General fiction - Contemporary - Christchurch City Libraries
The realities and moralities of modern life explored by the best writers of our generation – exploring themes of society, the environment. Follow characters as they struggle to remain decent in the face of life's pressures. Contemporary Fiction is a broad genre that continues to shift and change in step with the modern world. You’ll find multiple major award winners within this list and stories that will stay with you for a lifetime. A Christchurch City Libraries list.
This slim novel packs a big punch. Told over the course of just a few days, we are transported into the lives and minds of eight young female boxers as they compete in a little-known tournament in a stifling Nevada gym. 'Headshot' is at once…
Have miserable, insufferable people ever been so hilarious and entertaining? "Banal Nightmare" is a searing take on directionless millennial life. Moddie, a thirty-something city-dweller who has just broken up with her long-term boyfriend, moves…
"Martyr!", the debut novel from award-winning poet Kaveh Akbar, is a stunning tale of grief and self-discovery. It follows Cyrus, an Iranian American poet living in Indiana, recently orphaned and newly obsessed with martyrs. When he discovers a…
Jonathan Franzen meets "Succession" in this acerbic, satirical family saga. 40 years after businessman Carl Fletcher was kidnapped for ransom and returned after suffering physical and psychological abuse, Carl, his wife and their three grown…
Sequel to the award winning 'A Visit from The Goon Squad, 'The Candy House' opens in the recent past with Bix Bouton, a wildly successful tech billionaire who is restless for a new innovative idea. After learning about a project to download…
Prepare to be sucked in by the absolutely endearing title character in Honey: an 82-year-old woman who grew up in New Jersey as the daughter of a notorious mobster, but after coming of age, set off for Los Angeles to work at a high-end auction…
Brutal and devastating, this is a difficult read but will truly reward those who can handle it. Dylan grew up in suburban New York and suffered three years of sex trafficking by a man who promised to marry him. Years later, a new law offers him a…
Sunday lives a carefully ordered life of routine and etiquette, along with her headstrong daughter Dolly, who is on the cusp of leaving home. When Vita and Rollo, a glamorous couple from London, move in next door, the two families become…
A sharp and raunchy homage to '50s lesbian pulp fiction, this centres on Astrid, a mid-list author who, after being "lightly" cancelled, finds herself drawn into the distracting orbit of two very different women. When she is offered the chance to…
An intimate, visceral and compulsive portrait of marriage that will have you on edge for its entirety. Jane is an aspiring young writer when she meets John, a man who seems to want the same things she does: a happy, successful, creative life. But…
A tough read that is nonetheless wholly compelling, "Service" follows the trial of a celebrity chef who has been accused of rape by several waitresses at his restaurant in Dublin. The story is split between three narrators: Hannah, a former waitress…
Carmen and Grace are inseparable, more like sisters than cousins, relying only on each other throughout their childhood in The Bronx. As they approach adulthood, they're taken under the wing of Doña Durka, the matriarchal leader of an underground…
This niche little novella is only about 150 pages, but packs one hell of a punch. Based on interviews Scanlan conducted with a family acquaintance, the story comprises a series of vignettes detailing one woman's life training racehorses. It might…
This family drama centers around five half-siblings who all share the same absent father. None of them have much in common with each other, and have all lived very separate lives until one unexpected situation brings them all together to consider…
An unnamed narrator moves between nameless European cities, visiting exhibitions and thinking about artists in this evocative and thought-provoking novel from award-winning author Rachel Cusk. Broken into four parts that come together in an…
London 2019. As the city swelters in the hottest June on record, four old acquaintances find themselves at a summer solstice party, one that will change their lives forever. Heartfelt, sexually charged, and disarmingly comic, this will appeal to…
Ranita is three years sober, and almost finished her four-year sentence for opiate possession. With her release looming, she's determined to stay clean and regain custody of her two children, all while atoning for the missteps that led to where she…
'Greta & Valdin' is about a brother and sister: both Maori-Russian-Catalonian, both queer, and both suffering from unrequited love. Through their alternating voices, Rebecca K. Reilly navigates the world of modern romance with insightful hilarity…
This is a poignant novel about the pain of exile, and about the ways in which our past shapes our present in unexpected ways. Over the course of one long and reflective walk home, we accompany Khaled through the streets of London as he looks back on…
