Jenny Offill Books in Order

Eight-year-old Grace Davitt sees Vermont through her mother's imaginative stories and her father's devotion to scientific order. As her family fractures, Grace faces conflicting loyalties and a journey that challenges her understanding of fact, fantasy, and hope.

An imaginative girl recounts the schemes that have earned her a growing list of prohibitions, from mischief with her brother to trouble at school. Nancy Carpenter's illustrations accompany this picture book about childhood ingenuity and the consequences of ill-considered ideas.

Edited with Elissa Schappell, this essay collection explores the painful endings of women's friendships. Contributors describe drifting apart, sudden ruptures, competition, and release from destructive relationships, examining the lasting significance of friends who are no longer present.

Edited with Elissa Schappell, this anthology gathers writers' personal essays about money and its effects on their lives. Accounts of debt, wealth, poverty, and financial conflict explore how a frequently unspoken subject shapes intimate relationships and difficult choices.

A curious child uses hypotheses, materials lists, and observations to test decidedly impractical ideas, including washing dishes in a washing machine. Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, this picture book turns the structure of scientific experiments into an account of inventive mischief.

A girl finally gets permission to have a pet and chooses Sparky, a sloth whose talents differ from her expectations. With Chris Appelhans's illustrations, this picture book follows her attempts to engage an animal unlikely to fetch or perform tricks.

An unnamed wife reflects on love, motherhood, artistic ambition, and the uncertainties within her marriage. When the relationship reaches a breaking point, she retraces its history through fragmented observations and references to literature, science, and philosophy.

An older sister tells her little brother about the extraordinary fun he supposedly missed during his nap. Robots, pirates, astronauts, and neighborhood children populate her escalating account in this picture book about sibling mischief, illustrated by Barry Blitt.

University librarian Lizzie answers listeners' letters for her former mentor's apocalyptic podcast while supporting her troubled family. Growing fears about the world's future complicate her efforts to offer reassurance and balance responsibilities as a mother, wife, sister, and citizen.