Reads 365: No.3
Part 3 of November - Voices of Resistance.
A mix of contemporary literary fiction from across worlds.
Some of the books features heavy subject matter, so please be mindful of the content warnings and research them fully.
Your mental wellbeing matters.
Sea Prayer
by Khaled Hosseini
This devastatingly beautiful book was inspired by Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed ashore in 2015, an image that shook the world. Hosseini writes in the father's voice—remembering Syria before war, imagining the future they're seeking, knowing the terrible risk of the boat they're about to board.
At just 48 pages with haunting illustrations, this book holds more grief and love than novels three times its length. It's a prayer, a plea, a witnessing of what families are forced to risk in search of safety.
📚 "I wish I could spare you this journey."
✨All author proceeds go to UNHCR and The Khaled Hosseini Foundation supporting refugees.
📚 Genre: Literary Fiction
#MarginsXReads #IllustratedFiction #DiverseBooks #ReadDiverse #BookCommunity #Bookstagram
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
The first half: chronically online life. The second half: devastating family tragedy. Lockwood captures internet culture's absurdity and our need for connection with brutal honesty.
✨ "The portal was such a strange place. All the time she felt deleted."
📚 Genre: Literary Fiction
📱 About being extremely online
#MarginsXReads #NoOneIsTalkingAboutThis #PatriciaLockwood #InternetCulture #SocialMedia #ModernLife
Matrix
by Lauren Groff
Cast out by Eleanor of Aquitaine, 17-year-old Marie de France becomes prioress of an impoverished abbey and transforms it into a fortress of female power. Medieval feminist fiction at its finest.
✨ What if women built their own world?
📚 Genre: Historical Fiction
⚔️ Medieval badassery
👑 Based on real 12th-century poet
#MarginsXReads #Matrix #LaurenGroff #HistoricalFiction #FeministFiction #Medieval #WomensPower
Queenie
by Candice Carty-Williams
A Jamaican-British millennial navigates a breakup, workplace racism, family secrets, and mental health. Funny, heartbreaking, and painfully real, it’s the Black British Bridget Jones we needed.
✨ About healing, belonging, and finding yourself.
📚 Genre: Contemporary Fiction
📱 Modern Black British life
🏆 British Book Award Winner
#MarginsXReads #Queenie #CandiceCartyWilliams #BlackBritishLit #MentalHealth #Millennials #ModernLife
How Beautiful We Were
by Imbolo Mbue
A fictional African village fights back against an American oil company poisoning their water. Mbue's (‘Behold the Dreamers’) second novel is an epic tale of resistance, environmental justice, and colonialism.
✨ A story of environmental racism and collective resistance.
📚 Genre: Literary Fiction
⚖️ Environmental justice
#MarginsXReads #ImboloMbue #HowBeautifulWeWere #EnvironmentalJustice #Africa #Resistance #CliFi
Detransition, Baby
by Torrey Peters
A trans woman, her detransitioned ex, and the ex's cis girlfriend navigate an unexpected pregnancy. Peters' debut is funny, heartbreaking, and revolutionary—a deeply human story about chosen family.
✨ What makes a mother? What makes a family?
📚 Genre: Literary Fiction
🏳️⚧️ Ground breaking trans lit
🏆 Women's Prize Longlist (first trans author!)
#MarginsXReads #DetransitionBaby #TorreyPeters #TransLit #ChosenFamily #LGBTQ #Revolutionary
Golden Child
by Claire Adam
A father in rural Trinidad must choose which twin son to save when one goes missing. Adam's debut explores poverty, masculinity, and the impossible choices parents face.
✨ A moral thriller set in the Trinidadian bush.
📚 Genre: Literary Fiction
🌴 Pages of tense family drama
🏆 Desmond Elliott Prize Winner
#MarginsXReads #GoldenChild #ClaireAdam #Caribbean #Trinidad #FamilyDrama #Thriller
November’s Voices of Resistance book list.