If You Like The God of the Woods…

Bestseller The God of the Woods by Liz Moore was recommended to me by Laura B. (thanks, Laura!). The book that won’t let go of you once you’ve been hooked. It’s the story of two siblings who disappear in the woods, one in the 1960s and one a decade later. As the truth slowly unfolds about what happened to each of them, the reader is drawn deeper into the psychology of the family and those in their orbit. Striking and somber, it’s no wonder it’s been a popular choice.

The books below are other choices with complicated families, mysteries to unravel, and twinges of darkness.

The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton (1988)

I loved this book when I was in college, and when I got to take a creative writing class with Jane Hamilton, it was a dream come true. The author is as lovely and unassuming as one would hope. This was her break-out book, a story of a woman whose bleak childhood leads to an unhappy marriage. Told in close first-person, the reader inhabits Ruth’s life as it hurtles toward the shocking end.

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg (2000)

Eliza believes she doesn’t fit in to her intellectual family until she surprises everyone by winning the school spelling bee. Her father, a cantor, becomes obsessed with her success, believing her talent is a form of mysticism. Meanwhile, her brother is searching for a religion to call his own and her mother is addicted to shoplifting.

Dietland by Sarai Walker (2015)

Plum is a writer for a teen magazine, where she answers emails to the editor and offers advice to the young readers. She plans to have weight-loss surgery when she is contacted by an underground organization called Calliope House, where she is encouraged to embrace her true self instead of caving to society’s pressure to be thin. Meanwhile, a vigilante group called Jennifer is committing violent acts against men who mistreat women. Plum begins to suspect that Calliope is connected to Jennifer and tries to solve the mystery while also coming into her own.

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (2017)

Anna is growing up in Brooklyn with her parents and disabled sister Lydia. Her father takes work for a gangster and then disappears a few years later when Anna is 14. As a young adult she works in the Navy Yard making warships for World War II and dreams of training to be a diver. She tries to find her father by tracing his mob ties and solving the mystery of his disappearance.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (2019; 2021 for English translation by Neil Smith)

A desperate person tries to rob a cashless bank and escapes into an apartment building to avoid capture. In the building, an apartment for sale is having an open house. The people viewing the apartment assume that the robber is after them and that they are hostages. As the confusion is sorted out, the reader learns the stories behind the characters and discovers their secrets. Humorous and loving, a softer book than some of the others on this list.