Explore compelling true stories written with all the depth and drama of a novel.
Sarah’s Pick:
“It is a fantastic and well-researched look at the science/scientists that has formed our ideals of motherhood, how flawed they are, and what a more realistic view of motherhood looks like today. It is interwoven with her own personal experience and stories. It’s also very current–just came out in 2025.”
The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom by Nancy Reddy
Dana’s Pick:
“Explores the Troubles in Northern Ireland by telling the story of a mother’s disappearance while providing historical information in a broader context.”
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
Carrie’s Pick:
“Kimmerer is a botanist and a member of the Potawatomi Nation. This book made me look at the world I live in very differently.”
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Carrie Also Picks:
“Follows two men during the Chicago World’s Fair–the architect of the fair and a serial killer.”
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
More Narrative Nonfiction Book Picks:
The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne
by Chris Sweeney
Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country
by Sierra Crane Murdoch
Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell about Fear
by Erica Berry
The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd
by Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
by Timothy Egan
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
by Mary Roach
Everything Is Tuberculosis
by John Green
The Radium Girls : the Dark Story
of America’s Shining Women
by Kate Moore
