Open House: A Novel, by Elizabeth Berg
Samantha creates a life for herself after her husband leaves her by opening up her house to boarders as a way to meet her mortgage payments. With their help she is able to reconstruct her life and that of her eleven-year-old son. An Oprah pick.
The Double Bind: A Novel, by Chris Bohjalian
In a novel that travels between Jay Gatsby's Long Island and rural New England, between the Roaring Twenties and the twenty-first century, college sophomore Laurel Estabrook is attacked while riding her bicycle through Vermont's back roads and her life is forever changed.
The Ice Queen: A Novel, by Alice Hoffman
This story describes the life of a woman who, as a child was faced with tragedy and now lives a secluded life. One day, while in her home, the woman is struck by lightning and faces odd affects as a result. After hearing of Lazarus Jones – another lightning strike survivor – she goes in search of him in hopes to find someone to teach her to distinguish her fears. As a result, the woman and Lazarus begin to form a love affair while hiding their deepest secrets from each other.
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons: A Novel, by Lorna Landvik
For forty years five women from Freesia Court in small town Minnesota meet for their book club. They are all from varied backgrounds but because of their friendships they are able to sustain and support each other.
The Senator's Wife, by Sue Miller
Meri, beautiful and pregnant wife of a college professor, and Delia, wife of a philandering retired senator, become friends when they occupy different wings of a New England house. The two begin to go back and forth across the porch and into each others lives until Meri goes a little too far.
The Rest of Her Life, by Laura Moriarty
Leigh has a very strained relationship with her daughter, high school senior, Kara. One day Kara makes a mistake while driving the car which ends in a tragedy which divides Leigh’s family and the whole community. As her mother, she tries to help and protect her.
My Sister's Keeper: A Novel, by Jodi Picoult
Anna has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood and she is getting tired. Even though she loves her sister, her role as a "sibling savior" is wearing on her and making her life unhappy. An ongoing favorite book group pick!
Outer Banks, by Anne Rivers Siddons
Four young sorority sisters on a Southern campus in the 1960's share a wonderful friendship. Then events happen that divide them. After twenty-eight years, one of the sisters invites all to come together for a reunion in North Carolina to renew their friendship. They have no idea of the surprise she has in store for them. From one of the most popular authors of Southern fiction.
Big Stone Gap, by Adriana Trigiani
The Big Stone Gap is a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and home to Ave Maria Mulligan, a thirty-five-year-old spinster. Her life is changed, however when one day in 1978 she discovers that she is not who she always believed she was. She begins planning a trip for herself, one that changes her viewpoint of the world forever.
The Amateur Marriage: A Novel, by Anne Tyler
Pauline and Michael could not have been more opposite. But when Pauline first arrived at the Polish Eastern Avenue neighborhood of Baltimore and met Michael, they rushed into marriage with the influences of the WWII fervor. While other newlyweds grow in their marriage, Pauline and Michael remained amateurs. Even thirty years later, they cannot overpass their extreme differences. Tyler illustrates the complications of family life while venturing back throughout the decades.
, by Elizabeth Berg
, by Chris Bohjalian
, by Alice Hoffman
, by Lorna Landvik
, by Sue Miller
, by Laura Moriarty
, by Jodi Picoult
, by Anne Rivers Siddons
, by Adriana Trigiani
, by Anne Tyler
