Intergenerational Novels: Books that Connect Generations

Book Summary

When Lydia takes a part-time job running the local senior center three afternoons a week, she has no idea what she’s getting herself into. In addition to a more rambunctious group of seniors than she expected, the council is trying to sell the building that houses both the senior center and a daycare center.

Daphne has been reclusive for decades, hiding from a mysterious past that may still be trying to catch up to her. But, her 70th birthday prompts reflection on her life. She decides that MAYBE it wouldn’t be terrible to find a friend…or even a boyfriend.

What Daphne finds at the senior center is not what she expects. Despite her initial reservations, an unlikely chain of new relationships (including a teenage father, a dog, and some grumpy old men) changes her life in every way.

Book Summary

Margaret Ives is the daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th century, but the former tabloid princess hasn’t been seen in years. Now in her 80s, this tragic heiress is ready to tell her story. She invites two authors to Little Crescent Island for a one-month trial period, after which she intends to choose one to write her memoir.

The two authors she has invited couldn’t be more different. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-Prize winner with the personality of a thundercloud. Alice Scott, on the other hand, is an eternal optimist still working toward her big break as a writer.

Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story, but because of their ironclad NDAs, Hayden and Alice can’t share what they’ve learned in order to put together a more complete picture. Whether her story is a mystery, a tragedy, or a love ballad is yet to be determined. The same can be said for the story between Alice and Hayden, who can’t deny the inconvenient pull between them each time they’re in the same room.

Book Summary

Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle needs a big favor. She needs a ride from Texas to Cincinnati, Ohio, to attend a funeral… tomorrow. She asks her hairdresser, Dorrie, to drop everything to take her there, but she gives few details as to why it’s so important she be there. Over the years, Dorrie, a 35-year-old Black single mom, has developed a friendship with Isabelle and agrees to drive the elderly woman across the country.

Dorrie has a lot on her mind between the new man in her life and her teenage son’s irresponsible decisions. But she’s also curious about Isabelle’s guarded past and hopes that along the way, she may be able to unlock some of her friend’s secrets. And she does…

Isabelle confesses that as a teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell madly in love with a would-be doctor and the son of her family’s Black housekeeper. In the sundown town, where African Americans weren’t allowed after dark, theirs was a forbidden relationship with tragic consequences.

Book Summary

Thirty-two-year-old Henrietta once wanted to be a librarian, but now her work transcribing life stories for terminally ill patients is the perfect distraction from her past. She’s usually good at separating fact from emotion, but when Henrietta meets 60-something Annie, who is both eccentric and terminally ill, she feels herself being drawn into Annie’s story.

When Annie reveals her sister’s mysterious drowning back in 1974, Henrietta begins methodically following the story’s loose ends. Annie, on the other hand, has long been afraid to look too closely into her murky memories of that terrible night. The push and pull between these two women will unearth a surprising emotional connection between them before it’s too late.

Book Summary

Eddie is 90 years old, and while he has lived a good life, he has never been kissed. Despite this, he remains a romantic at heart. He spends his days volunteering at a charity shop in his town of Birmingham, England, where he sorts through donations. He’s always careful to preserve letters and tokens of love that others may toss aside as not valuable.

At the shop, he meets 24-year-old Bella, who has just lost the love of her life. When Bella learns that Eddie is still waiting for his first kiss, it’s the perfect distraction from her own troubles. She resolves to help him find love, sparking an adventure that will take them to unexpected places. Their intergenerational friendship will make you wish the endearing Eddie were a real friend in your own life.

Book Summary

Raymond is a shy Black teen who feels like he doesn’t fit in anywhere – not with his complicated family and not at school. Mildred is a blind 92-year-old Holocaust survivor living alone since her caretaker disappeared. When Raymond meets Mildred in his apartment building, she introduces herself with the question: “Have you seen Luis Velez?”

Raymond begins to help Mildred with her weekly errands to the banks and the grocery store, and also hopes to help her track down Luis. In a short time, they’ve formed an unlikely friendship. Raymond demonstrates that for every terrible act, there’s a mirror image of kindness. And Mildred helps Raymond see that even when life is difficult, there is always hope.

Book Summary

In this charming debut novel, seventy-year-old Widower Tova works at the Sowell Bay Aquarium to occupy her mind and time. She takes pride in cleaning perfectly every night, even though she doesn’t need the money. She loves all the aquarium life but forms a special bond with the intelligent (and curmudgeonly) octopus named Marcellus.

He’s just as surprised to feel friendly toward this human who visits him nightly. Soon, he connects the sadness he sees in her with something he saw in the ocean long ago. Can he help her solve the mystery of her son’s disappearance 30 years ago?

The story is told from three alternating viewpoints – those of Tova and Marcellus, as well as Cameron. Cameron is an aimless 30-year-old who was abandoned by his mother when he was just a child. His aunt did her best to raise him, but his life has been a series of dead-end jobs. He travels to Sowell Bay in search of answers that may give his life direction. He winds up taking a temporary position at the aquarium.

Book Summary

West With Giraffes is a charming tale of adventure that takes you on the ride of a lifetime from the East Coast of the US to the West, alongside a rowdy 17-year-old, a grumpy older man, and two giraffes. The year is 1938, and no American zoo has successfully housed giraffes before. The female zoo director of the San Diego Zoo believes she can do it. The giraffes have just survived a hurricane en route to the East Coast, and Riley Jones, the curmudgeonly head zookeeper, is responsible for safely transporting the giraffes from New York City to San Diego.

America is still in the throes of the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl conditions continue to ravage the drought-stricken Southern Plains states. Jones begrudgingly teams up with a starving teenager named Woody to help him make the coast-to-coast journey. The adventures along the way include run-ins with circus con artists, being tailed by a female photographer looking for a big scoop, an emotional visit to Woody’s hometown, and so much more.

Book Summary

After losing her husband in WWII and her daughter to illness, Iris walled herself off from the world. She’s spent many decades hiding behind the tall fence around her home. In place of human connection, Iris has surrounded herself with a family of flowers. Propagating her daylilies and roses and tending to a garden that helps her keep memories of those she loved alive.

In the early 2000s, Abby is a young mother whose husband has recently returned from military service in Iraq. When Abby’s family rents a cottage along Lake Michigan, next door to Iris’ property, the older woman can’t help but view the young family as a window to the life she once had.

As Iris and Abby are drawn together by their shared love of flowers, the friendship that blossoms between them is a testament to the healing power of both gardening and human connection.

Book Summary

Do you dream of seeing the Venetian canals, the Amalfi Coast, or wandering through gorgeous Tuscan villages? This novel will transport you to all three dramatically different scenic Italian locations in vivid detail.

Two hundred years ago, Filomena Fontana cursed her sister. Ever since then, every 2nd born sister in the Fontana family has been unable to find love.

Some of the women believe in the curse, and others are skeptical, but when eighty-year-old Aunt Poppy invites two of the twenty-something second-born sisters to return to Italy with her, promising to have a plan to break the curse, they can’t pass up the chance. The trio of women travel throughout Italy, learning about their family history and uncovering secrets.

Book Summary

Alberto knows he is an old man now, but he doesn’t know how old. In fact, he doesn’t even know his birthday. He arrived at an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War and remembers nothing about his childhood before that time. 

His 7-year-old Grandson, Tino, is surprised to learn that his grandfather has never had a birthday party, received presents, or blown out candles on a cake. But he wants this to change, so Alberto and Tino set out on an adventure to find Alberto’s birthday. 

The hunt for his past takes them into the heart of Spain, transporting you back to the Spanish Civil War as they work through details from Alberto’s difficult childhood.

Book Summary

During the 80 years leading up to the Great Depression, so-called Orphan Trains transported children from cities on the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest. The fates of the children on board – whether they would end up with loving families or end up with a childhood of hard labor – were determined by pure luck.

Vivian – now 91 – was one of those children, and her childhood memories are now tucked inside trunks in her attic. Eighteen-year-old Molly is aging out of the foster care system and is assigned community service helping the elderly Vivian clean out her home. She will soon learn that the two have much more in common than she ever expected.

Book Summary

Joan has grown a bit too comfortable staying inside her Notting Hill home alone now that she is in her upper seventies. Her recently widowed neighbor and friend, Pamela, encourages Joan to take on a young lodger for some company.

Twenty-something Jess loves her job running an independent cinema, but sales are down and she’s worried about her job. Worse, her ex-boyfriend just ran off with her savings, and she’s temporarily staying with her married friends. It’s time to find a new living arrangement, and Joan’s room for rent might be perfect!

Despite being from different generations, Joan and Jess understand each other. Soon, they’re testing out adopting each other’s lifestyles. Jess shows Joan how to use Facebook and email, while Joan helps Jess detach from the online world and look for love in real life.

Book Summary

Thirty-four-year-old Harry has always loved trees, but he spends his days behind a computer as an analyst in a treeless US Forest Service office. After his wife dies suddenly and tragically, Harry can’t seem to move forward. One day, he decides to follow his wife’s advice – he quits his job and escapes to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania to be with the trees.

There, he meets Oriana, a 9-year-old girl who has suffered a significant loss of her own. She spends most of her time in the forest with her book in the treehouse her father bought for her. They bond over their love of the forest and the trees.

The octogenarian town librarian gives Oriana a strange, handwritten book called The Grum’s Ledger. With this book as their guide, Oriana helps Harry believe in the magic, if only he’s willing to open his eyes and see it.

Book Summary

Twenty-nine-year-old Libby is in her own world as she arrives in London, broken-hearted and newly unemployed. The first person she meets is an elderly man named Frank on a bus. Frank explains that he met a beautiful girl on bus 88 in 1962, and they made plans to visit the National Gallery together. But then Frank lost the ticket with her phone number. So, every day for 60 years, he’s ridden the same bus, hoping to run into her again.

Libby can’t just walk away from such a romantic and heartbreaking story. She enlists the help of an unlikely companion and creates posters advertising their search for the mystery girl. As they try to find her, Frank’s dementia is progressing quickly, teaching Libby important lessons about embracing happiness before it’s too late.

Book Summary

Harper is a young author with one major best-seller under her belt, but now she’s in need of a career comeback. At the suggestion of her agent, she rents a house in New Canaan, Connecticut. Hiding her author identity from everyone she meets, Harper seeks to draw inspiration for a new novel about women in the suburbs.

Soon Harper befriends her empty-nester neighbor. It’s October, and Wendy’s son just moved away for college. She’s struggling with being all alone. But not just because she misses her son. Wendy is keeping a secret of her own – her struggle with kleptomania.

Book Summary

Teenager Tom uses the library to escape from an unhappy present and what feels like an unhappy future, stuck working at the dog food factory. Seventy-two-year-old Pensioner Maggie finds him suspicious.

She’s been alone for ten years now and tells herself she is happy. When she has to be rescued by Tom, an unlikely friendship begins. As Maggie teaches Tom to stand up for himself, Tom helps Maggie realize that her future doesn’t have to be defined by her past.

Together, they’re an unstoppable force when they set out to prove that the local library is about so much more than books.

Book Summary

Kathleen is living independently at 80 years old, and she’s rather impressed with the way she handled a recent scary situation with an intruder. However, her daughter Liza thinks this incident is a prime example of why Kathleen should move to a senior home.

Not only does Kathleen not want to move, she’s also ready for a new adventure traveling down Route 66 in search of an old friend. Liza’s already stressed and has no time to drive across the country with her mom. So, Kathleen publishes an ad for a driver and companion to travel with her across America.

When 25-year-old Martha sees the ad, she thinks it could solve all her problems. How much trouble could an 80-year-old be?

Book Summary

Set on beautiful Lake Superior, this book explores a family’s history and deep connection to a lighthouse. Elizabeth lives in a senior home and has a sharp mind, but has lost her sight. She fills the void with music and memories, which spring to life when her late father’s journals are found in the ruins of an old shipwreck.

Morgan is a troubled teen assigned to community service at Elizabeth’s home. With her help, Elizabeth reads through her father’s journal, with each entry taking Morgan and Elizabeth back in time 70 years. He was the lighthouse keeper on isolated Porphyry Island. As the unlikely duo reads, they realize their fates are connected to the remote island and each other in unexpected ways.

Book Summary

When twenty-nine-year-old Londoner Leena Cotton is forced to take a two-month sabbatical from work after a disastrous presentation, she escapes to her grandmother’s house in a small village in Yorkshire, England. Her grandmother, Eileen, is about to turn 80 and hopes her next decade might include a second chance at love. Convinced that her grandmother will have better luck in the romance department if she heads to the big city, Leena convinces Eileen to swap places with her and move into Leena’s London apartment.

This warm and charming novel is filled with vibrant descriptions of London and English village life as the grandmother and granddaughter duo aim to reset their lives after a difficult loss.