The 10 Best Book Club Books for Fall 2024 

“Strong on plot and narrative and nuances of power politics,” this “precisely, often poetically written” book (New York Times) follows the trials and adventures of young Lewis Eliot, whose life is destined to take him through many different strata of English society. 

When he is just nine years old, Lewis Eliot’s family loses everything to his father’s bankruptcy. This, and the tragedies which follow, help to define the trajectory of Lewis’ life, but his determination to succeed against all odds may just prove to be his undoing in this “sensitive evocation” (Commentary) of England at the beginning of the 20th century.

“How do you solve a mystery when you can’t remember the clues?” That’s the question posed by this “knockout debut” (Wall Street Journal) that is “both a gripping detective yarn and a haunting depiction of mental illness” (The Observer). 

Maud is descending into dementia, and her grasp on the present seems to be constantly slipping away. Yet she is convinced that her friend Elizabeth has disappeared, and she’s determined to find her, even if she must battle her own failing memory to do so in this “spellbinding” (New York Times Book Review), “absorbing” (Publishers Weekly), and “altogether brilliant” (Booklist) first novel.

In “an extraordinary work of investigative journalism” (Corriere della Sera), Maria Laurino sheds light on the chilling Vatican adoption scandal that was featured on 60 Minutes. 

In post-war Italy, the church had considerable power, and used it to create a pipeline of children being taken from unwed mothers in Italy and placed with “good Catholic” families abroad, a practice that continued for decades. By delving deep into this harrowing story and showing the effects on the real people whose lives it touched, Laurino “invites all women to defend those civil rights which, today, are questioned in many parts of the world” (Vanity Fair Italia).

Nombeko Mayeki was born in the largest township in South Africa. Poor and orphaned at a young age, Nombeko knew that the world didn’t expect much from her, but she proves to have much bigger plans in this “funny and completely implausible farce about a woman, a bomb and a man’s frustrated ambition to overthrow the king of Sweden” (Kirkus Reviews). 

Through a “wide, whimsical net that readers will relish being caught up in” (BookPage), celebrated author Jonas Jonasson tackles heavy subjects from racism to the perils of power while never ceasing to made readers chuckle all the way through.

Adapted into the 1969 film for which Maggie Smith won an Academy Award for Best Actress, Muriel Spark’s “perfect book” (Chicago Tribune) is “a gloriously witty and polished vignette” (Times Literary Supplement) about a singular teacher. 

Smith memorably played Miss Jean Brodie in the movie, but “the book itself is even more powerful” (Los Angeles Times). Widely hailed as one of the best books of the 20th century, this “remarkable novel” (New Statesman) is now back in a glorious new edition celebrating the author’s life.

The question of what we might do if we had access to a time machine is one that gets plenty of (often good-natured) mileage on the internet. But in this novel from international bestseller Ben Elton, that question becomes pressingly real for Hugh Stanton. 

A former soldier, Stanton finds himself in 1914, before the beginning of the terrible World Wars that, for him, have already happened. Can he prevent them? And if so, how? While tiny actions may have far-reaching consequences, how can we ever know what the fallout of our choices will be—or how to make the right ones? These are ideal book club questions to follow reading this mind-bending time travel novel.

“Scoundrels, malcontents, misfits, and cheats. Every family has them, though seldom are they handled with the winsome wit and wisecrackery that make Behind the Scenes at the Museum such a smart and funny read” (Washington Times). In this Whitbread Award-winning novel, bestselling author Kate Atkinson takes us inside the family of Ruby Lennox, who tells her life story from the moment of her conception in this “astonishing” (Boston Globe), “startlingly original” (Seattle Times) novel that “out-Copperfields David Copperfield” (Los Angeles Times).

Robert Hendricks is an established psychiatrist, but he has buried his own memories of World War II so deeply that they threaten to destroy him, until they are unlocked by a seemingly chance encounter in this “novel that artfully mixes memory and desire” (Kirkus Reviews), from the bestselling author of The Seventh Son. 

Filled with “scenes of genuine power” (USA Today), Where My Heart Used to Beat follows Robert’s journey through his own memories and across the history of the 20th century with a “confident balancing of historically accurate detail with … sympathy for passionate private lives” (New York Times Book Review).

Three women come together to defend a child against superstition and fear in this “dramatic tale of desperation” (New York Times Book Review), from the celebrated author of Burial Rites. 

Sure to “please lovers of haunting literary fiction” (Booklist), this tale of folk belief and superstition in rural Ireland in 1825 “makes you reach for whatever good luck charms you carry with you” as it transforms the terrors of the past into something “palpable and imminent” (Wall Street Journal).

“Hints of magic abound” in this “haunting fiction debut” (Publishers Weekly) which sweeps across 130 years of the Outer Hebrides, where the titular house ties together past and future. In 1860, a novice vicar takes up residence in the house, haunted by family legends that he, himself, is descended from selkies and sealmen. More than a century later, newlyweds Ruth and Michael begin restoring the old house, but the discovery of a child’s skeleton with legs that are fused together will send Ruth on a quest to discover the house’s history and confront her own demons.