Literary Novel Recommendations | September 2021

23 Sep 2021

Literary Novel Recommendations | September 2021

This week’s new literary fiction books will touch your heart. From historical fiction to contemporary coming-of-age, there’s something for every reader this week. Enjoy your new literary novels by bestselling authors Shannon Bradley-Colleary, Richard R. Becker, D.A. Galloway, Suanne Laqueur, Steven Manchester, Bernhard Schlink, and Robert Dugoni!

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To The Stars

by Shannon Bradley-Colleary

Release Date: June 18, 2021

A new coming-of-age LGBTQ novel by instant bestselling storyteller Shannon Bradley-Colleary…Thanks to her “Terrible Shame,” 17-year-old Iris Dearborn is doomed to forever be The Untouchable of WaKeeney, Kansas — a tiny farming town in the uncharitable Bible Belt, circa 1961. That is, until the day a new girl, Maggie Richmond, blows into town from the Big City! Maggie is beautiful, larger-than-life, and coveted by the most popular crowd. But it’s Iris she’s drawn to. Perhaps because Maggie has her own dark, shameful secret that will create a profound ripple effect in the tiny berg of WaKeeney. “To The Stars” is the story of two teen misfits brought together by pain to enter a transformative friendship that unspools in lovely, unexpected and even dangerous ways.

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Burning Ground

by D.A. Galloway

Release Date: July 6, 2021

A captivating new historical fiction novel by D.A. Galloway…Pennsylvania, 1971: Graham Davidson is a young man with survivor’s guilt after the death of three siblings. He secures seasonal employment in Yellowstone National Park and embarks on a spiritual journey. Wyoming Territory, 1871: Under a full moon at a sacred thermal area, Graham finds himself in Yellowstone a century earlier – one year before it was established as a national park. He joins the Hayden Expedition which was commissioned to explore the region. If you enjoyed the movie Dances with Wolves, appreciate stories of frontiersmen, Native Americans, and explorers in the American West, or like the historical time travel adventure of Outlander then you’ll love Burning Ground!

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50 States

by Richard R. Becker

Release Date: July 21, 2021

A debut collection of short stories by Richard R. Becker…Two runaways cross paths in a Tennessee bus station with only one ticket between them. Who has the better reason to leave town? A middle-aged man in Illinois eyes the daily grind of a young basketball player who never boards the school bus. Does he have the wherewithal to turn this life around? A family sees looters racing toward their home as they escape an Oregon wildfire. Does it matter what the thieves steal before it all burns? These and 47 more stories make up a debut collection of shorts, with each one or several easily read within a single sitting.

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A Small Hotel

by Suanne Laqueur

Release Date: September 28, 2021

A new historical fiction novel by Suanne Laqueur…It’s the summer of 1941. Europe is at war, but New York’s Thousand Islands are at the height of the tourist season. Kennet Fiskare, son of a hotel proprietor, is having the summer of a lifetime, having fallen deeply in love with a Swedish-Brazilian guest named Astrid Virtanen. But the affair is cut short and the young lovers permanently parted, first by Astrid’s family obligations, then by America’s entry into the war.

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Dad

by Steven Manchester

Release Date: September 14, 2021

A new novel by Steven Manchester that centers on fatherhood…Three generations of dads, playing traditional roles in each other’s lives, arrive simultaneously at significant crossroads. The decisions they make and the actions they take will directly – and eternally – affect each other. When different perspectives lead to misunderstandings that remain unspoken – sometimes for years – it takes great strength and even more love to travel beyond the resentment.

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The World Played Chess

by Robert Dugoni

Release Date: September 14, 2021

Bestselling author Robert Dugoni returns with an emotionally arresting follow-up to The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell…In 1979, Vincent Bianco has just graduated high school. His only desire: collect a little beer money and enjoy his final summer before college. So he lands a job as a laborer on a construction crew. Working alongside two Vietnam vets, one suffering from PTSD, Vincent gets the education of a lifetime. Now forty years later, with his own son leaving for college, the lessons of that summer—Vincent’s last taste of innocence and first taste of real-life, dramatically unfold in a novel about breaking away, shaping a life, and seeking one’s own destiny.

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Olga

by Bernhard Schlink

Release Date: September 21, 2021

A sweeping novel of love and passion from the author of the international bestseller The Reader, Bernhard Schlink…Unfolding across decades—from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century—and across continents—from Germany to Africa and the Arctic, from the Baltic Sea to the German south-west—Olga is an epic romance, and a wrenching tale of a woman’s devotion to a restless man in an age of constant change. Though Olga exists in the shadows of others, she pursues life to the fullest and her magnetic presence shines—revealing a woman complex, fascinating, and unforgettable. Told in three distinct parts, brilliantly shifting from different points of view and narrative formats, Bernhard Schlink’s magnificent novel is a rich, full portrait of a singular woman and her world.

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