Rebecca Makkai Books in Order

Children's librarian Lucy Hull joins a runaway ten-year-old on an unexpected road trip after finding him sheltering in the library. Trying to protect him from his controlling parents raises difficult questions about responsibility and her own reasons for leaving.

Moving onto his mother-in-law's estate, scholar Doug hopes its former artists' colony holds material that could revive his career. His search uncovers disturbing records as a narrative moving backward through time reveals the house's intertwined family and artistic histories.

These stories follow artists, performers and ordinary people facing historical upheaval and private uncertainty. A Romanian violinist reveals a father’s past, a composer preserves threatened folk songs, and a minister’s encounter with a dead circus elephant tests his faith.

In 1980s Chicago, Yale Tishman pursues an important art acquisition while AIDS devastates his circle of friends. Decades later in Paris, Fiona searches for her estranged daughter while confronting the lasting effects of that shared loss.

Returning to teach at her former boarding school, podcaster Bodie Kane revisits the murder of her roommate. Doubts about the convicted killer pull her toward overlooked suspects and memories that complicate her own understanding of the past.