If you love dysfunctional family novels, this is one doozy of a story—and a must-read. When two rookie cops who meet at the NYC Police Academy strike up a friendship, it sets in motion a tragic chain of events that echo through the decades, through the lives of their children and their children’s children. I found this book exceptionally difficult to read—it’s depressing and dark and triggers abound—yet I was eager to find out what would happen next to these doomed families, and the astonishing developments of the last 75 pages vaulted this to my best-of-the-year list. A poignant story of grace, forgiveness, and redemption, for fans of Atonement and Little Fires Everywhere.

From the author of Ask Again, Yes, a devastating yet hopeful portrait of a marriage in crisis. Malcolm and Jess are at a crossroads: the longtime bartender and now bar owner is hiding exorbitant debt from Jess, who is weary from years of infertility treatments and the toll they’ve taken on their marriage. Told over the course of one tumultuous week, a confluence of events—a blizzard, a missing person, and a shocking revelation—leads the couple to reckon with their past, and decide whether there's hope for their future. I drank down this story about love and family, loyalty and despair, about making choices and making a life. For fans of Tracey Lange’s We Are the Brennans and Jennifer Close’s Marrying the Ketchups.