Sweeping Sagas to Lose a Weekend To

The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd
Set in early 19th-century Charleston, The Invention of Wings centers on 11-year-old Sarah Grimke and 10-year-old “Handful,” Sarah’s enslaved handmaid. We follow the two for the next 35 years, bearing witness to the ways in which each woman’s destiny is shaped by the cultural restrictions and expectations of the day. The relationship between Handful and Sarah is essentially the story’s third main character; the women are bound by duty, history, and even love, but are equally repelled by resentment and guilt. Historic Charleston is the grand, tragically flawed backdrop against which each woman fights to attain her true potential. Inspired by the true story of early abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sarah Grimke, this tale brings a dark chapter of American history to vivid life. Readers will be as horrified by the injustices of slavery as they are awed by the heroism of those who fought against it.

Revival, by Stephen King
Jamie Morton is a young boy when the Reverend Charles Jacobs comes to town. The reverend and his charming wife seem to have a dazzling effect on all the townspeople, but a particular bond is formed between the reverend and Jamie. When tragedy strikes the town, somehow the charismatic reverend is at the center of the chaos. Jacobs is exiled from the town and disappears from Jamie’s life. While trying to drown his sorrows in a rock’n’roll lifestyle years later, Jamie crosses paths with the good reverend once again. What follows is the culmination of years of longing, grief, and desperation, and is sure to leave both men irrevocably changed. This is King’s writing at its absolute best—eerie, purposeful, and with a palpable sense of urgency that paves the way for a sucker punch of an ending.

The Boston Girl, by Anita Diamant
Have you ever asked a grandparent to tell you a story? This book will inspire you to do just that, if you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity. In The Boston Girl, 85-year-old Addie Baum’s granddaughter does, and she doesn’t regret it. Addie’s tale begins in 1915, when she has just begun to come into her own as the daughter of immigrant parents in Boston’s rough-and-tumble North End. As a young girl whose parents are distrustful of life in America, Addie tries to straddle two worlds: that of an obedient daughter and a modern girl who longs for all life has to offer. Despite poverty, discrimination, and crushing heartache, Addie learns to find her voice. This novel boasts stunning attention to historical detail as well as a poignant, heartfelt narrative voice.

We are Not Ourselves, by Matthew Thomas
When Eileen Tumulty meets Ed Leary, she’s certain their union will mean a better life than the one she grew up with. Under the weight of poverty and alcoholism that plagued her family in post–World War II New York, she vowed to strive for more than her humble roots could afford. But Ed doesn’t share Eileen’s vision, or her hunger for the finer trappings of the American dream. Their marriage is not without love, but for Eileen, that love seems forever on the brink of a losing battle with frustration and despair. Eileen, Ed, and their son Connell must strive to find happiness in a changing world. Thomas’s masterful first novel pulls no punches—i’s a profoundly honest account of the imperfections that make us human.

A Fall of Marigolds, by Susan Meissner
A Fall of Marigolds tells the story of two women harrowed by grief a century apart, their lives connected by an ornate scarf. Clara Wood loses her husband in a tragic factory fire in 1911, and in 2011, Taryn Michaels continues to grieve her husband’s death in the collapse of the Twin Towers a decade earlier. Each woman wrestles with the weight of her sorrow, struggling to balance the pain of mourning with the joy of living. The threads of the scarf connect the two across an ocean of time, weaving Clara and Taryn’s stories together into a shared portrait of the human struggle for redemption. A Fall of Marigolds is an elegant love letter to love itself: nurturing, laced with sorrow, and possessed of awe-inspiring beauty.