29 Must-Read Book Club Picks for Your Fall Reading List

If you are looking for the best fall book club books that give you plenty to talk about, you’ll love this list. I know fall is often about reading fall-themed romance, cozy mysteries, or classic autumn novels, but if you’re looking for books beyond that, check out these fall book club suggestions. From bestselling authors like Jodi Picoult to Marjan Kamali, this list features great literary fiction that would make excellent book club reads. These books are perfect for discussing conversation-worthy themes with your book club members. Also, be sure to check out 15 general book club questions to spark even more engaging discussions!

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

The Lion Women of Tehran is a heartfelt, epic novel set in 1950s Tehran, Iran, following the friendship of two girls, Ellie and Homa. After the death of her father, Ellie faces loneliness and hardship until she meets Homa, a spirited girl who becomes her close friend. They bond over shared dreams, but Ellie’s life changes when she returns to a more privileged existence, and their friendship fades. Years later, Homa reappears, and the two women navigate their ambitions against the backdrop of political unrest in Iran.

Topics to discuss for book club: Friendship under pressure, the impact of political upheaval, and the role of women in shaping their destinies.

Blurb: From the nationally bestselling author of the “powerful, heartbreaking” (Shelf Awareness) The Stationery Shop, a heartfelt, epic new novel of friendship, betrayal, and redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran.

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.”

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

Written with Marjan Kamali’s signature “evocative, devastating, and hauntingly beautiful” (Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light) prose, The Lion Women of Tehran is a sweeping exploration of how profoundly we are shape.

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The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

The Great Alone is about the Allbright family who move to Alaska in 1974, hoping the wild land will give them a fresh start. Ernt, the father, is a Vietnam veteran who struggles with anger and fear. His wife Cora follows him, believing she can help him heal. Their daughter Leni wants a safe place to grow up. At first, life in Alaska feels exciting and full of hope, but winter brings long nights and hard truths. The family faces both nature’s dangers and the storms inside their home.
Topics to discuss: survival, family conflict, resilience, how love can hurt

Alaska, 1974.
Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.

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The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore

This story follows Jeanie who inherits her aunt’s café in a small town called Dream Harbor. She leaves behind a dull desk job, hoping to find joy in a slower life. Logan, a farmer, is grumpy and wants nothing to do with her cheerful ways. But their paths cross again and again. The small-town setting is filled with charm, gossip, and comfort food. As Jeanie works to build a new life, sparks grow between her and Logan. The Pumpkin Spice Café is a cozy and sweet romance perfect for fall.
Topics to discuss: small town life, fresh starts, comfort food, opposites attracting

A spicy small-town romance and TikTok phenomenon, perfect for fans of Hannah Grace and Stephanie Archer.

When Jeanie’s aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job.

Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor’s gossip at all costs. But Jeanie’s arrival disrupts Logan’s routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.

Will Jeanie’s happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won’t fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes…

The Pumpkin Spice Café is a cozy romantic mystery for fans of Gilmore Girls, with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed

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My Friends by Fredrik backman

My Friends tells the story of four teenagers who spend long summer days together by the sea. They share secrets, jokes, and dreams while escaping troubles at home. Their friendship is strong enough to shape their lives for years to come. A painting of their time together becomes a bridge to the present, touching the life of Louisa, an aspiring artist. She sets out to learn the story behind it. The book blends humor, heartbreak, and hope, showing how friendship can last far beyond youth.
Topics to discuss: deep friendships, memory, how art holds meaning, growing up

#1 New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later.

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.

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The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book is about a boy called Bod who is raised in a graveyard by ghosts. His family was murdered when he was very young, and only the dead could protect him. He grows up learning lessons from unusual teachers and finding adventure among tombstones and spirits. But danger still waits in the world outside, especially the man Jack who killed his family. This is a story both spooky and magical, with humor and heart woven in.
Topics to discuss: found family, growing up different, courage, living with fear

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a perfectly normal boy. Well, he would be perfectly normal if he didn’t live in a graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the world of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures for Bod in the graveyard: the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer; a gravestone entrance to a desert that leads to the city of ghouls; friendship with a witch, and so much more.

But it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, for it is there that the man Jack lives and he has already killed Bod’s family.

A deliciously dark masterwork by bestselling author Neil Gaiman, with illustrations by award-winning Dave McKean.

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The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches follows Mika, one of the few witches in Britain. She lives a quiet and lonely life, hiding her magic. When she receives an invitation to teach three young witches at a strange house, she breaks the rules and accepts. At the Nowhere House she finds herself surrounded by unusual people, including a prickly librarian who challenges her. As she teaches and cares for the children, Mika begins to believe she has finally found a place to belong. The story is warm, uplifting, and full of charm.
Topics to discuss: belonging, chosen family, trust, love and acceptance

A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family–and a new love–changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for

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Autumn by Ali Smith

Autumn tells the story of Daniel, who is very old, and Elisabeth, who is young and searching for her place in the world. Their friendship crosses generations, and through it we see a world divided by politics and change. The book blends the present with memories of the past, mixing love, loss, and art. It is thoughtful and poetic, asking questions about time, identity, and how people stay connected when the world feels fractured. It is both quiet and powerful, a story that lingers.
Topics to discuss: friendship, age and time, art, living through change

Autumn. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. That’s what it felt like for Keats in 1819.

How about Autumn 2016?

Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer.

Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever.

Ali Smith’s new novel is a meditation on a world growing ever more bordered and exclusive, on what richness and worth are, on what harvest means. This first in a seasonal quartet casts an eye over our own time. Who are we? What are we made of? Shakespearian jeu d’esprit, Keatsian melancholy, the sheer bright energy of 1960s Pop art: the centuries cast their eyes over our own history-making.

Here’s where we’re living. Here’s time at its most contemporaneous and its most cyclic.

From the imagination of the peerless Ali Smith comes a shape-shifting series, wide-ranging in timescale and light-footed through histories, and a story about ageing and time and love and stories themselves.

Here comes Autumn.

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Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter

Nothing Like the Movies is about Wes and Liz, two young people who once loved each other but drifted apart. Wes wants another chance and believes he can win Liz back with grand gestures, the kind she always dreamed about. But Liz has been hurt, and she is not so quick to forgive. College life brings them together again, but Wes must learn that love is about more than movie-style plans. It is about honesty, patience, and trust. This is a light yet emotional story that blends humor with heart.
Topics to discuss: second chances, young love, forgiveness, growing into adulthood

For a few beautiful months, Wes had his dream girl: the strong-willed girl next door Liz. But right as the two were about to set off for college to start their freshman year together, tragedy struck. Wes was left dealing with the fallout, which ultimately meant losing Liz in the process.

Flash forward months later, and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.

Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with rom-com-worthy grand gestures she loves. Only . . . Liz will have none of it! Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend . . . a guy friend.

Still, Wes won’t give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz’s attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.

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The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

The Maidens follows Mariana, a therapist who becomes obsessed with solving a murder at Cambridge University. A secret society of young women is tied to a professor named Edward Fosca, who Mariana believes is guilty. The deeper she digs, the more dangerous her search becomes. Ancient myths and dark secrets mix with the modern campus setting. This is both a thriller and a mystery, filled with tension and twists. Mariana’s search puts her career, her relationships, and even her life at risk.
Topics to discuss: obsession, trust, grief, how far we go for justice

Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike—particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.

Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything—including her own life.

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The Comfort of Crows by Margaret Renkl

The Comfort of Crows is a gentle journey through the seasons, told in short chapters. The author writes about the birds, plants, and animals she sees in her own backyard, while also reflecting on her family, aging, and change. Each season brings new life but also loss. With drawings and warm details, the book feels both personal and universal. It shows how paying attention to nature can bring comfort and meaning. It is a tender and hopeful read, especially for autumn.
Topics to discuss: nature, family, finding joy in small things, change and renewal

In The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl presents a literary devotional: fifty-two chapters that follow the creatures and plants in her backyard over the course of a year. As we move through the seasons—from a crow spied on New Year’s Day, its resourcefulness and sense of community setting a theme for the year, to the lingering bluebirds of December, revisiting the nest box they used in spring—what develops is a portrait of joy and grief: joy in the ongoing pleasures of the natural world, and grief over winters that end too soon and songbirds that grow fewer and fewer.

Along the way, we also glimpse the changing rhythms of a human life. Grown children, unexpectedly home during the pandemic, prepare to depart once more. Birdsong and night-blooming flowers evoke generations past. The city and the country where Renkl raised her family transform a little more with each passing day. And the natural world, now in visible flux, requires every ounce of hope and commitment from the author—and from us. For, as Renkl writes, “radiant things are bursting forth in the darkest places, in the smallest nooks and deepest cracks of the hidden world.”

With fifty-two original color artworks by the author’s brother, Billy Renkl, The Comfort of Crows is a lovely and deeply moving book from a cherished observer of the natural world.

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The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

The House of Mirth tells the story of Lily Bart, a woman in New York high society in the early 1900s. She is beautiful and witty but not wealthy, and she knows she must marry well to secure her place. Yet her pride and integrity keep her from choosing a man just for money. As she grows older, her position becomes more fragile, and her choices narrow. The book explores class, wealth, and the cost of independence. It is both sharp and tragic, showing how society traps women.
Topics to discuss: wealth, social pressure, independence, women’s choices

First published in 1905, THE HOUSE OF MIRTH shocked the New York society it so deftly chronicles, portraying the moral, social and economic restraints on a woman who dared to claim the privileges of marriage without assuming the responsibilities.

Lily Bart, beautiful, witty and sophisticated, is accepted by ‘old money’ and courted by the growing tribe of nouveaux riches. But as she nears thirty, her foothold becomes precarious; a poor girl with expensive tastes, she needs a husband to preserve her social standing and to maintain her in the luxury she has come to expect. Whilst many have sought her, something – fastidiousness or integrity- prevents her from making a ‘suitable’ match.

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Table for Two by Amor Towles

Table for Two is a collection of stories set in New York and Los Angeles. The short stories capture city life, relationships, and the ways people cross paths in unexpected moments. There is also a longer tale about Eve, a woman from Towles’ earlier novel, who makes her way into Hollywood’s golden age. The writing is witty and full of detail, showing both humor and heartbreak. Each story feels like a snapshot of life, with people making choices that shape their futures.
Topics to discuss: chance meetings, city life, ambition, relationships

From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a richly detailed and sharply drawn collection of stories set in New York and Los Angeles. The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles.

The New York stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of compromise which operate at the heart of modern marriages. In Towles’s novel, Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September, 1938, with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles.

Told from seven points of view, “Eve in Hollywood” describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself—and others—in the midst of Hollywood’s golden age. Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next. Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles’s canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.

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Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg

This book follows Merritt Fernsby, a writer who inherits a haunted house in Rhode Island. Once he steps inside, he finds the house will not let him leave. Hulda, an expert in magical homes, arrives to help tame the house. As they work together, Merritt and Hulda face secrets both inside and outside the walls. The house becomes a character itself, full of moods and mysteries. Keeper of Enchanted Rooms blends romance, humor, and gothic magic into a cozy but eerie tale.
Topics to discuss: haunted houses, loneliness, trust, unexpected companionship

Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home—until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever.

Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She understands the dangers of bespelled homes given to tantrums. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too.

Prepared as she is with augury, a set of magic tools, and a new staff trained in the uncanny, Hulda’s work still proves unexpectedly difficult. She and Merritt grow closer as the investigation progresses, but the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated. And the sentient walls aren’t their only concern—something outside is coming for the enchantments of Whimbrel House, and it could be more dangerous than what rattles within.

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Picture Perfect Autumn by Shelley Noble

Picture Perfect Autumn tells the story of Dani, a rising photographer from New York. She finds inspiration in old photos that lead her to a small town in Rhode Island. There she meets Lawrence, a reclusive older man, and his grandson Peter. Dani hopes to learn about art and herself, while Lawrence struggles with grief and family history. The three lives intertwine, forming bonds none of them expected. This is a heartwarming fall story about art, family, and second chances.
Topics to discuss: art, healing, family ties, mentorship

A Manhattan photographer finds inspiration and new possibilities in a Gothic Rhode Island beach house in this uplifting fall-set read from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble. Dani Campbell is the latest darling of the Manhattan art scene. As a self-taught photographer, Dani is loving every minute of her sudden popularity, but has no idea how she got there, or a clue as to how to stay.

On a shoot at an antiques barn, she discovers an envelope of old photos and sees in them what her photos are missing. Her search for their source leads Dani to a small Rhode Island town, a dilapidated American Gothic beach house—and Lawrence Sinclair. Reclusive and bitter, the last thing eighty-year-old Lawrence wants to think about is photography—the thing that inadvertently led to his son’s death and tore his family apart. But Dani is determined and persuasive, and Lawrence can’t help but be intrigued by the girl with spiky hair who wants to learn from him, when almost everyone else just wants to relieve him of his substantial fortune.

Dani and Lawrence’s mentorship blossoms unexpectedly, but everything is put in jeopardy by the appearance of Lawrence’s estranged grandson, Peter. Peter is determined to spend some time reconnecting with his grandfather and to get rid of the supposed fortune hunter after Lawrence’s money. But Dani is not what he was expecting, and he soon discovers that they have more things in common than not.

Brought together by fortune, fate, and the ties that bind, all three embark on journeys of discovery and love.

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November 9 by Colleen Hoover

November 9 is about Fallon and Ben, who meet one day before she is set to move away. Their connection is instant, but they agree to meet on the same date each year instead of staying together. As the years pass, their bond grows but also becomes complicated by secrets. Fallon begins to question whether Ben has been honest, and whether their love is real. The story is romantic, emotional, and full of twists. It asks what it means to truly trust someone.
Topics to discuss: trust, fate, long distance love, truth in relationships

Beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover returns with an unforgettable love story between a writer and his unexpected muse.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and simultaneously his novel—be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?

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The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

The Frozen River tells the story of Martha Ballard, a midwife in Maine in 1789. When a man’s body is found frozen in the river, Martha is called to examine him. She suspects foul play, but her word as a woman is dismissed. Martha uses her diary and her own courage to search for the truth. Along the way, she faces danger, secrets, and hard choices. Inspired by a real woman from history, the novel blends mystery with strength and justice.
Topics to discuss: women in history, justice, community, courage

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

Inspired by the life of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into history.

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The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

The God of the Woods is set in a summer camp in 1975 where a teenager named Barbara Van Laar goes missing . It’s the same place where her older brother disappeared 14 years earlier and was never found. As the search kicks off, all these buried secrets from both the Van Laar family and the local workers come to light.

Topics to discuss for book club: Family secrets, class dynamics, and moody autumn settings.

Blurb: When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.

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The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

The Briar Club is set in 1950s Washington D.C., this story follows a group of women living in a boardinghouse during the height of McCarthyism. Grace, the widow who brings these unlikely friends together, has her own dark secret, and the tension between the women builds in fascinating ways.

Topics to discuss for book club: Female friendships, secrets, and the Red Scare’s effect on everyday life.

Blurb: A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?

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Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor

Set in rural Vermont in the 1960s, Agony Hill is a slow-burn mystery . Franklin Warren, a Boston detective new to the area, is investigating a suspicious barn fire, but it’s clear the small town is hiding more than just this tragedy.

Topics to discuss for book club: Small-town dynamics, the impact of the 1960s on rural America.

Blurb: Set in rural Vermont in the volatile 1960s, Agony Hill is the first novel in a new historical series full of vivid New England atmosphere and the deeply drawn characters that are Sarah Stewart Taylor’s trademark.

In the hot summer of 1965, Bostonian Franklin Warren arrives in Bethany, Vermont, to take a position as a detective with the state police. Warren’s new home is on the verge of monumental change; the interstates under construction will bring new people, new opportunities, and new problems to Vermont, and the Cold War and protests against the war in Vietnam have finally reached the dirt roads and rolling pastures of Bethany.

Warren has barely unpacked when he’s called up to a remote farm on Agony Hill. Former New Yorker and Back-to-the-Lander Hugh Weber seems to have set fire to his barn and himself, with the door barred from the inside, but things aren’t adding up for Warren. The people of Bethany—from Weber’s enigmatic wife to Warren’s neighbor, widow and amateur detective Alice Bellows — clearly have secrets they’d like to keep, but Warren can’t tell if the truth about Weber’s death is one of them. As he gets to know his new home and grapples with the tragedy that brought him there, Warren is drawn to the people and traditions of small town Vermont, even as he finds darkness amidst the beauty.

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Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver

When mystery novelist Roger Raymond dies in a suspicious fire, his partner Lionel refuses to believe it was a suicide. As Lionel digs into the case, he uncovers a web of government secrets and personal betrayals. The backdrop of 1950s Washington D.C., filled with political tension and fear, adds a unique twist to the usual whodunit.

Topics to discuss for book club: The Lavender Scare, loyalty and betrayal, and the dangers of secrets in a politically charged era.

Blurb: When a popular mystery novelist dies suspiciously, his writing partner must untangle the author’s connection to a serial killer in award-winning John Copenhaver’s new novel set in 1950s McCarthy-era Washington, DC.

In May 1954, Lionel Kane witnesses his apartment engulfed in flames with his lover and writing partner, Roger Raymond, inside. Police declare it a suicide due to gas ignition, but Lionel refuses to believe Roger was suicidal.

A month earlier, Judy Nightingale and Philippa Watson—the tenacious and troubled heroines from The Savage Kind —attend a lecture by Roger and, being eager fans, befriend him. He has just been fired from his day job at the State Department, another victim of the Lavender Scare, an anti-gay crusade led by figures like Senator Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover, claiming homosexuals are security risks. Little do Judy and Philippa know, but their obsessive manhunt of the past several years has fueled the flames of his dismissal.

They have been tracking their old enemy Adrian Bogdan, a spy and vicious serial killer protected by powerful forces in the government. He’s on the rampage again, and the police are ignoring his crimes. Frustrated, they send their research to the media and their favorite mystery writer anonymously, hoping to inspire someone, somehow, to publish on the crimes—anything to draw Bogdan out. But has their persistence brought deadly forces to the writing team behind their most beloved books?

In the wake of Roger’s death, Lionel searches for clues, but Judy and Philippa threaten his quest, concealing dark secrets of their own. As the crimes of the past and present converge, danger mounts, and the characters race to uncover the truth, even if it means bending their moral boundaries to stop a killer.

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A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd

In A Daughter of Fair Verona , a witty new series by Christina Dodd, Knives Out meets Bridgerton in a historical mystery featuring Rosie Montague, the fiercely independent daughter of Romeo and Juliet. Set in a world where the famous couple survived and had seven children, Rosie, a 20-year-old spinster, dodges marriage proposals, preferring to manage her chaotic household. But when her latest suitor, Duke Stephano—known for his deceased wives—turns up dead at their betrothal ball, Rosie is thrust into a murder mystery. As deaths and disappearances pile up, Rosie must find the killer before she becomes the next victim.

Topics to discuss for book club: Reimagining classic stories, the pressures of family expectations, and how historical settings can be modernized with humor.

Blurb: Knives Out meets Bridgerton in Fair Verona, as New York Times bestselling author Christina Dodd kicks off a frothy, irreverent, witty new series with an irresistible premise—Romeo and Juliet’s daughter as a clever, rebellious, fiercely independent young woman in fair Verona—told from the delightfully engaging point of view of the captivating Rosie Montague herself…

“A sharp, determined heroine, a clever historical mystery, sparkling wit, a unique setting, family drama and a dash of romance.”– Amanda Quick, New York Times bestselling author of The Lady Has a Past

Once upon a time a young couple met and fell in love. You probably know that story, and how it ended ( badly). Only here’s the That’s not how it ended at all.

Romeo and Juliet are alive and well and the parents of seven kids. I’m the oldest, with the emphasis on ‘old’—a certified spinster at twenty, and happy to stay that way. It’s not easy to keep your taste for romance with parents like mine. Picture it—constant monologues, passionate declarations, fighting, making up, making out . . . it’s exhausting.

Each time they’ve presented me with a betrothal, I’ve set out to find the groom-to-be a more suitable bride. After all, someone sensible needs to stay home and manage this household. But their latest match, Duke Stephano, isn’t so easy to palm off on anyone else. The debaucher has had three previous wives—all of whom met unfortunate ends. Conscience forbids me from consigning another woman to that fate. As it turns out, I don’t have to . . .

At our betrothal ball—where, quite by accident, I meet a beautiful young man who makes me wonder if perhaps there is something to love at first sight—I stumble upon Duke Stephano with a dagger in his chest. But who killed him? His late wives’ families, his relatives, his mistress, his servants—half of Verona had motive. And when everyone around the Duke begins dying, disappearing, or descendi

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All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

All the Colors of the Dark is a captivating mix of thriller, mystery, and love story set in small-town Missouri in the 1970s. Patch, the one-eyed local hero, saves a wealthy girl from being abducted, but this act brings unintended heartbreak and sets off a dark mystery.

Topics to discuss for book club: The fine line between heroism and tragedy, small-town secrets, and how personal trauma shapes identity.

Blurb:  From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an epic love story that spans decades.

1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.

When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.

Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.

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The Wedding People by Alison Espach

In The Wedding People, Phoebe Stone arrives at a posh inn in Newport, Rhode Island, for what’s supposed to be a romantic getaway—except she’s alone. What follows is a heartwarming, sometimes hilarious exploration of loneliness and unexpected connections. The bride’s need for control contrasts with Phoebe’s sense of loss, and their unlikely friendship provides the emotional core of the story.

Topics to discuss for book club: The unexpected paths life takes, and loneliness versus connection.

Blurb:  A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help us start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamt of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe―which makes it that much more surprising when the women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns uproariously, absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is a look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined―and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

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Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell

Slow Dance is a touching and nostalgic story about missed opportunities and old friendships. Shiloh and Cary were best friends in high school, but life pulled them apart. Now, at thirty-three, Shiloh is divorced, back home, and about to attend a wedding where she might see Cary for the first time in years.

Topics to discuss for book club: Lost friendships and second chances.

Blurb:  Back in high school, everybody thought Shiloh and Cary would end up together . . . everybody but Shiloh and Cary.

They were just friends. Best friends. Allies. They spent entire summers sitting on Shiloh’s porch steps, dreaming about the future. They were both going to get out of north Omaha—Shiloh would go to college and become an actress, and Cary would join the Navy. They promised each other that their friendship would never change.

Well, Shiloh did go to college, and Cary did join the Navy. And yet, somehow, everything changed.

Now Shiloh’s thirty-three, and it’s been fourteen years since she talked to Cary. She’s been married and divorced. She has two kids. And she’s back living in the same house she grew up in. Her life is nothing like she planned.

When she’s invited to an old friend’s wedding, all Shiloh can think about is whether Cary will be there—and whether she hopes he will be. Would Cary even want to talk to her? After everything?

The answer is yes. And yes. And yes.

Slow Dance is the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it. Two friends who lost everything. Two adults who just feel lost.

It’s the story of Shiloh and Cary, who everyone thought would end up together, trying to find their way back to the start.

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By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

By Any Other Name reimagines the life of Emilia Bassano, believed by some to be the true author of Shakespeare’s works. The historical storyline is full of rich details, while the contemporary plot about a young playwright fighting for her work to be recognized adds a relevant layer.

Topics to discuss for book club: Gender and authorship, historical revisionism, and the challenges women face in creative fields.

Blurb:  From the New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring” (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.

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City of Secrets by P.J. Tracy

City of Secrets is an intense, fast-paced mystery that follows LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan as she uncovers a web of corruption and deceit. What starts as a simple carjacking soon turns into a darker investigation involving big business and an elusive Angel of Death.

Topics to discuss for book club: Corruption in law enforcement, justice and revenge, and how personal motives can complicate investigations.

Blurb:  LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan returns in P. J. Tracy’s City of Secrets, the next book in the series praised by the New York Times Book Review: “Tracy seems to have found her literary sweet spot.”

Los Angeles Police Detective Margaret Nolan and her partner have worked a lot of different cases, ones where things aren’t always as they appear. And it’s Nolan’s job to find the truth in the darkness around her. When they’re called to the scene of what looks like a fatal car-jacking, Nolan soon realizes her victim was a founder of a company about to sell for millions, and within a day of his death, his partner’s wife is abducted. As Nolan learns more about the victim and his life, she gets pulled into a disturbing world of sex, violence, and big business; and an even darker world, where whispers of an “Angel of Death” are beginning to surface.

One of today’s finest crime writers, P. J. Tracy has created a series that is a rich and authentic portrait of LA, filled with the tragedy and optimism of her multi-layered characters and a story guaranteed to keep readers enthralled.

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Spirit Crossing by William Kent Krueger

In Spirit Crossing, Cork O’Connor’s family is drawn into a dangerous investigation after his grandson discovers the body of a young Ojibwe woman. Set in Minnesota, the story is a mystery with cultural themes as Cork and the Iron Lake Tribal Police try to uncover the truth.

Topics to discuss for book club: The impact of cultural heritage , family dynamics, and the role of community in solving crimes.

Blurb:  A disappearance and a dead body put Cork O’Connor’s family in the crosshairs of a killer in the twentieth book in the New York Times bestselling series from William Kent Krueger­, “a master storyteller at the top of his game” (Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

The disappearance of a local politician’s teenaged daughter is major news in Minnesota. As a huge manhunt is launched to find her, Cork O’Connor’s grandson stumbles across the shallow grave of a young Ojibwe woman—but nobody seems that interested. Nobody, that is, except Cork and the newly formed Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police. As Cork and the tribal officers dig into the circumstances of this mysterious and grim discovery, they uncover a connection to the missing teenager. And soon, it’s clear that Cork’s grandson is in danger of being the killer’s next victim.

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The Rose Arbor by Rhys Bowen

Set in 1968, the story follows Liz Houghton, a London obituary writer, as she investigates the disappearance of a young girl. What starts as a current mystery soon uncovers a decades-old case involving three missing girls during World War II.

Topics to discuss for book club: The effects of war on individuals and communities and the persistence of unsolved mysteries.

Blurb:  An investigation into a girl’s disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense by the bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Paris Assignment.

1968. Liz Houghton is languishing as an obituary writer at a London newspaper when a young girl’s disappearance captivates the city. If Liz can break the story, it’s her way into the newsroom. She already has a her best friend, Marisa, is a police officer assigned to the case.

Liz follows Marisa to Dorset, where they make another disturbing discovery. Over two decades earlier, three girls disappeared while evacuating from London. One was found murdered in the woods near a train line. The other two were never seen again.

As Liz digs deeper, she finds herself drawn to the village of Tydeham, which was requisitioned by the military during the war and left in ruins. After all these years, what could possibly link the missing girls to this abandoned village? And why does a place Liz has never seen before seem so strangely familiar?

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The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lost Story is a whimsical, yet dark story about two boys who disappeared into a magical realm and returned with no memory of their time there. Now adults, one of them is a reclusive artist and the other a missing persons investigator. The story weaves fantasy with emotional depth as the two men confront their shared past and help a woman find her sister, who has also vanished.

Topics to discuss for book club: The lure of escapism, the trauma of lost memories, and the power of childhood friendships in adulthood.

Blurb:  Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

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