Some stories unfold in a place and time; others are shaped by it. In these ten novels, setting isn’t just a backdrop — it breathes, pulses and presses in on every choice the characters make. From sun-drenched vineyards and historic European streets to windswept rivers, quiet coastal towns and even tightly controlled wartime communities, each location carries its own secrets, tensions and transformative power. These are the kinds of books where you don’t just picture the setting — you feel it, as vividly and insistently as any character on the page.
Brenda Barker’s Next Chapter by Wendy Tokunaga
(Blydyn Square Books, February 2026)
At 64, Brenda Barker’s life is anything but over — though someone should tell that to her butcher, who insists on calling her “ma’am” when the other customers are “miss.” With her husband gone, her only child moving to Japan, and a literary “expert” telling her she has no business writing, Brenda does what any sensible woman would do: ignores the advice, packs her bags and heads to a high-stakes writers’ conference in the California wine country.
Armed with a manuscript, a bottle of pinot noir and a fierce determination to prove the world wrong, Brenda embarks on the adventure of a lifetime — complete with wine-fueled confidence, surprise friendships and a few romantic sparks she definitely didn’t plan for.
Brenda Barker’s Next Chapter is a celebration of second (and third!) chances, the power of believing in yourself — and finding your voice when it matters most.
Eight Strings by Margaret DeRosia
(Simon & Schuster Canada, March 2023)
Venice 1895: Ever since she was a child, Francesca has dreamed of performing with eight-stringed marionettes in Venice’s popular Minerva Theater — a profession and theater closed to women.
When her father tries to sell her into marriage, Francesca flees to the Minerva and masquerades as Franco, a male orphan, to secure an apprenticeship. She embraces her new identity, but an old friend, Annella, recognizes her. Now a paid companion to an influential woman, Annella understands the lengths one must go to survive. She keeps Franco’s secret, and desire sparks. Soon, they find themselves playing a dangerous game against powerful figures in Venice’s underworld, with their lives — and the fate of the Minerva — hanging in the balance.
Rich in historic detail and imbued with sharp social commentary, Eight Strings is a gorgeous, spellbinding debut that celebrates love, life and art in all forms.
Bella Toscana by Nanette Littlestone
(Words of Passion, February 2021)
Toscana has spent 50 years choosing “nice” over magic. Her marriage is predictable and safe, but deep down, she’s searching for more.
Visiting Rome for the famous chocolate festival changes everything. At the Temple of Vesta, visions stir unexplainable memories. Then she meets Flynn, a young history professor, who feels hauntingly familiar, and the life Toscana thought she knew begins to unravel.
As Flynn helps her decipher the mystery of her visions, Toscana discovers a passion she’d left behind. And when a psychic warns that she’s only half alive, Toscana must confront the possibility that love — and a life fully lived — has been waiting for her all along.
From the streets of Rome to the hills of Tuscany, Toscana embarks on a journey of self-discovery, heart and courage. Will her practical instincts keep her from embracing the love she deserves, or will she finally let magic in?
Painted Skies by Barbara Marshak
(Blue Prairie Press, September 2021)
Fifty-eight-year-old Vonnie Daniels jumps at the chance to volunteer at the Sage Creek Guest Ranch, hoping to escape her mundane life back home. To her surprise, the rugged beauty of Wyoming is like balm to her hurting soul. An unexpected friendship develops with Gertie, the resident baker, as the two women share stories of love and loss.
When a series of disturbing events takes a sinister turn, Vonnie is held hostage. It is then that visiting ranch hand Slade Carson orchestrates her rescue, bringing her to a crossroad that forever alters the course of her life.
Painted Skies is the story of one woman’s journey to find healing through her most cherished relationships — an only daughter, a newfound friend and the charismatic cowboy asking her to trust him.
The Days Between by Jennifer Marra
(Atmosphere Press, March 2026)
At 19, Samantha Ryan is a prodigy with an engineering degree from Columbia and a coveted job at Bell Labs. But brilliance doesn’t cure loneliness or silence the social anxiety that leaves her tongue-tied among older coworkers.
Desperate for escape, Sam turns to old comforts: Liz, her loyal roommate, and Nate, her mercurial ex, for a weekend away. The Grateful Dead are on tour, the drugs are plentiful, and Sam reconnects with Nate.
But every high has a crash. By the weekend’s end, Sam has lost both her boyfriend and her best friend. It’s time she learned to engineer her own life — but can Sam rebuild before she self-destructs for good?
The Empty Kayak by Jodé Millman
(Level Best Books, May 2023)
A pop-up thunderstorm ambushes a young couple’s kayaking trip on the Hudson River. The woman miraculously makes it back to shore, but her fiancé remains missing. Detective Ebony Jones and her partner are the first responders on the scene.
The victim’s identity shocks Ebony to the core: Kyle Emory, the ex-boyfriend of her estranged best friend, attorney Jessie Martin. The accident pits them against each other in a race to discover whether Kyle survived or whether he met his untimely demise.
Along the way, they uncover lies and betrayals and gather a list of dangerous suspects linked to the survivor, Kyle’s mysterious fiancée. Even more, the discovery that Kyle possessed his own life-shattering secrets has trapped Ebony between her career and her lifelong friendship with Jessie. Yet neither Ebony nor Jessie will stop until they discover the truth about the drowning, even if it destroys their friendship and their lives.
But the evidence is as murky as the Hudson River itself. Only the river knows whether Kyle’s tragic death was an accident, a suicide or something more sinister.
Radio Starr by Lisa Lehmann
(Fresh Water Press, November 2025)
All Eva LaVette wants is a great career and a perfect marriage. Can she have both?
A ’70s girl in an ’80s world, Eva finds her life upended on a frigid Wisconsin night when she discovers a passion for radio. It’s a feeling that ignites her soul, but conflicts with her husband’s traditional values. Fearless and a bit naive, Eva adopts on-air facades that both mask and reveal her deepest desires. As she navigates the trials of format changes, overnight shifts, sexist vibes and the fear of being fired, she grapples with the consequences of her choices. Radio plays both a true love and a bad boyfriend; Eva is seduced time and again.
Radio Starr is a captivating tale of identity, ambition and self-discovery framed by the music of the times, just as radio is making a transformative shift from analogue to digital.
Chapel Bay Secrets by Julie Snider
(Mulard Press, January 2026)
Librarian Brenda Kato has always felt safe in idyllic Chapel Bay, California, despite being a lesbian of Japanese American descent. When a book-banning threat arrives in her work email, Brenda’s sense of security slips away. The anniversary of her mother’s death sharpens the need to find the father she’s never known.
To make matters worse, her heart still aches over the loss of her one true love. As Brenda struggles with these painful assaults on her psyche, several retirees — Harriet Conley and Joe West — insert themselves into her life uninvited. When a nefarious local author appears, the three find their fates intertwined.
Lonely and confused, Brenda joins a group that is planning a presentation in honor of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. Meanwhile, she’s becoming increasingly distracted by the beautiful blonde woman who seems to appear every time she goes for a run.
Will the power of love be enough to heal the wounds of the past?
Fission: A Novel of Atomic Heartbreak by Leslie Schover
(She Writes Press, January 2026)
Doris marries Rob in 1941 and has a premature baby, trading dreams of becoming a concert pianist or lawyer for the role of wife and mother. Rob is recruited to work on the Manhattan Project, and the young family moves to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Like fission splits an atom’s nucleus, Doris’s marriage threatens to break her heart in two. She struggles to nurture her daughter while Rob works around the clock.
Doris befriends Betty, a Southern debutante. Despite their different backgrounds, the two women sustain each other through Betty’s miscarriage, Rob’s radiation exposure and his later attempt to enlist to fight at the front. Although Doris tries to make life in Oak Ridge work, she falls for an army engineer — but he may be a Soviet spy. Should she turn him in and risk ruining her marriage? As the end of the war nears, Doris must decide what’s most important — and what she’s willing to lose.
The Trouble with Possibilities by Nancie Abuhaidar
(Winterwind Publishing, September 2024)
The trouble with possibilities is they are as unexpected as they are infinite.
When Del Harper is forced to pull the plug (literally) on her unhappy marriage, her family is in shambles. Desperate to escape and regain control over her spiraling life, she boards a flight to Africa.
New continent. New Del.
Armed with spreadsheets and an impeccable plan, she steps into her future — straight into the world of Ben Mahoney. The celebrity orphanage founder makes her heart stutter. Sure, he’s handsome and charming; he’s a Hollywood heartthrob, after all. And Del isn’t looking for another mistake.
Except Ben shares Del’s passion for education and appreciates her bold ideas to improve the school. He also possesses an uncanny ability to catch her off guard.
Del’s mother always warned her about possibilities — and Ben offers so many. What’s worse, he seems to like her.