Early Fiction

"Love and Friendship" is a short epistolary novel by Jane Austen, written in 1790, when Austen was just 14 years old. The story is told through a series of letters between the characters, primarily the protagonist, Laura, and her close friend, Isabel. The novel is a satirical take on the romantic fiction of the time, with Laura's escapades and misadventures serving as a critique of the societal norms of the day. The story follows Laura's attempts to navigate the social scene and find a suitable husband, which leads to a series of humorous and ridiculous situations.

First published serially in Gilman's magazine The Forerunner from 1909-1910, What Diantha Did is the story of Diantha Bell, a young woman who leaves her home and her fiancé to start a housecleaning business. A resourceful heroine, Diantha quickly expands her business into an enterprise that includes a maid service, cooked food delivery service, a restaurant, and a hotel.

Death of an American Beauty is the third in Mariah Fredericks's compelling series, set in Gilded Age New York, featuring Jane Prescott. Jane Prescott is taking a break from her duties as lady’s maid for a week, and plans to begin it with attending the hottest and most scandalous show in town...

Quintessence is an extraordinary story from Jess Redman about friendship, self-discovery, interconnectedness, and the inexplicable elements that make you you. Find the Elements. Grow the Light. Save the Starling. Three months ago, twelve-year-old Alma moved to the town of Four Points. Her panic...

Readers who love Susan Wiggs and Susan Mallery will adore New York Times bestselling author Mary McNear newest novel. A young woman travels home to Butternut Lake, confronting her past and the tragedy she and her friends have silently carried with them for over a decade while also facing an...

A FINALIST FOR THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD Horace Hopper is a half-Paiute, half-Irish ranch hand who wants to be somebody. He's spent most of his life on the ranch of his kindly guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Reese, herding sheep alone in the mountains. But while the Reeses treat him like a son, Horace...

Dreams can become nightmares. May Rose has the husband, family, and boardinghouse she wanted, but managing business and doing her best for loved ones make challenging days and troubled nights. Now her husband is ailing, someone from the past is trying to find her, and malicious guests are poised to ruin her reputation. Sadly, blood is not always thicker than water.

In 1918, Winkler explodes from a community of 13 helpful souls to a crowded coal mining town of strangers with divided loyalties. War in faraway Europe means more money in the pockets of May Rose and her friends, but as a new wife and mother she feels cut off from people and community events. And though mine owners like her husband are making money hand over fist, the workers' poverty and resentment threaten trouble when the war ends.

Scandal, love, family, and murder combine in this gripping literary mystery by critically acclaimed author Emily Arsenault, in which a young academic’s life is turned upside down when her brother is arrested for murder and she must prove his innocence. The Battle siblings are used to...

""For anyone who has ever suspected something sinister lurking behind the craze of new-age spirituality, Jessica Grose has crafted just the tale for you. With the delicious bite of satire and the page-turning satisfaction of a thriller, Soulmates is a deeply compelling, funny and sharply...

A gripping blend of psychological suspense and historical true crime, this riveting novel—inspired by a sensational real-life murder from the 1800s—by critically acclaimed author Emily Arsenault delivers a heart-stopping mystery linking two young mothers from different centuries. Frances...

Ted Thompson's shrewdly funny and finely observed novel about a man who must reckon with the high cost of the good life. A major motion picture streaming on Netflix, directed by Nicole Holofcener, and starring Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco, and Connie Britton. For Anders Hill, long ensconced in the...

The lives of four teenagers are capsized by a shocking school shooting and its aftermath in this powerful debut novel, a coming-of-age story with the haunting power of Station Eleven and the bittersweet poignancy of Everything I Never Told You. As members of the yearbook committee, Nick, Zola...

What is your name? Where did you come from? And where are you going? In this immersive novel set in 1840s Britain and France, these questions probe at the essence of what it means to be human. A wet nurse in a lively Scottish household goes by an assumed name, but longs to know the identity of her father. A quarryman furtively extricates a remarkable fossil from an island off the Northumberland coast and promptly smuggles it abroad to Paris. A best-selling book that shatters cherished notions about the universe and everything in it triggers widespread argument and speculation....

From the top-ten bestselling author of One Snowy Night, Rita Bradshaw, comes The Winter Rose, a sweeping family saga set in the north of England. It’s December 1902 and Rose O’Leary is looking forward to her baby girl’s first Christmas. But then tragedy strikes: her husband dies at the...

Trip Wiley wasn't always a Hollywood movie star. In fact, he wasn't always Trip Wiley. Back in 1990, he was better known as Trip Wilmington, the new kid in town. New place, new school...same old story. No big deal. It's not like this is the first time he's been forced to start over. But 17 years of city living hasn't prepared him for life in the suburbs...or for Layla Warren. Layla is smart, funny, beautiful...the kind of girl every guy dreams about. Trip should know. He's been falling for her since the first minute he saw her. And his life hasn't been the same since.

A provocative and timely new novel by the author of Inheriting Edith, one that will haunt you long after the story is heard… Sylvie Snow knows the pressures of expectations: a woman is supposed to work hard, but never be tired; age gracefully, but always be beautiful; fix the family problems...

The young nanny for a prominent political family gets drawn into a web of deadly lies—including her own—in this stunning debut thriller with the menacing twists of Megan Abbott and the exquisite suspense of Laura Lippman. They are Phoenix’s First Family: handsome Philip Martin, son of...

Blonde. Beautiful. A loving mother. And missing since Monday. On a sunny morning in late September, Shannon Blaine sets off for a jog along the rural roads near her home in Lake George, New York. It’s her usual a.m. routine, her “me time” after dropping the kids off at school…except on...

"Love and Freindship" [sic] is a juvenile story by Jane Austen, dated 1790. From the age of 11 until she was 18, Austen wrote her tales in three notebooks. These still exist, one in the Bodleian Library and the other two in the British Museum. They contain, among other works, "Love and Freindship", written when she was 14, and "The History of England", written when she was 15.