Randy Susan Meyers is the author of The Murderers Daughters, a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award. She currently lives in Boston with her husband.
Francine's Spectacular Crash and Burn (2025) Renee Swindle "I inhaled and relished every word of Francine's Spectacular Crash and Burn, a heartbreakingly funny and honest story which captures how the traumas of our past can break us - or just might help us build the love and family we need. Renee Swindle paints our world's vast, chaotic beauty - gender, neurodiversity, class, culture, color, science, and magic - with an understanding, wise, and brilliant pen, reminding us why we should cherish the families of our hearts. I loved, loved, loved this novel."
The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly (2023) Katherine A Sherbrooke "Drama and secrets saturate Hollywood - on and off the screen. In The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly, Sherbrooke deftly weaves an intimate look at forbidden love, heartbreak, and life-changing secrets, into a journey through decades of braided worlds of fashion and entertainment from New York to California."
The Half of it (2023) Juliette Fay "Fay beautifully navigates the layers of family and friendship, the great loves we lose, the imperfect marriages we manage with grace, and the unexpected miracles that will astonish us."
Scarlet in Blue (2022) Jennifer Murphy "Scarlet In Blue examines family ties that bind so tightly....This story of running from abuse is beautifully suffused with the majesty of music and the chimera of art. Once you begin this tale, you will stay until the final note."
The Ocean in Winter (2021) Elizabeth de Veer "Tenderness, steel, and rage forge the relationships of three sisters in the aftermath of their mother's suicide. The Ocean in Winter shines a light on the layers of grief which build up and reverberate for generations after a family tragedy. Author Elizabeth de Veer lays bare--with razor-sharp precision and lush writing--how in the face of family crucibles, we can collapse or become strong at the broken places."
The Sound Between the Notes (2021) Barbara Linn Probst "Family ties can bind or blind us—even with relatives we've never met. In The Sound Between the Notes, trails of music connect generations separated by adoption—while the same notes threaten a family believed sewn with steel threads.In this spellbinding novel, Barbara Linn Probst examines how the truth of love transcends genetics, even as strands of biology grip us. Once you begin this story, suffused with the majesty of music and the reveries of creation, the 'gotta know' will carry you all the way to the final note."
Rhapsody (2021) Mitchell James Kaplan "Mitchell James Kaplan's Rhapsody shines a blazing light on the celebrated George Gershwin, uncovering the man behind the legend through the story of the woman he loved, Kay Swift, a brilliant musician caught in the swiftly moving mores of New York's Jazz Age. Rich with history and packed with intricate detail, Rhapsody soars."
The Wrong Kind of Woman (2020) Sarah McCraw Crow "A professor's death wrenches his wife and daughter into a new world as they join women fighting for equality in the early seventies, a time when elite education is cracking open by those knocking down single-gender barriers. The Wrong Kind of Woman explores the strength women found to stop papering over the glaring flaws in the world and live with eyes wide open with grace and honesty."
The Book of CarolSue (2020) Lynne Hugo "Lynne Hugo writes down to the bone of family complications, grief, and shattering loss, while also offering miracles of rescue in The Book of CarolSue. The author walks a perfectly balanced tightrope as she illustrates how political conflicts are woven right into the heart of an Indiana farm family. I lost hours of sleep as I raced to finish this extraordinary novel."
House On Fire (2019) Bonnie Kistler "Kistler manages to hold the reader's exploding heart safe as this gut-wrenching story unfolds. I lived inside this novel with every word."
The Secret of Clouds (2019) Alyson Richman "Alyson Richman captures the gift of love—for family, and those who feel like family—with her pen dipped first in truth, then crystalline tenderness, and finally compassion. The Secret of Clouds immersed me in the world of a teacher’s caring, an immigrant family’s heroism, and a child’s courage. Richman writes like a dream."
Best Friends Forever (2018) Margot Hunt "Friends or husbands? Who do women tell more truth? Give more allegiance? Margot Hunt shocks and astounds as she explores these tugs of loyalty in Best Friends Forever, a psychological thriller that kept me off balance even after turning the last page."
Keep Your Friends Close (2014) Paula Daly "Keep Your Friends Close will cost you sleep. The ‘gotta know’ suffuses every page; tension intensifies with each chapter. We follow Daly’s characters down terrifying, unanticipated, nerve-wracking roads to the last word."
