Recommendations based on Astrid and Veronikaby Linda Olsson

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

  1. 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)

  2. The Elegance of the Hedgehog

    by Muriel Barbery
    A story of two unlikely outcasts who find solace and comfort in each other's company.

    The story revolves mainly around the characters of Renée Michel and Paloma Josse, residents of an upper-middle class Left Bank apartment building at 7 Rue de Grenelle – one of the most elegant ... (Wikipedia)

  3. The Child Finder

    by Rene Denfeld
    A young girl goes missing, a private investigator dedicates her life to finding her.

    A haunting, atmospheric, and deeply suspenseful novel from the acclaimed author of The Enchanted about an investigator who must use her unique insights to find a missing little girl. "Where are you, ... (Goodreads)

  4. Girls of Riyadh

    by Rajaa Alsanea
    Four young Saudi women navigate love, tradition, and societal expectations in a conservative society. A modern-day Arabian Nights tale.

    The novel describes the relationship between men and women in Saudi Arabia . Girls of Riyadh tells the story of four college-age high class friends in Saudi Arabia, girls looking for love but stymied ... (Wikipedia)

  5. The Summer Book

    by Tove Jansson
    A grandmother and her granddaughter explore a remote summer island together, learning about life, love, and nature.

    An elderly artist and her six-year-old granddaughter while away a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. Gradually, the two learn to adjust to each other's fears, whims and ... (Goodreads)

  6. Moral Disorder and Other Stories

    by Margaret Atwood
    An exploration of the lives of characters in a small Canadian town, delving into their stories of joy, sorrow, and moral ambiguity.

    Margaret Atwood is acknowledged as one of the foremost writers of our time. In Moral Disorder she has created a series of interconnected stories that trace the course of a life and also the lives ... (Goodreads)

  7. The Princes of Ireland

    by Edward Rutherfurd
    Epic chronicle of Irish history, spanning from ancient times to the present day.

    Brilliantly weaving impeccable historical research with stirring storytelling, Edward Rutherfurd explores our shared Celtic roots in a magnificent epic of Ireland spanning eleven centuries. While ... (Goodreads)

  8. Doctor Glas

    by Hjalmar Söderberg
    A doctor struggles with his moral conscience when he becomes involved in a woman's marital problems.

    Stark, brooding, and enormously controversial when first published in 1905, this astonishing novel juxtaposes impressions of fin-de-siècle Stockholm against the psychological landscape of a man ... (Goodreads)

  9. A Little Life

    by Hanya Yanagihara
    A powerful tale of four friends navigating life's hardships and the devastating effects of trauma.

    The novel follows the lives of four friends in New York City from college through to middle-age. It focuses particularly on Jude, a lawyer with a mysterious past, ambiguous ethnicity, and unexplained ... (Wikipedia)

  10. The Lost Wife

    by Alyson Richman
    A love story set in WWII Prague, where a young couple is separated by war and reunited decades later.

    There on her forearm, next to a small brown birthmark, were six tattooed numbers. 'Do you remember me now?' he asked, trembling. She looked at him again, as if giving weight and bone to a ghost. ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Hummingbird's Daughter

    by Luis Alberto Urrea
    A Mexican girl's journey to self-acceptance, discovering the power of faith and family.

    The prizewinning writer Luis Alberto Urrea's long-awaited novel is an epic mystical drama of a young woman's sudden sainthood in late 19th-century Mexico. It is 1889, and the civil war is brewing in ... (Goodreads)

  12. Smilla's Sense of Snow

    by Peter Høeg
    An Arctic investigator's journey to uncover the truth behind a child's mysterious death.

    Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jaspersen, 37-year-old product of the stormy union of a female Inuit hunter and a rich urban Danish physician, is a loner who struggles to live with her fractured heritage. Living ... (Wikipedia)

  13. The Buddha in the Attic

    by Julie Otsuka
    A story of Japanese picture brides, told through a chorus of their collective voice.

    There is no plot in the usual sense of specific individuals going through particular events. The novel is told in the first person plural, from the point of view of many girls and women, none of whom ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Police

    by Jo Nesbø
    Crime novel set in Oslo, Norway, featuring a detective who must solve a case full of unexpected twists and turns.

    The tenth in the Oslo crime series featuring detective Harry Hole is the most sizeable entry yet; a twisting-turning saga that pits the gangly maverick against that most feared of serial killers, the ... (Wikipedia)

  15. March

    by Geraldine Brooks
    A story of courage and resilience during the Civil War, through the eyes of a father.

    Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. From the author of the acclaimed Year of Wonders , a historical novel and love story set during a time of catastrophe, on the front lines of the ... (Goodreads)

  16. Manhattan Beach

    by Jennifer Egan
    A female-led story of crime, courage and sacrifice set in 1940s Brooklyn.

    Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. She is mesmerized by the sea ... (Goodreads)

  17. A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories

    by Lucia Berlin
    An exploration of female experience, weaving together stories of love, loss, and resilience.

    A Manual for Cleaning Women compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all ... (Barnes & Noble)

  18. Chocolat

    by Joanne Harris
    An enchanting tale of love, belonging, and the power of chocolate.

    Vianne Rocher, with her daughter Anouk, come to the small French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. They are brought by "the wind" during the last days of Carnival to open a, chocolaterie, , La ... (Wikipedia)

  19. 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)

  20. The Book of Negroes

    by Lawrence Hill
    A gripping tale of resilience and courage, tracing the life of a woman kidnapped in Africa and sold into slavery in North America.

    The Book of Negroes (based on the novel Someone Knows My Name) will be BET's first miniseries. The star-studded production includes lead actress Aunjanue Ellis (Ray, The Help), Oscar winner Cuba ... (Goodreads)

  21. The History of Love

    by Nicole Krauss
    A journey through a web of intertwining stories, searching for the meaning of love.

    Approximately 70 years before the present, the 10-year-old Polish-Jewish Leopold (Leo) Gursky falls in love with his neighbor Alma Mereminski. The two begin a relationship that develops over the ... (Wikipedia)

  22. The Boy in the Photo

    by Nicole Trope
    A mother's worst nightmare comes true when her son goes missing. But when a photo of him appears, she realizes he may not be who she thought he was.

    'OMG... Simply amazing... Heartbreaking... I went and hugged my daughter and messaged my son "I love you".' NetGalley Reviewer, 5 stars, ,, She becomes aware of the silence at the other end of the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  23. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

    by Jamie Ford
    A touching story of the intersection of love, family, and culture during World War II.

    Henry Lee, the son of Chinese parents in Seattle , Washington, is the only Asian child at his elementary school. His father makes him wear an "I Am Chinese" button so he will not be mistaken for a ... (Wikipedia)

  24. TimeRiders

    by Alex Scarrow
    Three teenagers are recruited to become TimeRiders, tasked with preventing time travel from destroying history.

    Liam O’Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026. Yet moments before death, someone mysteriously appeared ... (Goodreads)

  25. The Secrets We Keep

    by Kate Hewitt
    A woman's idyllic life is shattered when her husband's dark past is revealed, forcing her to confront the secrets she's been keeping from herself.

    ‘Is her life as easy and effortless as it seems from the outside? Or is she feeling lonely, all by herself in that big house, an evening stretching out in front of her just as it is for me?’, When, ... (Barnes & Noble)

  26. The Face of Fear

    by Brian Coffey
    A psychopath terrorizes a woman and her son, forcing them to confront their deepest fears.

    Graham Harris was once one of the world's foremost mountain climbers, until a fall five years earlier left him with a lame leg, a fear of heights...and a frightening psychic ability in which he can ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Summer's Child

    by Diane Chamberlain
    A woman's life is turned upside down when a young girl shows up claiming to be her daughter who was kidnapped years ago.

    Publishers Weekly : Twenty years after 11-year-old Daria Cato found a baby abandoned on a beach in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., she is still very much a part of the child's life. Daria's parent's had ... (Goodreads)

  28. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

    by Betty Smith
    A coming of age story set in Brooklyn, depicting a young girl's struggles and growth.

    The novel is split into five "books", each covering a different period in the characters' lives. Book One opens in 1912 and introduces 11-year-old Francie Nolan, who lives in the Williamsburg ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Between Shades of Gray

    by Ruta Sepetys
    A young girl's story of survival and resilience in the face of oppression during World War II.

    Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family ... (Goodreads)

  30. The Good Liar

    by Catherine McKenzie
    A psychological thriller about a woman who becomes entangled in a web of lies and deceit after befriending a charming and manipulative man.

    Can you hide a secret with the whole world watching?, When an explosion rips apart a Chicago building, the lives of three women are forever altered. A year later, Cecily is in mourning. She was ... (Barnes & Noble)