NEW! 
Best Book Club Books for Fall
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.If you’re looking for book club recommendations perfect for the fall season, we have you covered! The suggested novels on our list are all highly rated and discussion-worthy. We’ve divided the list into two sections – book club books that have fall vibes and new 2024 releases that are perfect for clubs that focus on new novels.
2024 Books Perfect for Fall Discussion
By Any Other Name
Book Summary
Emilia Bassano has access to English theater in 1581 as Lord Chamberlain’s mistress. However, she wants to be a playwright, not just an audience member. However, in 1581, that is not a role society would accept a woman to be in. But her desire to see her work on the stage is strong, so she pays a man for the use of his name. In order for her work to be seen, she had to write herself out of history.
In the present, playwright Melina Green has written a new work inspired by her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. However, four hundred years later, Melina faces some of the same challenges as Emilia. Will she also be willing to forgo credit in order to see her work performed?
The Book Girls Say…
Jodi Picoult books are ideal for book clubs! She always writes a compelling story with plenty of discussion-worthy moments. We can’t wait to read this fall 2024 release!
And So I Roar
Book Summary
Adunni is a 14-year old runaway, living in Tia’s guest room in Lagos after escaping her rural village. Tia has helped her enroll in school, and Adunni can’t wait to get the education she has always dreamed of.
But then an unexpected knock at the front gate turns into a harrowing ordeal. Tia must decide whether she can continue protected Adunni, or if she will take the chance to finally learn a secret that her mother has kept hidden from her.
Adunni must use her “louding voice,” as she calls it, to save not only her own life, but also to help all the young women of her home village, Ikati.
The Book Girls Say…
If your club read The Girl With the Louding Voice, this is a great time to pick up the sequel which picks up where Louding Voice left off! However, keep in mind that the books starts from Tia’s point of view and includes a larger cast of characters than the first book. While Adunni is a big part of the story, it’s not solely focused on her.
The Lion Women of Tehran
Book Summary
In 1950s Tehran, Ellie lives a priviledged life. However, her whole world changes when her father unexpectedly passes away, and she and her mother must move to a tiny home downtown.
On her first day at her new school, Ellie meets Homa, a kind, brave, and passionate girl who becomes her best friend. They spend all their time together learning to cook, playing games, and wandering the Grand Bazaar.
But then Ellie’s life flips again when she’s given a chance to return to her privileged life and attend the best girls’ high school in Iran. Over time, her thoughts of Homa fade, and she embraces her bourgeois life. When Homa suddenly reappears, the course of both of their lives is changed forever. The rising political turmoil in the country complicates things even further.
The Book Girls Say…
This highly-rated novel from the author of The Stationery Shop starts with a focus on the girls coming of age in the 1950s & 1960s Iran, but then follows the women through the present day.
The God of the Woods
Book Summary
In 1961, the only son of a family that owns a summer camp in the Adirondacks disappeared while hiking and was never found. Now, in 1975, a camp counselor discovers that their daughter, thirteen year old Barbara, is missing. Are the tragedies related?
As soon as they realize Barbara is not in her bunk, a frantic search is launched. The investigation is deeply layered, with Barbara’s counselor, Louise, her bunkmate, Tracy, her mother, Alice, and a young female detective, Judyta, all sharing their own impactful stories along the way.
The Book Girls Say…
This is a more dimensional read than a standard thriller, with complex themes of motherhood, class, and sexuality explored as the investigation unwinds the past in an effort to understand the present.
This layered, slow-burning book uses a non-linear timeline, bouncing back and forth to reveal new aspects of the story. Readers say the two timelines are seamlessly woven together, and the book’s pace increases through twists and turns.
The Briar Club
Book Summary
Briarwood House is an all-female boardinghouse in Washington DC, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. It’s 1950 when the mysterious widow Grace moves into the attic. She throws attic-room dinner parties for her new friends, including a beautiful English wife and mother, a police officer’s daughter who is involved with a gangster, a baseball star frustrated with the end of the female league after WW2, and a woman who threw herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.
While Grace’s dinner parties are healing to the women, she also has her own secrets…and there may be an enemy within the group.
The Book Girls Say…
Kate Quinn is a book club favorite for a reason! Her historical fiction novels include mystery and thriller elements to keep the pages turning. They also providing plenty of topics for discussion, including the McCarthyism Era.
Shelterwood
Book Summary
Although she’s only 11, Olive(Ollie) Augusta Radley knows that her step-father does not have good intentions with the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie bravely chooses to flee into the woods with the younger girl, 6-year-old Nessie. As they journey through the rugged Winding Stair Mountains, they risk encountering outlaws, treasure hunters, and other desperate men.
Along their travels, Ollie and Nessie bond with each other and other children on the run from terrible situations.
In 1990, in Oklahoma, Ranger Valerie Boren O’Dell arrived at Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. Instead, she quickly has to investigate a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails and the long-hidden burial site of three children deep in a cave. As she digs into the area’s dark past, she finds an ally in the Choctaw Tribal Police.
The Book Girls Say…
This novel is told in alternating timelines, but both are well-developed. Don’t miss the author’s note at the end of the book, as it covers which parts of the story are based on the real history of the region.
The Wedding People
Book Summary
For years, Phoebe has dreamed of visiting the iconic Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island. She looked forward to shucking oysters and sailing into the sunset with her husband. But instead, she’s arrived alone to stay in the most expensive room for one night.
As it turns out, Phoebe is the only guest at the Inn who is not apart of a big wedding party. The bride, Lila, thought she had accoutned for every possibilty in her effort to host the perfect wedding, but she couldn’t have predicted Phoebe’s arrival.
Phoebe and Lila are complete opposites, but sometimes chance meetings turn into the most unexpected friendships.
The Book Girls Say…
While this synopsis sounds light and the book is humorous, there are also plenty of deep topics worthy of discussion. Be sure to check trigger warnings before reading if needed.
Reviewers note that the audiobook is especially well done.
James
Book Summary
This thought-provoking novel transports you back to 1840s Missouri, the land of Huckleberry Finn. However, in James, you’ll find the story reimaged from the point of view of the enslaved man, Jim, who prefers to be called James.
James overhears that he’s about to be sold to a man in New Orleans. If this happens, he’ll never see his wife and daughter again. That thought is too much for him to bear, so he decides to hide on Jackson Island until he comes up with a long-term plan. The island is also the temporary home of Huck Finn, who is running from his abusive father.
Together, the unlikely duo is determined to make it down the Mississippi River to the elusive Free States. Along the way, they encounter the same trials Mark Twain included, but they feel different through the eyes of James.
The Book Girls Say…
Reviewers say that the writing is strong in James, and there is no need to re-read Huck Finn before picking up this brilliant retelling. Many early readers of this novel also say it is hard to put down, and it is likely to become a modern classic.
This book includes details of life in slavery, including rape.
The Women
Book Summary
Frances “Frankie” McGrath is a 21-year-old nursing student who has been raised by her conservative parents to always do “the right thing.” But when her brother ships out for Vietnam in 1965, she begins to change her views of right and wrong. Frankie impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows her brother to Vietnam. As she tends to the green and inexperienced young men who have been sent to fight the war, she is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction. Returning home to a changed America doesn’t prove to be any easier.
While The Women is the story of Frankie going to war, it also shines a light on the story of all women who risk everything to help others. The publisher describes this book as “a novel of searing insight and lyrical beauty” that is “profoundly emotional” and “richly drawn.”
The Book Girls Say…
There are so many books shedding light on the stories of women during WWI and WWII, but ever since we launched the Decades Reading Challenge back in 2020, we’ve been lamenting the lack of fiction about women’s roles in Vietnam. We weren’t disappointed in how much we learned about the difficult role of nursing during the war, and the long-lasting effects of the job.
Don’t miss our entire book club guide for The Women, which includes discussion questions, food ideas, and so much more!
All the Colors of the Dark
Book Summary
All the Colors of the Dark crosses genres from literary fiction to mystery and even to romance as it follows the characters from their teen years in 1975 into adulthood.
In the small Ozarks town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family, Misty, is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye. Patch saves the girl, but this leaves heartache in his wake.
While Mont Clare was once a close-knit community, after this event, the town will never be the same. The trauma experienced by Patch, his friend Saint, and Misty will haunt them as they grow into adulthood. The trauma causes each character to make choices you may not agree with, creating many twists and a suspenseful vibe throughout the compelling story.
The Book Girls Say…
This 2024 release is getting rave reviews in every Facebook group we’re a part of, which is especially impressive considering that it is character-driven and is longer than your average mystery at 608 pages. However, the short paragraphs and chapters make the book feel faster-paced than you may expect.
This book does not exclusively take place in the 1970s but instead starts with the events that happened in the 1970s and then how they impacted the next 25 years of the characters’ lives.
Book Summary
Aboard a short flight from Hobart to Sydney, Australia, a passenger (who will come to be known as “The Death Lady”) walks up and down the aisles telling each person the age at which they will die and the cause of death.
Some passengers learn that they have many, many years ahead of them – like one who will live to be 103. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are less than a year away.
A few months after the flight, one passenger dies exactly as predicted. Then soon after, two more. Now even those who originally viewed their encounter with “The Death Lady” as an entertaining story to share at cocktail parties are paying close attention.
The Book Girls Say…
After asking ourselves, “Would we want to know how much time we have left?” while reading Nikki Erlick’s The Measure, we are totally intrigued by the question posed by Liane Moriarty in this new novel – “If you knew you had a certain amount of time left, would you do things differently?”
Join the Fall Reading Mini Challenge
Our free self-paced reading challenge will keep you reading engaging books throughout the autumn season. To make it easy and fun, we include highly-rated book recommendations for each of the four fall reading prompts.
More Book Club Books to Read in the Fall
These books were published before 2024, which may make them easier for your club to access through the library. Some are set in the fall, while others are deeper reads with tones that match the season.
Go As a River
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
This novel transports you to 1940s rural Colorado and the home of teenager Victoria Nash. Despite her young age, she runs the household as the sole female in a family of troubled men. One day, she meets Wilson Moon, a mysterious young drifter who has been displaced from his tribal land. Their sudden and passionate connection is full of danger and secrets.
Victoria ends up fleeing to the harsh mountain wilderness in a small hut, where she struggles against impossible conditions. As the Gunnison River rises and threatens her homeland, she begins a quest to fight for all she has lost.
The Book Girls Say…
This is a great pick if you enjoy deep and descriptive, character-driven reads. While the book spans several years, much of it takes place in the fall of each of those years as peaches are picked just before the first frost.
Don’t miss our entire book club guide for Go As a River, which includes discussion questions, food ideas, and so much more!
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
This historical novel is based on the real-life and memoir of a 15th-century female physician in China. Tan Yunxian was raised in the Ming Dynasty era by her grandmother, also a physician, who taught her the art of Chinese medicine. Additionally, she learned about female conditions from her best friend, Meiling, who was training to be a midwife. While Yunxian was on the path to be a success in her own right, she was still sent into an arranged marriage.
Her new mother-in-law was a traditionalist who forbade her from seeing Meiling and stopped her from helping the girls and women in their household. Instead, she is supposed to be a “proper wife,” learning poetry, embroidering foot-binding slippers, and staying within the walls of their compound.
How did Yunxian break free and go on to treat women from all classes of society and create remedies that are still used over 500 years later? Lisa See tells her compelling life story in this novel.
The Book Girls Say…
While Melissa loves historical fiction, she prefers anything from the Gilded Age – the present and usually avoids earlier settings. However, she was drawn to Lady Tan’s Circle of Women as her Book of the Month pick. While she was compelled by the description, the book was even better than expected and often left her awestruck as she learned about what it was like for women in Ming Dynasty era China.
It was fascinating to see what was “normal” at the time within a wealthy and revered family. Knowing the book is based on a real woman adds to the page-turning nature of the novel!
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Books Set in Asia: Northern Countries
Best Books of 2023 (So Far)
Water for Elephants
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
Looking to escape his circumstances, Jacob Jankowski jumps onto a passing train and suddenly finds himself thrust into the world of a circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression.
Because Jacob is just shy of his veterinary degree, he’s put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. He becomes enamored with Marlena – the star of the equestrian show. But Marlena is married to the circus’s cruel animal trainer. Jacob also meets Rosie, an elephant that everyone had hoped would help save the circus, but who appears to be untrainable.
The Book Girls Say…
As was common with any circus of this time period, the animals are not always treated with care in this book. Be prepared for scenes highlighting the mistreatment of animals (and humans).
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
The Covenant of Water
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
Kerala, on India’s southern coast, is a slender, coastal state with almost 373 miles of Arabian Sea coast and beaches. Being surrounded by water makes this a popular tourist destination. But for the family at the heart of this novel, being surrounded by water has plagued three generations. In every generation, at least one person dies by drowning.
This new literary fiction epic is a tale of love, faith, and medicine in which the family is seeking answers to this strange secret. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi—literally “Big Mother”—will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life.
The Book Girls Say…
This is a hefty book, at over 700 pages, but like Verghese’s past work, it receives rave reviews! It includes elements of magical realism and straddles myth and reality. You’ll be transported Kerala, where you’ll experience all of the sights and sounds, including clothing, dance, music, architecture, customs, food, and so much more.
A tip, though – keep your dictionary handy if you’re a little rusty on your Latin or anatomy. Author Abraham Verghese completed his medical education in India at Madras Medical College before working as a doctor and a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His medical expertise is apparent throughout the book. But, as was the case with Cutting for Stone, some readers may find the descriptions of surgical procedures a bit too graphic.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Books that Span Multiple Decades
Readers’ Favorite Books: 2023 Edition
Best Magical Realism Books
The Echo of Old Books
Book Summary
Ashlyn Greer is a rare-book dealer who loves the smell of old paper, ink, and leather. Old volumes appeal to all of her senses, including a sense the rest of us don’t have. She is gifted with the unique ability to feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners.
When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound, unpublished volumes with no evidence of how they came to be, she gets wrapped up in a decades-old literary mystery. Each volume bears a curious inscription, as well as the emotional fingerprints of the authors, Hemi and Belle. The books tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the closer she comes to bringing closure to their love story, and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.
The Book Girls Say…
This 2023 release is perfect for book lovers and those who love a story within a story. This novel also delves into deeper historical issues, including anti-Semitism and the roles of women in society in the 1940s.
Hello Beautiful
Book Summary
Charlie greets the women in his family, including his wife and four daughters, by saying “Hello, Beautiful” and truly sees something special in each of them. Unfortunately, Charlie is resented by his wife, Rose, because he’s an alcoholic, which also impacts his ability to provide for the family.
Their oldest daughter, Julie, is smart and ambitious. When she meets William, whose family couldn’t be more different than her own, he’s at college on a basketball scholarship. For William, the sport has been his saving grace and a substitute for the love of family. At least until he meets Julie and her family embraces him in their family unit when they become a couple. Once that happens, the family refuses to give up on him.
While you’ll get some fall vibes when Julie heads to college, Hello Beautiful also follows the characters for nearly four decades. The book begins in the main character’s childhood, in the 1960s, and spans into their middle age years.
The Book Girls Say…
This slow-paced character-driven family drama from the author of Dead Edward pays homage to Little Women, including references to the classic.
Heads Up: Themes in this book include depression and suicide.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Tell The Wolves I’m Home
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
Fourteen-year-old June had a very close relationship with her uncle, Finn, and was devastated when he died in 1987 from AIDS, which was then still a mysterious and seldom talked about illness.
June meets a stranger at Finn’s funeral – someone who is also struggling with the loss – and as the two get to know each other, their unexpected friendship may be what they each need to heal.
The Book Girls Say…
Our readers say this 2012 Goodreads Nominee for Best Fiction takes you back to the AIDS fears of the 80s and provides a great glimpse into the decade. That said, the book is more about the characters and relationships and has fewer details about the overall AIDS crisis.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Demon Copperhead
Book Summary
This is a modern retelling of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield. Like Copperfield, Copperhead examines institutional poverty, but in contemporary Appalachia.
Born to a teenage single mother, Damon (soon to be known as Demon) braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, opioid addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses.
The Book Girls Say…
Angela was hesitant to read this 500-page book because it sounded quite depressing, but once she picked it up, she was immediately hooked. While it is heartbreaking throughout, it’s also an incredibly touching story that somehow feels both meandering and fast-paced at the same time, thanks to Kingsolver’s gorgeous writing.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Take My Hand
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
Book Summary
Civil is fresh out of nursing school and has dreams of making a big difference in her post-segregation African American community. She works for the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, and she’s sent to a rural cabin during her first week on the job. When she arrives, Civil is shocked to find that her patients are children, only 11 and 13 years old.
The girls, Erica and India, are innocent and not even thinking of boys. However, because they are poor and Black, those handling their benefits have requested the children be on birth control. Civil struggles with this unexpected aspect of her new career. Despite the shocking reason for meeting the sisters, Civil is endeared to them and their family. However, one day when she arrives for her visit, something unthinkable has happened, and Civil soon finds herself involved in a legal case.
You’ll also see Civil years later, at the end of her career, with a daughter of her own, as she tries to find peace without forgetting those she encountered along the way.
The Book Girls Say…
This historical fiction novel is based on the 1973 legal case of Relf v. Weinberger. It’s a book all women should read, just be sure to grab a comforting blanket and box of tissues before you start.
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
Books Set in the 1970s
Books Set in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee
Best Book Club Books From 2022
West With Giraffes
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
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. A coast-to-coast trek with giant animals is no easy feat. Jones begrudgingly teams up with a starving teenager named Woody to help him make the 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.
At its heart, this is a coming-of-age story. Now, at the age of 105, Woody recounts his 12-day cross-country trip with Jones and the giraffes and how it shaped his life.
The Book Girls Say…
In writing this historical fiction novel, author Lynda Rutledge started with the true story of two giraffes being transported cross-country in the 1930s and then imagined what that road trip might have been like. She includes real newspaper clippings throughout the book to indicate to readers the parts of the story that are based on actual facts.
After we both gave this book 5 stars, we’ve recommended it to everyone we know! From the insights it gives to life across America in the late 1930s to the growing relationships between characters, including the humans and the giraffes, we can’t recommend this book highly enough!
Also Featured on These Book Lists:
West with Giraffes Book Club Questions & Guide
Books About Traveling Across America
Books Set in the 1930s
Intergenerational Novels: Books that Connect Generations
Unforgettable Dust Bowl Books
Readers’ Favorite Books: 2023 Edition
Best Audiobook Kindle Unlimited Recommendations
PS: We also have a printable West with Giraffes book club guide available on Etsy, including discussion questions, bonus giraffe content, custom bookmarks, and more!
More Book Club Book Recommendations
Below, you’ll find links to more book lists filled with discussion-worthy book club picks. If you are specifically looking for other books with fall vibes, check out all of our fall-themed book lists.
