A Trusted Friend in a Complicated World
Updated on Dec. 16, 2024
Need a little drama in your life? We've got you covered. From family sagas to romantic epics, these librarian-recommended drama books will scratch the itch!
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As a librarian who both loves gossip and has anxiety, the best place for me to get my tittle-tattle fix is within the pages of drama books. Luckily, there’s a near-endless supply of incredible works of fiction to reach for on our libraries’ shelves.
Drama exists across book genres. You’ll find dramatic tension in fantasies, romances, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction and more. Within those genres, there’s family drama, legal drama, medical drama—you name it. Basically, if there’s a story being told, there’s drama to be found within it.
Good news: Whether it’s a multigenerational saga, a dramatic thriller or a historical epic, I’ve read it. I’ve been a librarian for almost a decade now, and every job I’ve ever had has involved books in one way or another. So if you’re looking for some book recommendations from someone with a true love of reading (I read more than 700 books last year), I’ve got you covered.
Here are the best books in the drama category to pick up today. One quick note: This list is focused solely on dramatic fiction, not nonfiction drama books. Now, without further ado (or dramatic pauses), let’s get into it.
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VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: Only for the Week by Natasha Bishop and It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
With so many books published every year, it’s rare that I get to meander through a favorite author’s back catalog—reading one book by the author and immediately devouring everything else they’ve ever published. But that’s what I’ve been doing with Kennedy Ryan’s backlist, and I’m so in love with this one: the first installment of the Hoops book series. Set in the world of professional basketball and published in 2018, Long Shot follows Iris as she lives through an abusive relationship with a pro basketball player and later finds new love with another hooper named August.
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For fans of: The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley and How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
Call it a coming-of-old-age story. Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford has plenty of winning ingredients: love, warmth, sweetness, redemption, secrets … and mouthwatering baked goods, of course. Published in 2024, this contemporary family drama (and Reader’s Digest Book Club pick) is destined to win your heart. After nearly 60 years of marriage, her husband’s health beginning to fail and her friends’ lives becoming all about their grandchildren, Jennifer Quinn starts looking for her own “special thing” to focus on. She steps way outside of her comfort zone and secretly applies to be a contestant on a Great British Bake Off–style reality TV baking show. But now that she’s in the limelight, our 77-year-old heroine is suddenly struggling to keep a lid on a longstanding secret that could destroy her otherwise happy home.
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For fans of: None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell and The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Published in 2015, Celeste Ng’s remarkable debut is one of the most beautifully written pieces of art I’ve come across—and definitely one that left me with a book hangover. The Lees were a Chinese American family in small-town Ohio in the 1970s, and Lydia was the favorite child, destined for the dreams her parents left behind. But after Lydia’s body is found in a lake, the family falls to pieces. Everything I Never Told You is a portrait of a family with the ground pulled out from under them, and I ate up every minute of it.
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For fans of: What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jiménez
Stalking is the name of the game in Liar, Dreamer, Thief as Katrina’s obsession with her co-worker Kurt crosses the line. So when she finds a message from him that implies he knows she’s been watching him, and later witnesses his suicide, she’s desperate to uncover answers. Instead, she learns that he was watching her just as closely the whole time. One of those page-turning drama books I’d love to see as a TV show (just look how well You has done!), Liar, Dreamer, Thief made my heart beat pretty fast. Published 2023, it remains one of the best books of that year.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
With this harrowing family saga, readers join a mother and her three daughters as they escape to Taiwan while the Communist revolution moves through China. Published in spring 2024, Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung is based on the author’s grandmother—specifically, the matriarch’s refugee experience during the Chinese Revolution of 1949. The Reader’s Digest Book Club’s May selection, the novel is a heartbreaking yet inspiring story of resilience, sacrifice and preservation.
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For fans of: The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris and Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda
Emily is struggling to readjust to normalcy after her trip to Chile with her best friend, Kristen. It could be the typical return-to-reality headaches—or it could be the dead body of a backpacker that Kristen killed in self-defense that’s causing her anxiety. The drama in this one feels reminiscent of the “please, I have to know” propulsion that my sister had while watching Pretty Little Liars (and that I occasionally had after catching half an episode and frantically looking up spoilers because I couldn’t handle the stress). So if that’s the high drama you’re looking for, add Andrea Bartz’s 2022 novel, We Were Never Here, to your TBR list immediately.
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For fans of: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
Published in 2022, The Hacienda quickly became one of my favorite drama novels of all time (and Isabel Cañas is one of my favorite authors) when I read it last year. With its Jane Eyre-meets-Crimson-Peak atmosphere, it’s not hard to see why it ranks highly in drama content. In the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence and the execution of her father, Beatriz marries in hopes of procuring safety for herself. She soon realizes the estate that was supposed to be her refuge has dangerous secrets, and the only one who believes her is a young priest.
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For fans of: The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris and The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
For some, the thought of teen books brings to mind immature high-school dramas and messy, young-love relationships. And while I devour all that and think it’s wonderful and fun, I also love a lot of the amazing historical dramas that YA has to offer. And 2021’s Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink is an absolutely exquisite look at a piece of history so many aren’t taught. It’s the 1920s, and Isaiah and Angel live in Greenwood, a district in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They don’t really cross paths until they’re both offered a job on their English teacher’s mobile library bike. Life changes quickly for both of them—and for their whole community—when on May 31, 1921, a white mob storms in and destroys the town.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
I could have put any R.F. Kuang book here and felt content about it, as they’re all incredible and extremely different from one another, but if I were forced to choose a singular genre to read for the rest of my life, it would be historical fantasy books, so that’s why Babel, published in 2022, wins today. Robin Swift is an orphan in 19th-century London. He is brought to train at Babel, the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford, where students study not only translation but also magic. When Robin realizes that Babel helps the British Empire’s expansion, he comes into contact with an anti-imperial organization called the Hermes Society. You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens next, but suffice it to say there’s plenty of drama involved.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Family dramas don’t have to exist only in realistic fiction, and this science fiction novel proves that. Published in 2019, Here and Now and Then is a perfect blend of time travel and human emotion that I was in love with from the first chapter—I even selected it for our library book club. Kin lives a normal life with his wife and daughter in San Francisco, and despite the fact that he was a time traveler from 2142 who got stranded, he’s content. But when his rescue team shows up, and he is returned to his own time, he will do whatever it takes to get back to the daughter he’s left behind.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: Assembly by Natasha Brown and The Foundling by Ann Leary
This historical drama, published in 2022, absolutely knocked me out emotionally for about a week (and still does when I reflect on it). Inspired by history, Take My Hand follows Civil, a young Black nurse working at a family planning clinic in 1973. She is assigned to two new patients: an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old, sisters who will change Civil’s life.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares
When I started as a bookseller (my very first job at 18 years old), I wasn’t well-versed in adult fiction at all. But I would sometimes wander over to the fiction wall and pick up something that sounded interesting. Published in 2013, Life After Life was one of those books, and it’s the one that has stuck with me the longest. (It’s also been adapted for TV by the BBC.) So what’s it about? Ursula Todd is born in 1910, takes a breath and then dies. As she grows, she dies repeatedly and in different ways. Her seemingly infinite lives continue as a world war looms.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: Her Spell That Binds Me by Luna Oblonsky and A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
Published in 2022, this Gothic horror drama follows Marion Shaw as she decides to apply to a listing in the newspaper for a bloodmaid at the House of Hunger. There, she becomes a favorite of the Countess and becomes all too aware of the fact that her fellow bloodmaids are going missing. Although I am a wimp for most horror, Gothic horror is my sweet spot, and the atmosphere in House of Hunger is out of this world.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: The Color of the Sky by Amita Trasi and Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung
There’s something about multigenerational stories that is so compelling to me. No matter how many I read, I will always want to pick up more. The Daughters of Madurai, published in 2023, is a heartrending book that begins in 1992 in the south Indian city of Madurai, where Janani is a young mother whose worth to others is dictated by her ability to produce a son. So while she’s able to keep her first daughter, the other daughters are taken and murdered as soon as they are born. In present-day Sydney, Australia, Nila is about to join her parents as they journey to Madurai, where her grandfather has fallen ill.
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Published 2018, this Pulitzer Prize finalist is another modern classic, following a dozen characters from Native communities traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow. Tommy Orange uses characters in such an impactful way, and this book has lingered in my mind since I read the very first page. There There comes together like a puzzle: a true ensemble story that I absolutely devoured.
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For fans of: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi and The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Denene Millner’s eponymous imprint was responsible for publishing the masterful Wings of Ebony duology, so I was already excited to read this even before learning what it was about—and as I mentioned earlier, multigenerational stories are an immediate yes for me! Following three women through a century in the United States, One Blood, which was published in 2023, starts with Grace as she is sent north from Virginia to live with her aunt after she loses her Maw Maw. Lolo is doing her best to hold everything together, including giving up her dreams and lying to get to a place of stability. And Lolo’s daughter, Rae, is expecting a baby, not long after learning she was adopted.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese and A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Published in 2023, a year with no shortage of incredible new books, Our Best Intentions was an immediate must-read for me. A stabbing incident at the local high school throws an entire community into chaos, including introverted teen Angie, who found the body, and her father Bobby, an Indian immigrant who owns a moving business. This father-daughter duo re-examines their relationship and their place in the community.
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For fans of: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
I don’t always gravitate toward adult drama books with coming-of-age themes, but The Great Reclamation, Rachel Heng’s 2023 historical fiction book, is one that I savored every page of. Ah Boon lives in 20th-century Singapore. He’s a gentle boy with a gift for finding bountiful islands. When the Japanese army invades in Ah Boon’s teenage years, his village is threatened, and he and childhood friend Siok Mei have to learn how to reinvent themselves in the midst of great upheaval.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher and Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Historical dramas can exist at any length, and this magnificent novella, set in the 1940s and published in 2022, proves that. I feel like I’m constantly putting this one on lists because it hits so many of my interests—short reads, historical fantasy, queer love story, vampires—and does it so well! In Even Though I Knew the End, Helen traded her soul to save her brother’s life, so when she’s offered the chance at a future with the woman she loves in exchange for tracking down the White City Vampire, she takes the job.
VIA MERCHANT
For fans of: Things We Do in the Dark by Jenner Hillier and The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
As someone who is a firm believer in not judging a book by its cover, I will fully admit that I picked up More Than You’ll Ever Know, published in 2022, because of the cover. What followed was a wild ride, where true-crime writer Cassie is delving into the story of Lore Rivera. Back in 1986, Lore’s husband shot a man … a man who was also her husband. Her double life, and the murder that followed, has fascinated the world. But Cassie wants to know the truth of what really happened.
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For fans of: These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Historical drama and family drama align in this modern classic, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction and widely considered one of the best books of all time. Homegoing, published in 2016, chronicles a family’s diverging journeys through generations and continents. Half-sisters living in 18th-century Ghana, Effia and Esi see their paths split. Effia’s marriage to an Englishman moves her life to the Cape Coast Castle, while Esi is sold into the slave trade and brought to America. What follows is a journey through the lives of Effia’s descendants in Ghana and Esi’s descendants in America, leading all the way to the present day.
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For fans of: Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram and Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg
If you’re looking for drama-filled LGBTQ books, you can’t go wrong with author Abdi Nazemian. Published in 2019, Like a Love Story is a historical drama that, upon initial reading, I really enjoyed. But in the weeks after reading it, my love for it grew even more intense. It’s set in 1989 New York City amid the AIDS crisis. Reza is a closeted gay Iranian boy who has just moved to the city, and he’s just started dating Judy. Judy’s best friend, Art, is an out and proud photographer documenting the AIDS crisis through his photos. As Reza and Art begin to grow closer, everything grows more complicated for the trio.
The term drama books covers a wide range of topics in fiction: family, legal, historical, crime, romantic and even horror dramas exist. These books are high on dramatic tension, centering on everything from complex family dynamics to tense moments in history. (Of course, there’s another definition of drama books: In nonfiction, “drama” refers to books on theater and the dramatic arts.)
One helpful way to think about fictional drama books is to consider awards shows like the Emmys. Television series are split into comedy and drama categories. Lines between the two are often blurred—there are funny dramas and dramatic comedies, after all. But generally speaking, dramas are more serious in tone.
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At Reader’s Digest, we’ve been sharing our favorite books for over 100 years. We’ve worked with bestselling authors including Susan Orlean, Janet Evanovich and Alex Haley, whose Pulitzer Prize–winning Roots grew out of a project funded by and originally published in the magazine. Through Fiction Favorites (formerly Select Editions and Condensed Books), Reader’s Digest has been publishing anthologies of abridged novels for decades. We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in fiction, including James Patterson, Ruth Ware, Kristin Hannah and more. The Reader’s Digest Book Club, helmed by Books Editor Tracey Neithercott, introduces readers to even more of today’s best fiction by upcoming, bestselling and award-winning authors. For this piece on drama books, Rachel Strolle tapped her experience as a full-time librarian who focuses on YA to ensure that all information is accurate and offers the best possible advice to readers. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
