The BEST BOOKS of 2024

We all loved Oprah's Book Club selections this year (did you read them all?), but here are our editors' favorite standouts on the shelves-from the thoughtprovoking to the heartwarming to the hilarious.

- NATALIE BEACH

BOOKS THAT LET YOU ESCAPE

The Waters

BY BONNIE JO CAMPBELL
Hermine "Herself" Zook has spent her life on an island in the Great Massasauga Swamp, known as "The Waters," brewing potent medicines from the land's plants as well as raising three girls and, now, a granddaughter, Dorothy, nicknamed Donkey. But when Donkey's estranged mother returns home, she brings secrets that jeopardize the whole community. Immersive and witchy, a story to savor.

The God of the Woods

BY LIZ MOORE
This atmospheric thriller begins in August 1975, when a girl goes missing from a woodland summer camp in New York State. Barbara Van Laar is the daughter of the wealthy family who own the camp, a family with terrible secrets. Moore's brilliant characterizations—particularly of the young female investigator and the mother of the missing girl—make this as much a sociological exploration as a missing-person story.

The Swans of Harlem

BY KAREN VALBY
Misty Copeland has long been touted as the first Black celebrity ballerina. But decades before she was born, five Black women started training at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. In this rigorously researched narrative, Valby recounts the dance careers and personal lives of these trailblazing ballerinas, once lost to history. What results is a book suffused with rich character studies and memorable details that will captivate dance experts and novices alike.

Fruit of the Dead