innocence
by Edith Wharton
A romantic drama set in the high society of 19th century New York, exploring the limits of love and longing.
Newland Archer, gentleman lawyer and heir to one of New York City's most illustrious families, happily anticipates his highly desirable marriage to the sheltered and beautiful May Welland. Yet he ... (Wikipedia)
The Stone Diaries
by Carol Shields
A woman's life story told through a series of vignettes, examining the joys and sorrows of life.
The book is the fictional autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett, a seemingly ordinary woman whose life is marked by death and loss from the beginning, when her mother dies during childbirth. Through ... (Wikipedia)
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
by Oscar Hijuelos
A story of two Cuban brothers and their pursuit of the American dream.
It's 1949. Two young Cuban musicians make their way up from Havana to the grand stage of New York. It is the era of the mambo, and Castillo brothers, workers by day, become by night stars of the ... (Goodreads)
Excellent Women
by Barbara Pym
A shy spinster's journey of self-discovery, exploring the limitations of life as a single woman in 1950s England.
The book details the everyday life of its narrator, Mildred Lathbury, , a spinster in her thirties in 1950s Britain. Perpetually self-deprecating, but with the sharpest wit, Mildred is a part-time ... (Wikipedia)
Mudbound
by Hillary Jordan
Two families, one black and one white, struggle to survive and thrive in rural Mississippi during and after World War II.
In the winter of 1946, Henry McAllen moves his city-bred wife, Laura, from their comfortable home in Memphis, Tennessee to a remote cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta —a place she finds both ... (Wikipedia)
Stones from the River
by Ursula Hegi
A dwarf girl navigates life in a small German town during WWII, facing discrimination and secrets.
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780684844770 From the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of Floating in My Mother's Palm comes a stunning novel about ordinary people living in extraordinary ... (Goodreads)
The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough
A powerful tale of forbidden love, set in rural Australia in the early 20th century.
The story begins in New Zealand on 8 December 1915, the fourth birthday of Meghann "Meggie" Cleary who is the only daughter of Padriac ("Paddy"), an Irish farm labourer, and Fiona ("Fee"), his wife. ... (Wikipedia)
The Children of Noisy Village
by Astrid Lindgren
A group of children living in a small Swedish village, navigating the joys and sorrows of life.
Welcome to Noisy Village! Go crayfishing in the summer at Nocken, "dipping in the pot" at Christmastime with Lisa and Karl, and join Britta and Anna who know the best way to go about "nutting" for ... (Goodreads)
Runaway: Stories
by Alice Munro
A collection of short stories exploring the complexities of human relationships and the struggles of women in rural Canada.
The incomparable Alice Munro’s bestselling and rapturously acclaimed Runaway is a book of extraordinary stories about love and its infinite betrayals and surprises, from the title story about a young ... (Goodreads)
The Reader
by Bernhard Schlink
A man's journey of understanding, uncovering a dark secret from his past.
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of ... (Goodreads)
Corelli's Mandolin
by Louis de Bernières
A story of love and loss during the tumultuous era of World War II.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is set in the early days of the second world war, before Benito Mussolini invaded Greece. Dr Iannis practices medicine on the island of Cephalonia, accompanied by his ... (Goodreads)
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens
An orphan's journey of survival and resilience in the face of poverty and injustice.
Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune, raised in a workhouse in the fictional town of Mudfog , located 70 miles (110 km) north of London . , , , He is orphaned by his father's ... (Wikipedia)
Sophie's Choice
by William Styron
A survivor of the Holocaust is confronted with a devastating moral dilemma.
Stingo, a novelist who is recalling the summer when he began his first novel, has been fired from his low-level reader's job at the publisher McGraw-Hill and has moved into a cheap boarding house in ... (Wikipedia)
Tales of the South Pacific
by James A. Michener
Collection of interrelated stories set in the Pacific theater during World War II, exploring the complexities of war and human relationships.
Winner of the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for FictionEnter the exotic world of the South Pacific, meet the men and women caught up in the drama of a big war. The young Marine who falls madly in love with a ... (Goodreads)
Empire Falls
by Richard Russo
A small town's citizens struggle to find meaning and find their place in a rapidly changing world.
Set in the decaying, nearly bankrupt, small town of Empire Falls, Maine, this is the story of the unassuming manager of the Empire Grill, Miles Roby, who has spent his life in the town. The town, and ... (Wikipedia)
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
A haunting story of loss and resilience in the aftermath of slavery.
Beloved begins in 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio , where the protagonist Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, has been living with her eighteen-year-old daughter Denver at 124 Bluestone Road. The book ... (Wikipedia)
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)
Exodus
by Leon Uris
The story of the birth of Israel, following the lives of Jewish refugees from WWII to the establishment of the state.
In 1946 American foreign correspondent Mark Parker and American nurse Kitty Fremont reunite as old friends. Kitty is an American volunteer at the Karaolos internment camp on Cyprus , where thousands ... (Wikipedia)
Howards End
by E.M. Forster
Exploration of the societal divides in early 20th century England, and the consequences of class prejudice.
Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. A strong-willed and intelligent woman refuses to allow the ... (Goodreads)
