Novel Narratives...
/Plots That Pivot…
Colour inside the lines, follow the lead, don’t take risks, keep your head down…said nobody ever!
When you read as much as I do, you are invariably seeking stories that will scratch the incessant itch you have for something that deviates from the prevailing plot structures. Stories that unfold in uncommon or unexpected ways, that are innovative, that play with you, that provide a much-needed breath of fresh air.
Let an author drop you unceremoniously in the middle of the plot, making you scramble to gain your footing. Or may they lead you in circles, twisting and turning until by some miracle you end up back where it all began.
And let them not forget the adage, there are two sides to every story. Books framed as parallel plots can dispatch the reader on so many trajectories. The same story may be told from multiple perspectives, maybe in distinct timelines, even with contrasting outcomes. Or two or more stories can unfold independently that magically converge at some point.
For this feature I scoured backlist, dug through my own library, and googled every imaginable combination of words to bring you a wide-ranging selection of recommendations that fall into the category of unique narratives.
Savor these reads my friends, there is a scarcity.
Parallel Plots
…there are two sides to every story…at least
Dark Matter – Blake Crouch
Eloquently written, this is a unique interpretation of the road not taken. Our protagonist Jason’s journey starts off with him getting knocked unconscious as one version of himself and upon awakening is living a different life entirely. Lovingly welcomed back by strangers, he discovers that he is a genius who has achieved something remarkable rather than a boring old college professor. I would like to wake up as the author of a beloved and brilliant book. Waiting…
Maybe In Another Life – Taylor Jenkins Reid
A young woman’s fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters we see two possible scenarios unfold, with stunningly different results. Hannah has been careening through life with no idea what she wants to do. Returning to her hometown in defeat, Hannah heads out to a bar with her best friend. While drowning her sorrows, she runs into her high school boyfriend. Both offer her a ride home, who will she leave with? And what will come of it?
An Instance Of The Fingerpost – Iain Pears
Set in Oxford in the 1660’s, an era of great intellectual, religious, and scientific turbulence, this novel centers around a young woman who stands accused of murder. Four witnesses describe in detail the event’s surrounding the victim’s death, each version differs and only one reveals the truth. Think Agatha Christie meets Umberto Eco. A gem long buried that deserves to see the light.
3:59 – Gretchen McNeil
Josie’s life is spiraling out of control. Just when she thinks it can’t get any worse, she wakes to an image of herself in the bedroom mirror. Except, it’s not her at all. The woman in the mirror is blonder and prettier. And she has a different name. The two girls are doppelgangers whose universes overlap every twelve hours at 3:59. Things start to go very wrong when Josie jumps at the chance to switch places for a day.
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
When Nora finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels like she has let everyone down, including herself. In this magical library, the books allow Nora to live as if she had done things differently. As she begins to undo all of her regrets, she is reminded that magic comes at a price.
Jane, Unlimited – Kristin Cashmore
After the devasting loss of her aunt, who raised her, Jane is adrift. When she runs into a wealthy acquittance from her past, she is easily swept up into the promise of an adventure. Finding herself in an extravagant mansion on a private island, she never expects that the house will require her to choose one of five paths. But how do you pick between a heist or a spy thriller, a space opera, or a gothic horror story? I know what I would choose, but I’m not telling.
He Said/She Said – Erin Kelly
Laura knows that she has seen something terrible when she stumbles into a couple in the middle of a heated argument late one night. The man denies it but the woman appears grateful. Months later that woman’s gratitude takes a twisted turn. Did Laura trust the wrong person? A taught mystery that begs the question, how far will we go to make others believe our side of the story.
Versions Of Us – Laura Barnett
Some moments can change your life forever, moments when a choice might have meant your life turned out differently. Have you ever wondered, what if? A man is walking down a country lane. A woman, cycling toward him, swerves to avoid a dog. On that moment, their future hinges. There are three possible outcomes, three small decisions that could determine the trajectory of the rest of their lives.
The Two Lila Bennetts – Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
Lila’s bad choices have finally caught up with her. One of which has split her life in two, literally. In one life, she’s taken hostage by someone who appears to be a stranger but knows too much. Trapped in a concrete cell, her kidnapper forces her to face what she’s done or be killed. In an alternate life, she eludes capture but is being hunted by someone who is dismantling all her secrets, one at a time. Two thrillers for the price of one!
Oona Out Of Order – Margarita Montimore
It’s New Year’s Eve and Oona has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight, she will turn nineteen and the year ahead is full of promise. As the countdown begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she is told is her own, Oona leans that with each passing year she will leap to another random age. And so, it begins…
Where Futures End – Parker Peevyhouse
A collection of five time-spanning, interconnected novellas that subtly weave a web stretching out from the present into the future, laying out eerily plausible possibilities as our world collides with a mysterious alternate universe. Five characters. Five futures. All brilliant.
In No Particular Order
…non linear storytelling at its finest
Wolf In White Van – John Darnielle
Isolated by a disfiguring injury, Sean crafts imaginary worlds for strangers to play in. Orchestrating fantastic adventures where possibilities, both dark and light, crash through the boundaries of the real and the imagined. When a couple of players take the game into the real world, Sean as their guide is called into account for it. In the process he is pulled back through time to the moment that shaped so much of his life. A brilliant story in which the reader will arrive at both the beginning and the end at the same time.
Fifteen Lives Of Harry August – Claire North
Harry is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began. A child with the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing was ever any different, until now. As he nears the end of his latest life, a little girl appears by his bedside, uttering the words “I nearly missed you, I need to send a message.” A beautifully written book that will break your heart.
The Hundred-Year House – Rebecca Makkai
The author unfolds a generational saga in reverse, leading the reader back in a literary scavenger hunt as we seek to uncover the truth of these strange people and this mysterious house. A daughter returns home with her new husband for a family visit with her rich eccentric relatives. He latches on to family lore and starts to pick at the family secrets. If you read a lot of mysteries, you know that no good can come of that…
Frankenstein – Mary Shelly
If you were to attempt to define nonlinear storytelling, this book could serve as a case study. Like the monster himself, it is made up of incongruent bits and pieces stitched up together. Some of it told in letters, some in journal entries, then the story told by the monster himself. This is a book every person should read; the themes are everlastingly relevant. The main one being, when we allow hubris to convince us that we are the master of something, it usually becomes the master of us.
If We Were Villians – M.L. Rio
On the day Oliver is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. He wants the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it. A decade ago, he was one of seven young Shakespearean actors in an exclusive theatre company. Each one mirroring the archetypical roles onstage and off; hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue and extras. But in their final year, good natured rivalries turn ugly, and tragedy seeps into real life.
The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
Upon her return one night to her apartment above a bookshop, Margaret finds a letter. It’s a request from a prolific and well-loved novelist who is gravely ill and wants to recount her life story before it is too late. While pondering the offer, she begins to read one of the authors works, Thirteen Tales Of Change & Desperation, only to discover that there are only twelve. Where is the Thirteenth Tale? She will have to agree to be the author’s biographer to find out.
Out Of Love – Hazel Hayes
A couple calls it quits after many years, and while holding a box of her now ex-boyfriend’s belongings, the young woman wonders how could they have been together so long? When did they fall out of love? What are the answers to all the questions that plague us when we slog through a break-up? This story goes backward in time, weaving together an already unraveled connection to figure it all out.
Last Time They Met – Anita Shreve
An ambitious telling of the story of lifelong passion and drama. Lost but never forgotten. One step at a time, back through thirty-five years we see how a single choice changed everything for Linda and Thomas. As they travel back through their memories, the reader will ask themselves, will the story end differently?
The Night Watch – Sarah Waters
A story of four Londoners, three women and a young man with a past that begun in times of war. Where illicit liaisons sprung up amidst air raids and black outs. Told in reverse, we get to know Kay, brave and bold; Helen, clever and sweet; Vic, glamourous and vivacious and Duncan, innocent and reserved. At least that was how they started out, today they are forever changed.
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
Part psychological thriller, part chronicle of debauched, wasted youth, this novel suffers from a basically improbable plot, a fault redeemed in the end. A clique of ivy league students welcome a “lower-class” member into their group and confess to a killing. A confession told through flashbacks, brought into real time with a brand-new dilemma. One of their group is threatening exposure, will they be forced to dispatch them as well?
The Fifth Season – N.K. Jemisin
The world is about to end, for the last time. In a place long familiar with catastrophe and doom, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon and there is no mercy, a woman seeks to change everything. The world building in this powerful and brilliant novel is without equal. Part fantasy, part apocalyptic and part mystery, this is a truly stellar read.
Consider This
…stories that transform structure
Eight Detectives – Alex Pavesi
An ambitious editor comes to a secluded island to review the work of a reclusive author with the intent to republish his one and only book. As they sit and read through his seven murderous tales, he educates her on the key ingredients of the mystery. Each of these seven stories has its own intricate stand-alone puzzle, all will engage the reader in an utterly unique battle of wits with themselves as they attempt to navigate the endless misdirection.
A Kiss Before Dying – Ira Levin
A young man will stop at nothing, not even murder, to achieve his lofty goals. Armed with charm, good looks, and intelligence, he is sure nothing can stop him. Until it does. Or should I say, she does. A taut and complex thriller that follows a desperate sociopath in the execution of a plan with no idea how the consequences of his actions will force another, more desperate than the first, be made.
The Lost Apothecary – Sarah Penner
Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Whispers make their way across the city of a mysterious woman named Nella who sells well disguised poisons to use against oppressive men. When a precocious twelve-year-old makes a fatal mistake, it sparks a string of consequences that echo across centuries. In present day London, a young woman’s life will collide with the apothecaries in a stunning twist of fate.
The Word Is Murder – Anthony Horowitz
A brilliant and clever reinvention of the classic crime novel starring a fictional version of our very own author! Acting as the Watson to a modern-day Holmes, he embarks on a case involving buried secrets and a trail of bloody clues. On a bright sunny morning a woman enters a funeral parlor to plan her own services. Six hours later the woman is dead, strangled in her own home. Did she know it was coming? Full of trickery and mind games!
Security – Gina Wohlsdorf
Manderley Resort is about to open its doors to the world. At least to those that can afford its opulence and unparalleled security. But someone is determined that will never happen. The staff has no idea that their every move is being watched and over the next twelve hours they will be killed off, one by one. The author pairs narrative ingenuity with sharp twists and shocking reveals that will leave the reader gasping for breath. I could tell you what the trick of this novel is, but then you would be lacking the treat!
Thirteen Storeys – Jonathan Sims
A dinner party is held in the penthouse of an elite building. All the guests are strangers, even to their host, the buildings billionaire owner. None of them know why they were invited and the only thing that they have in common is that they have experienced something disturbing withing the buildings walls. At the end of the night the host is dead, and we must learn each guest’s story to solve the mystery. A novel in stories that is chilling and smart!
S. – J.J. Abrams & Doug Dorset
A meta-novel in which two passionate bibliophiles investigate the conspiracy around an enigmatic author. Filled with secrets and stories that are beguiling and inviting, the reader will have to put all their puzzle solving skills to work to decode each tale. A gorgeous book celebrating the booklover!
When You Read This – Mary Adkins
For years, Iris worked side by side with Smith, helping clients perfect their brands. But Iris has died and felling adrift without his colleague and friend, Smith is surprised to discover that in the last six months of her life, Iris created a blog filled with sharp and witty musings on the end of a life not quite fulfilled. Her last request was that he get it published and Smith will have more than a few hurdles to get through before that can happen.
Tell Me Your Dreams – Sidney Sheldon
Someone was watching her. She had read about stalkers but surely that can’t be what’s happening. No one would want to harm her. She was trying desperately not to panic, but lately her sleep had been filled with nightmares. The reader will find themselves thrust into a world where three beautiful young women are suspected of committing a series of brutal murders. But nothing is what it seems to be in this twisted tale.
Before The Coffee Gets Cold – Toshikazu Kawaguchi
In a small back alley of Tokyo there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than a hundred years. Legend says that this shop offers much more than a sip of a perfect blend, the chance to travel back in time. Over the course of a summer, four customers visit the café in hopes of making such a journey. But there is a condition, the trip can only last as long as it takes for the coffee to get cold. How much time do you need to change the past?
The Shadow Of The Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
As Barcelona slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, Daniel, mourning the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book he discovers in his mother’s antiquarian book collection. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery. Someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book the author has written. How long before they try to destroy the book Daniel has?
