The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne. This sprawling saga follows the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one man, Cyril Avery. Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community, Cyril is adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple. He discovers early on that he is gay - not much fun in a repressive Ireland of the 1940s and 1950s - and spends a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from. Cyril's sexual preference also provides a vehicle for Boyne to follow the evolution of Irish society's feelings about homosexuality, which have thankfully shifted over the years. Boyne divides his novel into chapters that each span approximately a decade of the protagonist's life, including time in Amsterdam and in 1980s New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic. The author also introduces interesting characters whose interaction with Cyril lead to unexpected plot twists. Although the story is often wrenching and even heartbreaking, Boyne leavens it with bursts of humor throughout. In addition to being an indie bookstore favorite, The Heart's Invisible Furies was also named Book of the Month Club's Book of the Year for 2017 and selected one of New York Times Readers' Favorite Books of 2017.


The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova. A young woman seeking a life change in Bulgaria ends up, through a mix-up, with an urn filled with ashes belonging to an elderly couple. She sets out on a road trip through unfamiliar territory to locate the family and return this precious item, only to uncover pieces of the troubled history of a gorgeous but troubled country. This was an Indie Next pick last April, and th e bookseller review provides a nice plot summary along with its words of praise:
 
"This is one of the most engrossing novels that I've read in a while. It is ultimately a road trip through the beautiful haunted land of Bulgaria. An American woman arrives to teach English and inadvertently picks up the wrong bag while getting into a taxi. The bag holds a beautiful wooden box containing human remains. Her helpful, enigmatic taxi driver takes her into Bulgaria's unsettled present in search of the family that surely wants the urn back. It is the fleshing out (pun intended) of the person embodied by the ashes that makes this work intriguing and heart-wrenching. This novel about self-discovery and historical reconciliation is thrilling, introspective, and very well paced."