Best literature and fiction of 2024, as chosen by the Amazon Editors
George Eliot once said: “The only effect I ardently long to produce by my writings, is that those who read them should be better able to imagine and to feel the pains and the joys of those who differ from them in everything but the broad fact of being struggling, erring human creatures.” That’s the power of fiction, and in these contentious times, it’s a much needed reminder of its ability not only to entertain, but also to enlighten, and to heal.
That is what we hope you experience when you read the Amazon Editors’ picks for the best literature and fiction of 2024. Included are selections from literary luminaries you’re already familiar with—Percival Everett, Kristin Hannah, Colm Tóibín, Louise Erdrich, and more. But we were bowled over by the debut fiction on offer this year, from writers who are sure to become household names themselves.
Bon appétit, booklovers.
With the same fiery wit, snap, and energy of his previous work, Percival Everett brings to life a retelling of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as told from the perspective of Jim. When he is threatened to be sold off and separated from his wife and daughter, Jim decides to run away to buy time while he hatches a plan. Landing on an island in the Mississippi, Jim soon discovers another runaway: Huck, who is trying to escape his violent and drunken father. With a bounty on his head, Jim has no designs on shepherding a young white boy north with him. But there is no other alternative, and the next thing you know, the unlikely duo sets off—rafting down the river, dodging the danger that surrounds them. Everett brilliantly unwinds this adventure, revealing with glee savvy code-switching Jim and his penchant for philosophy, literature, and justice. Based on a classic, Everett has made an entirely new classic, one that is rip-roaringly American, funny, and hard-hitting. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Like her best-selling Long Bright River, Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods is both a missing person story and a genre-transcending family saga. Set in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, the Van Laar estate is a system of opposites: blue collar versus blue blood, the natural order versus the synthetic rules of man, dynastic privilege versus the handicap of class. When 13-year-old Barbara Van Laar goes missing from the sleep camp on the grounds—her older brother also disappeared from the estate years before—the door to the Van Laar family’s gilded cage is forced open. One of the marvels of this novel is Moore’s sure-footed control of her complex plot and her fully-realized character portraits. Like a Swiss watch, The God of the Woods is both a triumph of engineering and a thing of beauty. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
When you think war hero, you’re probably not envisioning someone wielding a stethoscope. Medical personnel putting themselves in harm’s way are often the unsung heroes of such conflicts, especially combat nurses. Kristin Hannah honors them in a novel featuring Frances “Frankie” McGrath—a naïve, idealistic woman from a moneyed family of military heroes, who signs up to serve in Vietnam. Despite the valor Frankie demonstrates in makeshift, muddy operating rooms, she isn’t met with gratitude when she returns home. Instead, she is subject to the same profound indignities and challenges—both practical and emotional—foisted on her fighting comrades. Adding insult to injury, this contempt comes from some of the soldiers whose lives may have depended on her, and even members of Frankie’s own family. She gets by with (a lot) of help from her friends—the lifeline that found family extends is a hallmark of Hannah’s beloved oeuvre. So are stories that elicit all the feels. If the best-selling author of The Nightingale is worried that she didn’t do the subject justice, this reader found The Women to be another stitch in a still open wound, one that can only help the healing process. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
Yet again, things are not all quiet on the Midwestern front in Leif Enger’s latest, set on and around Lake Superior in the near future. The country is now ruled by baleful billionaires who preside over work camps, and an absconder from one such camp inadvertently upends the lives of the couple who take him in, forcing our hero, Rainy, to embark on a treacherous journey–both to escape those who hunt him, and to reunite with the love of his life. Dark much? Yes. But, those familiar with Enger’s oeuvre know that he imbues his stories with so much humanity and heart that, like Rainy, readers will never lose hope. I Cheerfully Refuse is no exception. This harrowing, but beautifully told, tale is a sly paean to books, language, love, and the transformative power of receiving and extending kindness. I cheerfully endorse it. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
It’s one thing to have to keep a daughter secret, quite another for that secret to live so close you can catch glimpses of her life, glimpses that sometimes lead you to worry…. This is a heart-wrenching reality that Charles Lamosway understands all too well, and while the decision whether or not to reveal Elizabeth’s parentage propels the plot, this gem of a novel truly is more about the journey than the destination. Charles was raised on the Penobscot Reservation, a community he loved, but wasn’t a citizen of (his mother married a full member of the tribe). Morgan Talty deftly mines the emotional alienation Charles feels, and makes the reader question, along with him, if a wrong decision was made for all the right reasons. And that is a running theme: flawed characters you’d physically shake if you could, but who you can’t help but root for anyway, because they’re all trying to do what’s best for their loved ones, when what is best isn’t always clear. Fire Exit is a melancholy but quietly powerful story about taking care of your tribe, however you find them. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
Poet Kaveh Akbar makes his dazzling fiction debut with an unforgettable main character who reminded us of the voicey, charismatic, and undeniably addictive hero of Demon Copperhead (yes, I just compared this to a Pulitzer Prize winner). One of the buzziest debuts of winter, Martyr! is both laugh-out-loud funny and deadly serious—a coming-of-age story and a portrait of a young Iranian-American man wrestling with what it means to have a life of value. After tripping through college on various concoctions of booze and drugs, a newly orphaned and sober graduate, Cyrus Shams ventures to New York City in pursuit of an Iranian artist who he hopes will fuel his creative writing project and give meaning to his life. Electric and unique, with a voice that feels shot from a cannon, Martyr! is a book you’re going to hear about for a long time. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
You know the old adage, There’s a thin line between love and hate? If you blink you might miss when the shift happens in this surprisingly sensual debut, a story that also mines the collateral damage history leaves in its wake. It’s 1961 and Isabel lives alone in the family home located in a rural Dutch province. That is, until her brother brings his girlfriend, Eva, to stay while he’s away on business, upending Isabel’s ordered existence. Soon, things start disappearing—things a less fastidious hostess might miss: a spoon here, a bowl there…But Isabel does notice, and Eva is no ordinary thief, and once the reasons behind her actions come to light, neither will be the same. With The Safekeep, Yael van der Wouden has woven an intoxicating historical mystery with a cautionary tale about desire; the price of giving in to it, or not. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
Fans of Anthony Doerr, Geraldine Brooks, and Abraham Verghese will fall head over heels for Elif Shafak’s extraordinary new novel, which spans centuries and continents. Following three main characters from the 1800s to present day, Shafak weaves a story rooted in the lives of Arthur “King of the Sewers and Slums,” Narin, and Zaleekah, all of which coincidentally center around ancient Mesopotamia and the rivers (and rulers) that made this mythical land what it was. There Are Rivers in the Sky has everything you could want in an epic: curious connections between characters, despite the centuries in between; the hook of hope you harbor for each, who seek to understand their identities (race, class, and origins, while struggling within their circumstance, and navigating ambition, love, or loss). As with big historical fiction, you’ll learn along the way, parsing together the clues that make the past come rushing into the present. Like the Tigris that binds these characters together, this is big, powerful, and memory-making. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
This is one of the most honest and hilarious books I’ve read in ages. It takes a scalpel to the expectations we place on ourselves and the pressures of being “good,” and celebrates how freeing it is to stop giving a @#$&. Phoebe shows up at the Cornwall Inn in Rhode Island with no luggage and a grand plan. But aside from Phoebe, the inn is completely booked for a wedding, and the exacting bride has accounted for all possible scenarios…except Phoebe. A chance encounter between the two strangers changes everything, and unexpectedly leads Phoebe to become one of the wedding people. What follows is a candid, resonating, and I can’t say it enough, FUNNY, story about how chance encounters can lead to the most surprising outcomes. Phenomenal writing with endearingly flawed characters, this is one of my favorite books of the year so far. I’m recommending it to everyone I know. —Abbey Abell, Amazon Editor
In the follow-up to Colm Tóibín’s beloved novel, Brooklyn, we revisit Eilis Lacey twenty years later, when she finds out that her husband has fathered a child out of wedlock—a child his family intends to raise, whether Eilis likes it or not. This prompts her to return to her hometown in Ireland, just in time for her cantankerous mother’s 80th birthday, with her two teens in tow. Things haven’t changed much in Enniscorthy, and a reckoning awaits that will impact Eilis, the man she loved and left, and his betrothed—Eilis’s best friend. Long Island can be read as a stand-alone, but readers will either want to discover, or revisit, Eilis’ origin story once you finish this emotionally nuanced tale about the perils of leaving important things unsaid. It’s another master class in putting to words what is inexpressible in less skilled hands. Tóibín is at the top of his game. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
To be clear, ahem, this is one of the most unusual, and wonderful, novels I’ve read in a long time. Taking place in a far-flung area of Scotland during the infamous Clearances, when wealthy land owners evicted tenants in favor of sheep, Clear finds a desperate minister on a mission to remove one such unfortunate denizen. This already fraught task becomes all the more complicated when said minister is gravely injured and nursed back to health by Ivar, the man he is meant to oust. So yeah, awkward. And all the more so when unexpected feelings start to develop…This spare but lush, and quietly provocative tale is not to be missed. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
The imitable Amor Towles (Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, The Lincoln Highway) regales readers with his signature wit, old-world atmosphere, and beguiling characters in Table for Two. While avid Towles fans may wish this book were a novel, rest assured, the stories are uncannily satisfying and deliver just the right amount of humor, glamour, and ambience that make them as immersive as his novels. Readers will delight (perhaps just as much as Towles does) in his characters, who seem to act simultaneously as naive, optimistic rubes and calculating operators with a dash of panache—or is one mistaken for the other? Regardless, it’s all too much fun—whether you’re waiting in a Russian breadline at the turn of the century, sitting in a New York City bar with two men whose flight have been cancelled, or in the storied Beverly Hills Hotel with the charmingly independent Evelyn Ross of Rules of Civility. Table for Two is splendidly enchanting—and perhaps, in this chaotic world that we live in, just the right amount of pomp to elevate your outlook. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Tommy Orange is a blazingly talented writer. His debut, There There, was a finalist for the Pulitzer, a best seller, and an award winner—and his sophomore novel exudes the same kind of powerful intensity, but with an even tighter cast of characters. Wandering Stars follows seven generations of a family, beginning in 1864 with the Sand Creek Massacre through a shooting in 2018. As Orange writes, “Take in what it means to be the children and grandchildren of massacre. You will understand another form of inheritance then. Feel it.... Their stories are what you are made of.” Cascading down from parent to child, the novel lands like dominoes, offering readers the bone-deep legacy of trauma and how it can manifest in love, abandonment, addiction, and violence. Like Denis Johnson, Orange’s booze-fueled, dreaming characters have a sort of fractured coherence, which gives the novel its inexorable momentum and heartbeat. A breathtaking and award-worthy read. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Louise Erdrich returns with another emotionally resonant novel, which unravels from an ill-advised wedding. Kismet marries Gary, one of Argus, North Dakota’s star athletes, despite being in love with Hugo, a homeschooled loner. Hilarity does not ensue, but The Mighty Red is imbued with quiet humor, which (mercifully) cuts through its tense undercurrent, the provenance of which is teased out until a devastating denouement. It’s a story—about trauma, grief, love, and forgiveness—that proves Erdrich hasn’t lost her knack for engendering empathy in deeply flawed characters, for mining meaning out of the small moments, and for seamlessly wading into one of the most controversial issues of the day, with a distinct point of view, without being preachy. It’s a mighty fine read, from a master in her craft. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
Abi Daré’s debut, The Girl with the Louding Voice, was one of the Amazon Editors’ picks for the Best Books of 2020. We couldn’t help but be endeared to Adunni, a 14-year-old Nigerian girl who is sold into servitude, but whose pluck and ferocious optimism doesn’t dampen her dream of one day getting an education. And So I Roar picks up right where that story leaves off: Thanks to a sympathetic mother-figure named Tia, that dream is within reach, but it is deferred yet again when Adunni is accused of a shocking crime, and she is determined to return to her home village and clear her name. Daré packs a lot into this novel, which can be read as a standalone: Tia endeavors to save Adunni, but her efforts are stymied by the hold the village’s superstitious and misogynistic leadership has over its women, who are subjugated and blamed for everything from not bending to their nefarious whims, to causing drought conditions. And then there’s the question of why Tia is so devoted to the task…It’s ultimately up to Adunni, and a coterie of fearless young women who thankfully inject some levity into this otherwise stressful but riveting narrative, to use their “louding voices” and save themselves. This is a novel that will make readers’ hearts roar. —Erin Kodicek, Amazon Editor
Always brainy, wry, and sardonic, the Booker shortlisted and best-selling Rachel Kushner (The Flamethrowers, Telex from Cuba, The Mars Room) will delight her fans yet again with her third novel. In it, Kushner entertainingly and haughtily picks up the story of an American spy who infiltrates a band of radical French anarchists and doesn’t mind sleeping with them to achieve her objectives. “Sadie Smith,” as she's known by her lover, is so much fun to read about—she's calculating, saucy in an intellectual kind of way, and worldly, if not a bit proud. Her targets and lovers offer erudite intrigue, but as she goes deeper into their environmental, anti-capitalist, and violent rhetoric, her own sense of self begins to dissolve. Who is she really? Sadie's memories of her past spy craft— seemingly always paired with sex and duping the male species—makes for riveting reading, examining the lines between identity and agency, work and pleasure. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor
As Dolly Parton once pointed out, it costs a lot of money to look this cheap. Single parenthood also costs money, and when life hands 20-year-old Margo lemons by getting her pregnant by her skeevy professor, she gamely searches for a good lemonade recipe. But it may take getting her melons out on OnlyFans to make rent and be the parent she didn’t exactly have herself. Semi-abandoned by her dad—an itinerant pro wrestler—as a kid, and by her mother—a former Hooters waitress—during her hour of need as a new mom, Margo leans in, and, using a few tricks from her dad’s old WWE playbook, suddenly her OnlyFans page is getting the kind of hits that Vince McMahon could only dream of. Motherhood, using what you’ve got, the internet, female friendship, sex work, and the way women catch flak coming and going: Thorpe throws it all into the hopper, and out comes the most gloriously over-the-top, unapologetically crass, singularly hilarious, thoughtful, and dazzlingly original novel to ever make this editor snort with laughter. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
“All of these unrecorded lives, and people just live them.” In a world where it’s easy to feel isolated and alone, Elizabeth Strout has the miraculous ability to make us feel not only seen, but understood. That is truer than ever in Tell Me Everything, which brings us back to beloved Crosby, Maine and the endearing characters we’ve met before (if you haven’t met them yet, don’t worry, this is a lovely place to start). Strout is such a keen observer of life, and this book is full of empathy, and wisdom, and humor as we watch Bob Burgess and his circle of friends consider the value of their lives and those of the people around them. This is a novel about the beauty of connection—a timeless theme, but particularly in today’s world, essential. —Abby Abell, Amazon Editor
“That which we call a rose….” Ah, Shakespeare—the man, the…myth? Jodi Picoult dares to probe a question many don’t want asked: Did Shakespeare write all of the works attributed to him, or was a woman named Emilia Bassano the true author of some of his most famous, and incidentally, most female-centric plays? Picoult has done her research, and she writes us into Shakespeare’s time with intriguing details about society and everyday life. This is Emilia Bassano’s revisionist story, intertwined with Melina Green’s—a contemporary playwright and ancestor of Bassano, who is herself struggling for traction as a woman in a man’s world. I love Picoult’s juggling act of perception and expectation, the genuine depth of her characters, and her ability to make a point without overplaying her hand. After reading By Any Other Name, I want to know more: about Emilia Bassano, about other amazing women lost to history, about inequality in the arts today. This remarkable novel is an awakening, an entertainment, and a story I want to share. —Seira Wilson, Amazon Editor
“Sometimes, she thought, it’s easier to remain lonely than present the lonely person to the world….” To say I was charmed by this hilarious, hopeful book is the understatement of the century. Marnie is a copyeditor who has withdrawn from her friends in the wake of her divorce and worries she’s let life pass her by. Michael has taken to walking the English countryside alone to avoid being at his house after his wife left him. They are strangers brought together by a mutual friend for a 10-day hike. What happens next is the stuff of literary magic—phenomenal banter, the unpredictability of the outdoors, and the tentative, fragile beginnings of a second chance. I was cheering for Marnie and Michael from page one, hoping that they’d be brave enough to find their way back to themselves, and to each other, along this endearingly funny journey. Every step was a delight. —Abby Abell, Amazon Editor
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