Selected American Womens Fiction 2000-2010
Explore a curated selection of American women's fiction from 2000-2010. Discover top novels by talented female authors, featuring compelling stories, diverse voices, and unforgettable characters.
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Valencia
by Michelle Tea
The fast-paced account of one girl's search for love and high times in the drama-filled dyke world of San Francisco's Mission District, "Valencia" conveys a blend of youthful urgency and apocalyptic apathy.
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The Little Friend
by Donna Tartt
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ⢠From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Goldfinch comes an utterly riveting novel set in Mississippi of childhood, innocence, and evil. ⢠âDestined to become a special kind of classic.â âThe New York Times Book Review The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Motherâs Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parentsâ yard. Twelve years later Robinâs murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated. So it is that Robinâs sister Harrietâunnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson--sets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her townâs rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her familyâs history of loss. Filled with hairpin turns of plot and âa bustling, ridiculous humanity worthy of Dickensâ (The New York Times Book Review), The Little Friend is a work of myriad enchantments by a writer of prodigious talent.
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Ursula, Under
by Ingrid Hill
In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a dangerous rescue effort draws the ears and eyes of the entire country. A two-and-a-half-year-old girl has fallen down a mine shaftâ"the only sound is an astonished tiny intake of breath from Ursula as she goes down, like a penny into the slot of a bank, disappeared, gone." It is as if all hope for life on the planet is bound up in the rescue of this little girl, the first and only child of a young woman of Finnish extraction and her Chinese-American husband. One TV viewer following the action notes that the Wong family lives in a decrepit mobile home and wonders why all this time and money is being "wasted on that half-breed trailer-trash kid." In response, the novel takes a breathtaking leap back in time to visit Ursula's most remarkable ancestors: a third-century-B.C. Chinese alchemist; an orphaned playmate of a seventeenth-century Swedish queen; Professor Alabaster Wong, a Chautauqua troupe lecturer (on exotic Chinese topics) traveling the Midwest at the end of the nineteenth century; her great-great-grandfather Jake Maki, who died at twenty-nine in a Michigan iron mine cave-in; and others whose richness and history are contained in the induplicable DNA of just one personâlittle Ursula Wong. Ursula's story echoes those of her ancestors, many of whom so narrowly escaped not being born that her very existenceâlike oursâcomes to seem a miracle. Ambitious and accomplished, Ursula, Under is, most of all, wonderfully entertainingâa daring saga of culture, history, and heredity.
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Those who Save Us
by Jenna Blum
A professor of German history begins a long journey back into a past she has pushed aside, returning to Germany to reopen the wounds of her own life--as well as that of her mother--as a child living in Nazi Germany. Reprint.
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Harbor
by Lorraine Adams
A New York Times and Washington Post Notable BookEntertainment Weekly's #1 Fiction Book of the YearA tremendously acclaimed and exquisitely realized novel of literary suspense, Harbor recounts the adventures of Aziz Arkoun who, at twenty-four, makes his way to America via the hold of an Algerian tanker and the icy waters of Boston harbor. Aziz soon finds himself a community of fellow Algerians, but their means of survival in this strange land begins to remind him of the dangerous world he was desperate to escape. As the story of Aziz and his friends unfolds, moving from East Boston and Brooklyn to Montreal and a North African army camp, Harbor takes us inside the ambiguities of these men's past and present lives. When Aziz discovers that he and his circle are most likely under surveillance, all assumptions, his and ours, dissolve in urgent, mesmerizing complexity.
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Life Studies
by Susan Vreeland
With her richly textured novels Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of the artistâs life. Now, in a collection of profound wisdom and beauty, she explores the transcendent power of art through the eyes of ordinary people. Life Studies begins with historic tales that, rather than focusing directly on the great Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masters themselves, render those on the peripheryâtheir lovers, servants, and childrenâas their personal experiences play out against those of Manet, Monet, van Gogh, and others. Vreeland then gives us contemporary stories in which her charactersâa teacher, a construction worker, and an orphan for exampleâencounter art in meaningful, often surprising ways. A fascinating exploration of the lasting strength of art in everyday life, Life Studies is a dazzling addition to Vreelandâs outstanding body of work.
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The Painted Drum
by Louise Erdrich
While appraising the estate of a New Hampshire family descended from a North Dakota Indian agent, Faye Travers is startled to discover a rare moose skin and cedar drum fashioned long ago by an Ojibwe artisan. And so begins an illuminating journey both backward and forward in time, following the strange passage of a powerful yet delicate instrument, and revealing the extraordinary lives it has touched and defined. Compelling and unforgettable, Louise Erdrich's Painted Drum explores the often fraught relationship between mothers and daughters, the strength of family, and the intricate rhythms of grief with all the grace, wit, and startling beauty that characterizes this acclaimed author's finest work.
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The Kindness of Strangers
by Katrina Kittle
A young widow raising two boys, Sarah Laden is struggling to keep her family together. But when a shocking revelation rips apart the family of her closest friend, Sarah finds herself welcoming yet another troubled young boy into her already tumultuous life. Jordan, a quiet, reclusive elementary school classmate of Sarah's son Danny, has survived a terrible ordeal. By agreeing to become Jordan's foster mother, Sarah will be forced to question the things she has long believed. And as the delicate threads that bind their family begin to unravel, all the Ladens will have to face difficult truths about themselves and one anotherâand discover the power of love necessary to forgive and to heal.
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The Birthdays
by Heidi Pitlor
On an island off the coast of Maine, the Miller family reunites to celebrate the father's 75th birthday. Each of the adult children is expecting a first child, and at the same time each is at a major crossroads in life. The novel deftly explores the myriad ways of seeking sustenance after disappointment or loss.
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In Pursuit of Anna
by Natasha Rostova
Anna Maxwell is a pixie-like bad girl with a penchant for brawny men, determined to prove her innocence when accused of stealing from her father's company. Los Angeles-based bounty hunter Derek Rowland sets off in pursuit of his fugitive, discovering that Anna's resolve is as strong as her libido. Derek's colleague, Freddie James, is convinced that Derek is being taken for a ride - and not the good kind. Freddie, meanwhile, is engaged in her own rather delicious struggle with a new lover. The sexual stakes rise as desires and boundaries are pushed to their limits.
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Ten Days in the Hills
by Jane Smiley
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ⢠In this novel set in Hollywood Hills after the 2003 Academy Awards, the Pulitzer Prizeâwinning author of A Thousand Acres delivers âa blazing farce, a fiery satire of contemporary celebrity culture and a rich, simmering meditation on the price of war and fame and desire.â âLos Angeles Times Book Review In the aftermath of the 2003 Academy Awards, Max and Elenaâhe's an Oscar-winning writer/directorâopen their Holywood Hills home to a group of friends and neighbors, industy insiders and hangersâon, eager to escape the outside world and dissect the latest news, gossip, and secrets of the business. Over the next ten days, old lovers collide, new relationships form, and sparks fly, all with Smiley's signature sparkling wit and characterization. With its breathtaking passion and sexy irreverence, Ten Days in the Hills is a glowing addition to the work of one of our most beloved novelists.
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Bad Tickets
by Kathleen O'Dell
Rebelling against her strict Catholic upbringing in 1967, teenager Mary Elizabeth sorts through her feelings about her parents and friends, and about sex, while making some decisions about the type of life she wants for herself.
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Queenpin
by Megan Abbott
By the author of Dare Me and The End of Everything A young woman hired to keep the books at a down-at-the-heels nightclub is taken under the wing of the infamous Gloria Denton, a mob luminary who reigned during the Golden Era of Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano. Notoriously cunning and ruthless, Gloria shows her eager young protĂŠgĂŠe the ropes, ushering her into a glittering demimonde of late-night casinos, racetracks, betting parlors, inside heists, and big, big money. Suddenly, the world is at her feetâas long as she doesn't take any chances, like falling for the wrong guy. As the roulette wheel turns, both mentor and protĂŠgĂŠe scramble to stay one step ahead of their bosses and each other.
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The Guardians
by Ana Castillo
From American Book Award-winning author Ana Castillo comes a suspenseful, moving novel about a sensuous, smart, and fiercely independent woman. Eking out a living as a teacherâs aide in a small New Mexican border town, TĂa Regina is also raising her teenage nephew, Gabo, a hardworking boy who has entered the country illegally and aspires to the priesthood. When Gaboâs father, Rafa, disappears while crossing over from Mexico, Regina fears the worst. After several days of waiting and with an ominous phone call from a woman who may be connected to a smuggling ring, Regina and Gabo resolve to find Rafa. Help arrives in the form of Miguel, an amorous, recently divorced history teacher; Miguelâs gregarious abuelo Milton; a couple of Gaboâs gangbanger classmates; and a priest of wayward faith. Though their journey is rife with challenges and danger, it will serve as a remarkable testament to family bonds, cultural pride, and the human experience Praise for The Guardians NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE âAn always skilled storyteller, [Castillo] grounds her writing in . . . humor, love, suspense and heartacheâthat draw the reader in.â âChicago Sunday Sun-Times âA rollicking read, with jokes and suspense and joy rides and hearts breaking . . . This smart, passionate novel deserves a wide audience.â âLos Angeles Times âWhat drives the novel is its chorus of characters, all, in their own way, witnesses and guardian angels. In the end, Castilloâs unmistakable voiceâearthy, impassioned, weaving a âhybrid vocabulary for a hybrid peopleââis the bookâs greatest revelation.â âTime Out New York âA wonderful novel . . . Castilloâs most important accomplishment in The Guardians is to give a unique literary voice to questions about what makes up a âfamily.â â âEl Paso Times âA moving book that is both intimate and epic in its narrative.â âOscar Hijuelos, author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
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The View from Mount Joy
by Lorna Landvik
When teenage hockey player Joe Andreson and his widowed mother move to Minneapolis, Joe falls under the seductive spell of Kristi Casey, Ole Bull Highâs libidinous head cheerleader. Joe balances Kristiâs lustful manipulation with the down-to-earth companionship of his smart, platonic girlfriend, Darva. But it is Kristi who will prove to be a temptation (and torment) throughout Joeâs life. Years later, Joe canât believe that life has deposited him in the aisles of Haugland Foods. But he soon learns that being a grocer is like being the mayor of a small town: His constituents confide astonishing things and always appreciate Joeâs generous dispensing of the milk of human kindness. The path Kristi has charged down, on the other hand, is as wild as Joeâs is tame. But who has really risked more? Who has lived more? And who is truly happy? As Joe discovers, sometimes people are lucky enough to be standing in the one place where the view of the world is breathtaking, if only theyâll open their eyes to all there is to see. Praise for The View from Mount Joy: âA delightful journey . . . full of humor and poignancy and the potential for joy in everyday life.â âThe Charlotte Observer âDeeply satisfying . . . Bursting with the same deliciously deadpan dialogue that is now a Landvik trademark . . . [The View from Mount Joy provides] quite possibly Landvikâs most lovable character to date.â âMinneapolis Star Tribune âPervaded by the same tenderness readers loved in Landvikâs other books The View from Mount Joy . . . Should inspire interesting book club discussions.â âSt. Paul Pioneer Press â[Landvik] has an easy, engaging narrative style laced with humor.â âThe Boston Globe âLandvikâs latest homespun homage is pure bliss.â âBooklist NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS
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Every Past Thing
by Pamela Thompson
Pamela Thompson reveals the pain and desire of one woman, the wife of 19th Century painter, Edwin Romanzon Elmer, as she searches for her lovers in New York City over five days of wishes and regrets in November 1899. When your heart is broken, every past thing becomes strange.
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The House on Fortune Street
by Margot Livesey
It seems like mutual good luck for Abigail Taylor and Dara MacLeod when they meet at university and, despite their differences, become fast friends. Years later they remain inseparable: Abigail, the actress, allegedly immune to romance, and Dara, a therapist, throwing herself into relationships with frightening intensity. Now both believe they've found "true love." But luck seems to run out when Dara moves into Abigail's downstairs apartment. Suddenly both their friendship and their relationships are in peril, for tragedy is waiting to strike the house on Fortune Street. Told through four ingeniously interlocking narratives, Margot Livesey's The House on Fortune Street is a provocative tale of lives shaped equally by chance and choice.
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July and August
by Nancy Clark
A funny, bittersweet, and wonderfully peopled family saga from the acclaimed author of The Hills at Home, and a fitting farewell to the Hill clan. Great-aunt Lily's pile of a house in Towne, Massachusetts, is once again the gathering place for her far-flung grandnieces and grandnephews. As always, their arrival brings a high summer of comedy and drama. While Lily struggles to get her new business venture off the ground, her granddaughter Sally befriends the local math whiz; brothers and software entrepreneurs Brooks and Rollins turn heads with their supermodel dates; Cousin Julie announces her wedding to a man who may or may not be imaginary; and the family faces the possibility of a final leave-taking of Aunt Ginger, who continues to dish up crucial life wisdom-whether it's sought or not-while reclining on a lawn chair in the sun.
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People of the Whale: A Novel
by Linda Hogan
âDeeply ecological, original, and spellbinding. . . . [A] hauntingly beautiful novel of the hidden dimensions of life.â âBooklist, starred review Raised in a remote seaside village, Thomas Witka Just marries Ruth, his beloved since infancy. But an ill-fated decision to fight in Vietnam changes his life forever: cut off from his Native American community, he fathers a child with another woman. When he returns home a hero, he finds his tribe in conflict over the decision to hunt a whale, both a symbol of spirituality and rebirth and a means of survival. In the end, he reconciles his two existences, only to see tragedy befall the son he left behind.
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Love Or Something Like it
by Deirdre Shaw
Shaw's emotionally honest, clear-eyed debut novel follows a thirty-something woman forced to redefine love, career, and family after her young marriage falters.
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The Confessions of Edward Day
by Valerie Martin
A brilliant new novel set in the bohemian, glamorous theater world of 1970s New York, by the Orange Prize-winning author of Property. ⢠âOne of the best novels Iâve ever read about the actorâs psyche.â âThe New York Times Book Review Itâs the 1970s in New Yorkârents are cheap, love is free, and with the explosion of theater venues off and off-off Broadway, aspiring actors will work for nothing in no clothes. Enter Edward Day, who wants more than anything to move an unsuspecting audience to an experience of emotional truth. But he must also contend with the drama of his own life: he is locked in a bitter rivalry with fellow actor Guy Margate, with whom he shares a marked physical resemblance and a fatal attraction to the beautiful, talented, and all-too-available Madeleine Delavergne. Edwardâs pursuit of Madeleine is complicated by the fact that he owes Guy his life. In this riveting tale of paranoia, passion, jealousy, and relentless ambition, Edward will learn that the truth, in the theater as in life, is ever elusive and never inert.
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Becoming Jane Eyre
by Sheila Kohler
A reimagining of the life of the Brontèe sisters finds Charlotte penning her future classic against a backdrop of the deaths of family members, a father's illness, a brother's dependency, and her sisters' shared literary visions.
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Sleeping with Anemone
by Kate Collins
When an attempt is made on her life after she protests Uniworld Food's harmful farming practices, florist Abby Knight calls in her ex-Army Ranger boyfriend Marco to protect her and help her discover the guilty party.