I love new beginnings. A blank page, a new project, a fresh season. Emily Dickinson said it best: “I dwell in possibility.”
I’ve read countless nonfiction books that push me from possibility into action. But this year, instead of poring over self-help guidebooks, I’m turning to fiction for inspiration.
This list of fiction books features fresh starts, new beginnings, and second chances. Most of these books fall on the lighter side, though some deal with heavier themes. The main characters find themselves on the brink of big changes or at the entrance of new life phases.
If you’re feeling the need for a vicarious fresh start, I hope you find your next great read (or a few exciting library holds) on this list today.
17 fictional fresh starts
The Great Alone
I Wish You All the Best
Evvie Drake Starts Over
Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune
The Lager Queen of Minnesota
Writers & Lovers
The Bromance Book Club
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry
Party of Two
Garden Spells
The Switch
The Blue Castle
Sweet Sorrow
Their Eyes Were Watching God
How to Catch a Queen
The Late Bloomers’ Club
Bear Necessity
Do you have a “fresh start” title to add to this list? Tell us in the comments section!
P.S. Restart your life with these 12 nonfiction titles or 15 books for new routines and fresh starts. Find more fresh starts in this list of 12 feel-good fiction books you can read in an afternoon.
73 comments
The Blue Castle is one of my favorite books! I’m not sure I’ve ever run into anyone else who has read it. 🙂 I have enjoyed many books on this list.
The Blue Castle is my favorite L.M. Montgomery book! One of my college roommates introduced it to me, so that’s at least 3 fans!
Are any of her others as good? I absolutely loved it and thought it was so funny. Want to find more works of hers that are similar. I’ve read Anne.
The Blue Castle is my favorite Montgomery book, too.
I am in “The Blue Castle Club” as well! I knew we were out there somewhere.
The Blue Castle has been one of my favourite books for decades now also. I love how Valancy changes and as a result everything changes for her also.
A friend recommended the Blue Castle to me as I love the Anne books, and it was absolutely wonderful! Anne is still my favorite, but The Blue Castle is probably my second favorite L.M. Montgomery.
I re-read The Blue Castle every year or so. It’s interesting to think about the parallels in some of these other books.
Blue Castle was very sweet. Available via Hoopla. Love my library.
The bromance romance has caught my attention.
A lot of wonderful titles on this list. Beth O’Leary is a new favorite author, and The Switch is excellent in audio. I’d also suggest An Available Man by Hilma Wolitzer–a lovely and poignant novel about becoming single later in life.
I agree! The Switch on audio was fabulous – one of my favorites from 2020.
So many great books would fall into the fresh start category when you start to think about it. The first one that came to my mind was Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson. It is one of my favorites.
I read Garden Secrets when an advance copy arrived at our library. It has continued to be in my list of most favourite books ever. I spoke to Sarah Addison Allen at that year’s BookExpo that year. I could visualize the book as a TV series. She did say that the TV had been purchased – I’m still waiting! In the meantime I’ve reread the book many times.
Really enjoyed both “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and “The Blue Castle.”
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry is one of my favorites!
@Diane-I too loved The Storied Life of AJ Fikry! Such a great book about books! So many great selections offered here…it’s hard to choose which one I’ll read next. But since Evvie Drake Starts Over is this month’s flight pick, I think I’ll go with that. I’m also looking forward to reading Writers and Lovers. Oh yes…and Blue Castle. AAAAGGGHHH!! (smiley face)
Other new beginnings books that straddle middle grade and young adult genres: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech and Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements
I’ve read a number of these and loved them! One of my favorite storylines the last few years have been older people who find a fresh start. Some examples: Major Pettigrew Takes a Stand; Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk; The Switch; The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett; The Authenticity Project (not all of the characters are older); and I’m sure I’m missing some other great ones!
I loved Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk!! xo
Yes! Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk is fabulous!
Arthur Truluv (Elizabeth Berg) would fall into this too. Actually I think all 3 of the series would.
I haven’t read that one (will add!) but you reminded me of her book, The Year of Pleasures, which is also a good starting over book and reminded me of another, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. It’s more about grief than starting over BUT it’s still an excellent memoir on creating a new normal.
I read this with my IRL book club and it was absolutely charming
Oh, I LOVED The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett! I find myself thinking about those characters all this time later. 🙂
Agree! I don’t want to provide any spoilers but was surprised that given the way it started, my ultimate view was – this is a life affirming book!
This is a great list–I particularly love the theme. I’ve read a few, but there are definitely a few I’d like to tackle. I’ll take all the inspiration I can get right now!
Well, my TBR list has just grown. I want to read everything on here that I haven’t already read!
I just read The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne deBourgh by Molly Greeley and counted it as a book about do-overs or fresh starts for the Pop Sugar 2021 Reading Challenge.
I’ve seen this one and was intrigued! So you liked it?
An Olive Grove at the Edge of the World by Jared Gulian is a memoir about two big city American men who move to New Zealand to start an olive farm. I picked it for my Reading Challenge category- a book set in a place I want to visit but haven’t been.
More books to add to my TBR list! Thanks for telling us about these.
Two more fresh start titles – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye by Rachel Joyce and The Dog Stars by Peter Heller.
In the first, Harold is retired, bored with his wife and life. He gets news of an old coworker who is dying so he sets out across the countryside to see her before she dies. His journey becomes so much more than he ever expected.
Even though The Dog Stars is set in a future post-apocalyptic world, a lonely man living in an abandoned airport hangar believes there are other survivors out there. He goes in search of them. One can always depend on Peter Heller for a great story!
Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler, or more recently, Old Girls Network by Judy Leigh.
Well, The War That Saved My Life is a WONDERFUL new start for young Ada! So heartwarming!
Ohhh, I absolutely love that book and the sequel, The War I Finally Won! My daughter read the first in 5th grade and I devoured it after her. They’re also about new starts for Susan!
The War that Saved My Life was one of the first books I read on recommendation from Anne. I loved that book.
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman fits this category. Thank you for this list!
I listened to “Their Eyes Were Watching God” read by Ruby Dee recently, after reading the book many moons ago and I fell in love with it all over again! It’s such a sweet love story and portrayal of a powerful woman in such a troubling time in history.
I could not agree more about The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I loved that story. You know, a while back I listened to a WSIRN episode and someone mentioned her diaries, so I borrowed the huge volume of her diaries from the library and it is still to this day one of my favorite reads. It took a whole summer to get through it lol, but I loved peeking into her life, her joys, her disappointments, her battle with depression. It was inspiring to say the least.
I would definitely add the Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman. Such a feel good book!
Ohhh, yes! Great addition, Mary Ann.
Ditto
The first books that come to mind are Charles Martin books -specifically Unwritten, A Life Intercepted, and When Crickets Cry.
All feature a bit of romance and a man who ends up trying again and healing after some form of heartbreak, with the help of the woman who captures their hearts.
SO many of Charles Martin’s books have a “starting over” theme. LOVE his work!!
The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg.
The Blue Castle is my all-time favorite book! So excited to see it here!
I love this blog!!!!! I requested The Late Bloomers from my local library.
And I have heard so many good things about The Blue Castle, I feel I must read it.
I really enjoy seeing what others are reading & hearing various opinions.
I was reading The Most Fun We Ever Had, but it was due back at the library, so I turned it in before finishing. I couldn’t get the title straight of the names of the daughters. May go back to it.
The Orchard & Perestroika in Paris on beside me on my bed as I type. I’ll read the first chapters & decide which to dive into.
I always have so many TBRs.
My goal this year is 50 books.
Great list, and now I have a few more for my TBR list. I’ve read a few of yours, love everything written by Sarah Addison Allen. I’d add A Year on Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball, and A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman.
Carole, I also loved A Man Called Ove. Have you read The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett or Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk? I think you just might love them as well. Or at least like them. 😉
Those sound wonderful, will add them to Mount TBR. I just began following your blog on Bloglovin to find good recommendations, and I already have several!
I just finished Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson. I love her books and am planning to finish her backlist this year. She has such a beautiful way with healing damaged characters. I recommend it for JJ fans, and really anyone else.
Yes! I think Backseat Saints is my favorite of her backlist. 🙂
The Life List by Lori Nelson Speilman is a good one with a “fresh start” theme.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. One of my favorites of 2020, and maybe even one of my all-time favorites. I can’t wait to re-read and mark passages. So many passages. 🙂
Agreed! It was SO good!
The Midnight Library made my Top 10 of 2020. Lovely read and so imaginative.
My favorite new beginnings book (and one of my fave books ever) is Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson. Nothing unusual had happened in Barbara’s life until she wrote a thinly-disquised book about the happenings in her English village.
Also, as always, thank you for the heads up on the open door scenes and the trigger warnings
Not fiction, but I love the cookbook Alaska from Scratch by Maya Wilson. Amazing photography and a backstory of how she ended up in Alaska from San Diego, and her life with her wife and three kids. Lots of starting over from a life with an alcoholic mother, and finding a new space for herself in Alaska.
I loved both of Louise Millers books. I can’t wait for the next one!! I also loved all of Sarah Addison Allen’s books and Evvie Drake starts over. This is a great list. I’m definitely checking out some of these others!
Help! What book did you describe as a “modern Jane Eyre”? I can’t find the right email where you gave your suggestion/review.
Jane
[email protected]
I just got The Bromance Book Club from the library but will be returning it straightaway. There were so many uses of the words sh*t and a** in the first four pages, I just couldn’t enjoy it. (Granted he’s drunk as the story opens, but still. 😉
Hmmm… I was particularly intrigued by the list theme and your suggestions are usually right on, sometimes the books are not to my liking but it is more of an opinion than on the sophistication of the writing or level of the authors. But this was the first time I was disappointed, I put the whole list on my to-be-read pile and found the Bromance and a Perfect Pair were available at my library. The predictable dime store romance surprised me, I kept reading thinking the depth of the book would come but just couldn’t finish. No issue about it, I just stopped reading the books, but it did make me realize how good you really are in your book recommendations that after years and years+ of taking book recommendations from you that I loved and wouldn’t have discovered without you, this was the first time I didn’t care for them. That’s quite a talent, thank you.
The Language of Flowers is one of my all-time favorite novels.
Open House by Elizabeth Berg was one I read this year and loved
I recently read Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin, and think it fits well in this category. Plus, I can’t stop thinking about it, and I found a quote in it to inspire me throughout 2022.
Dorene, I have had Fresh Water for Flowers on my bedside table for a couple of months now and just have had trouble getting into it How many pages before you were hooked? Worth the read?
I loved Writers and Lovers!! Probably my favourite read of 2021. ❤️ I’m going to check out The Lager Queen of Minnesota. Sounds wonderful!
Great list! I enjoyed all the books I have read on this it, so maybe I have learned something new about what I enjoy reading!
Just finished The Butterfly’s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe. Family, tradition, identity, a young woman and Monarch butterflies.
Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center is a lovely starting over story.
Also the Auntie Poldi series is fun! It’s about a woman who retires and moves to Italy, where she ends up solving crimes!
I can’t comment on any of the other books but I LOVE “The Blue Castle”! Read it as a teenager and it’s still one of my comfort books that I go back and re-read on a semi-regular basis. You can’t go wrong reading it!
I can’t comment on any of the other books but I LOVE “The Blue Castle”! Read it as a teenager and it’s still one of my comfort books that I go back and re-read on a semi-regular basis. You can’t go wrong reading it!