10 Books with Characters Who Feel Like Family by the End

Meet April Sawick: a sixteen-year-old singer-songwriter shuffling around upstate New York from one open mic to the next. In the aftermath of a fight with her father, in which he destroys her guitar, April decides to get in the car and escape the hometown that never felt like home. Unconcerned with where she may land, April ultimately finds herself in Ithaca, drawn to a local coffee shop and the community that surrounds it. As she (with the readers) gets to know the locals, the teen can’t help but feel as though she’s becoming part of a new family—forming new bonds with others, and with herself. When impulses of self-sabotage begin to creep in, along with a fear of being revealed as homeless and jobless, April must make a choice: embrace her newfound family or leave before the illusion is shattered. Either way, Allison Larkin’s portrait of Ithaca’s loving locals (and her lyrical storytelling) will leave you equally as connected with these characters as April becomes.

An unforgettable debut, translated from Russian, Narine Abgaryan’s THREE APPLES FELL FROM THE SKY is the tale of a tiny Armenian mountain village on what appears to be the decline. Suffering from recent disasters, the town has a dwindling population of which Anatolia, at the age of fifty-eight, is the youngest living inhabitant—for now. Utterly convinced that she’s dying, Anatolia is prepared to leave behind the physical world, that is until she’s interrupted by a surprise proposal from the town’s widowed blacksmith. As she miraculously recovers, the town begins to experience even more unusual, even supernatural occurrences, deftly described by Anatolia as she watches the town become reborn into a thriving, loving community. Filled with friendships and romantic relationships, THREE APPLES FEEL FROM THE SKY invites you to join this unforgettable Armenian village as it embraces its magical connections and rich tradition of folklore.

There is never a moment we need community and connection more than in the aftermath of a tragedy. Literary-agent-turned-author Bill Clegg explores this concept in his bold debut, DID YOU EVER HAVE A FAMILY, which is centered around a devastating fire that kills the daughter of protagonist June, her daughter’s fiancé, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend. Forced to face life without any sort of family, June leaves town (and those painful memories) to travel across the country. The book introduces all manner of characters impacted by the fire, who learn to cope, and come to terms with their involvement in the tragedy. This story of hope and forgiveness invites readers to grow alongside characters that survive, confront, and reconcile their experiences in a life-altering episode.

When it comes to falling in love with characters, sometimes the easiest ones to connect to are the quirky, comical type. Luckily, Julia Stuart’s second novel, THE TOWER, THE ZOO, AND THE TORTOISE, offers plenty of eccentrics to fall for. Readers are introduced to Balthazar Jones, an honest-to-goodness Beefeater and resident of the Tower of London, living with his wife, Hebe, after the tragic loss of their son years earlier. When Balthazar, unexpectedly, is charged with the Tower’s new menagerie, his marriage is stretched even thinner, especially as more and more characters enter the picture—each more “unique” than the last. Amid interactions with a reverend secretly penning erotica; the unwed, pregnant proprietress of the local pub; and the Ravenmaster (yes, there’s one of those), Balthazar seeks to renew his love with Hebe and avoid disaster at every turn. Supported by an outlandish cast of characters, Julia Stuart’s novel will leave you giddy and glad to be an onlooker of the Tower’s humble, hilarious community.

There’s something special about the bonds of sisterhood as Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores them in her bestselling novel SISTER OF MY HEART. While Anju and Sudha are cousins, not sisters as the title suggests, their connection is undeniable and seemingly unbreakable. Anju is from a family of status in India. Sudha is not. However, when both girls lose their fathers on the same day, in the same brutal manner, the two adolescents, despite their differences, begin to bond. But adulthood reveals a dark family secret to Sudha, altering the cousins’ relationship and sending Anju to America in search of her own life and a new beginning. That is until another tragedy occurs, and the cousins are left in search of that once indelible connection. With Divakaruni’s prose and inspired plot, readers can relish becoming a member of the family—one that only grows stronger when tested.

It’s easy to get invested in a story’s characters when they just so happen to fall in love with each other. Alison Cochrun’s debut, THE CHARM OFFENSIVE, is a heartwarming tale of Charlie Winshaw, a Silicon Valley icon looking to rehab his image by participating in a reality dating show, and Dev Deshpande, the show’s producer and die-hard romantic, who’s been through a few heartaches of his own. While Charlie has no intention of falling in love with any of the dozen female contestants he’s meant to interact with, he does begin to feel a different kind of connection with Dev, who kindly coaches him on how to be more open and personable. What ensues is a love story supported by a diverse cast of characters as the two protagonists negotiate their feelings. Heartwarming and hilarious, Cochrun’s novel is the perfect plot for readers to cozy up with.

Ready to fall into the most comforting of routines with your new favorite family? THE FORTNIGHT IN SEPTEMBER is R.C. Sherriff’s heartwarming novel about one family and their annual vacation tradition. The Stevens family have been vacationing on the English coast for years—no, really, like for twenty consecutive years. What began as a honeymoon trip for Mr. and Mrs. has become an annual pilgrimage with the whole Stevens family, including their three children, Mary, Dick, and little Ernie. Readers follow along as the different family members go about their typical holiday routines, feasting on life’s most simple pleasures, all while we slowly connect with each of them and their delightfully ordinary lives. If you’re in need of a calming novel and find you have a taste for the simple things in life, THE FORTNIGHT IN SEPTEMBER is waiting for you—and so is the Stevens family.

The sequel to award-winning ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE, Benjamin Alire Sáenz is back with the next installment and the same unforgettable characters. Now entering their final year of high school, Ari and Dante are still very much in love but very unsure about what a successful relationship looks like in the modern world. For Ari’s part, he’s committed to becoming his own person, the kind that speaks up for himself and is willing to build a rapport with his previously closed-off father. Amid all the exploration, Ari embraces a new circle of friends—each with their own unique, captivating story—while also accepting the overwhelming feelings he has for his Dante (something he avoided for so long in his first years of high school). Sáenz captures every aspect of their expansive relationship and further fosters our connection to their seemingly eternal bond formed in his first book. Bold, propulsive, and abundantly authentic, ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DIVE INTO THE WATERS OF THE WORLD will have you seeing your own friends and family on each page.

SUFFICIENT GRACE follows Gracie Hollaman as she becomes a unifying figure for two neighboring Southern towns. How she finds herself in that position might just surprise you. On a seemingly normal spring day, Gracie begins to hear voices that tell her she must abandon her family. When she does, her husband, Ed, assumes it’s his fault, but he doesn’t realize that Gracie is quickly succumbing to schizophrenia and has relinquished control of those persistent voices in her head. As she enters the next town over, Rockrun, a majority African-American town, Gracie is drawn to the home of Mama Toot and Mattie, a mother-daughter home wrapped in a blanket of heavy grief. What starts as a frantic, troubling story quickly becomes one of love and acceptance across two different towns and two different sets of characters. Each group is infused with endless compassion as they help Gracie in her struggles and offer a family’s care that any reader would willing be a party to. Come for the ever-evolving plot and spectrum of human emotions, but be prepared to stay for the relationships you make with the many lovable characters.

Looking to dive deep into the lives of flawed characters and make them your own? Look no further than Stephen McCauley’s sensational fourth novel, TRUE ENOUGH, which follows two unforgettable characters as they navigate their complicated lives until they ultimately find each other—and themselves. There’s Jane Cody—the TV producer currently in psychiatry with her old-soul son—who’s wildly unhappy with her boring second husband and yearning for the passion and excitement she once had with her ex-husband Dale. And then there’s Desmond Sullivan, who is tired of his longstanding, monogamous relationship and looking to finally make progress writing a biography of singer Pauline Anderton. When he moves from New York to Boston for a new teaching job, he meets Jane and joins in with her newly formed plan to film a documentary on mediocre singers like Anderton. Intricate, complicated, and filled with delicate, deep characters, TRUE ENOUGH gives you front row seats to an odd couple that you’ll wish were at every family gathering.