Shelfology Book Pairing

Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction

by Barbara Kingsolver

#1 NEW YORK TIMES READERS BEST BOOK OF THE 21ST CENTURY PARTITA - THE HEARTRENDING NEW NOVEL FROM BARBARA KINGSOLVER - COMING OCTOBER 2026 A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION TWICE WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION THE MULTI-MILLION COPY SELLING AUTHOR BOOK AT BEDTIME ON BBC RADIO 4 AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK 'Without a doubt the best book I'll read this year.' KATE ATKINSON 'It's EPIC. Righteously angry, DEEPLY moving and exquisitely written.' MARIAN KEYES 'Daring, entertaining and highly readable.' The Times 'Electrifying.' Daily Mail 'A blaze of a book.' RACHEL JOYCE 'A masterclass.' RICHARD POWERS 'Masterful.' Pulitzer Prize 'Powerful.' Guardian 'A work of genius.' KATE MOSSE ____________ Demon Copperhead is a once-in-a-generation novel that breaks and mends your heart in the way only the best fiction can. Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise. In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster care. For Demon, born on the wrong side of luck, the affection and safety he craves is as remote as the ocean he dreams of seeing one day. The wonder is in how far he's willing to travel to try and get there. Suffused with truth, anger and compassion, Demon Copperhead is an epic tale of love, loss and everything in between. ____________ Readers love Demon Copperhead: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Outstanding . . . I don't know how someone can write a book like this: inhabit a totally different character and create it with such empathy, respect and fullness.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Powerful and brilliant. To immerse yourself in a Kingsolver novel is to put yourself in the hands of a master.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This was one of the greatest books I have read . . . Kingsolver is a magician with words, and her rage quietly seeps from each page.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Raw, angry, starkly beautiful . . . Genuinely one of the best books I've ever read.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'An incredibly raw and moving read, with a big-hearted hero who will stay with me for a long time.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I cannot overstate how absorbing this book is. It is wonderful and has restored my faith in fiction and novels.'

A novel

by Ian McEwan

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A NEW YORKER ESSENTIAL READ • From the Booker Prize-winning author of Atonement and Saturday comes the epic and intimate story of one man's life across generations and historical upheavals. From the Suez Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic, Roland Baines sometimes rides with the tide of history, but more often struggles against it. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Vogue • The New Yorker “Masterful.... McEwan is a storyteller at the peak of his powers…. One of the joys of the novel is the way it weaves history into Roland’s biography…. The pleasure in reading this novel is letting it wash over you.” —Associated Press When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Two thousand miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade. Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life. Haunted by lost opportunities, Roland seeks solace through every possible means—music, literature, friends, sex, politics, and, finally, love cut tragically short, then love ultimately redeemed. His journey raises important questions for us all. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without causing damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we really learn from the traumas of the past? Epic, mesmerizing, and deeply humane, Lessons is a chronicle for our times—a powerful meditation on history and humanity through the prism of one man's lifetime.