Ducks, Newburyport

Shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize, this innovative novel, focused on an Ohio housewife and mother of four children, is one single long sentence. Yes, really! If you're wondering how that works: it’s written in a stream of consciousness style and indicates pauses with the phrase “the fact that.” We’re taken deep into this woman's worries about her family and the world at large as she spends her days baking pies for restaurants and watching old movies. The thoughts of this ordinary woman—who might otherwise be overlooked—range from the profound to the mundane, with meditations on everything from motherhood to politics to the significance of our memories. It’s an ambitious book that won’t work for everyone but most readers seem to have found value in the undertaking.