Here are 2 books that The Belles fans have personally recommended if you like The Belles. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Listen

Diane Josefowicz Author Of Guardians & Saints

From Diane's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Historian Francophile Literary truffle hunter

Diane's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Diane Josefowicz Why Diane loves this book

This novel, smartly translated by David Colmer, transported me directly to the hothouse world of wealthy Parisian families and the household staffers who know their lives so intimately. I loved the evocative scene-setting, and the dual timeline mystery came together seamlessly.

By Sacha Bronwasser , David Colmer (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Listen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2025

A twisty, slow-burn mystery set in Paris and the Netherlands that has become a Dutch sensation

In 1989, twenty-year-old Marie jumps at the chance to work as au pair in Paris—even though it means dropping out of her prestigious art program in the Netherlands. The city, the language, the complicated French family she works for all quickly overshadow the turmoil and pain she'd been reckoning with in school.

But years later, during the 2015 attacks in Paris, Marie is shocked to recognize her former teacher, the main reason she fled the Netherlands, pictured…


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Book cover of The High House

The High House by James Stoddard,

The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.

The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.

Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…

Book cover of The Adjudicator

Diane Josefowicz Author Of Guardians & Saints

From Diane's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Historian Francophile Literary truffle hunter

Diane's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Diane Josefowicz Why Diane loves this book

I'm a longtime fan of Susan Daitch, and this novel -- her fifth -- does not disappoint. The Adjudicator invites reflections on some of the most challenging and promising technologies of our time -- genetic modification, omnipresent surveillance, and artificial life. Like all of her novels, it's smart and meaty, packing a significant philosophical wallop while also delivering on character and plot. I loved it.

By Susan Daitch ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Adjudicator as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Award-winning author Susan Daitch's new novel, The Adjudicator, is a visionary cyberpunk mystery that explores the boundaries of consciousness and individual autonomy within an authoritarian state that controls the genetics of its citizens.

In a near future where the surveillance state legislates the genetic code of its citizens, babies are created in a laboratory according to a template set by parents and the corporation. It is a utopian world of perfect control, where disease has been eliminated and the human genome has reached apotheosis. Mistakes, though unlikely, still occur, and it is adjudicator Zedi Loew's job to fix them. One…


Book cover of Listen
Book cover of The Adjudicator

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