Summer 2024 Reading Group Indie Next List
Dazzling Debuts
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“Banyan Moon is an emotional novel spanning decades, told through three generations of Vietnamese American women. Family secrets and generational trauma are unraveled in this exquisitely written debut for fans of Pachinko and The Mountains Sing.”
— Christine Bollow, Loyalty Bookstores, Washington, DC
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“I read this book all in one sitting, startled yet delighted. Delorme writes with grace and quiet — roe-deer-like, even in that. Page-long paragraphs and wildlife photographs spread throughout made it easy to experience the season with Geoffroy and his animal friends.”
— Tegan Tigani, Queen Anne Book Company, Seattle, WA
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“Saddle up for a Western ride like no other. Lucky Red is a gender bending queer/feminist tale dripping with equal parts romance and revenge.”
— Maris Herrington, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, MI
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“Michallon creates such vivid characters in this book, while keeping the tension so taut I had to remind myself to breathe. The ‘family man with a dirty secret’ is not a new trope, but giving all the power to the victims in the killer’s sphere was fresh. A must-read thriller.”
— Destinee Hodge, East City Bookshop, Washington, DC
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“The United States immigration policy is so antiquated and deliberately discriminatory to the millions of humans that cross its borders everyday. Rivermouth demonstrates the extraordinary gift of language and translation, how it can expand human connection, and why we need to address this crisis now.”
— Thu Doan, East Bay Booksellers, Oakland, CA
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“Shark Heart is a beautiful book. The premise — a man turns into a shark — is what made me pick it up, but the touching beauty and enchantment is what kept me reading. The paragraph-length chapters packed with depth lend to reflection.”
— Daniel Jordan, Pearl's Books, Fayetteville, AR
Family & Coming of Age
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“There’s nothing more beautiful in literature than to see yourself, your sisters, your mothers and abuelitas, reflected in all of your Latinx glory. Elizabeth Acevedo continues to do our country, the Dominican Republic, proud. The Marte sisters will live on in my heart!”
— Vina Castillo, Kew & Willow Books, Kew Gardens, NY
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“Angie Kim’s writing is sublime. What appears on the offset as a mystery/thriller about a father gone missing slowly becomes an incredible, intricately woven story about a family — one that keeps you reading and hooked from the very first line.”
— Abel Velasquez, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, KS
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“Little Monsters is a captivating multi-generational saga set on Cape Cod. As the extended Gardner family is reunited one summer, secrets abound — some that bring the family closer together, others that tear relationships apart.”
— Caroline Buchta, Andover Bookstore, Andover, MA
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“Oh what a sheer delight of a book. Such lovely, clever inversions of well-trod tropes in this novel — and the particularly Millennial voice of Rachel? Delicious. I shrieked, I wept, I laughed. This one is going on the re-read stack for sure!”
— Austin Carter, Pocket Books Shop, Lancaster, PA
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“I can’t believe how much I cherished reading about hot wheels and recliner chairs. While focusing on a gay, Southern childhood, this book brings to mind all the precious and strange feelings of any childhood. This novel is to be held tight, squeezed dry of tears, and never forgotten.”
— Audrey Stewart, Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville, KY
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“An unnamed literature teacher is cut off from her family in Hong Kong as she cares for her ailing mother in California at the outset of COVID. In her isolation, she revives her mother’s neglected garden. The garden and her own sexual reawakening are poetically portrayed in this sensuous novel.”
— Grace Harper, Mac's Backs, Cleveland Heights, OH
Historical Fiction
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“A worthy follow-up to Harlem Shuffle! Harlem in the '70s: Carney’s gone legit, until his daughter wants Jackson 5 tickets, and Carney has to do a favor. Like that, he’s back in. Pepper is up to his old tricks. Harlem is going up in flames. And everyone is a crook. Everyone.”
— James Wilson, Browseabout Books, Rehoboth Beach, DE
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“I devoured this riveting debut set in the heyday of the studio system in Hollywood. Compassionately drawn characters, a complex plot that remains relevant, and a strong narrative voice make this the perfect read for classic film fans.”
— David Vogel, Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, MI
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“Lyrical and expansive, Charry succeeds in crafting a Dickensian tale of Tony the East Indian, and shows the seemingly beautiful but brutal life of early America, and the racial and social divisions that defined it.”
— Rajan Jayasankar, Snug Books, Baltimore, MD
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“Some novels are just plain beautiful. Like the Appearance of Horses is a story about a family that lives through a hundred years of war. A family of soldiers — WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and finally Iraq — one by one, they are claimed for the battlefield, for wounds that never heal.”
— Linda Bond, Auntie's Bookstore, Spokane, WA
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“A dark and moody whodunit with the spiritualism movement of the late 19th century as a backdrop. Penner colors her characters with the darkness of grief and the lightness of hope.”
— Kristin Cook, Aaron's Books, Lititz, PA
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“This is not your typical WWII novel. The Postcard deserves a place right alongside some of the best (like All the Light We Cannot See). The writing is superb, the story propulsive, and the line between memoir and fiction is seamless. I savored every sentence.”
— Pat Rudebusch, Orinda Books, Orinda, CA
Other Worlds
By Shannon Chakraborty
Harper Voyager
“Chakraborty returns to the fantasy scene with the beginning of a new swashbuckling fantasy trilogy. Amina al-Sirafi is a mother, a sailor, a smuggler, and a notorious pirate. When a wealthy widow tracks Amina down and threatens to reveal her location to old enemies if the old pirate doesn't help her, al-Sirafi sets out on what she hopes will be one last adventure.”
— Giovanni Boivin, The Bookloft (MA), Great Barrington, MA
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“A religious, queer, sci-fi horror set in Montana, Chuck Tingle’s horror debut took off from page one and didn’t stop. The visuals in this book were terrifying, but lent itself to a bit of dark humor; blended with the main character’s inner turmoil, this made for such a great read.”
— Caleb Finley, Ghostlight Books, Spring Hill, TN
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“Giving voice to incarcerated folks in an inhumane system that claims to rehabilitate, this novel takes an almost satirical approach to the horrors of prisons. Forced to fight each other to the death, these characters build community, find love, and battle for freedom — by any means necessary.”
— Jonathan Pope, Prologue Bookshop, Columbus, OH
By Emma Törzs
William Morrow Paperbacks
“Törzs’s debut novel is a suspenseful and utterly transformative read, crossing oceans and portals into magical libraries where a centuries-old secret waits to be uncovered by two estranged half-sisters brave enough to seek it.”
— Violet Antonick, Phoenix Books Essex, Essex Junction, VT
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“Astonishingly deceptive, Prophet does several things well, all at once. It’s (a) a creepy episode of The X-Files, (b) a jet-setting investigative story that would make Dan Brown salivate, and, (c) a queer slow-burn romance. I’ve never been so delightfully deceived by what I thought would be a simple sci-fi novel!”
— Danielle King, Left Bank Books, St. Louis, MO
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“This book shoved its fingers behind my heart and pulled. With heavy subjects like childhood indoctrination into a We Are Right mentality, social expectations vs reality, and fraught familial bonds, Some Desperate Glory is both horrifying and — at times — oddly comforting.”
— Kel Russell, Main Street Books (IN), Lafayette, IN
Thrills & Chills
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“A young Harvard-educated attorney is pulled back into family drama when her brother protests their uncle’s corporate moves. Toni’s struggle to follow her own path — from Sarajevo, Thebes, Minnesota, Boston and back to the Twin Cities — will keep you turning pages!”
— Karen Bakshoian, Letterpress Books, Portland, ME
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“Prospera provides its residents with long, fulfilling lives — until their health monitors fall below 10%, when they must take a ‘retirement’ trip off the island on the ferry. Ferryman Proctor Bennett is shaken from his happy somnambulism as a covert resistance movement, secrets, and lies unravel.”
— Josh Niesse, Underground Books, Carrollton, GA
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“Revenge, daring, greed, and deceit make a recipe for quite the historical caper. An audacious robbery during a costume ball leaves no drawer unopened. But is it jewels and artwork Mrs. King seeks — or something more? Loved it!”
— Melissa DeMotte, The Well-Read Moose, Coeur d'Alene, ID
By Rupert Holmes
Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
“This book is a world of ridiculousness. Settle in to follow three students through their studies to execute their final thesis: end their target and never be found out. This is full of dry humor and curious happenstances that create a comfortable slow-burn book.”
— Rhiannon Gupta, R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, CT
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“Brought back to life by the Feds, Louise — the final victim of a notorious serial killer — struggles to acclimatize to her new life. I can’t stop proselytizing about this startling, searching, surprisingly sweet book to anyone who will listen. A Mystery Of The Summer contender.”
— Milo Michels, University Book Store, Seattle, WA
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“Occultism, Nazi ghosts, Mexico’s film industry and its history, and a relationship that makes for an engaging subplot all converge into this original story. If you like unlikely heroes, this novel has that too. Once the plot grabs hold, it blasts off.”
— Karen Valenzuela, Cellar Door Books, Riverside, CA
More Indie Next Lists
- September 2024 Indie Next List
- September/October 2024 Kids Indie Next List
- August 2024 Indie Next List
- July 2024 Indie Next List
- July/August 2024 Kids Indie Next List
- June 2024 Indie Next List
- May 2024 Indie Next List
- May/June 2024 Kids Indie Next List
- April 2024 Indie Next List
- Spring 2024 Reading Group Indie Next List