Past Kindle Book Deals but Still Must Read Books!
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These Books Earned Our Seal of Approval—Snag Them Before They Vanish (Again)
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942 past books matching Literary Fiction
A sharp fit for readers drawn to dystopian literary fiction with social commentary, violent spectacle, resistance, and moral complexity.
Chain Gang All Stars
Dystopian · Sci-Fi · People of Color · Speculative Fiction
Our take
National Book Award finalist Chain-Gang All-Stars follows Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, imprisoned women and partners who compete in televised death matches for the possibility of freedom. Their story examines the prison system, systemic racism, capitalism, and the transformation of human suffering into entertainment. A sharp fit for readers drawn to dystopian literary fiction with social commentary, violent spectacle, resistance, and moral complexity.
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A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own in this explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black • LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE
“This book is so good. Brutal subject matter, beautiful writing. This one is from the heart.” —Stephen King
A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Elle, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Lit Hub, Kirkus Reviews
“Like Orwell’s 1984 and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Adjei-Brenyah’s book presents a dystopian vision so…illuminating that it should permanently shift our understanding of who we are and what we’re capable of doing.” —The Washington Post
She felt their eyes, all those executioners…
Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of the Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly popular, highly controversial profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.
In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death matches before packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, Thurwar considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games. But CAPE’s corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo, and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar’s path have devastating consequences.
Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors, to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system’s unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a “new and necessary American voice” (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).
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With 4.0 out of 5 stars, Monika Kim’s The Eyes Are the Best Part is a TIME 100 Must-Read and a finalist for the Bram Stoker and Shirley…
The Eyes Are the Best Part
Horror · Asian Fiction · Psychological Horror
Our take
With 4.0 out of 5 stars, Monika Kim’s The Eyes Are the Best Part is a TIME 100 Must-Read and a finalist for the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Awards. A feminist horror about a Korean-American woman’s descent into serial killing, it blends family drama, rage, and cannibalistic nightmares into a chilling, subversive masterpiece.
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“Violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original, this novel pulls readers into a horrific world of murder and cannibalism while also critiquing misogyny, exploring Asian fetishization and stereotypes, sharing what it’s like to navigate two cultures and telling a touching story of a family in turmoil.” —New York Times Book Review
* TIME MAGAZINE 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024 * BRAM STOKER AWARD FINALIST * SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD FINALIST *
Crying in H-Mart meets My Sister, the Serial Killer in this feminist psychological horror about the making of a female serial killer from a Korean-American perspective.
Ji-won’s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her Appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying . . . yet enticing.
In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George’s, who is Umma’s obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family’s claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma’s fawning adoration. No, George doesn’t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.
For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won’s hunger and her rage deserve to be sated.
A brilliantly inventive, subversive novel about a young woman unraveling, Monika Kim’s The Eyes Are the Best Part is a story of a family falling apart and trying to find their way back to each other, marking a bold new voice in horror that will leave readers mesmerized and craving more.
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Roxane Gay’s An Untamed State is a searing debut novel hailed as “commanding” and “breathtaking.” A New York Times–bestselling author and cultural critic, Gay crafts a story of…
An Untamed State
Literary Fiction · Contemporary Fiction · Women's Fiction
Our take
Roxane Gay’s An Untamed State is a searing debut novel hailed as “commanding” and “breathtaking.” A New York Times–bestselling author and cultural critic, Gay crafts a story of kidnapping, resilience, and survival that is as devastating as it is unforgettable. With a 4.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon, this novel is both harrowing and profoundly human.
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Mireille Duval Jameson’s life looks like a modern fairy tale. Daughter of one of Haiti’s wealthiest men, she has a devoted husband, a beloved son, and summers spent on her father’s luxurious estate. But when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight, the illusion shatters.
Imprisoned by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille becomes the bargaining chip in a deadly standoff. Her father refuses to bend, the ransom remains unpaid, and the days of her captivity stretch into unthinkable torment. Each moment chips away at her strength, forcing Mireille to confront the violence of a world where wealth is powerless.
As survival collides with betrayal, Mireille must fight to reclaim not just her freedom, but the woman she was before. Will she ever find her way back?
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A must-read for fans of moving, character-driven historical fiction.
Between Earth and Sky
Historical Fiction · Coming of Age · Indigenous Fiction
Our take
Amanda Skenandore’s award-winning debut Between Earth and Sky is a poignant exploration of friendship, betrayal, and cultural loss. Winner of the American Library Association’s Reading List Award and rated 4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon, this powerful historical novel is as heartbreaking as it is unforgettable. A must-read for fans of moving, character-driven historical fiction.
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In 1906 Philadelphia, Alma Mitchell’s carefully ordered life unravels with one shocking headline: her childhood friend, Harry Muskrat, is accused of murder. Once the brightest student at her father’s “savage-taming” boarding school, Harry—Asku—was stripped of his culture, his name, and his future. Now he faces death not just as a defendant, but as a man broken by the weight of assimilation.
Alma cannot reconcile the courageous boy she knew with the embittered man before her. Determined to save him, she convinces her lawyer husband to take the case. But defending Harry means exposing Alma’s long-buried secrets, the betrayals she has hidden even from her own heart.
As past and present collide, Alma must decide: will the truth destroy her, or finally set her free?
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Signe Pike’s The Lost Queen (4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon) is “Outlander meets Camelot,” a sweeping historical fantasy of love, power, and myth.
The Lost Queen
Literary Fiction · Historical Fiction · Historical Fantasy
Our take
Signe Pike’s The Lost Queen (4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon) is “Outlander meets Camelot,” a sweeping historical fantasy of love, power, and myth. Twin sister to the man remembered as Merlin, Languoreth fights to protect the Old Way as Christianity rises. Spellbinding and cinematic, this novel reclaims the story of a forgotten queen.
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In 6th-century Scotland, a queen’s name was almost erased from history. The Lost Queen restores her story.
Languoreth, twin sister of the druid Lailoken—remembered in legend as Merlin—is intelligent, rebellious, and determined to preserve the Old Way. As Christianity rises and kingdoms clash, she is forced into a marriage that could secure her people’s survival but threatens to silence her heart.
Drawn to the warrior Maelgwn while bound to Rhydderch, son of the High King, Languoreth must walk the knife-edge between love, duty, and power. With her brother at her side and war on the horizon, she stands as one of the last defenders of a vanishing world.
Signe Pike’s The Lost Queen is historical fantasy at its most vivid, moving, and unforgettable.
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Wiley Cash’s The Last Ballad (4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon) is an award-winning, lyrical novel inspired by true events.
The Last Ballad
Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction
Our take
Wiley Cash’s The Last Ballad (4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon) is an award-winning, lyrical novel inspired by true events. In 1929 North Carolina, mill worker Ella May Wiggins risks everything to join the labor movement, defying injustice and facing dangerous opposition. A moving portrait of courage and sacrifice in the fight for workers’ rights.
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In 1929 North Carolina, Ella May Wiggins works grueling night shifts at American Mill No. 2, earning nine dollars a week to support her four children after her husband abandons them. Alongside African American co-workers, she endures dangerous conditions and a community that judges her for demanding fair pay.
When union organizers promise a better future, Ella May sees a glimmer of hope. But the mill owners, backed by powerful allies, are determined to crush the movement, even through violence. On the night of a major rally, she makes a choice that will change her life—and her family’s—forever.
Inspired by true events, The Last Ballad is a haunting, lyrical portrait of courage, sacrifice, and the forgotten heroes of America’s labor movement.
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A woman vanishes into the colonial woods and the line between escape and enchantment begins to blur.
In the House in the Dark of the Woods
Horror · Historical Literary Fiction
Our take
A woman vanishes into the colonial woods and the line between escape and enchantment begins to blur. In In the House in the Dark of the Woods, a Puritan wife wanders deeper into a forest filled with strange encounters and unsettling transformations. As memory, guilt, and folklore intertwine, this lyrical psychological horror traces a haunting journey through witchcraft, identity, and the darker impulses hiding beneath faith and obedience.
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The eerie, disturbing story of one of our perennial fascinations -- witchcraft in colonial America -- wrapped up in a lyrical novel of psychological suspense.
"Once upon a time there was and there wasn't a woman who went to the woods." In this horror story set in colonial New England, a law-abiding Puritan woman goes missing. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.
On a journey that will take her through dark woods full of almost-human wolves, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along.
In the House in the Dark of the Woods is a novel of psychological horror and suspense told in Laird Hunt's characteristically lyrical prose style. It is the story of a bewitching, a betrayal, a master huntress and her quarry. It is a story of anger, of evil, of hatred and of redemption. It is the story of a haunting, a story that makes up the bedrock of American mythology, told in a vivid way you will never forget.
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Perfect for fans of The Queen’s Gambit and The Mercies.
The Instrumentalist
Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction
Our take
Harriet Constable’s The Instrumentalist (4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon) tells the riveting story of Anna Maria della Pietà, an orphan turned violin prodigy under Antonio Vivaldi’s mentorship. Ambition, genius, and betrayal collide in this lush historical novel set in 18th-century Venice. Perfect for fans of The Queen’s Gambit and The Mercies.
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Anna Maria della Pietà was never meant to live, much less become the greatest violinist of her time. Born to a prostitute in 18th-century Venice, she was left at the Pietà orphanage, where most girls faced strict rules and bleak futures. But the Pietà offered one escape—music.
Under the tutelage of Antonio Vivaldi, Anna Maria’s talent becomes extraordinary. She is determined to rise above her station, mastering her craft and capturing audiences with her genius. But Vivaldi’s mentorship comes with a price, and ambition in a world ruled by men is dangerous.
From Venice’s opulent palaces to its shadowed canals, The Instrumentalist is a vivid tale of talent, betrayal, and the cost of greatness, inspired by the true story of Vivaldi’s most gifted and overlooked muse.
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Witty, sensual, and bittersweet, this novel is perfect for fans of Haruki Murakami and Yoko Ogawa.
The Ten Loves of Nishino
Literary Fiction
Our take
Winner of the 2020 PEN Translation Prize, Hiromi Kawakami’s The Ten Loves of Nishino (4.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon) tells the story of an enigmatic man through the voices of ten women who loved him. Witty, sensual, and bittersweet, this novel is perfect for fans of Haruki Murakami and Yoko Ogawa.
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Who is Nishino? Ten women have loved him, each certain they knew him, each telling a different story.
He slips into their lives with feline ease, offering warmth, charm, and sentences that feel like riddles. Sometimes he stays for years, sometimes for an hour, but each encounter leaves a mark—sensual, humorous, bittersweet.
Through ten intimate voices, a portrait emerges, though never fully complete. The Nishino they remember is romantic, reckless, tender, inscrutable. Perhaps the truth lies not in who he is, but in what each woman needed him to be.
Winner of the 2020 PEN Translation Prize, Hiromi Kawakami’s novel is a wry, sensual exploration of love’s many shapes, from fleeting connections to deep bonds, and the mystery at the heart of every relationship.
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Kate Morton’s The Clockmaker’s Daughter (4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon) is a sweeping tale of love, loss, and mystery spanning more than a century.
The Clockmaker’s Daughter
Literary Fiction · Historical Literary Fiction · Historical Mystery · Psychological Fiction
Our take
Kate Morton’s The Clockmaker’s Daughter (4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon) is a sweeping tale of love, loss, and mystery spanning more than a century. When a London archivist discovers a photograph and a sketch of a familiar house, she unravels a haunting story watched over by a woman forgotten by history.
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In the summer of 1862, artist Edward Radcliffe and his friends arrive at Birchwood Manor to create and dream. By the end of their stay, one woman is dead, another has vanished, a priceless heirloom is missing, and Edward’s life is shattered.
More than a century later, London archivist Elodie Winslow discovers a leather satchel containing a photograph of a striking Victorian woman and a sketch of a riverside house she is sure she has seen before.
Drawn into the mysteries of Birchwood Manor, Elodie begins to uncover the tangled stories of love, art, and betrayal hidden within its walls. Watching it all is Birdie Bell, the clockmaker’s daughter, whose name history forgot but whose voice refuses to fade.
Some secrets wait lifetimes to be told.
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A slum girl’s single act of defiance exposes a dangerous, hidden power the ruling magicians fear.
The Magicians’ Guild
Fantasy · Coming of Age · Epic Fantasy
Our take
A slum girl’s single act of defiance exposes a dangerous, hidden power the ruling magicians fear. Hunted across the city, Sonea must survive long enough to learn control or risk destroying everything she knows. This classic epic fantasy earns 4.3 stars on Amazon and 4.0 stars on Goodreads from tens of thousands of readers.
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"We should expect this young woman to be more powerful than our average novice, possibly even more powerful than the average magician."
This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work—until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders . . . and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield.
What the Magicians' Guild has long dreaded has finally come to pass. There is someone outside their ranks who possesses a raw power beyond imagining, an untrained mage who must be found and schooled before she destroys herself and her city with a force she cannot yet control.
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Perfect for fans of epic, intricate worlds and high-stakes wizardry.
Mother of Learning: Arc 1
Fantasy · Coming of Age · Epic Fantasy
Our take
With 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon, Mother of Learning by nobody103 & Domagoj Kurmaic delivers a thrilling time-loop fantasy. Follow Zorian, a sharp but underestimated mage, as he dies, rewinds, and repeats—unraveling dangerous mysteries and mastering magic with each reset. Perfect for fans of epic, intricate worlds and high-stakes wizardry.
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Zorian Kazinski isn’t out to save the world—he just wants out from under his family’s shadow. A third-year student at Cyoria’s magical academy, he’s determined to graduate, get stronger, and control his own future. No time for distractions, no patience for other people’s problems.
Then he dies.
On the eve of the summer festival, Zorian is murdered and wakes up at the start of the month, alive but trapped in a time loop. Again. And again. And again.
Now, he has endless chances to perfect his skills, uncover dangerous secrets, and figure out why he’s stuck in the loop at all. But not everyone wants him to succeed, and magic can be just as deadly the hundredth time as the first.
How many tries before time finally runs out?
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