Oprah's Book Club Selections

By Susan Cain

• ISBN: 9780451499783

"This book has the power to transform the way you see your life and even the world," Oprah says. "I have started to look at my own life in the world differently." Bittersweet, by Susan Cain, is a nonfiction title that explores how we deal with sadness. Not by denying it. Not by surrendering to it. But by acknowledging it. Even if, at times, it seems self-defeating because: We’re all supposed to be happy, right? Or at least try to be happy?

Demon Copperhead

By Barbara Kingsolver

Harper • ISBN: 9780063251922

This epic tale by Barbara Kingsolver follows the title character and the overwhelming obstacles he navigates in a community upended by the opioid crisis. Demon Copperhead re-envisions the Charles Dickens classic David Copperfield, setting it in modern-day Appalachia. It's Kingsolver's 17th novel in some three decades, and in writing it, she says she wanted to counter some of the condescension and downright snobbery directed at the region in which she was born and still lives, an area whose people, she believes, have been exploited for generations, most recently by pharmaceutical companies who targeted Appalachian residents and created the current opioid crisis. About the pick, Oprah said: "This is the second time I've chosen one of Barbara Kingsolver's novels for my book club—22 years ago we named The Poisonwood Bible as a selection. Her latest book grabbed me from its opening lines. I so admire the way Barbara has taken the plight of a young boy and invited us on his journey through loss, the foster system, addiction and so much more. The novel speaks to so many of our country's relevant issues, but most importantly, it's absolutely riveting."

That Bird Has My Wings

By Jarvis Jay Masters

HarperOne • ISBN: 9780061730481

Jarvis Jay Masters, author of Finding Freedom (1997), and now this latest memoir, has been incarcerated in California's San Quentin State Prison for the past 41 years. Oprah read That Bird Has My Wings for the first time in 2009, shortly after it was first published by HarperOne, and it left a strong impression: "His story, of a young boy victimized by addiction, poverty, violence, the foster care system and later the justice system, profoundly touched me then, and still does today."

Nightcrawling

By Leila Mottley

Knopf • ISBN: 9780593318935

When Oprah first encountered Nightcrawling, 19-year-old poet Leila Mottley's debut novel, she quickly opted to name it her 96th OBC pick. She was struck by the author's power to convey, in vivid and precise language, trauma, love and everything in between: "It always brings me joy to help introduce new writers to the reading community, and this young poet wowed me with her ode and elegy to Oakland, and her acute and insightful depictions of youth, injustice, the legacy of incarceration, and the resilience of community and chosen family."

Finding Me

By Viola Davis

HarperLuxe • ISBN: 9780063211094

Viola Davis, the first Black actor to earn the so-called "Triple Crown of Acting"—an Oscar, a Tony and an Emmy—details her rise from poverty and other trauma to emerge as an iconic American artist in this powerful memoir. Oprah had this to say about the book: "There are so many lessons to be learned from this breathtaking memoir about triumphing over adversity and trauma. Viola Davis leaves it all on the page—from her beginnings in South Carolina as the fifth of six children born in a sharecropper's shack to acclaim as an actor, producer and philanthropist. I was so moved by this book that I just had to share it with our entire OBC audience."

The Way of Integrity

By Martha Beck

The Open Field • ISBN: 9781984881489

Oprah said this about The Way of Integrity, which is the 94th Oprah's Book Club pick: "For over 15 years, I have looked to Martha Beck for her wisdom, and marveled at how she helps people through crises in their lives with such grace, insight and humor. As we all navigate this watershed moment in our collective history, The Way of Integrity provides a road map on the journey to truth and authenticity. Her latest work is filled with aha moments and practical exercises that can guide us as we seek enlightenment."

Bewilderment

By Richard Powers

W. W. Norton & Company • ISBN: 9780393881141

The thirteenth novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Powers, Bewilderment follows the story of astrobiologist Theo Byrne as he searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. This intimate and timely novel allows readers an opportunity to reflect on all that is currently happening throughout our beautiful, imperiled planet Earth—and in our own lives.

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

By Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Harper • ISBN: 9780062942937

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, a powerful novel by acclaimed poet Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, tells the story of African American history and the Black family experience through the lens of the novel's main protagonist, Ailey Pearl Garfield, as she comes to terms with her identity and the themes of what Du Bois called "double consciousness." This novel will resonate with anyone who has a family, who is a daughter or a sister or a mother, and anyone interested in the American origin story.

The Sweetness of Water

By Nathan Harris

Little, Brown and Company • ISBN: 9780316461276

Nathan Harris' debut novel, The Sweetness of Water, is set in the fictional town of Old Ox, Ga., at the very end of the Civil War. By then, President Lincoln has issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the enslaved. When the novel opens, brothers Prentiss and Landry are at last leaving the plantation where they've spent their entire lives, and grappling with what will come next. Through these characters—and others such as George and Isabelle Walker and their son, Caleb—novelist Harris explores the limits of "freedom" in the era that ushered in Reconstruction and Jim Crow, and spotlights some of the parallels with our current times. The novel also powerfully shows how a fellow human's single act of kindness or cruelty can reverberate for generations to come.

The Gilead Novels

By Marilynne Robinson

Picador Paper • ISBN: 9781250784018

Oprah's latest Book Club pick is not one, but four books, by Marilynne Robinson. Together, this quartet is known as the Gilead novels: 2004's Gilead, 2008's Home, 2014's Lila, and 2020's Jack. "Marilynne Robinson is one of our greatest living authors," Oprah comments, "and in the Gilead novels she's written a quartet of masterpieces. The more closely I read them, the more I find to appreciate, and the more they show the way in seeing the beauty in the ordinary. I'm thrilled to share them all with you."

Caste

By Isabel Wilkerson

Random House • ISBN: 9780593230251

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Deacon King Kong

By James McBride

Riverhead Books • ISBN: 9780735216723

A 19-year-old drug dealer with an incredible pitching arm. A death-defying drunkard. An Italian-American mobster with a soft side. These are just a sampling of the many richly drawn characters whose lives intertwine in this soaring novel set in the projects of 1969 Brooklyn, which blends humor and wisdom on each page. Deacon King Kong finds the sublime in the ordinary.

Hidden Valley Road

By Robert Kolker

Doubleday • ISBN: 9780385543767

"This is a riveting true story of an American family that reads like a medical detective journey," Oprah said of her 84th pick. Hidden Valley Road is the extraordinary of the Galvin family of Colorado, who had six children diagnosed with schizophrenia and six children untouched by the illness.

American Dirt

By Jeanine Cummins

• ISBN: 9781250209764

"This story changed the way I see what it means to be a migrant in a whole new way," Oprah said of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, her latest Apple Book Club pick. The book follows the journey a woman and her young son take to the United States after their family is murdered in an act of cartel violence.

Olive, Again

By Elizabeth Strout

• ISBN: 9780812996548

Oprah selected Olive, Again as her Apple Book Club pick because she fell in love the with prickly protagonist "despite her flaws." The book is Elizabeth Strout's follow-up to her 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning book Olive Kitteridge.

The Water Dancer

By Ta-Nehisi Coates

One World • ISBN: 9780399590597

For her first selection of the new chapter of Oprah's Book Club with Apple, Oprah selected Ta-Nehisi Coates' first novel, The Water Dancer. The odyssey follows the story of Hiram Walker, a young man born as a slave on a plantation in Virginia who has been gifted a mysterious, magical power that eventually saves his life when he nearly drowns in a river.“I have not felt this way about a book since Beloved,” Oprah, said of the book, referring to the late Toni Morrison's celebrated novel. "I knew early on the book was going to cut me up. I ended up with my soul pierced.”

Becoming

By Michelle Obama

AMERICAN WEST BOOKS • ISBN: 9781524763138

"I want the whole world to read this book. I know everyone is already pre-ordering, and if you’re in a book club, you should read it together," Oprah said, announcing her December 2018 selection. "It is Michelle Obama’s story, of course, but I know it’s going to spark within you the desire to think about your own becoming."

The Sun Does Shine

By Anthony Ray Hinton

• ISBN: 9781250124715

"Over the years I've chosen many great novels, very few memoirs for my book club, but this story reads like an epic novel. And it is all true! Mr. Hinton was falsely convicted of murder and spent 30 years on death row before he was finally released," Oprah said in a 2018 SuperSoul Sunday interview.

An American Marriage

By Tayari Jones

Algonquin Books • ISBN: 9781616208776

"I love this title because the novel redefines the traditional American love story. It's really a love triangle and places it inside a world that a lot of people don't know about, but impacts all of us in really big ways," Oprah announced in February 2018.

Behold the Dreamers

By Imbolo Mbue

Random House Trade Paperbacks • ISBN: 9780525509714

"It's about race and class, the economy, culture, immigration, and the dangers of the us versus them mentality. And underneath it all pumps the heart and soul of family love, the pursuit of happiness, and what home really means," Oprah shared in June 2017.

Love Warrior

By Glennon Doyle

• ISBN: 9781250075734

"You're going to absolutely love this book and the spirit of it, whether you're married or single, whether you're a mom or not," Oprah declared on OWN in September 2016. "All women are going to see themselves in these pages. It's daring, and it's raw, and it's filled with a lot naked—I do mean naked—truths!" she said.

The Underground Railroad

By Colson Whitehead

• ISBN: 9780345804327

"'Blown away' is an often-used expression, but with this book it was to the point of sometimes putting it down and saying, 'I can't read anymore. I don't want to turn the page. I want to know what happens, but I don't want to know what happens,'" Oprah said in September 2016, describing the harrowing tale of a teenage slave who runs away from a cotton plantation.

Ruby

By Cynthia Bond

Random House • ISBN: 9780804188241

This wrought love story, chosen in 2015, what happens when a woman needs to face her childhood demons in the fact of racial injustice.

The Invention of Wings

By Sue Monk Kidd

Penguin Books • ISBN: 9780143121701

This historical novel that Oprah selected in 2013 centers on an abolitionist from Charleston, South Carolina, her sister, and their slave.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

By Ayana Mathis

Vintage • ISBN: 9780307949707

One of Oprah's beloved 2012 selections, this beautiful tale focuses on the matriarch of a Black family navigating love and loss through the Great Migration.

Wild

By Cheryl Strayed

• ISBN: 9780307476074

Cheryl Strayed's impactful memoir follows her on a quest to self-discovery as she travels through the Pacific Crest Trail, learning to cope with her mother's death and a severed marriage.

A Tale of Two Cities

By Charles Dickens

• ISBN: 9780142196588

In 2010, Winfrey announced that two of Dickens' most beloved classics would be making her list: A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Even if you read them in grade school, these iconic works are worth revisiting.

Great Expectations

By Charles Dickens

Penguin Classics • ISBN: 9780141439563

Though it was written in 1860, this sweeping novel about an orphan and the girl who beguiled him when they were just children has stood the test of time.

Freedom

By Jonathan Franzen

Picador USA • ISBN: 9780312576462

This saga selected in 2010 centers on a seemingly picture-perfect family in Minnesota. But we quickly learn that the old trope is true: Looks are indeed deceiving.

Say You're One of Them

By Uwem Akpan

Akpan, Uwem • ISBN: 9780316086370

A collection of short stories told through the eyes of children living in Africa, this 2009 book club choice is both distressing and masterful.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

By David Wroblewski

Ecco Press • ISBN: 9780061374234

Edgar Sawtelle, who was born mute, has only ever known a peaceful, bucolic life on his parents' farm—until a trauma threatens to change that.

A New Earth

By Eckhart Tolle

• ISBN: 9781514292778

In 2008, Oprah hailed this spiritual guide, which encourages readers to live "in the now." It became one of OBC's most-sold books ever, including in countries like Brazil.

The Pillars of the Earth

By Ken Follett

Signet • ISBN: 9780451166890

Though it's a hefty read at 800 pages, Oprah swears that this 12th century story (with the erection of a Gothic cathedral at the center) is one you won't be able to put down.

Love in the Time of Cholera

By Gabriel García Márquez

Vintage Books USA • ISBN: 9780307389732

The Latin literary giant's stunningly written love story spanning 50 years made Oprah's list in 2007.

Middlesex

By Jeffrey Eugenides

• ISBN: 9780374704308

Told from narrator Calliope's Stephanides's perspective, Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides explores the complexities of growing up female but struggling between male and female identity—while also battling to comprehend a Greek and American heritage. Eugenides used his own part-Mediterranean background to inject Cal's cultural background with authenticity.

The Road

By Cormac McCarthy

Vintage • ISBN: 9780307387899

"It is so extraordinary. I promise you, you'll be thinking about it long after you finish the final page," Oprah Winfrey told the Washington Post in 2007.

The Measure of a Man

By Sidney Poitier

Poitier, Sidney • ISBN: 9780061357909

"He writes really candidly and passionately about his childhood, his family, relationships, and his extraordinary career," Oprah told the Associated Press in 2007 about the esteemed actor's memoir.

Night By Elie Wiesel

By

Hill and Wang • ISBN: 9780374500016

Night, written by Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, was selected in 2006. When announcing her pick, Oprah said that the little book, "should be required reading for all humanity."

A Million Little Pieces

By James Frey

Anchor • ISBN: 9780307276902

In 2006, Winfrey initially praised Frey's memoir, in which he recounts three months spent in jail. She later denounced his work after it was revealed he lied about major plot details, and then confronted him on her eponymous show, saying she felt "duped." In 2009, Winfrey apologized to him for the segment.

Light in August

By William Faulkner

Vintage International Random House • ISBN: 9780679732266

In the summer of 2005, Oprah selected three Faulkner classics for her club. Considered one of Faulkner's greatest titles, the Southern gothic tale Light in August follows three people as their lives intersect in the small fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi.

The Sound and the Fury

By William Faulkner

Vintage • ISBN: 9780679732242

Her second Faulkner classic follows the Compson family's attempt to face loss and love—together.

As I Lay Dying

By William Faulkner

Vintage • ISBN: 9780679732259

In her final Faulker selection, the author chronicles the Bundren family as they journey across Mississippi to mourn the matriarch, Addie.

The Good Earth

By Pearl S. Buck

Washington Square Press • ISBN: 9780743272933

Pearl S. Buck's novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. It's a classic rags-to-riches story featuring a peasant Chinese farmer and the challenges faced once he attains wealth and influence. This book landed on Oprah's list in 2004.

Anna Karnina

By Leo Tolstoy

Penguin Classics • ISBN: 9780143035008

Love, adultery, and loss are explored in Russian writer Leo Tolstoy's most famous work and Oprah's 2004 pick. The married eponymous heroine, Anna Karenina, falls for wealthy army officer Count Vronsky and ultimately destroys her family and her own happiness.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

By Carson McCullers

Mariner Books • ISBN: 9780618526413

Carson McCullers was only 23 years old when she penned this 2004 selection. The coming-of-age story pursues the themes of loneliness and isolation, with the racial disparity of the South serving as a backdrop.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

By Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel Garc 237 a M 225 rquez • ISBN: 9780060883287

It's no secret the Nobel Prize-winning author loved telenovelas, and One Hundred Years of Solitude (selected in 2004, a few years before his other novel, Love In The Time Of Cholera) has all the makings of a soap opera—with a dash of magical realism.

Cry, the Beloved Country

By Alan Paton

Scribner • ISBN: 9780743262170

Cry, The Beloved Country details the complex history of apartheid in South Africa from both sides. The thought-provoking political tragedy made Oprah's list in 2003.

East of Eden

By John Steinbeck

Penguin Books • ISBN: 9780140186390

Picked in 2003, John Steinbeck's multigenerational novel tells the story of the Hamilton and Trask families using Biblical analogies like those of Cain and Abel.

Sula

By Toni Morrison

Vintage • ISBN: 9781400033430

Set in a tight-knit neighborhood in Ohio known as "The Bottom," two Black girls are linked by a secret they've been harboring. The secret ultimately follows them into adulthood and threatens their friendship. Toni Morrison's riveting novel was selected in 2002.

Fall on Your Knees

By Ann-Marie MacDonald

Touchstone • ISBN: 9780743237185

Canadian novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald weaved a fascinating tale chronicling the Piper family and all their hardships, deception, and miracles. Chosen in 2002, the dark, dysfunctional-family drama is steeped in secrets and scandal.

A Fine Balance

By Rohinton Mistry

Vintage International • ISBN: 9781400030651

Rohinton Mistry presents four main characters who share a cramped apartment in India. Their outlook is bleak and depressing as they're forced to endure a caste system and government corruption in the 1970s. Oprah added it to her list in 2001.

The Corrections

By Jonathan Franzen

Picador USA • ISBN: 9780312421274

This wildly entertaining novel (chosen for the book club in 2001) centers on a family in chaos.

Cane River

By Lalita Tademy

• ISBN: 9780446615884

This multi-generational story—selected in 2001—follows the stories of slave-born women in a multi-generational family saga.

Stolen Lives

By Malika Oufkir and Michèle Fitoussi

• ISBN: 9780786868612

In this thrilling memoir—announced as an OBC book in 2001—we learn about the life of Malika Oufki, who was adopted by the King of Morocco when she was five.

Icy Sparks

By Gwyn Hyman Rubio

• ISBN: 9780142000205

Named after its main character, this book, which was picked in 2001, is about a girl finding herself in eastern Kentucky in the 1950s.

We Were the Mulvaneys

By Joyce Carol Oates

• ISBN: 9780452282827

This hopeful depiction of a family in crisis was featured on the list in 2001.

House of Sand and Fog

By Andre Dubus III

W W Norton Company • ISBN: 9780393338119

As their lives intertwine, three people attempt to live the American Dream in this 2000 selection.

Drowning Ruth

By Christina Schwarz

Schwarz, Christina • ISBN: 9780345439109

After Mathilda Neumann dies in a freezing lake, the lives of her family members change in this 2000 pick.

Open House

By Elizabeth Berg

• ISBN: 9780345435163

This 2000 favorite features Samantha, a woman grappling with the aftermath of divorce while raising her 11-year-old son.

The Poisonwood Bible

By Barbara Kingsolver

• ISBN: 9780061577079

The Price family, led by their evangelical Baptist father Nathan, begins to unravel as their bond and faith is tested during a mission to Africa. This pick was announced in 2000.

While I Was Gone

By Sue Miller

• ISBN: 9780345443281

Despite the fact that her life is seemingly picture-perfect, an appearance by a former housemate forces Jo Becker to dig into her past and face the skeletons in her closet.

The Bluest Eye

By Toni Morrison

Vintage Books • ISBN: 9780307278449

A celebrated work of fiction—and Toni Morrison's first ever novel—Bluest Eye follows 11-year-old Pecola Breedlove as she grows into herself in the author's hometown of Lorain, Ohio.

Back Roads

By Tawni O'Dell

• ISBN: 9780451212450

A dark portrayal of boyhood, Back Roads follows 19-year-old Harley Altmyer, the son of a woman jailed for murdering his father (a serial abuser) in Oprah's 2000 selection.

Daugher of Fortune

By Isabel Allende

• ISBN: 9780061120251

A love story, Allende's title is centered around Eliza Sommers, an orphan raised in Chile who eventually creates a new life for herself during the 19th century California Gold Rush.

Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage

By Robert Morgan

A Shannon Ravenel Book • ISBN: 9781616201760

This bestseller features a badass woman who gets married soon after her brother's death while learning how to navigate adulthood.

A Map of The World

By Jane Hamilton

• ISBN: 9780385720106

In this harrowing tale chosen in '99, the lives of the Goodwin family permanently change after they witness their neighbor's daughter drown in a pool, an event that leads to sexual abuse accusations and the downfall of a family once at peace.

Vinegar Hill

By A. Manette Ansay

• ISBN: 9780060897840

Ellen Grier has to move in with her in-laws, raise two children, and deal with her husband's unemployment in a startling portrayal of life in the country gone awry. Oprah announced the pick in 1999.

River, Cross My Heart

By Breena Clarke

• ISBN: 9780316899987

Illustrating the Black experience in America, this book follows Alice and Willie Bynum, a couple whose lives completely change after the death of their five-year-old daughter.

Tara Road

By Maeve Binchy

• ISBN: 9780440235590

Two women swap lives for a summer only to learn each other's deep, dark secrets.

Mother of Pearl

By Melinda Haynes

• ISBN: 9780671774677

Set in '50s Mississippi, the book touches on racism and small town life in the South.

White Oleander

By Janet Fitch

Back Bay Books • ISBN: 9780316284950

A 1999 coming-of-age story centers on Astrid, who bounces between foster homes after being separated from her mother.

The Pilot's Wife

By Anita Shreve

Back Bay Books • ISBN: 9780316303057

This novel recounts the story of a woman grappling with the death of her husband.

The Reader

By Bernhard Schlink

Vintage Books USA • ISBN: 9780375707971

Set in postwar Germany, The Reader zeroes in on the relationship between Michael Berg and Hanna, a woman twice his age who ends up on trial for a reckless crime.

Jewel

By Bret Lott

• ISBN: 9780671038182

Lott's novel (selected in 1999) follows the mother-daughter bond between Jewel and her last born daughter, one that's drastically different from that with her other children.

Where the Heart Is

By Billie Letts

• ISBN: 9780446672214

At 17, and seven months pregnant, Novalle Nation journeys across the country, only to get stranded in Oklahoma with little cash and less hope. Oprah's 1998 selection is a funny, candid depiction of girlhood.

Midwives

By Chris Bohjalian

Vintage Books USA • ISBN: 9780375706776

After saving a child's life during an emergency C-section, Sibyl Danforth, a midwife, is wrapped into a sensational trial after being accused of accidentally killing the baby's mother in this riveting 1998 read.

What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day

By Pearl Cleage

• ISBN: 9780061710384

Told through the lens of Ava Johnson, this story details what happens after a woman leaves the big city—Atlanta—for a quieter, rural life back home.

I Know This Much Is True

By Wally Lamb

Harper Perennial • ISBN: 9780061469084

This frank book (a 1998 selection) takes an honest look at mental illness, domestic abuse, and family dysfunction with a refreshing touch of humor.

Breath, Eyes, Memory

By Edwidge Danticat

Soho Press • ISBN: 9781616955021

Weaving political upheaval into the narrative, novelist Danticat explores the life of 12-year-old Sophie Caco, a girl forced to move to New York to live with a mother who's had little involvement in her upbringing.

Black and Blue

By Anna Quindlen

Brand: Random House Trade Paperbacks • ISBN: 9780812980493

A woman runs away from her abusive husband to begin anew and give her son a better life in one of Oprah's 1998 picks.

Here on Earth

By Alice Hoffman

Berkley Publishing Group • ISBN: 9780425169698

In this novel, March Murray returns to her Massachusetts hometown to face her past, including a man she was previously in love with.

Paradise

By Toni Morrison

Vintage International • ISBN: 9780804169882

Morrison's novel, chosen in 1998, explores race relations in Oklahoma, along with the battle between two communities, one led by women refusing to give up their freedom.

The Best Way to Play

By Bill Cosby

Cartwheel • ISBN: 9780590956178

Over 20 years before now-disgraced actor Bill Cosby was convicted of sexual assault, his children's books, which follow the Little Bill character, made it onto the list, first in 1997.

The Treasure Hunt

By Bill Cosby

• ISBN: 9780590956185

Another of Cosby's children's books follows Little Bill and how he stays entertained on a rainy day.

The Meanest Thing to Say

By Bill Cosby

• ISBN: 9780590956161

Little Bill copes with bullying with the help of his parents.

A Virtuous Woman

By Kay Gibbons

• ISBN: 9780375703065

Chosen in 1997, Gibbons will make you fall in love with Blinking Jack Stokes and Ruby Pitt Woodrow, an unexpected pair that find solace in their differences.

Ellen Foster

By Kaye Gibbons

Algonquin Books • ISBN: 9781616203023

Gibbons won the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Institute of Arts and Letters for this novel, which follows 11-year-old Ellen, a complicated character who, early on, plots the death of her father.

A Lesson Before Dying

By Ernest J. Gaines

Vintage Books USA • ISBN: 9780375702709

Timely, Gaines's novel details what happens after Jefferson, a Black man, is the only survivor of a shooting that left one white store owner killed. Oprah announced this selection in 1997.

The Heart of a Woman

By Maya Angelou

• ISBN: 9780812980325

In 1997, Maya Angelou's autobiography made Oprah's list. This story recounts her move to New York from California with her son, Guy, and illustrates a community of Black artists that molded her.

Songs in Ordinary Time

By Mary McGarry Morris

• ISBN: 9780140244823

In 1960 Vermont, a vulnerable divorcee falls prey to a con man.

The Rapture of Canaan

By Sheri Reynolds

Berkley Books • ISBN: 9780425162446

After becoming pregnant, Ninah fears the reaction of her grandfather, the leader of a strict Christian congregation, in this book hailed by Oprah in 1997.

Stones From the River

By Ursula Hegi

Simon Schuster • ISBN: 9780684844770

Trudi Montag grapples with Nazism in Germany while learning that despite her difference in appearance as a dwarf, all humans are unique.

She's Come Undone

By Wally Lamb

Pocket Books • ISBN: 9780671021009

Lamb's novel chronicles the life of Dolores Price, a 13-year-old that welcomes womanhood and is eventually dead-set on conquering her insecurities in this 1996 selection.

The Book of Ruth

By Jane Hamilton

• ISBN: 9780385265706

Not only did Hamilton earn Oprah's praise in 1996, but she also won the 1989 PEN/Hemingway Foundation Award for Best First Novel for her story about a woman coming to terms with her rocky relationship with her mother—and life alone—after her dad's death.

Song of Solomon

By Toni Morrison

Vintage Books USA • ISBN: 9781400033423

In this 1996 pick, Morrison explores the life of Macon Dead Jr., a.k.a. Milkman, the son of the richest Black family in a small town, as he grows in and out of the South.

The Deep End of the Ocean

By Jacquelyn Mitchard

Penguin Books • ISBN: 9780140286274

In 1996, Oprah's first-ever selection was this suspenseful novel, which follows a family as they learn to cope—through humor and unrelenting strength—with the disappearance of a child.