Agaat
By Marlene Van Niekerk
630 pages; Tin House
This is a frank novel about a white South African landowner and her lifelong servant in a radically changing country.
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Broken
By Karin Slaughter
416 pages; Delacorte
The best-selling author brings back characters from Undone to tell a story of duty and motherly love.
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Composed
By Rosanne Cash
256 pages; Viking
Tales from the life of the singer-songwriter who inherited the "man in black"'s country music mantle and then made it her own.

On the Outskirts of Normal
By Debra Monroe
248 pages; Southern Methodist University
An unsentimental memoir about a white woman who adopts a black baby in a small Texas town.
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Rich Boy
By Sharon Pomerantz
528 pages; Twelve
We dare you to put down this big, fat, old-fashioned drama about a poor boy who makes good—but feels bad about it.
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