The Best Books of 2024 (So Far), According to Real Simple Editors

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If you can't decide what to read next, you're in luck because we have some ideas. From memoirs to heartfelt fiction, these are our favorite books of 2024. Each month, we'll add more new books we love—and you can add them to your own TBR pile.

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Tell Me Everything

In Tell Me Everything, Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout returns to Crosby, Maine, bringing together her most popular characters. Bob Burgess is investigating a murder but spends much of his time confiding in writer Lucy Barton. Lucy has befriended the irascible Olive Kitteridge, and their chats in Olive’s retirement home lead to big questions about how we’re remembered. No need to have read Strout’s other work to fall in love with this standalone story that explores the quiet impact we have on each other every day.

$23 at Amazon

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A Little Less Broken

From the time she was a kid, essayist Marian Schembari felt different from her classmates, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. Decades later, when she was 34 and on a beach vacation with her husband and young daughter, a phone call from her doctor revealed the answer: She’s autistic. A Little Less Broken, her first book, is a warm, funny, and deeply informative recounting of her years-long search to find her true self—and an encouraging reminder to accept ourselves as we are.

$27 at Amazon

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Here One Moment

Imagine this: You’re on a plane when a woman walks up the aisle and points to each passenger, declaring exactly how and when everyone will die. Would you call it nonsense, or reconsider how you live? That’s the question posed in Here One Moment, the new novel by superstar Liane Moriarty (Big Little Lies). By the time the plane lands, most passengers have laughed off the experience, but a few months later, one dies exactly as predicted, and that changes everything. This expertly told story will entertain you as it leaves you wondering, What would I do?!

$21 at Amazon

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A Reason to See You Again

Jami Attenberg’s A Reason to See You Again opens in 1971 in the Cohens’ living room, during their Saturday night Scrabble game, a ritual for the close-knit family of four. When Rudy, the father, dies a year later, their foundation crumbles. The elder sister ends up marrying a not-so-great guy, the younger one takes off for the West Coast, and their mother turns to alcohol. Their journey to overcome the past, told over the course of 40 years, makes for a moving epic about the endurance of family love.

$28 at Amazon

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The Life Impossible

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (The Midnight Library) features Grace Winters, a widowed, retired math teacher in England whose life has fallen into a slump. She’s bored, bereft, and plagued by a sense of aimlessness, until she gets a letter stating that a former coworker—a woman she hardly knew—has died and left her a rundown property in Ibiza. Even though she’s inclined to just stay home, she goes to check it out. What unfolds is an insightful read about how it’s never too late to start over.

$21 at Amazon

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Blue Sisters

It’s been a year since Nicky, the sunniest of the Blue sisters, unexpectedly passed away. From the outside, the remaining three seem just fine: Avery is a wealthy lawyer in London, Bonnie is a former boxer in Los Angeles, and Lucky models from her home base in Paris. But when their mother announces she’s selling their childhood home in Manhattan, their secret struggles come to the fore. Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors paints a beautiful portrait of grief and the world-shaping bond sisters share.

$27 at Amazon

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Colored Television

When Jane agrees to house-sit for a friend for a year and moves her family into his gorgeous Los Angeles home, she’s sure it’ll inspire her to finally finish her second novel. Then she gets the chance to develop a “biracial comedy” with a big TV producer, so she goes for it. Will this be the thing that leads to the success that’s eluded her…or is she selling out? The biting, incisive, and hilarious Colored Television by Danzy Senna skewers Hollywood culture while offering a thoughtful take on how creatives balance making art with making a living.

$26 at Amazon

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Entitlement

National Book Award finalist Rumaan Alam captivated readers with 2020’s startling Leave the World Behind. In his new novel, Brooke is a young woman living in New York City, working at an aging billionaire’s family foundation, yearning to find her purpose. After her employer enlists her help in deciding how to give away his fortune, she becomes entranced by the power of wealth. Suspenseful and deliciously unsettling, Entitlement examines the seductive pull of money and its ability to warp our perspectives.

$27 at Amazon

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The Cliffs

In The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan, teenage Jane finds solace from a tough family life in an abandoned Victorian home on the Maine coast, where she spends hours reading. Two decades later, the house is bought and renovated by Genevieve, a wealthy Bostonian. When ghostly events start to occur, she hires Jane, now a Harvard archivist back in town after a personal crisis, to investigate its history. Jane’s search unearths the stories of the people who’ve inhabited the property, making for a fascinating look at the idea of legacy.

$20 at Amazon

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They Dream in Gold

They Dream in Gold, Mai Sennaar’s debut novel, opens with Bonnie, a young American living in the Swiss countryside in 1969. She’s desperate to hear from Mansour, the father of her unborn child, who left three months ago with his band for a gig in Spain. Nobody has heard from him, including his mother and aunts, who share a home with Bonnie and are planning the opening of their Senegalese restaurant. As the women probe what happened, an around-the-world adventure ensues, exploring how our geographic history shapes us.

$23 at Amazon

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A Thousand Times Before

Ayukta and her wife are Brooklynites who are thinking about having a baby. But Ayukta can’t move forward without revealing a centuries-old tradition that’s never been shared outside her family: The women inherit a mysterious tapestry that lets them relive the experiences of their female ancestors, good and bad, to understand and pass on their stories. A powerful tale of mothers and daughters that spans India across generations, A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki beautifully illustrates the ripple effect our choices make.

$23 at Amazon

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The God of the Woods

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore takes place in the Adirondacks during the 1970s. At a summer camp, a 13-year-old girl has gone missing. She’s the daughter of the Van Laars, the wealthy family who owns the camp and employs much of the community. Oddly, more than a decade earlier, her older brother had disappeared into the same forest and was never found. As the town converges to find the girl, long-held suspicions about the family arise. Clear your afternoon: This absorbing story, told by a compelling cast of characters, is unputdownable.

$20 at Amazon

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The Wedding People

Phoebe Stone’s life is falling apart. She’s wanted to visit the historic Cornwall Inn in Rhode Island for years, so she books a room and goes. While she waits to check in, the people in the lobby assume she’s there for the same reason they are—the wedding. Turns out, she’s the only guest not attending. The capital-B Bride isn’t happy about it (hadn’t she booked the whole place?!), but then she and Phoebe start talking. The Wedding People by Alison Espach is full of witty dialogue and lovably imperfect characters you’ll root for till the end.

$21 at Amazon

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The Lion Women of Tehran

Homa and Ellie are 7 when they meet at school in the 1950s in a low-income area of Tehran, where Ellie and her mother have moved after her father’s death. The girls dream of how their lives will play out as women, but soon Ellie returns to her upper-class life, setting the girls on different paths. Years later, during Iran’s political upheaval, their lives collide in a way that will change them forever. The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali is a moving story about the transformative power of childhood friendships.

$20 at Amazon

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Long Island Compromise

In Long Island Compromise, the latest from Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Fleishman Is in Trouble), the Fletchers’ cushy lives are rocked when Carl, the patriarch, is kidnapped, then returned after a week for a major ransom. Almost 40 years later, the parents and three children reunite in their hometown after Carl’s mother’s death. When they discover that their family fortune doesn’t exist, they’re forced to confront how dysfunctional they’ve all felt since the kidnapping. The result is a delicious, Succession-esque saga about the complex impact of wealth.

$19 at Amazon

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Sandwich

Sandwich by Catherine Newman will have you laughing through your tears. It’s set during Rocky’s annual family vacation on Cape Cod, a tradition now 20 years strong. She’s accompanied by her two nearly adult kids, her aging parents, her beloved husband, and her not-so-fun menopausal hormone swings. Feeling every bittersweet moment of this week, she realizes she can no longer hold on to the secrets she’s kept from her loved ones. You’ll be screenshotting paragraphs of this heartbreakingly honest novel to send to your friends.

$17 at Amazon

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Swift River

It’s the summer of 1987 and 16-year-old Diamond Newberry is an outcast in her small New England town, and the only Black person living there since her dad disappeared seven years ago. She begins receiving letters from a relative on her father’s side that unearth her family history. As she learns about the people who came before her, she discovers who she truly is—and who she wants to be. Essie Chambers’s Swift River is a deeply moving portrayal of a girl you will absolutely fall for and cheer on through every scene of this remarkable debut.

$20 at Amazon

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Same as It Ever Was

At 57, Julia Ames is an almost empty-nester living a perfectly nice life married to a perfectly nice guy. While grocery shopping for her husband’s birthday party, she runs into an old friend, a woman who supported her during the difficult days of early motherhood—and almost ruined her marriage. Their random meeting sends Julia reeling, forcing her to confront her long history of complicated desires. With Same as It Ever Was, Claire Lombardo (The Most Fun We Ever Had) has written a second immersive novel with profound insights into relationships.

$19 at Amazon

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Bear

In Bear, the new novel by National Book Award finalist Julia Phillips, two sisters in their late 20s care for their ailing mother on a Pacific Northwest island where they were raised. Sam and Elena are desperate for a change, but their jobs catering to wealthy vacationers (one works concessions on the ferry; the other is a bartender at the golf club) barely provide enough to cover their bills. Then a bear shows up—yes, an actual bear—and the two women’s startlingly different reactions make this story, inspired by a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, an exciting portrait of sisterhood.

$21 at Amazon

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David Nicholls (One Day) is famous for writing novels full of British humor that sneak-attack with an emotional punch. And he’s done it again. In You Are Here, Michael, 42, and Marnie, 38, are nursing their wounds after failed relationships. Michael avoids being home, where there are too many reminders of his ex. Marnie, meanwhile, hardly ever leaves her apartment. A friend pushes them together for a multiday group hike, the last thing either of them wants to do. Their journey, and what they learn walking side by side, leads to a ridiculously satisfying book about hope and second chances.

$21 at Amazon

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One of Our Kind

The first adult novel by bestselling YA author Nicola Yoon, One of Our Kind features Jasmyn Williams, who has just moved into a gorgeous home in Liberty, California, with her young family. Yet it’s not your typical community: It’s a Black utopia, and Jasmyn is excited about her young son growing up in a supportive environment with people who look like him. That is, until she discovers that beyond the manicured lawns and fancy wellness spa, Liberty is hiding a terrifying secret, and fitting in with her Stepfordesque neighbors might be the least of her problems.

$20 at Amazon

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The Cemetery of Untold Stories

The Cemetery of Untold Stories, the latest by literary legend Julia Alvarez (In the Time of the Butterflies), centers on Alma, a writer living in Vermont who inherits a small plot in the Dominican Republic, her family’s homeland. Everyone is curious what she’ll do with it—well, imagine the reaction when she turns it into a graveyard for the manuscripts she hasn’t finished. Her characters aren’t done telling their stories, though, and as they refuse to let their voices be buried, this imaginative book will make you think about legacies and how they live on.

$16 at Amazon

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Women and Children First

Women and Children First is set in a seen-better-days beach town in Massachusetts. All the locals know one another and not much goes unnoticed, so when a teenage girl mysteriously dies at a house party, the ripples are felt by everyone. Author Alina Grabowski reveals the girl’s story through vignettes told from the points of view of her mother, her teacher, her best friend, and others. The result is an original, deeply affecting debut novel about complex women and the community they carry.

$19 at Amazon

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The Alternatives

All in their 30s, all unmarried, and all with PhDs, the four Flattery sisters live unique lives in various corners of the world. That is, until the eldest, a geologist who’s distraught over the state of the planet, disappears into the Irish countryside, and the other three join forces to find her. Told with biting wit and warmhearted insight, The Alternatives by award-winning Irish author Caoilinn Hughes reflects our collective yearning to make sense of our lives.

$23 at Amazon

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Did I Ever Tell You?

Writer Genevieve Kingston was just 11 when her mother died from breast cancer. During her illness, her mother put together two chests for Kingston and her brother, each filled with boxes and letters to mark every milestone they might hit before they turned 30. Incorporating pictures and stories, Did I Ever Tell You? details how this gift has guided Kingston throughout her life. Her recounting is both a beautiful tribute to her mother and a portrait of unconditional love, providing catharsis for anyone who has ever lost a loved one.

$14 at Amazon

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Real Americans

In Real Americans by Rachel Khong, Lily Chen is the 22-year-old daughter of Chinese scientists and can barely afford her life in Y2K-era Manhattan. When she meets Matthew, who is white and extremely wealthy, she’s surprised that sparks fly. Fast-forward to 2021: Nick Chen, 15, lives with his mom (Lily!) on the West Coast and, confused about where he belongs in life, is desperate to find his biological father. This multigenerational stunner asks a thought-provoking question: Do we have any control over our destiny, or do some people just get lucky?

$18 at Amazon

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The Limits

The Limits, the latest by Nell Freudenberger, is an astonishingly realistic portrayal of everyday people facing the challenges of modern life. Set during the peak of Covid (but don’t worry—it’s not a pandemic novel!), it features unforgettable characters: Nathalie is a French biologist living on a tiny Polynesian island who sends her teenage daughter, Pia, to Manhattan to stay with her ex and his new wife, Kate, a teacher. After Pia meets one of Kate’s students, a 16-year-old caring for her toddler nephew and haunted by anxiety, everyone’s paths collide in deeply moving ways.

$15 at Amazon

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A Great Country

Two decades after immigrating to the U.S., the Shahs seem to be living the dream. They have a successful business, a new home in an upscale California community, three happy kids, and a close-knit network of fellow Indian Americans. Then their 12-year-old son is arrested, and they learn they might have more in common with other communities of color than they’d believed. With vivid characters and an absorbing plot, A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda asks important questions about race, class, and what it really means to “make it” in the U.S. today.

$18 at Amazon

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The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers

When Clayton Stumper was just a baby, he was left on the steps of an English commune where a group of professional enigmatologists (i.e., puzzle makers) invented new games and riddles. Now in his 20s, Clayton is a quirky young man mourning the death of the woman who discovered and raised him. But she’s left him with one final mystery to solve: Where did he really come from, and what’s next? Samuel Burr’s The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers takes readers along on Clayton’s quest to discover his roots, treating us to a literary mood boost about friendship and found family.

$22 at Amazon

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The Stone Home

It’s 2011 when a stranger knocks on Eunju Oh’s door and sends her reeling back to a past she’d hoped to forget. In the 1980s, teenage Eunju and her mother, living on the streets of South Korea, were picked up by police and taken to one of the country’s “reformatory centers”—ostensibly created to help struggling members of society but actually brutally violent work camps. Told from the perspectives of Eunju, her mother, and two teenage brothers imprisoned in the same camp, The Stone Home by Crystal Hana Kim exposes a dark reality in South Korea’s history through a gripping story about human connection and the will to survive.

$17 at Amazon

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The Husbands

In Holly Gramazio’s debut, Lauren comes home after a big night out and finds a man she’s never met in her London apartment. According to the photos on the wall and the texts in her phone, he’s…her husband? But when he climbs into the attic to change a light bulb, another man climbs down, and it isn’t long before Lauren realizes that every time she sends someone up the ladder, a different spouse returns. Refreshingly original and laugh-out-loud funny, The Husbands has a sneaky-smart message about how hard it can be to make confident choices in a world with zillions of options.

$16 at Amazon

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The Hunter

Tana French is beloved worldwide for her crime novels, and her latest release, The Hunter, doesn’t disappoint. Set in a small Irish village, the story features Trey, a teenage girl with a not-so-great home life who’s found companionship in Lena, a neighbor, and Cal, a retired police officer from Chicago. When Trey’s long-absent dad returns to town, boasting about a moneymaking scheme that ropes in much of the community, she resolves to put an end to his nonsense. The quirky characters, subtle snark, and propulsive plot make this an excellent contender for your spring break beach bag.

$15 at Amazon

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The Divorcées

The Divorcees by Rowan Beaird book cover — Flatiron Books

Reno, Nevada, was famous in the mid-20th century for its “divorce ranches,” where married women from around the U.S. could establish six-week residencies to take advantage of the state’s lenient divorce laws. Rowan Beaird’s debut novel centers on Lois Saunders, a self-doubting 1950s housewife who’s left her stifling marriage in Illinois to live at the Golden Yarrow, one of the city’s most reputable ranches. Her father, who’s funding her stay, expects she’ll move back in with him once she’s single, but she has a secret wish for something more. Moody, sexy, and mysterious, The Divorcées offers a fascinating look at female desire.

$17 at Amazon

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Anita de Monte Laughs Last

In Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez, Raquel is a Puerto Rican art history student at an Ivy League school, where her wealthy white classmates never miss an opportunity to make her feel like an outsider. When she lands a coveted fellowship and discovers the story of a forgotten Cuban American artist who died a suspicious death in the mid-’80s, she feels a kinship with her, and their connection could alter her own path. Told from the two women’s points of view, this rollicking page-turner from the bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming includes of-the-moment commentary about who succeeds and why.

$15 at Amazon

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James

It takes real guts to reimagine a book as iconic as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but Pulitzer Prize finalist Percival Everett has done it with James, telling the tale from the point of view of the enslaved Jim (who, in this version, prefers his formal name). The story follows his and Huck’s journey down the Mississippi River, this time revealing him to be an erudite man with immense heart and wit who just wants to be reunited with his family. No matter how much you loved Mark Twain’s original, you’ll devour this blazingly funny and thoughtprovoking update.

$18 at Amazon

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The Morningside

The Morningside by National Book Award finalist Téa Obreht (The Tiger’s Wife) is an astounding rethink of the mother-daughter narrative. With themes of myth and folklore, it’s set in a dystopian future, in a flooded city that seems a lot like Manhattan. Tween Silvia and her mother are climate refugees who’ve moved into a dilapidated high-rise managed by Silvia’s aunt, Ena. Because Silvia’s mother won’t speak of their homeland, Silvia turns to Ena for stories. Then she discovers an elusive woman living in the building’s penthouse and becomes obsessed with her secrets, which could help unravel the mystery of the past.

$15 at Amazon

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The Women

Beloved bestseller Kristin Hannah (The Nightingale, The Four Winds) turns her lens on the Vietnam War era in The Women. It’s 1966, and Frankie McGrath is a mild-mannered nursing student from a wealthy California family who’s always done what’s expected of her. When the brother she idolizes is deployed with the Navy, she impulsively decides to follow his example and joins the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. The gripping, powerful story that unfolds pays tribute to the women whose courage and sacrifice during one of America’s longest wars remain largely overlooked.

$19 at Amazon

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Grief Is for People

On June 27, 2019, Sloane Crosley came home to her apartment to discover that somebody had crawled through her bedroom window and stolen all her jewelry. Exactly one month later, the former book publicist and author of Cult Classic and I Was Told There’d Be Cake lost her closest friend to suicide. In Grief Is for People, she examines how she confronted both events. Raw, deeply moving, and laced with her trademark wit, it’s a profound take on loss and how we make our way through it.

$14 at Amazon

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Acts of Forgiveness

Willie Revel is a single mom who reluctantly left a promising journalism career in New York City to help run her father’s struggling construction business in Philadelphia. When America’s first woman president announces the Forgiveness Act, which would grant Black families descended from slaves $175,000, Willie wants to apply, both to uncover her ancestry and to keep her parents out of bankruptcy. But not every family member is on board. Acts of Forgiveness by Maura Cheeks is a heartfelt read that beautifully personalizes a current debate.

$16 at Amazon

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Family Family

India Allwood, an actor and adoptive mom, confesses in an interview with a journalist that her latest film is a shallow, inaccurate take on adoption. The media goes wild, and protesters follow suit. Her tween daughter tries to help: To prove that her mom has a well-rounded and legitimate perspective on the issue, she contacts the girl India gave up at birth 16 years earlier. A dual-timeline story told through multiple points of view, Family Family by Laurie Frankel tackles the complexities of how families are formed.

$10 at Amazon

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The Fortune Seller

In The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale, Rosie Macalister is a member of the Yale equestrian team who has finally found her place among her well-to-do teammates. Just back from her junior year abroad, she discovers there’s a new member of the clique: Annelise, an elusive rider whose hobby is tarot cards, and whose readings become increasingly unnerving. This dark page-turner has excellent storytelling (strange deaths! class warfare!), characters you’ll love to hate, and fascinating insights into the twists and turns of friendship.

$17 at Amazon

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