Book cover of Take What You Need

Book description


A New York Times Notable Book of 2023

A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, L.A. Times, Boston Globe, NPR, The Guardian Author Pick, and Today

Longlisted for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award

Longlisted for 2024 Joyce Carol Oates Prize

“A heart-rending book, but also a beautiful celebration…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Take What You Need as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book immersed me in a world we don't usually read about in fiction--unemployed, working-class Western Pennsylvania-- with vivid writing, bringing together two very different narrators. I was drawn into the characters' deep relationships. And I particularly loved the "manglement" sculptures that the author invents.

If you love Take What You Need...

Book cover of Her Daughter

Her Daughter by Fran Hawthorne,

Alice Wilson wants children; her husband, Dan, doesn’t. So Alice "accidentally"  gets pregnant, trusting that Dan will eventually go along—and he seems to, at first. But as their marriage falls apart, Alice realizes that, even from the beginning, Dan has cruelly used small criticisms and belittling comments to undermine her…

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