Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Book Club Picks

Actress and entrepreneur Reese Witherspoon created her Hello Sunshine Book Club to celebrate women's stories, promote diversity, support independent bookstores, and encourage literacy for everyone. This Collection of Study Guides includes an assortment of picks from Reese’s Book Club, all featuring women as main characters. Read on to learn more about Kya’s coming-of-age in Where the Crawdads Sing, multiple generations of Cuban women in Next Year in Havana, and rock ’n’ roll in 1970s America in Daisy Jones & The Six.

This Is How It Always Is

by Laurie Frankel

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family

Tags Modern Classic Fiction, LGBTQ

This Is How It Always Is, a novel by Laurie Frankel, was published in 2017. It was a New York Times best seller, one of People magazine’s Top 10 Books of 2017, and a Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick.Plot SummaryDr. Rosie Walsh is pregnant with her fifth son, Claude. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her writer husband, Penn Adams, and their four boys. At the beginning of the book, Rosie reflects... Read This Is How It Always Is Summary

Tom Lake

by Ann Patchett

Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Values/Ideas: Literature, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Life/Time: The Past, Natural World: Flora/plants, Natural World: Place

Tags Realistic Fiction, American Literature, Agriculture, Arts / Culture, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance

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True Biz

by Sara Novic

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Identity: Disability, Identity: Language, Life/Time: Coming of Age

Tags Disability, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, LGBTQ, Modern Classic Fiction

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We Were Never Here

by Andrea Bartz

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Friendship, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Memory

Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Modern Classic Fiction

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Where the Crawdads Sing

by Delia Owens

Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Life/Time: Coming of Age

Tags Realistic Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, History: World, Historical Fiction, Romance

Where the Crawdads Sing is the debut novel of Delia Owens. Set in the marshes of coastal North Carolina from the 1940s to the 2000s, the novel is Southern literary fiction that tells the story of Kya, a little girl who comes of age alone after her family abandons her. Published in 2018 by Putnam, the novel was a New York Times bestseller and a selection of Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine book club. In 2022 it... Read Where the Crawdads Sing Summary

Whisper Network

by Chandler Baker

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Relationships: Teams, Society: Class, Identity: Gender, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Identity: Masculinity, Identity: Femininity

Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Gender / Feminism, Business / Economics, Bullying, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction

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