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The Breadwinner, also known as Parvana, is a 2000 children’s novel by Canadian author and activist Deborah Ellis. It centers on an 11-year-old girl named Parvana who, due to her family’s circumstances, is forced to defy the Taliban and their repressive laws to become the breadwinner for her family. Exploring themes of human connection, maturation and bravery, and the repression of women, The Breadwinner was critically acclaimed upon its release and has had over 40... Read The Breadwinner Summary

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Written in the last two years of the author’s life, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s final novel, The Brothers Karamazov (1880), is the culmination of a politically fraught career spent pursuing a full, unsentimental vision of humanity. Dostoevsky is famous for his work’s distinctive psychological nuance—particularly involving pathological dimensions of self-destruction and misguided sentimental altruism—and has deeply influenced Western schools of theology, existentialism, and literary modernism.The eponymous brothers are the four sons (including Pavel, implied to be Fyodor's... Read The Brothers Karamazov Summary

Julie Otsuka is a Japanese American writer who was born in 1962 in Palo Alto, California. Both The Buddha in the Attic (2011) and her 2002 novel, When the Emperor was Divine, portray the Japanese American experience of internment camps following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The subject is close to Otsuka’s heart; the FBI arrested her grandfather on suspicion of being an enemy spy, while her mother, uncle, and grandmother were... Read The Buddha in the Attic Summary

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Elizabeth Strout’s novel The Burgess Boys, published in 2013, explores the relationships between adult siblings during a time of family crisis. It examines the ways that past events and traumas continue to shape one’s sense of self. Set amid a Somali refugee crisis in the state of Maine, it also explores the ways that identity forms community and the way that community can be affected by newcomers.The author of 10 novels, Strout is acclaimed for... Read The Burgess Boys Summary

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Originally self-published in 2022, Matt Dinniman’s The Butcher’s Masquerade is the fifth novel in the best-selling Dungeon Crawler Carl series, a prime example of the literary role-playing game (LitRPG) subgenre. The series began as a popular web serial on the platform Royal Road before its success led to a traditional print publishing deal with Ace Books. The story continues the journey of Carl and his talking cat, Princess Donut, as they descend through a deadly... Read The Butcher's Masquerade Summary

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The Captain’s Daughter (1836) is a work of historical fiction by Russian writer Alexander Pushkin. Written in the form of a memoir, it tells the story of 16-year-old nobleman Pyotr Grinyov, who is sent to serve as a military captain at a remote outpost on the Kirghiz steppe in 1773. While there, he falls for the daughter of the fort’s captain, Maria Ivanovna. He is separated from his beloved when the fort is attacked by... Read The Captain's Daughter Summary

Ta-Nehisi Coates, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, published the essay “The Case for Reparations” in that magazine’s June 2014 issue. It was widely acclaimed and, according to the Washington Post, set a record at the time for the most-viewed article in a single day on The Atlantic website. The essay earned Coates a George Polk Award for commentary in 2014.In the essay, Coates examines the idea of the United States government paying reparations to... Read The Case for Reparations Summary

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The Castle of Otranto, first published in 1764 by English author Horace Walpole (1717-1797), is considered the first supernatural work of Gothic fiction, influencing many well-known 19th century writers such as Clara Reeve, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert Louis Stevenson.The five-chapter long novella revolves around the mysterious supernatural events at the titular castle, whose owner goes to villainous lengths to maintain control of it. Walpole introduces Gothic elements that drive the... Read The Castle of Otranto Summary

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Bertolt Brecht’s celebrated play, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, was written in 1944. The story is structured as a play within a play and touches on themes of justice, motherhood, and moral choices in times of crisis. Brecht, a German playwright best known for his unique style of drama called “epic theater,” was based in the United States at the time, and the play was translated into English by his friend, Eric Bentley. It went on... Read The Caucasian Chalk Circle Summary

John Grisham’s 1994 legal thriller, The Chamber, follows Adam Hall, a young associate at a prestigious Chicago law firm who risks his career to take on a last-chance death-penalty case. His client is Sam Cayhall, an unrepentant former Klansman sentenced to die in Mississippi’s gas chamber for a fatal bombing he committed in 1967. With the execution just weeks away, Adam’s desperate legal battle is complicated by a deep personal secret: Sam is his estranged... Read The Chamber Summary

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The Children Act is a work of literary fiction by British novelist and screenwriter Ian McEwan. Originally published in 2014, The Children Act was inspired by a 1990 case that Sir Alan Ward presided over. The novel fictionalizes this historical case, revolving around the High Court Judge Fiona Maye’s story and character. When Fiona hears that 17-year-old Adam Henry is refusing a blood transfusion because of his Jehovah’s Witness beliefs, she decides to visit him... Read The Children Act Summary