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Hannah Coulter
by Wendell Berry
A rural family's struggles to survive both the trials of life and the destruction of their beloved land.
Hannah Coulter is Wendell Berry’s seventh novel and his first to employ the voice of a woman character in its telling. Hannah, the now–elderly narrator, recounts the love she has for the land and for ... (Barnes & Noble)
Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson
A reverend's reflections on life in the Midwest, and the lessons of faith and family.
The book is an account of the memories and legacy of John Ames as he remembers his experiences of his father and grandfather to share with his son. All three men share a vocational lifestyle and ... (Wikipedia)
The Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A philosophical exploration of morality, faith, and family dynamics among a group of brothers.
The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich ... (Goodreads)
Till We Have Faces
by C.S. Lewis
An ancient myth re-told, exploring the complexity of divine love and its effects on human life.
The story tells the ancient Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche , from the perspective of Orual, Psyche's older sister. It begins as the complaint of Orual as an old woman, who is bitter at the injustice ... (Wikipedia)
East of Eden
by John Steinbeck
Exploration of the timeless struggle between good and evil, set against a backdrop of a family saga.
In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called East of Eden “the first book,” and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California’s Salinas ... (Goodreads)
Silence
by Shūsaku Endō
A Portuguese priest in Japan faces persecution in pursuit of his faith.
The young Portuguese Jesuit priest Sebastião Rodrigues (based on the historical Italian figure Giuseppe Chiara ) travels to Japan to assist the local Church and investigate reports that his mentor, a ... (Wikipedia)
The Great Divorce
by C.S. Lewis
A spiritual journey through Heaven and Hell, exploring the consequences of our decisions.
The narrator inexplicably finds himself in a grim and joyless city, the "grey town", where it rains continuously, even indoors, which is either Hell or Purgatory depending on whether or not one stays ... (Wikipedia)
Home
by Marilynne Robinson
A family's saga of tragedy and redemption, narrated in a lyrical and thought-provoking manner.
Home parallels the story told in Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead. It is a moving and healing book about families, family secrets, and the passing of the generations, about love and death and ... (Goodreads)
Peace Like a River
by Leif Enger
A young boy's journey of faith, hope, and courage in the midst of tragedy.
Once in a great while, we encounter a novel in our voluminous reading that begs to be read aloud. Leif Enger's debut, Peace Like a River , is one such work. His richly evocative novel, narrated by an ... (Goodreads)
Lila
by Marilynne Robinson
A young woman's journey of self-discovery and exploration of faith and spirituality.
Marilynne Robinson, one of the greatest novelists of our time, returns to the town of Gilead in an unforgettable story of a girlhood lived on the fringes of society in fear, awe, and wonder. Lila, ... (Goodreads)
The Screwtape Letters
by C.S. Lewis
A series of letters between two devils, providing a window into human nature and morality.
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis is a classic masterpiece of religious satire that entertains readers with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of ... (Goodreads)
A River Runs Through it and Other Stories
by Norman Maclean
A series of stories about the life of a family and the relationship between two brothers.
Just as Norman Maclean writes at the end of "A River Runs through It" that he is "haunted by waters," so have readers been haunted by his novella. A retired English professor who began writing ... (Goodreads)
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare
by G.K. Chesterton
A man is recruited to a secret society, only to discover the sinister truth behind it.
In Edwardian-era London, Gabriel Syme is recruited at Scotland Yard to a secret anti- anarchist police corps. Lucian Gregory, an anarchistic poet, lives in the suburb of Saffron Park. Syme meets him ... (Wikipedia)
Cry, the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton
A journey of faith in a divided land, seeking justice and reconciliation.
In the remote village of Ndotsheni, in the Natal province of eastern South Africa , the Reverend Stephen Kumalo receives a letter from a fellow minister summoning him to Johannesburg . He is needed ... (Wikipedia)
The Brothers K
by David James Duncan
Story of the Kavna family and their struggles with faith, morality, and the changing times.
Papa Chance is a former MLB pitcher who has settled down with his wife in the mill town of Camas, Washington . They have six children. Everett Chance, the eldest, is a natural politician and powerful ... (Wikipedia)
Light in August
by William Faulkner
A story of redemption and hope set in the Jim Crow South.
The novel is set in the American South in the 1930s, during the time of Prohibition and Jim Crow laws that legalized racial segregation in the South. It begins with the journey of Lena Grove, a young ... (Wikipedia)
The Power and the Glory
by Graham Greene
A whiskey priest in 1930s Mexico struggles with his faith and morality while on the run from authorities.
The main character is an unnamed 'whisky priest', who combines a great power for self-destruction with pitiful cravenness, an almost painful penitence, and a desperate quest for dignity. , By the ... (Wikipedia)
A Separate Peace
by John Knowles
A coming-of-age story about two boys and their complex friendship set during World War II.
Gene Forrester returns to his old prep school, Devon (a thinly veiled portrayal of Knowles's alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy ), , 15 years after he graduated, to visit two places he regards as ... (Wikipedia)
Infinite Jest
by David Foster Wallace
A journey through the absurdist world of entertainment, drugs, addiction & death.
There are four major interwoven narratives: , These narratives are connected via a film, Infinite Jest , also referred to in the novel as "the Entertainment" or "the samizdat ". The film is so ... (Wikipedia)
Station Eleven
by Emily St. John Mandel
Post-apocalyptic exploration of a world drastically changed after a pandemic.
An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse,, Station Eleven, tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of ... (Barnes & Noble)
All the Pretty Horses
by Cormac McCarthy
A young man's journey of adventure and self-discovery, as he travels from Texas to Mexico.
The novel tells of John Grady Cole, a 16-year-old who grew up on his grandfather's ranch in San Angelo , Texas . The boy was raised for a significant part of his youth, perhaps 15 of his 16 years, by ... (Wikipedia)
Leaves of Grass
by Walt Whitman
An exploration of the relationship between the individual and the divine, viewed through the lens of nature and its rhythms.
A collection of quintessentially American poems, the seminal work of one of the most influential writers of the nineteenth century. ... (Goodreads)
A Light in the Window
by Jan Karon
A heartwarming tale of small-town life, love, and faith. Follow Father Tim as he navigates the ups and downs of his community.
- Readers will enjoy a story from the popular series-packaged bestseller! - Includes new Reader's Guide for group discussion or personal reflection ... (Goodreads)
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)
The Namesake
by Jhumpa Lahiri
A young Indian-American's journey of reconciling two different cultures and his own identity.
The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, a young Bengali couple, leave Calcutta , India, and settle in Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts . Ashoke is an engineering student at the ... (Wikipedia)
The Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan
A Christian allegory of a journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.
The entire book is presented as a dream sequence narrated by an omniscient narrator . The allegory's protagonist, Christian , is an everyman character, and the plot centres on his journey from his ... (Wikipedia)
The Mysterious Howling
by Maryrose Wood
A magical world of adventure and danger, as a young girl discovers a talking dog and mysterious secrets.
The first book in the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place—the acclaimed and hilarious Victorian mystery series by Maryrose Wood, perfect for fans of Lemony Snicket and Trenton Lee Stewart—has a ... (Barnes & Noble)
Silas Marner
by George Eliot
A tale of redemption and a search for a lost love, set in a rural English village.
The novel is set in the early years of the 19th century. Silas Marner, a weaver, is a member of a small Calvinist congregation in Lantern Yard, a slum street in Northern England . He is falsely ... (Wikipedia)
Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
An anti-slavery novel exploring themes of morality, faith, and justice.
The book opens with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby facing the loss of his farm because of debts. Even though he and his wife Emily Shelby believe that they have a benevolent relationship with ... (Wikipedia)
My Name Is Asher Lev
by Chaim Potok
A young boy's struggles to reconcile his faith and identity as a budding artist.
Asher Lev is a boy with a prodigious artistic ability born into a Hasidic Jewish family. During his childhood in the 1950s, in the time of Joseph Stalin and the persecution of Jews and religious ... (Wikipedia)
