Chosen families happen for a variety of reasons, but they always have very special and unique bonds. We’ve collected a bunch of stories that explore chosen families. These books show how diverse the idea of family can be. As these are fictional stories, there are some truly magical selected families as well as self-styled families that can be found in present day or in the past. Choose your pick of a chosen family story!

Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud

An award-winning Trinidadian author offers a novel that looks at a complicated marriage, an unconventional family and the shocking secrets that unite them.

Strong Sense of Place; Lyrical

Little Family by Ishmael Beah

A powerful novel about young people in a conflict-scarred land, struggling to replace the homes they have lost with the one they have created together.

Atmospheric; Complex

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place-and realizing that family is yours.

Heartwarming; Witty

In West Mills by De’Shawn Charles Winslow

A woman in mid-20th-century rural North Carolina, determined to live on her own terms in spite of community gossip, finds unexpected support from a veteran fixer who struggles with an inability to correct his own troubled past.

Historical Fiction; Well-Crafted Dialogue

My Kind of People by Lisa Duffy

A group of New England islanders come together for a recently orphaned girl, an act that reveals the power of community, as well as dredges up long-buried secrets.

Character-driven; Melancholy

Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis

Enduring the rampant violence against women and the LGBTQ community in the decades of the Uruguayan dictatorship, five women heartbreakingly unite as lovers, friends and family.

Dramatic; Lush

Mr. and Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel

After getting dumped by her husband, a woman sets out to prove her worth by entering a ‘best housewife’ pageant in 1970 Palm Springs.

Humorous; Engaging