The Best Grown-Up Reads of November 2020
by the Brightly Editors
As we collectively embark on an unusual (but no less busy) holiday season, might we recommend the restorative powers of a great book? This month’s best new reads for grown-ups span the gamut of genres, from romance to mystery to memoir and more. Tuck in with a new title, and we’ll see you next month for more.
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A Christmas Resolution
Newlywed Celia wants only the best for her best friend, Clementine, who’s just announced her engagement to the upstanding Seth Marlowe. But when Celia grows suspicious about the death of Marlowe’s first wife, she asks her husband, detective John Hooper, to investigate — and doesn’t like what he finds. Can Celia convince her friend to flee the altar before Clementine meets the same gruesome end?
(On Sale: 11/3/20)Preorder from: -
What We Didn't Expect
Available from:In this essential anthology of personal essays, journalist Melody Schreiber gathers stories of people who have spent long and difficult days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), including parents, nurses, and even grown-up preemies. Though 10 percent of births in the U.S. are premature, it remains an isolating and disorienting experience. These stories, both a guide and a comfort, aim to change that.
(On Sale: 11/10/20)Also available from: -
1st Grade at Home
An essential resource for this era of virtual schooling, The Princeton Review’s 1st Grade at Home will help your young student with critical math and reading skills while also giving you the advice and guidance you might be seeking. Fun and accessible lesson plans and at-home learning activities focus on the crucial building blocks. And don’t fret, parents of older kids — the Learn at Home series includes resources for older grades as well!
(On Sale: 11/10/20)Preorder from: -
A Promised Land
Available from:In the first volume of his highly anticipated presidential memoirs, Barack Obama outlines three intentions behind the project: to give an honest rendering of his eight years in office and how his term intersected with changes in America politically, economically, and culturally; to reveal what it actually means to be the president — both the highest office, and still just a job; and to inspire others to consider a life in public service. A Promised Land accomplishes all that and more.
(On Sale: 11/17/20)Also available from: -
Oak Flat
Available from:Lauren Redniss’s Oak Flat combines journalism and graphic narrative to tell the riveting story of sacred land near the San Carlos Apache Reservation through an Apache family fighting to protect the land, which the U.S. government and two world-power mining conglomerates are attempting to seize and destroy for its copper resources. Profound, visually striking, and deeply reported, Oak Flat tells a larger story of relentless westward expansion and Native resistance.
(On Sale: 11/17/20)Also available from: -
The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
Available from:Two hundred years ago, Filomena Fontana placed a hex upon her sister, inadvertently cursing generations of second-born daughters in the Fontana family: since then, not a single one has found love. In present-day New York, Emilia rolls her eyes at the so-called curse, while her cousin Lucy is a true believer. When both women are summoned by their 79-year-old Aunt Poppy — all second-born daughters — for a trip to Italy that will break the curse once and for all, they’ll never predict what the fates have in store.
(On Sale: 11/17/20)Also available from: -
The Boy Toy
Available from:At 37, Samira Broderick is finally ready to patch things up with her mother and forgive her for Samira’s disaster of an arranged marriage. At home in Australia, Samira embarks on a steamy one-night stand; the next day, that one-night stand unknowingly hires her as a dialect coach to help him with his new role as a reality TV host. Rory is white — a no-go for Samira’s Indian mother — and ten years younger. In other words, he’s all wrong. But this time around, could all wrong be just right?
(On Sale: 11/17/20)Also available from:
