Ann Hood is the editor of Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting and the bestselling author of The Book That Matters Most, The Knitting Circle, The Red Thread, Comfort, and An Italian Wife, among other works. She is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, a Best American Spiritual Writing Award, a Best American Food Writing Award, a Best American Travel Writing Award, and the Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
Big City Cool (2002) Short Stories About Urban Youth edited by Helen S Weiss and M Jerry Weiss
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Ann Hood recommends
Missing Sam (2026) Thrity Umrigar "Missing Sam is a sneaky novel. At first glance, it appears to be a thriller about a missing woman. But in actuality, Thrity Umrigar writes about gender, prejudice, cultural identity, race, and the complexities of love and marriage. What a feat! Like Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere, this page turner delivers so much more than thrills and twists."
The Phoebe Variations (2025) Jane Hamilton "A new Jane Hamilton novel is always cause for celebration, and with her luminous The Phoebe Variations, it's time to shout and sing once more. Get ready to fall in love with the brilliant, mixed-up, loyal, and lovely Phoebe!"
The Evening Shades (2025) Lee Martin "There is not another American writer living today who better understands our Midwest and the people who live there than Lee Martin. In The Evening Shades, Martin explores grief and betrayal, love and hope, loneliness and redemption in small midwestern towns in 1972 when two broken people come together in surprising ways. I simply love this book"
Dancing with Dragons (2024) Jenni Ogden "Dancing with Dragons reminds us of the power of friendship and the healing potential the natural world offers us. Jenni Ogden takes us to the beaches and coral reefs of Australia to tell this life-affirming story that calls us to open our hearts, even-or especially-when it's hardest to do."
The Trouble with You (2024) Ellen Feldman "A big hearted novel that takes the reader through history... It's the NYC of automats and radio serials, the America where women are expected to stay home and raise kids. But Fanny finds independence, a career, and even love... I cheered for her every step of the way."
Mercury (2024) Amy Jo Burns "Mercury is part family saga, part mystery, and 100% unputdownable. As the secrets piled up and discoveries were made, I read faster and faster, eager to unravel the web Amy Jo Burns so masterfully wove. Surprising and true, Mercury reminds us of the importance of love and forgiveness."
Girlfriend on Mars (2023) Deborah Willis "How did Deborah Willis manage to write about love, grief, corporate greed, climate change, and a reality show that sends two people to Mars with such grace and humor and compassion? Girlfriend on Mars blew my mind! This is one of the most original novels I've read in a long time."
Good Night, Irene (2023) Luis Alberto Urrea "Good Night, Irene isn't just a marvelous novel, though it is indeed marvelous. It's a marvelous novel that returns the brave Donut Dollies and the WWII Clubmobile Corps to their rightful place in history. With grace and compassion, Luis Alberto Urrea makes their story soar again."
The Wild Hunt (2022) Emma Seckel "What a debut for Emma Seckel! The Wild Hunt is a gorgeous, haunting novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading."
Love & Saffron (2022) (Love & Saffron, book 1) Kim Fay "Love & Saffron is simply a delight. In letters between two women - strangers, at first, but ultimately best friends - in 1963, Kim Fay reveals how a love of food can open doors into culture, history, homes, and love. Indulge yourself in the world of Joan and Immy, preferably with some quesadillas or mussels in wine and saffron by your side."
Florence Adler Swims Forever (2020) Rachel Beanland "I started reading FLORENCE ADLER SWIMS FOREVER and did not stop until its final words. Rachel Beanland so completely transports readers to the summer of 1934 in Atlantic City and a tragedy that changes the lives of one family there that I expected to smell salt air and see ocean waves crashing when I looked up again. What a bighearted novel this is. What a glorious debut."
The Jane Austen Society (2020) Natalie Jenner "I can't remember the last time I was so utterly charmed by a novel as I am with The Jane Austen Society. Natalie Jenner creates a world populated with characters who come together to preserve Jane Austen's home in the village of Chawton after WW II. And in so doing she explores love and grief and hope, all while plunging us headfirst into Austen's words. A celebration of the human spirit and the power of stories, I just love this book!"
Recipe for a Perfect Wife (2019) Karma Brown "Recipe for a Perfect Wife is that wonderful combination of fun to read, thought provoking, and mystery. Told in the voices of two women living in different decades and sprinkled with recipes and advice on how to be a good wife, it makes the reader consider how the roles of women have changed and how they've stayed the same. Karma Brown made me smile and gasp in equal measure, and to reach for my mom's old recipe box."
The Girl From Blind River (2018) Gale Massey "A knockout debut novel...Lyrical and unflinching, The Girl from Blind River grabs you on page one and never lets go."
The Magnificent Esme Wells (2018) Adrienne Sharp "Consider it your good luck to join Esme Wells as she comes of age with the glamour, gangsters, and big dreams of Hollywood and Las Vegas of the 30s and 40s. Like its narrator, this novel is magnificent."
Love and Other Consolation Prizes (2017) Jamie Ford "Only Jamie Ford could take a snippet of a true story about a child offered as a raffle prize at the 1909 Seattle World’s Fair and spin it into a dazzling tale of love and family and ultimately hope. Love and Other Consolation Prizes has the big generous heart Ford always brings to his novels and fans will rejoice in it."
The Halo Effect (2017) Anne D Leclaire "The Halo Effect will keep you turning pages, and fast. But it is that rarest of page turners, a novel that illuminates our frailties and the depths of grief while also managing to be hopeful and wholly human."
The News from the End of the World (2017) Emily Jeanne Miller "The News from the End of the World is my favorite kind of book, bighearted and full of complicated flawed characters stumbling through love and life, making hard choices, making mistakes, and making the reader fall in love with every one of them. I loved this novel!"
Unmentionables (2013) Laurie Loewenstein "Laurie Loewenstein brings the reader into the past, to Chautauqua assemblies, World War I France, and Midwestern small town life...meticulously researched and exquisitely written, Unmentionables is a memorable debut."
Those We Love Most (2012) Lee Woodruff "I opened Those We Love Most when my plane took off from Boston, and didn't look up again until I landed in Miami. In between, I cried and smiled and nodded, and turned pages faster and faster. It's one of those novels."
Wayward Saints (2012) Suzzy Roche "What do you get when you combine a town called Swallow, a family named Saint, Sliced Ham a rock band that sings songs like The Back of My Ass and Tom's Dick and Harry, the Blessed Mother, a chocolate tranny, and characters like Garbagio and Flick Zeez? A rollicking, audacious, heartwarming, funny, poignant, unforgettable debut novel by Suzzy Roche!"
Chosen (2010) Chandra Hoffman "This riveting debut novel will keep you on edge until its final glorious pages. Enlightening, terrifying and bighearted."
My Enemy's Cradle (2008) Sara Young "MY ENEMY'S CRADLE has everything: It is a page turner full of twists and turns. It is a love story. It is a war story. It reveals a dark piece of history. There is only one caveat to this novel: you will want to read it straight through. So put aside absolutely everything, and begin."
Secret Language (1993) Monica Wood "A graceful and insightful look into the lives of two sisters. Secret Language is both heartbreaking and heartwarming."
(b.1956)
