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The River King

Alice Hoffman Β· back to the book

What’s in it

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24 books with the same feel

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Malas

Marcela Fuentes Β· 375 pages

Small Town SecretsMagical RealismAtmosphericSmall Town
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The Weight of Blood

Laura McHugh Β· 320 pages

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Scott Smith, and Daniel Woodrell comes a gripping, suspenseful novel about two mysterious disappearances a generation apart. The town of Henbane sits deep in the Ozark Mountains. Folks there still whisper about Lucy Dane’s mother, a bewitching stranger who appeared long enough to marry Carl Dane and then vanished when Lucy was just a child. Now on the brink of adulth

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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Let Me Die in His Footsteps

Lori Roy Β· 352 pages

On a dark Kentucky night in 1952 halfway between her fifteenth and sixteenth birthdays, Annie Holleran runs through the lavender fields to the well on the Baines' place. Hollerans don't go near Baines since Joseph Carl was buried two decades ago. At the stroke of midnight, she gazes into the water in search of her future. When the body she sees there in the moonlight is discovered come morning, An

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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The Hounding

Xenobe Purvis Β· 240 pages

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone

Kat Rosenfield Β· 288 pages

Unveils the details of a horrific murder, its effects on permanent and summer residents of the small Appalachian town where the body is discovered, and especially how the related violence shakes eighteen-year-old Becca's determination to leave home as soon as possible.

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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Mercy Snow

Tiffany Baker

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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Midnight Bayou

Nora Roberts Β· 353 pages

A novel set deep in the bayou of Louisiana--where the only witness to a long-ago tragedy is a once-grand house... Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but even he couldn't understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. All he knew was that ever since he first saw Manet Hall, he'd been enchanted-and obsessed-with it. So when the opport

Small Town SecretsMagical RealismAtmosphericSmall Town
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Cold Flat Junction

Martha Grimes Β· 438 pages

Martha Grimes's Hotel Paradise was hailed by Booklist as "superb...beyond genre...one of the year's best." Now, Grimes returns to the same small town, intertwining the threads of one young girl's unexplained death with another young girl's attempt at making sense of her own life."A superior writer." (The New York Times Book Review)"Grimes brings every corner of Cold Flat Junction to vivid life." *

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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The Nobody

Jeff Lemire Β· 144 pages

The Nobody takes H.G. Wells's timeless character of "The Invisible Man" and brings him into a modern small town, using him as a cipher to explore themes of identity, fear and paranoia, and how they can turn a small community in on itself and destroy even the most pure of friendships.

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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Sycamore

Bryn Chancellor Β· 344 pages

"In the tradition of EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU, and with echoes of OLIVE KITTERIDGE, comes a stunning debut from Bryn Chancellor, an award-winning writer hailed as "amazing, sensitive, and thoughtful" by Kevin Wilson"-- Out for a hike one scorching afternoon in Sycamore, Arizona, a newcomer to town stumbles across what appear to be human remains embedded in the wall of a dry desert ravine. As n

Small Town SecretsSmall TownAtmosphericLiterary Fiction
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Magical RealismAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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The Keeper

Tana French Β· 528 pages

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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Gothikana

Runyx

An unusual girl. An enigmatic man. An ancient castle. What could go wrong? An outcast her entire life, Corvina Clemm is left adrift after losing her mother. When she receives the admission letter from the mysterious University of Verenmore, she accepts it as a sign from the universe. The last thing she expects though is an old, secluded castle on top of a mountain riddled with secrets, deceit,

Boarding SchoolSmall Town SecretsAtmosphericFemale Lead
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The Midnight Dress

Karen Foxlee Β· 277 pages

Rose, nearly sixteen, is used to traveling around with her alcoholic father but connects with the people of a small, coastal Australian town, especially classmate Pearl and reclusive Edie, who teaches her to sew a magical dress for the Harvest Festival while a mystery unfolds around them.

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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The Rabbit Back Literature Society

Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen Β· 343 pages

Only very special people are chosen by children's author Laura White to join "The Society", an elite group of writers in the small town of Rabbit Back. Now a tenth member has been selected: Ella, literature teacher and possessor of beautifully curving lips. But soon Ella discovers that the Society is not what it seems. What is its mysterious ritual, "The Game"? What explains the strange disappeara

Magical RealismAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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One of Us

Tawni O'Dell Β· 304 pages

"From the New York Times bestselling author of Back Roads comes a fast-paced literary thriller about a forensic psychologist forced to face his own demons after discovering his small hometown terrorized by a serial killer. Dr. Sheridan Doyle--a fastidiously groomed and TV-friendly forensic psychologist--is the go-to shrink for the Philadelphia District Attorney's office whenever a twisted killer's

Small Town SecretsSmall TownAtmosphericLiterary Fiction
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Among Others

Jo Walton Β· 304 pages

Seeking refuge in fantasy novel worlds throughout a youth under the shadow of a dubiously sane half-brother who dabbled in magic, Mori Phelps is forced to confront her mother in a tragic battle and gains unwanted attention when she attempts to perform spells herself.

Boarding SchoolMagical RealismLiterary FictionFemale Lead
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Confession of the Lioness

Mia Couto Β· 208 pages

Magical RealismAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

Sharyn McCrumb Β· 306 pages

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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Goodwood

Holly Throsby Β· 378 pages

Goodwood is a small town where everyone knows everything about everyone. It's a place where it's impossible to keep a secret. In 1992, when Jean Brown is seventeen, a terrible thing happens. Two terrible things. Rosie White, the coolest girl in town, vanishes overnight. One week later, Goodwood's most popular resident, Bart McDonald, sets off on a fishing trip and never comes home.People die in Go

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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The Limits of Enchantment: A Novel

Graham Joyce Β· 263 pages

Magical RealismAtmosphericLiterary FictionSmall Town
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A History of Wild Places

Shea Ernshaw Β· 354 pages

Small Town SecretsMagical RealismAtmosphericLiterary Fiction
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The Chatham School Affair

Thomas H. Cook Β· 303 pages

When Malcolm Gaines asks his attorney to prepare his will, he resurrects the long-buried secret behind a tragedy at Chatham School, which destroyed lives and shattered a quiet community.

Boarding SchoolAtmosphericSmall TownLiterary Fiction
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Telling Tales

Ann Cleeves Β· 413 pages

"It has been ten years since Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel. Now residents of the East Yorkshire village of Elvet are disturbed to hear of new evidence proving Jeanie's innocence. Abigail's killer is still at large. For one young woman, Emma Bennett, the revelation brings back haunting memories of her vibrant best friend--and of that fearful winter's day

Small Town SecretsAtmosphericSmall TownFemale Lead
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