Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Social Injustice
The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
A family's struggle to survive the Great Depression, their journey in search of a new life.
The narrative begins just after Tom Joad is paroled from McAlester prison , where he had been incarcerated after being convicted of homicide in self-defense. While hitchhiking to his home near ... (Wikipedia)
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë
An orphan's journey of love, independence and morality in a harsh world.
Jane Eyre is divided into 38 chapters. It was originally published in three volumes in the 19th century, comprising chapters 1 to 15, 16 to 27, and 28 to 38. The second edition was dedicated to ... (Wikipedia)
Orphan Train
by Christina Baker Kline
A story of two women's intertwined lives, spanning generations and crossing continents.
The #1 New York Times Bestseller “A lovely novel about the search for family that also happens to illuminate a fascinating and forgotten chapter of America’s history. Beautiful.”—Ann Packer Moving ... (Barnes & Noble)
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 Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
A dystopian future where women are oppressed and used as a commodity.
After a staged attack that killed the President of the United States and most of Congress , a radical political group called the "Sons of Jacob" uses quasi-Christian ideology to launch a revolution . ... (Wikipedia)
Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools
by Jonathan Kozol
An exposé of the disparities in America's public education system and its effects on children.
National Book Award-winning author Jonathan Kozol presents his shocking account of the American educational system in this stunning "New York Times" bestseller, which has sold more than 250,000 ... (Goodreads)
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye
by David Lagercrantz
A young woman's quest for justice, taking vengeance against those who have wronged her.
Lisbeth Salander is serving a two month jail sentence for the crimes she committed while protecting August Balder. After threats arise against her, she is transferred to maximum security Flodberga ... (Wikipedia)
Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
A black man's journey towards self-actualization in a world of racial oppression.
The narrator, an unnamed black man, begins by describing his living conditions: an underground room wired with hundreds of electric lights, operated by power stolen from the city's electric grid. He ... (Wikipedia)
Disgrace
by J.M. Coetzee
A professor's fall from grace in post-apartheid South Africa, reckoning with the consequences of his actions.
David Lurie is a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his own ... (Wikipedia)
The Final Empire
by Brandon Sanderson
A fantasy quest to overthrow an oppressive regime, testing the courage and strength of a young hero.
What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland?, Mistborn For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a ... (Goodreads)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy
A young woman's struggles against societal expectations, and her journey of resilience and self-realization.
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141439594 . When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting ... (Goodreads)
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
by Trevor Noah
Memoir of a young boy’s struggle to survive in a dangerous and divided apartheid South Africa.
The memoir of one man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of ... (Goodreads)
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
by Malala Yousafzai
A young girl's fight for the right to education despite Taliban oppression.
I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday. When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai ... (Goodreads)
Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A letter to his son, exploring the realities of racism in America.
“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American ... (Goodreads)
A Modest Proposal
by Jonathan Swift
A satirical essay that mocks British policies in Ireland and offers a shocking solution.
The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
A young woman's story of resilience, finding her voice and identity against the odds.
Celie is a poor, uneducated 14-year-old girl living in the Southern United States in the early 1900s. She writes letters to God because the man she thought was her father, Alphonso, beats and rapes ... (Wikipedia)
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A story of compassion and generosity in the face of greed and corruption.
The Rosewater Foundation was founded by United States Senator Lister Ames Rosewater of Indiana to help Rosewater descendants avoid paying taxes on the family estate in Rosewater County. It is ... (Wikipedia)
The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
A young girl's struggle to stand up for justice in the face of racial injustice.
Starr Carter is a 16-year-old black girl, who lives in the mostly poor black neighborhood of Garden Heights, but attends an affluent predominantly white private school, Williamson Prep. After a ... (Wikipedia)
Alias Grace
by Margaret Atwood
A psychological thriller that examines the true story of a 19th century Canadian murderess.
Grace Marks, the convicted murderess, has been hired out from prison to serve as a domestic servant in the home of the Governor of the penitentiary. A Committee of gentlemen and ladies from the ... (Wikipedia)
Les Misérables
by Victor Hugo
Epic tale of love, loss, and redemption set against the backdrop of 19th-century France.
The story begins in 1815 in Digne , as the peasant Jean Valjean , just released from 19 years' imprisonment in the Bagne of Toulon —five for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family and ... (Wikipedia)
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
by Gregory Maguire
Retelling of the "Wizard of Oz" from the perspective of the Wicked Witch, exploring her motivations and journey.
The novel is a political, social, and ethical commentary on the nature of good and evil and takes place in the Land of Oz , in the years leading to Dorothy's arrival. The story centers on Elphaba , ... (Wikipedia)
The Girl Who Played with Fire
by Stieg Larsson
A female journalist and computer hacker investigates a series of murders, uncovering a dangerous conspiracy.
Part blistering espionage thriller, part riveting police procedural, and part piercing exposé on social injustice, The Girl Who Played with Fire is a masterful, endlessly satisfying novel. Mikael ... (Goodreads)
El coronel no tiene quien le escriba / No One Writes to the Colonel
by Gabriel García Márquez
A poor colonel's struggles to support his family amidst political and social turmoil.
The novel, written between 1956 and 1957 while living in Paris in the Hotel des Trois Colleges , and first published in 1961, , is the story of an impoverished, retired colonel , a veteran of the ... (Wikipedia)
The Invisible Man
by H.G. Wells
A scientist's journey to invisibility which leads to a descent into madness.
A mysterious man, Griffin, referred to as 'the stranger', arrives at the local inn owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hall of the English village of Iping , West Sussex, during a snowstorm. The stranger wears a ... (Wikipedia)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
by Stieg Larsson
Final installment of the Millennium Trilogy, following a female hacker's fight for justice.
The book begins as Lisbeth Salander is flown to Sahlgrenska Hospital . It picks up where The Girl Who Played with Fire left off. After surgery, Salander is moved to an intensive care ward under ... (Wikipedia)
Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street
by Warren Ellis
A journalist navigates a dystopian world, exposing corruption and social injustices.
After years of self-imposed exile from a civilization rife with degradation and indecency, cynical journalist Spider Jerusalem is forced to return to a job that he hates and a city that he loathes. ... (Goodreads)
A Streetcar Named Desire
by Tennessee Williams
A woman's struggle to come to terms with her past and present in a post-war New Orleans.
After the loss of her family home to creditors, Blanche DuBois travels from the small town of Laurel, Mississippi , to the New Orleans French Quarter to live with her younger married sister, Stella , ... (Wikipedia)
Arch of Triumph: A Novel of a Man Without a Country
by Erich Maria Remarque
A refugee's struggle for survival in a world of turmoil and violence in 1930s Europe.
Set in 1939, and, despite having no permission to perform surgery, Ravic, a very accomplished German surgeon and a stateless refugee living in Paris, has been ghost-operating on patients for two ... (Wikipedia)
The Fifth Season
by N.K. Jemisin
A world where seismic and magical disasters ravage the land, and a woman's journey to save humanity.
In a prologue, an extraordinarily powerful orogene discusses the sad state of the world and laments the oppression of his race. He then uses his enormous power to fracture the entire continent along ... (Wikipedia)
Motherless Brooklyn
by Jonathan Lethem
A detective investigates a powerful crime syndicate in New York City.
Lionel Essrog is Brooklyn’s very own self-appointed Human Freakshow, an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart our language in the most startling and original ways. ... (Goodreads)
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander
Exploring the roots and reality of systemic racism in the U.S. criminal justice system.
"Jarvious Cotton's great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Klu Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting ... (Goodreads)
The Crucible
by Arthur Miller
A group of teenage girls face accusations of witchcraft in a puritanical society.
"I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote of his classic play about the witch-hunts and ... (Goodreads)
Parable of the Sower
by Octavia E. Butler
A post-apocalyptic story of survival, hope, and the power of community.
This highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from award-winning author Octavia E. Butler "pairs well with, 1984, or, The Handmaid's Tale," (John Green,, New York Times,)–now with a ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
by Elizabeth George Speare
A young girl's struggles to find her place in a Puritan Connecticut town.
In April 1687, 16-year-old Katherine Tyler (known throughout the story as Kit Tyler) leaves her home in Barbados after her grandfather dies and a 50-year-old man tries to marry her. She relocates to ... (Wikipedia)
Go Tell It on the Mountain
by James Baldwin
A young boy's struggle to reconcile his faith and family with his own identity.
“,Mountain,” Baldwin said, “is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else.”, Go Tell It on the Mountain, originally published in 1953, is Baldwin’s first major work, a novel ... (Barnes & Noble)
Before We Were Yours
by Lisa Wingate
Family torn apart is reunited across generations, revealing a powerful tale of resilience and hope.
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the ... (Goodreads)
Assata: An Autobiography
by Assata Shakur
A powerful memoir of her struggles and triumphs in the face of racism and oppression.
On May 2, 1973, Black Panther Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Chesimard) lay in a hospital, close to death, handcuffed to her bed, while local, state, and federal police attempted to question her about the ... (Goodreads)
The Daughter of Time
by Josephine Tey
Detective investigates the mystery of King Richard III, uncovering the truth behind his reputation.
Alan Grant, Scotland Yard Inspector (a character who also appears in five other novels by the same author) is feeling bored while confined to bed in hospital with a broken leg. Marta Hallard, an ... (Wikipedia)
The Jungle
by Upton Sinclair
An expose of the brutal working conditions in the early 20th century meatpacking industry.
Jurgis Rudkus marries his fifteen-year-old sweetheart, Ona Lukoszaite, in a joyous traditional Lithuanian wedding feast. They and their extended family have recently immigrated to Chicago due to ... (Wikipedia)
Unwind
by Neal Shusterman
A dystopian future world where teenagers are subjected to a “harvesting” process that splits them apart.
Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives. The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age ... (Goodreads)
The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin
Reflection on the plight of African Americans in a candid and deeply moving essay.
A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James ... (Goodreads)
The Lathe of Heaven
by Ursula K. Le Guin
An exploration of the power of dreams, with the potential to reshape reality.
The book is set in Portland, Oregon , in the year 2002. Portland has three million inhabitants and continuous rain. It is deprived enough for the poorer inhabitants to have kwashiorkor , a protein ... (Wikipedia)
A Christmas Carol / The Chimes / The Cricket on the Hearth
by Charles Dickens
Stories of redemption and hope, showing the power of the spirit of Christmas.
A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth , by Charles Dickens , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student ... (Barnes & Noble)
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
by Erik Larson
A family's struggle to cope with the darkness of Nazi Germany, as seen through one man's courage.
The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from ... (Goodreads)
A Fine Balance
by Rohinton Mistry
A gripping story of four unlikely lives intertwined in the tumult of India's caste system.
The book exposes the changes in Indian society from independence in 1947 to the Emergency called by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi . Mistry was generally critical of Indira Gandhi in the book. ... (Wikipedia)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell
A horse's journey through life, as he experiences various owners and circumstances.
The story is narrated in the first person as an autobiographical memoir told by the titular horse named Black Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a foal on an English farm with his mother, to ... (Wikipedia)
A Drink Before the War
by Dennis Lehane
Private detectives investigate a kidnapping case, uncovering dark secrets of the city.
Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro receive a job from three state politicians, Sterling Mulkern, Jim Vurnan and Brian Paulson, to recover documents from a former cleaning ... (Wikipedia)
How the Light Gets In
by Louise Penny
Detective Armand Gamache investigates a murder in a small Canadian town, uncovering secrets and lies.
Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it's a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive ... (Goodreads)
Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers
A man's struggle to survive and reunite with his family amidst the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria. After a few years of apprenticeship in the Syrian port city of Jableh , Zeitoun spent twenty years working at sea as a muscleman, engineer and fisherman. During ... (Wikipedia)
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
by Victor Hugo
A story of love, loyalty and redemption set amidst the stunning architecture of 15th century Paris.
The story is set in Paris in 1482 during the reign of Louis XI . The Romani Esmeralda (born as Agnes) captures the hearts of many men, including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire , but ... (Wikipedia)
All Over But the Shoutin'
by Rick Bragg
Memoir of a young man's journey from poverty to achieving the American Dream.
The extraordinary gifts for evocation and insight and the stunning talent for storytelling that earned Rick Bragg a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1996 are here brought to bear on the ... (Goodreads)
Black Boy
by Richard Wright
Autobiographical account of a young black man's struggle against racism and oppression.
A special 75th anniversary edition of Richard Wright's powerful and unforgettable memoir, with a new foreword by John Edgar Wideman and an afterword by Malcolm Wright, the author’s grandson. When it ... (Barnes & Noble)
Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones
Exposé of the opioid crisis in America, from its origins to its devastating effects.
In fascinating detail, Sam Quinones chronicles how, over the past 15 years, enterprising sugar cane farmers in a small county on the west coast of Mexico created a unique distribution system that ... (Goodreads)
Cathedral of the Sea
by Ildefonso Falcones
A tale of intrigue, romance, and bravery set in medieval Spain.
The book is set in Barcelona and its main character is Arnau Estanyol, the son of a fugitive serf and one of the cathedral's stone workers, , who obtains freedom and eventually achieves a high status ... (Wikipedia)
Nickel and Dimed: On
by Barbara Ehrenreich
A journalist's exploration of poverty in the U.S., exposing the struggles of low-wage workers.
Millions of Americans work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which ... (Goodreads)
Calling Me Home
by Julie Kibler
An interracial friendship between two women, challenged by the realities of racial prejudice.
Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler is a soaring debut interweaving the story of a heartbreaking, forbidden love in 1930s Kentucky with an unlikely modern-day friendship. Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle ... (Goodreads)
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
by Randy Shilts
A history of the AIDS epidemic and its impact on the world, politics, and individuals.
By the time Rock Hudson's death in 1985 alerted all America to the danger of the AIDS epidemic, the disease had spread across the nation, killing thousands of people and emerging as the greatest ... (Goodreads)
The Feminine Mystique
by Betty Friedan
A groundbreaking exploration of the dissatisfaction felt by women in the 1950s and beyond.
Landmark, groundbreaking, classic—these adjectives barely do justice to the pioneering vision and lasting impact of The Feminine Mystique . Published in 1963, it gave a pitch-perfect description of ... (Goodreads)
Shadow of the Giant
by Orson Scott Card
A revolution of conscience and courage, led by a man seeking justice in a dangerous world.
A belief is spreading in conquered China that the government has lost the Mandate of Heaven . Han Tzu meets up with Mazer Rackham , who passes him a blow dart pen, calling it the "Mandate of Heaven". ... (Wikipedia)
The Last Child
by John Hart
A suspenseful mystery about a family's search for their missing son, uncovering a dark conspiracy.
Winner of the 2010 Edgar Award for Best Novel, John Hart's, New York Times, bestselling debut,, The King of Lies, announced the arrival of a major talent. With, Down, River, he surpassed his earlier ... (Barnes & Noble)
Red Rising
by Pierce Brown
An oppressed society's revolution against their oppressive overlords, led by a young man with a hidden destiny.
It has been seven hundred years since mankind colonized other planets. The powerful ruling class of humans has installed a rigid, color-based social hierarchy where the physically superior Golds at ... (Wikipedia)
Dodger
by Terry Pratchett
A street urchin's journey of survival, maturation, and self-discovery through the labyrinthine streets of Victorian London.
One night on the streets of London, a battered young woman leaps from a carriage , followed and assaulted by two men. The protagonist Dodger, a street urchin and tosher , emerging from a sewer drain, ... (Wikipedia)
The Overcoat
by Nikolai Gogol
A tale of a lowly bureaucrat's journey to reclaim his sense of self-worth.
The story narrates the life and death of titular councillor Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin (Russian: Акакий Акакиевич Башмачкин), an impoverished government clerk and copyist in the Russian capital of ... (Wikipedia)
The Running Man
by Richard Bachman
A man's journey fighting for his life in a deadly game, facing impossible odds.
In 2025, the world's economy is in shambles and America has become a totalitarian dystopia. 28-year-old Ben Richards, an impoverished resident of the fictional Co-Op City, is unable to find work, ... (Wikipedia)
The Vagina Monologues
by Eve Ensler
A collection of stories and monologues celebrating the power and complexity of female sexuality.
The Vagina Monologues is made up of various personal monologues read by a diverse group of women. Originally, Eve Ensler performed every monologue herself, with subsequent performances featuring ... (Wikipedia)
A Brief History of Seven Killings
by Marlon James
A fictionalized account of the attempted assassination of Bob Marley, exploring the history of Jamaica.
On December 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert, gunmen stormed his house, machine guns blazing. The attack nearly ... (Goodreads)
Batman: The Killing Joke
by Alan Moore
Dark tale of psychological warfare between Batman and the Joker.
Critically acclaimed author Alan Moore redefined graphic novel story-telling with, Watchmen, and, V for Vendetta,. In, Batman: The Killing Joke, he takes on the origin of comics' greatest ... (Barnes & Noble)
Champion
by Marie Lu
A teenage boy's quest to save his city from a deadly virus, while unlocking his own hidden power.
After the events of, Prodigy, , Daniel "Day" Altan Wing now lives as a free citizen in San Francisco with his younger brother, Eden Bataar. Following several months of no communication, Day is ... (Wikipedia)
The Rainmaker
by John Grisham
A young lawyer's quest to bring justice to a family in need.
Rudy Baylor is about to graduate from Memphis State Law School . He secures a position with a Memphis law firm , who then loses his job when the firm is bought out by the large Memphis law firm ... (Wikipedia)
The Dollhouse
by Fiona Davis
A woman unravels the secrets of a historic New York City apartment building and confronts dark secrets from the past.
Fiona Davis's stunning debut novel pulls readers into the lush world of New York City's glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women, where in the 1950s a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and ... (Goodreads)
Island Beneath the Sea
by Isabel Allende
Epic story of a young slave's journey of resilience, emancipation and freedom.
The story opens on the island of Saint-Domingue (current day La Hispaniola ) in the late 18th century. Zarité (known as Tété) is the daughter of an African mother she never knew and one of the white ... (Wikipedia)
Native Son
by Richard Wright
A young African American man's exploration of his identity, facing the harsh realities of systemic racism.
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black ... (Goodreads)
The Red and the Black
by Stendhal
A young man's ambitious rise in 19th century French society, as he navigates through its politics and passions.
In two volumes,, The Red and the Black: A Chronicle of the 19th Century, tells the story of Julien Sorel's life in France's rigid social structure restored after the disruptions of the French ... (Wikipedia)
Murder Must Advertise
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Detective story featuring Lord Peter Wimsey in a race against time to solve a mysterious murder.
Death Bredon arrives at Pym's Publicity Ltd, an advertising agency, to take up the post of junior copywriter. He is assigned the room of his predecessor Victor Dean, who has died in a fall down the ... (Wikipedia)
The Miserable Mill
by Lemony Snicket
A young boy faces danger and misfortune at a sinister mill in a mysterious town.
Violet , Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire are traveling on a train heading for Paltryville, the location of the children's new home, the Lucky Smells Lumbermill. Upon arrival, the children learn that they ... (Wikipedia)
Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad
by Ellen Levine
A slave's courageous escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad.
A stirring, dramatic story of a slave who mails himself to freedom by a Jane Addams Peace Award-winning author and a Coretta Scott King Award-winning artist. Henry Brown doesn't know how old he is. ... (Barnes & Noble)
Jasper Jones
by Craig Silvey
An Australian coming-of-age story, exploring racial prejudice and the power of friendship.
The protagonist Charlie Bucktin is a quiet, book loving, 13-year-old boy who lives in the fictitious rural town of Corrigan, Western Australia. On a summer evening in 1965, Charlie receives an ... (Wikipedia)
The House of the Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer
A gripping sci-fi story of a boy's fight for survival in a world of clones and immortality.
This story is set in the country of Opium, a narrow strip of land between Mexico (now called Aztlán ), and the United States , which is ruled by the original Matteo Alacrán, or El Patrón, an ... (Wikipedia)
Killing Jesus: A History
by Bill O'Reilly
A detailed account of the life and death of Jesus Christ and the events that led up to it.
Millions of readers have thrilled to bestselling authors Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln , page-turning works of nonfiction that have changed the way ... (Goodreads)
Gathering Blue
by Lois Lowry
A young girl's story of struggle and resilience in a post-apocalyptic world.
In her strongest work to date, Lois Lowry once again creates a mysterious but plausible future world. It is a society ruled by savagery and deceit that shuns and discards the weak. Left orphaned and ... (Goodreads)
The Vile Village
by Lemony Snicket
A group of children escape a village of criminals and uncover a dark conspiracy.
The book begins with the Baudelaires awaiting a new guardian. Their new guardians name was Count Olaf which is an actor, villain and a murderer. Mr Poe gives a brochure to the Baudelaire orphans ... (Wikipedia)
Pretty Baby
by Mary Kubica
Psychological thriller of a mysterious woman and her hidden past, and the family that takes her in.
“Thrilling and illuminating…[,Pretty Baby,] raises the ante on the genre and announces the welcome second coming of a talent well worth watching.” —,LA Times,Heidi Wood has always been a charitable ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Constant Gardener
by John le Carré
A diplomatic couple uncover a sinister conspiracy while investigating a suspicious death in Africa.
Justin Quayle, a British diplomat in Nairobi , Kenya , is told that his activist wife, Tessa, was killed while travelling with a doctor friend in a desolate region of Africa . Investigating on his ... (Wikipedia)
Goliath
by Scott Westerfeld
A young girl's quest for freedom in a future dystopia, risking all for a better life.
Alek and Deryn are abroad the Leviathan when the ship is ordered to pick up an unusual passenger. This brilliant/maniacal inventor claims to have a weapon called Goliath that can end the war. But ... (Goodreads)
Flight Behavior
by Barbara Kingsolver
A woman's struggle to reconcile her faith and environmentalism as she faces a mysterious ecological disaster.
Dellarobia Turnbow is a 28-year-old discontented housewife living with her poor family on a farm in Appalachia . On a hike to begin an affair with a telephone repairman, Turnbow finds millions of ... (Wikipedia)
Long Way Down
by Jason Reynolds
A young boy's journey of grief and redemption, as he seeks retribution for his brother's death.
William Holloman is ready to exact vengeance on the person who murdered his older brother, Shawn. As Will rides the elevator down from his 8th-floor apartment at each floor a new person, who is dead, ... (Wikipedia)
Girl Waits with Gun
by Amy Stewart
A young woman's quest for justice, and her unexpected journey of bravery and empowerment.
A novel based on the forgotten true story of one of the nation’s first female deputy sheriffs. Constance Kopp doesn’t quite fit the mold. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or ... (Goodreads)
The Story of Beautiful Girl
by Rachel Simon
A love story between two people with intellectual disabilities, on a journey to find home and belonging.
It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution, the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, and ... (Goodreads)
Rage
by Richard Bachman
A young man takes on an entire town to avenge his brother's death.
Charlie Decker, a Maine high school senior, is called to a meeting with his principal about a previous incident in which he struck his chemistry teacher with a pipe wrench, leading to the teacher's ... (Wikipedia)
House of Sand and Fog
by Andre Dubus III
A struggle between a displaced family and an ambitious sheriff, wrestling with questions of truth and justice.
The novel begins by introducing Massoud Behrani, a former Iranian air force colonel who fled from Iran after the Iranian Revolution . Because his background is military rather than professional, he ... (Wikipedia)
This Earth Of Mankind
by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
A family saga set in colonial Indonesia, exploring the effects of oppression and injustice.
This Earth of Mankind tells the story of Minke, a Javanese minor royal who studies at a Hogere Burger School (HBS) in an era when only the descendants of the European colonizers can expect to attain ... (Wikipedia)
Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail
by Rusty Young
Unforgettable story of an English drug smuggler's experience in Bolivia's notorious San Pedro prison.
Rusty Young was backpacking in South America when he heard about Thomas McFadden, a convicted English drug trafficker who ran tours inside Bolivia's notorious San Pedro prison. Intrigued, the young ... (Goodreads)
Running Out of Time
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
A young girl discovers a sinister secret in her 19th-century village and must save her people.
Jessie Keyser is a 13-year-old girl from the village of Clifton, Indiana, in the 1840s. During a village-wide outbreak of diphtheria , Jessie's mother reveals it is really 1996, and Clifton Village ... (Wikipedia)
Page
by Tamora Pierce
A young girl's quest to become a knight, fighting against an oppressive regime.
Kel, though allowed to continue her training by instructor Wyldon of Cavall, is still not accepted by many of the male pages, and is therefore supported by Neal, Merric, Cleon, and Owen against ... (Wikipedia)
Of Love and Shadows
by Isabel Allende
A young woman's journey of courage, fighting for justice in a repressive and dangerous society.
Irene is a magazine editor living under the shadow of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Francisco is a handsome photographer and he comes to Irene for a job. As a sympathizer with the underground ... (Wikipedia)
The Boy in the Suitcase
by Lene Kaaberbøl
A nurse discovers an abandoned suitcase containing a young boy, uncovering a sinister criminal network.
Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is a compulsive do-gooder who can’t say no when someone asks for help—even when she knows better. When her estranged friend Karin leaves her a ... (Goodreads)
Lost Girls
by Angela Marsons
A female detective's race to find a serial killer who preys on young women.
Two girls go missing. Only one will return. The couple that offers the highest amount will see their daughter again. The losing couple will not. Make no mistake. One child will die. When ... (Goodreads)
Orbiting Jupiter
by Gary D. Schmidt
Told through the eyes of a young boy, a story of redemption, love, and family.
When Jack meets his new foster brother, he already knows three things about him: Joseph almost killed a teacher. He was incarcerated at a place called Stone Mountain. He has a daughter. Her name is ... (Goodreads)
Never Fade
by Alexandra Bracken
A girl with superhuman powers fights for survival in a world that wants to silence her.
Ruby never asked for the abilities that almost cost her her life. Now she must call upon them on a daily basis, leading dangerous missions to bring down a corrupt government and breaking into the ... (Goodreads)
Invisible
by James Patterson
A teenage girl's fight to survive in a world in which she is invisible to everyone around her.
Emmy Dockery is an FBI research analyst on leave. She has been obsessed with a large number of fires in which a single person always died, including one involving her sister. Local authorities, ... (Wikipedia)
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