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Chimamanda Adichie, Purple Hibiscus.
A Nigerian girl and her brother escape their abusive father’s home to live with their aunt, but a military coup threatens their newfound freedom. 2005 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for First Book.

Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
A young girl growing up in Yorkshire can’t quite remember an event that changed her family. 1995 Whitbread Award for First Novel.

Suzanne Berne, A Crime in the Neighborhood.
A 10-year-old girl whose father left her mother starts spying on a neighbor after a boy is murdered. 1999 Orange Prize.

Bonnie Burnard, A Good House.
In the optimistic days after World War II, the future seems bright for an Ontario veteran and his family, but life doesn't always work out as planned. 1999 Giller Prize.

Liz Carlyle, The Devil to Pay.
A lady who helps women in need by robbing the men who mistreat them mistakenly targets the wrong man. 2006 RITA Award for Historical Romance.

Joan Chase, During the Reign of the Queen of Persia.
In the rural Midwest of the 1950s, a grandmother is the matriarch of a family of nine women. 1983 Hemingway/PEN Award.

Justin Cronin, Mary and O’Neil.
A man who lost his parents as a teenager forms a close bond with his sister who has her own tragedies and then falls in love with a fellow teacher. 2001 Hemingway/PEN Award.

Helen Dunmore, A Spell of Winter.
A girl raised with her brother by servants on an isolated estate must become self-reliant when her insular world breaks apart. 1996 Orange Prize.

Susan Fletcher, Eve Green.
After her mother’s suicide, a girl is sent to live with her grandparents in a small town in Wales. 2004 Whitbread Award for First Novel.

Michael Frayn, Spies.
Two English boys spy on one’s mother thinking she’s a German spy and uncover a tragic secret. 2002 Whitbread Award.

Carol Goodman, The Seduction of Water.
A woman returns to the Catskills hotel where her parents worked to find an unpublished volume of a fantasy trilogy written by her late mother. 2003 Hammett Prize.

Linda Grant, When I Lived in Modern Times.
A British hairdresser emigrates to Israel in 1946 and struggles to find her identity in a strange new land. 2000 Orange Prize.

Kate Grenville, The Secret River.
A convicted thief is sent with his family to the penal colony in Australia where he eventually earns his freedom and makes his way in a harsh new land. 2006 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars.
In 1954, a reporter covering the trial of a Japanese-American fisherman accused of murder confronts the townspeople’s prejudice and his own feelings for the for defendant’s wife. 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award.

Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
An autistic boy discovers his neighbor’s dog dead in the yard and decides to find out who killed it. 2003 Whitbread Award.

Jennifer Haigh, Mrs. Kimble.
The story of three different women who are seduced into marriage and betrayed by an enigmatic man. 2003 Hemingway/PEN Award.

Jane Hamilton, The Book of Ruth.
An Illinois farm girl struggles to survive in a dysfunctional family. 1988 Hemingway/PEN Award.

Joseph Kanon, Alibi.
In postwar Venice, conflicts arise when an American war crimes investigator falls in love with a Jewish woman, while his mother is courted by a doctor with Nazi ties. 2005 Hammett Prize.

Carla Kelly, The Lady’s Companion.
An impoverished lady becomes a paid companion and falls for her employer's bailiff. 1997 RITA Award for Regency Romance.

Stephen King, The Green Mile.
During the Depression, a prison guard recounts the strange events that occurred when a man was brought to death row accused of a terrible crime. 1996 Bram Stoker Award for Horror.

Matthew Kneale, English Passengers.
A vicar sets sail for Tasmania to prove that it was the site of the Garden of Eden, while a ruthless scientist hopes to prove him wrong and gain fame for himself. 2000 Whitbread Award.

Norman Lebrecht, The Song of Names.
A man searches for a violinist he knew as a boy who disappeared on the eve of his debut. 2002 Whitbread Award for First Novel.

Chang-Rae Lee, Native Speaker.
An operative for an intelligence agency has a crisis of conscience when asked to spy on a fellow Korean-American. 1995 Hemingway/PEN Award.

Andrea Levy, Small Island.
In postwar England, a woman takes in Jamaican borders, but her husband is not pleased when he returns home. 2004 Orange and Whitbread Prizes.

Yiyun Li, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
A collection of stories exploring the effects of the Cultural Revolution on modern Chinese people in China and America. 2005 Hemingway/PEN Award.

Andrew McGahan, The White Earth.
After his father’s death, an Australian boy is sent to live in his great-uncle’s decrepit mansion on a once-vast sheep ranch. 2005 Miles Franklin Award.

Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces.
A Polish boy who witnessed his family’s slaughter during the Holocaust is saved by a Greek man but can’t escape his memories. 1997 Orange Prize.

David Morrell, Creepers.
A group of urban explorers who roam through abandoned buildings at night enter a mysterious hotel and discover they are not alone. 2005 Bram Stoker Award for Horror.

Ann Patchett, Bel Canto.
A soprano and a Japanese businessman are taken hostage by a group of guerillas in Latin America. 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award & Orange Prize.

Karen Rose, I’m Watching You.
A Chicago attorney teams up with a widowed detective when she finds the bodies of three criminals she failed to convict in the trunk of her car. 2005 RITA Award for Romantic Suspense.

Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk about Kevin.
A mother tries to understand why her son went on a killing spree at his school. 2005 Orange Prize.

Joan Silber, Household Words.
A suburban housewife in the 1940s copes with unexpected changes in her life. 1980 Hemingway / PEN Award.

Zadie Smith, On Beauty.
The son of a liberal, mixed-race couple gets involved with the daughter of a conservative professor who is his father’s academic rival. 2006 Orange Prize.

Rose Tremain, Music and Silence.
In the 17th century, an English lute player arrives at the court of the King of Denmark, who is beset by personal and political crises. 1999 Whitbread Award.

William Trevor, Felicia’s Journey.
An Irish girl who came to England seeking the boy who got her pregnant accepts help from a mild-mannered man. 1994 Whitbread Award.

Susan Wiggs, Lakeside Cottage.
An out-of-work single mom whose son has behavioral problems encounters a mystery man at her lakeside retreat. 2006 RITA Award for Contemporary Romance.

Tim Winton, Dirt Music.
A woman who is dissatisfied with her conventional life with a wealthy fisherman is drawn to a poacher who is driven out by the community and heads into the tropical wilderness of Australia’s north coast. 2002 Miles Franklin Award.

Tobias Wolff, The Barracks Thief.
Three paratroopers waiting to ship out to Vietnam form a bond on guard duty during a forest fire but are then shaken by an act of betrayal. 1985 PEN / Faulkner Award.

Richard B. Wright, Clara Callan.
During the Depression, a schoolteacher is left to fend for herself in a small Canadian town when her sister goes to New York to become an actress. 2001 Governor General’s Award & Giller Prize.