7 Fantastic Books Sure to Get Your Book Club Talking

Blending literature and memoir, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage stretches from Ann Patchett's childhood to the present day, from a disastrous early marriage to a later happy one. She writes eloquently about family and friends, the hard work and joy of writing, and the unexpected thrill of opening a bookstore.

In a seamless blending of fiction and fact, Guests on Earth tells the story of Evalina, an orphaned thirteen-year-old who is admitted to a mental institution in North Carolina in 1936 where she is taken under the wing of Highland Hospital's most notable patient, Zelda Fitzgerald.

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her eccentric grandmother is Elsa's best—and only—friend. When she dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa discovers that her greatest adventure is just beginning. This is the heartfelt and humorous second novel from the author of A Man Called Ove.

In In a Dark, Dark Wood, 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.

In The Silent Sister, Riley MacPherson's entire life was shaped by the belief that her older sister Lisa committed suicide as a teenager. More than twenty years later, she finds evidence that Lisa is alive. Her subsequent discoveries will put everything she thought she knew about her family into question.

Inspired by a true story, this novel traces the harrowing journey of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. Charged with conserving this priceless work, an Australian rare-book expert reveals its complicated history by taking apart its ancient binding.

A fast-paced literary thriller perfect for book clubs. Upon hearing that his mentor, Harry Quebert, has been implicated in a cold-case murder, writer Marcus Goldman sets out to discover what really happened. To save Harry, his own writing career, and eventually even himself, Marcus writes a book that will solve the crime.

Here are more great book recommendations from our friends at Off the Shelf:

• Harper Lee and the One-Book Wonder Phenomenon
• Brevity Has Its Advantages: 9 Astounding Short Story Collections
• The Heartrending Collision of Love and Morality