This year’s best fiction is about prisons of all kinds: literal, but also dead-end jobs, luxury apartments and uncomfortable home states. The vibrant protagonists struggle against the confines of their worlds in novels from the likes of Rachel Kushner, Tayari Jones, Ottessa Moshfegh, and more. But as with all great stories, there is hope in these pages. there is resilience to be gained and hard-earned escapes to be savored. here, the best fiction books of 2018.
10. the top story, richard powers
nature, and the need to protect it, is what unites the lives presented in the 12th powers novel. A young artist descended from chestnut farmers, a field biologist, a Vietnam War veteran, and six other characters confront the mysterious power of trees and, intertwined, make an urgent call to preserve our environment.
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9. florida, lauren groff
Groff’s short stories study Florida, where treacherous weather and predatory animals provide a backdrop for the struggles of characters like a homeless teacher, a betrayed husband, and a writer reminiscent of Groff. The author of Fates and Furies, who moved to Florida more than a decade ago, channels her palpable ambivalence into her foster status.
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8. love of guns, jennifer clement
margot and her teenage daughter pearl live in a car next to a florida trailer park, poor but happy. When a dangerous man enters her life, Pearl finds herself alone and entangled in a world of weapons. Clement, a master of figurative language, creates a poignant coming-of-age story set in an America where ruthless justice sometimes rules.
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7. there there, tommy orange
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In orange’s fiery debut, 12 city-dwelling Native Americans head to the great oakland powwow, each with different goals. the author masterfully weaves his stories together in the event, leading to a terrifying climax. there there is both a suspenseful, poetic poem and a subtle condemnation of an embarrassing story.
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6. black washington, esi edugyan
Wash, a slave boy on a plantation in Barbados, befriends his new master, an abolitionist scientist. When a man dies and Wash finds himself in danger, the pair embark on an epic journey across continents, testing the strength of their commitment to one another. In precise prose, Edugyan crafts an inspiring story of freedom and self-discovery.
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5. circe, madeline miller
Miller’s retelling of a Greek myth frees the sorceress Circe from the prison of a male narrative. In The Odyssey, Circe becomes famous by turning the hero’s sailors into pigs. in this bestseller, she instead defines herself by her resistance as a woman threatened by both gods and mortals. miller plays with the classics to upend old perspectives on gender and power.
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4. my year of rest and relaxation, ottessa moshfegh
A cunning, beautiful, privileged (and deeply unhappy) woman in her early 20s hires New York City’s most unethical psychiatrist to help her sleep for a year, hoping that be reborn Moshfegh, author of 2015’s award-winning eileen, is the rare talent capable of concocting such a strange and claustrophobic premise. from it she weaves a darkly funny tale of heartbreak and redemption.
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3. an american marriage, tayari jones
In Jones’s novel, Atlanta couple Celestial and Roy have been married only a year when Roy, a black businessman, is wrongfully convicted of a violent crime. In chapters that alternate between the perspectives of a husband in prison, a wife who loses control of her bond, and a friend caught in the middle, Jones illuminates the waves of injustice and heartbreak that unravel families entangled in a flawed justice system.
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2. asymmetry, smooth halliday
halliday’s three-part debut novel made headlines for its first section, about the relationship between a young editor and a writer reminiscent of philip roth, with whom he had a real-life romance. But it is the subtlety and skill with which he links that story to another, about an Iraqi American detained by immigration in 2008 at London’s Heathrow airport, that cements his place as an essential new voice in fiction. p>
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1. the room from mars, rachel kushner
Romy Hall is a mother of a young son and a former dancer at a San Francisco strip club. She is also serving two life sentences in a squalid California women’s prison. A two-time National Book Award finalist, Kushner slowly and delightfully unfurls the tapestry of Romy’s backstory, infusing mystery and humor in unlikely places, as she interrogates the harsh realities of America. uu. prison system.
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write to lucy feldman at lucy.feldman@time.com.
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