The Best Book Club Books to Read This Season, According to the Indie Next List

Lobato is a National Boko Award-winning translator, and here she offers what sounds like a quiet meditation on mother-daughter dynamics. A young woman attending college at a liberal arts institution in Vermont prepares to Skype with her mother, who lives thousands of miles away in Brazil. Their lives outside of each other are pretty standard, all things considered—the daughter attends classes, while the mother contends with natural disasters and her failing health. But as fall turns colder, the mother fears that her daughter might not ever return to the little apartment in northeastern Brazil where they’ve always lived together.

Here’s what an indie bookseller had to say about it: “One of the most stunning novels I’ve read this year. The quiet, calm writing makes space for the throbbing emotional core of the book: the relationship between a mother and daughter from Brazil when the daughter leaves for college in New England. Completely unforgettable.” —Jacob Rogers, Center for Fiction Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY

After Cam’s love, Kai dies and starts haunting him, he leaves L.A. for a visit to his hometown of Houston. There, he reunites with his former bestie TJ. But it’s not super easy to fall back in step with how their old friendship used to be after such a long estrangement, especially with TJ not knowing what to do with the new Cam, who is bent on destroying himself. With luxurious descriptions of food and food preparation, Washington tells a story of messy relationships and found family.

Here’s what an indie bookseller had to say about it: “There are two things I expect from a Bryan Washington narrative: food rendered so exquisitely I could lick the page, and an emotional excavation so expansive it swallows the book and me with it. Family Meal delivered on these expectations and more.” —Miranda Sanchez, Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews, Chapel Hill, NC

Apart from being a great book out this week, this is one I’m looking forward to for the entire year. It’s giving Rebecca meets the movie Three Thousand Years of Longing (starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, if you’re unfamiliar). It centers around Sana, who, along with her father, is one of the latest inhabitants of the once-grand Akbar Manzil, an estate off the coast of South Africa. Usually, the estate is a place where people go to forget themselves, even going so far as to ignore the estate’s uncanny qualities—like bones in the garden and mysterious moving figures—but Sana becomes obsessed with the contents of a forgotten room. The room’s pictures, diary, and other artifacts tell Sana of Akbar Manzil’s original owner’s second wife, who died a hundred years ago. She compulsively dives deeper into the woman’s life, but little does she know of the djinn that watches her from the shadows.

Here’s what an indie bookseller had to say about it: “Once a lavish manse, Akbar Manzil has been subdivided into apartments for Indian nationals, and the house is not happy. Sana wanders the house, discovering who the original owners were and learns all about their lives.” —Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser, Marietta, GA

This reimagining of Zorro (!!), set in the 16th century, sees the fearsome Pantera fighting back against the tyranny of the Spanish in what’s called New Spain. Magical and skilled at swordplay, Pantera is low-key impossible to kill, but she also has a secret. During the day, she’s the guarded Leonora de Las Casas Tlazohtzin, who’s been promised to the heir to the Spanish throne. No matter—the prophecy given her by a seer predicts that she’ll die young. And, when an ancient, destructive prophecy looks like it’s coming to fruition, she plans to go out swingin’.

Here’s what an indie bookseller had to say about it: “I’m not sure words can fully express this journey I went through with these characters. This Mesoamerican mythological romance is packed with excitement, lore and emotions. Seriously, this was amazing!” —Jessica Jones, Browseabout Books, Rehoboth Beach, DE