Fabulous Fiction Firsts #433 - Booklist Top 10 of the Year

Wed, 10/30/2013 - 9:47pm by muffy

The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell
Trying to keep the death of their parents a secret, Marnie and her little sister Nelly are on their own until several residents in Glasgow's Hazelhurst housing estate suspect that something is not right.

Falling to Earth by Kate Southwood
Paul Graves and his family face the resentment of their small town community as it struggles to rebuild following a devastating tornado that left the Graves' home and business unscathed.

Fellow Mortals by Dennis Mahoney
After inadvertently causing a fire in his neighborhood that kills a young wife and devastates the lives of others, Henry forces relationships with the people whose lives he has destroyed.

Golden boy by Abigail Tarttelin
Presenting themselves to the world as an effortlessly excellent family, successful criminal lawyer Karen, her Parliament candidate husband, and her intelligent athlete son, Max, find their world crumbling in the wake of a friend's betrayal and the secret about Max's intersexual identity.

Good Kings Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum
The residents at a facility for disabled young people in Chicago build trust and make friends in an effort to fight against their living conditions and mistreatment. Winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.

Little Known Facts by Christine Sneed
Explores the consequences of fame as experienced by the family members of an A-list Hollywood celebrity, including his grown children, who long for authenticity in a world where they are regarded as less-important extensions of their father.

Lotería by Mario Alberto Zambrano
Using the a deck of Loteria cards as her muse, 11-year-old Luz Castillo, a ward of the state who has retreated into silence, finds each shuffle sparking a random memory that, pieced together, brings into focus the joy and pain of her life and the events that led to her present situation.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
Traces the story of Great Migration-era mother Hattie Shepherd, who in spite of poverty and a dysfunctional husband uses love and Southern remedies to raise nine children and prepare them for the realities of a harsh world.

The Panoptico by Jenni Fagan. See blog.

Snapper by Brian Kimberling. See blog.