2023 B&N Book Club Picks 

This twisty and bold debut is an unforgettable story about a “self-made” widow who helps other women get rid of their no-good husbands. We’re still talking about this witty and tender story with its terrific cast of characters. Listen to Parini Shroff on our Poured Over podcast as she talks about how the novel started as a short story and more.  

The Snow Hare is a moving novel about a woman facing impossible odds — and finding hope. Inspired by her own grandmother’s experiences in a Siberian work camp, this is a story of sadness and love, courage and loss. Paula Lichtarowicz wrote about her grandmother’s experiences in this exclusive guest post for B&N Reads.  

A beautiful novel about the bond between mothers and daughters, The Daughters of Madurai is a haunting story about family dynamics with a mystery at the center. Rajasree Variyar’s guest post about how far women’s rights have come and how far they still have to go is here on our B&N Reads blog. 

A barn-burner of a novel packed with secrets and scandal set in Prohibition-era Virginia from the bestselling author of the now classic memoir, The Glass Castle. We taped Jeanette’s episode of our Poured Over podcast live at our flagship store on New York City’s Union Square, which you might have seen in CBS’s Saturday Morning’s segment on Jeannette and Hang the Moon.

This is an ode to sisterhood, storytelling, and hope involving two young girls after they’re sent from London to the English countryside during World War II. A mysterious book set in an imaginary world connects past and present and sends one woman back on the hunt for her missing sister. Patti Callahan Henry writes about the power of stories to change lives on our B&N Reads blog. 

Inspired by his own mother’s experiences in WWII, Luis Alberto Urrea’s Good Night, Irene, is a loving tribute to friendship and heroism. This empathetic chronicle of love and heartbreak and war is a testament to a group of women whose stories were all but lost. Listen to Luis Alberto Urrea on our Poured Over podcast as he talks about his mother, what surprised him while writing it and more.  

The bestselling author of the memoir, Wild Game, delivers an atmospheric family drama set on the unruly outskirts of Cape Cod that gives readers plenty of fodder for book club discussions. Adrienne talks about creating her detailed characters, writing intuitively and more on our Poured Over podcast.

Ann Patchett, bestselling author of Commonwealth and The Dutch House returns with an affecting portrait of the way love reverberates through generations, and the lives parents lead before their children arrive. Ann Patchett talks about the influences that went into this book, wanting to write a happy book and more on our Poured Over podcast.

The search for a missing father begins to unwind a tangle of family secrets in this riveting new novel from the bestselling author of Miracle Creek. Part page-turning mystery, domestic drama and philosophic inquiry into the nature of language, Happiness Falls is a wholly original and memorable novel. Listen to Angie Kim talk about disability awareness in fiction, how she started writing and more on our Poured Over podcast.  

Trek to the Klondike when you pick up The Prospectors, an expansive story of one family’s fight for gold — and their legacy. From the icy Canadian wilderness to California at the start of the 20th Century, this novel interrogates one family’s ambition, greed and loyalties as the effects of the Yukon Gold Rush ripple across generations.

National Book Award-winner Alice McDermott (The Ninth Hour and Charming Billy) returns with a riveting story about women’s lives during the Vietnam War. A compelling story about two American women in Saigon, this elegant novel is a reminder that even the best intentions can’t absolve us from the hurt we cause.