Readers’ Choice: Our Top 25 Most Popular Books of the Year!

A travel writer assigned to review a luxury cruise vacation witnesses a terrifying murder. But all the passengers remain accounted for—and as the ship sails on, she must attempt to convince the other passengers that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

A splendid mix of THE MISTS OF AVALON and your favorite Philippa Gregory novel, THE LOST QUEEN has it all: romance, bloodshed, and betrayal. This thrilling read reveals the untold story of Languoreth—a forgotten queen of sixth-century Scotland and the twin sister of the man who inspired the legend of Merlin.

Eighty-four-year-old Florence has fallen in her flat at Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly. As she waits to be rescued, she thinks about her lifelong friend Elsie and wonders if a terrible secret from their past is about to come to light. Is the charming new resident who suddenly appeared who he claims to be? Why does he look exactly like a man who died sixty years ago? And why will no one listen to her concerns?

On the morning of April 29, 1986, the stacks at the Los Angeles Public Library were consumed by flames. The fire was disastrous: it reached 2,000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, Susan Orlean delivers a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling book that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before.

For fans of BIG LITTLE LIES and the long list of suburban thrillers taking over our reading lists, have you read any Lisa Jewell lately? This month’s Book Club Favorites pick, WATCHING YOU is a heart-pounding domestic mystery with twists and turns—a perfect companion for the last few weeks of summer. In Melville Heights—one of the finest neighborhoods in Bristol, England—a shocking murder reveals secret obsessions that date back twenty years, involving a beloved headmaster, his son, and a student. A Lisa Jewell novel is not to be missed.  

Stephen Markley’s debut explores in lyrical prose many of our hot-button topics: financial recession, the opioid crisis, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, climate change, and increasingly tense racial and political dynamics. One night in summer 2013, four former classmates find themselves together again in their small Ohio town, each haunted and harrowed by the reality of life in our day and age. Murder, drugs, depression, love, and loss will keep you turning the pages of this not-to-miss novel.

Ruth Ware is one of our—and your—favorite writers. First we obsessed over IN A DARK, DARK WOOD, and then we couldn’t stop talking about THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10. Now THE LYING GAME has our full attention. Ruth Ware’s latest thriller is an atmospheric, twisty novel about four friends whose past lies come back to haunt them. It will keep you on your toes until the last page.

Based on a true story, this ambitious novel sweeps from Berlin at the brink of the Second World War to Cuba on the cusp of revolution to New York in the wake of September 11. If your book club loves historical fiction on World War II, they’ll adore this debut about 12-year-old Hannah Rosenthal, who flees Nazi-occupied Germany with her family and best friend—only to discover that the asylum they have been promised is an illusion.

Edith Eger is one of the few living Holocaust survivors to remember the horrors of the camps. She was 16 when the Nazis came to her hometown in Hungary and took her Jewish family to an internment center and then to Auschwitz. Though she says without pause "it was hell," she has chosen not to remain a victim and to find joy in her life every day. Eger's message is powerful and important: Your pain matters, but you can choose to be free.

The Cookes—Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sisters Fern and Rosemary—are an ordinary middle-class American family, in all ways but one: Fern is a chimpanzee. Beautifully written, this is the tale of an unconventional family and the heartbreaking consequences of their good intentions.

Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper’s simple lifestyle is disrupted when he finds an unfamiliar gold charm bracelet among his late wife's possessions. He sets out on an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife's secret life before they met. With a cast of characters with big hearts and irresistible flaws, THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER celebrates life's infinite possibilities.

Orphan Sue Trinder is raised amongst “fingersmiths”—transient petty thieves. When a fingersmith known as Gentleman asks Sue to help him con a wealthy woman out of her inheritance, she never expects to pity her helpless mark, let alone come to care for her. But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.

In Iain Reid’s psychological thriller FOE, a couple’s quiet, isolated life is upended when a man in a suit visits them at their secluded home. The strange man informs them that the husband has been randomly selected to participate in the OuterMore program which will take him very far away—and that's only the start of the strange events that unravel this couple's marriage.

Mary Ballard is Charlotte Walden’s maid—whom she loves with an obsessive passion that goes beyond any servant’s devotion. But Mary’s secrets could ruin her relationship with Charlotte—one of the most sought-after debutantes in nineteenth-century New York. The secrets don’t stop with Mary however, because Charlotte has a secret of her own.

Who are you when no one is watching? When a beloved high schooler is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched—not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters—Cameron, Jade, and Russ—must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both.

The promise and tragedy of post-war America is charted in this riveting portrait of an Irish-American family as they chase the American Dream. It is at once expansive and exquisitely detailed, but what readers will remember most is the huge heart at its core. It heralds the arrival of a major new talent in contemporary fiction and is destined to be an American classic.

Ten years after accepting a cab ride with grave and everlasting consequences, Sarah is still struggling to resume a normal life. When her abductor is up for parole, she decides to confront her phobias. If you love haunted but determined female protagonists, you'll love Koethi Zan's tale of a kidnap survivor unraveling the mystery of her horrifying past.

Ove is a lonely and cranky old man with staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. When an annoyingly friendly couple and their two children move in next door, Ove finds himself with several unexpected new friends, an unkempt cat, and a new outlook on life.

Lisa Jewell’s enigmatic I FOUND YOU begins with a woman finding a mysterious man outside her beach house and, against her better judgment, inviting him inside. He doesn’t remember who he is or how he got there. Twenty-three years earlier, a brother and sister are visiting that same beach when they meet a charming stranger who makes the brother ill at ease. The threads of multiple stories weave together in this intricately plotted, fast-paced mystery that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty.

Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives, but then Gabe leaves for the Middle East on a photojournalism assignment and Lucy pursues a career in New York. Thus begins a 13-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, love. This novel kept Reese Witherspoon up all night—and it'll do the same to you.

The idea for A. J. Pearce’s irresistible debut novel came to her after she read actual letters and articles in wartime magazines written by the women who remained behind during World War II. DEAR MRS. BIRD is a charming story about a bygone era, with likable characters in Emmeline Lake and her best friend Bunty, and a refreshingly different perspective on wartime Britain that history buffs and casual readers alike will love.

When Lauren Schroff encounters an 11-year-old panhandler on the street she doesn’t plan to stop. But then she changes her mind and gives him spare change. She does this every day for the next three decades. AN INVISIBLE THREAD is the story of an unexpected lifelong friendship between a busy sales rep and a disadvantaged young boy. If this story of friendship and kindness doesn’t make you cry, we don’t know what will.

When honeymooners Erin and Mark discover something in the water while scuba-diving, their decision to speak out or keep their discovery a secret trigger a devastating chain of events. Perfect for readers of Ruth Ware (another Reese Witherspoon favorite), SOMETHING IN THE WATER is the vacation read you never knew you needed.

When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods.

Beloved by millions of readers, ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE follows a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as they both try to survive the devastation of World War II. The breakout hit of 2014, this beautiful novel was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. If you haven’t read this one yet, it should be at the top of your spring reading list.