Best Fiction of 2012

Featuring Thomas Cromwell, Dallas Cowboys, a cancer-teen love story, a twisty mystery, and more
By Rob Brunner
December 06, 2012 at 05:00 PM EST

1 of 11

Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies

Part 2 of Mantel’s trilogy about Thomas Cromwell is a masterful imagining of the events leading up to Anne Boleyn’s demise.

Read Rob Brunner’s review.

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Adam Johnson, The Orphan Master's Son

A strange, scary, and sometimes funny novel about the endless mysteries of North Korea.

Read Rob Brunner’s review.

3 of 11

Jess Walter, Beautiful Ruins

Set in ’60s Italy and contemporary L.A., this irresistible Hollywood novel features lost love, thwarted dreams, and Richard Burton.

Read Leah Greenblatt’s review.

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4 of 11

Maria Semple, Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Penned by a former Arrested Development writer, it’s part hilarious Seattle send-up, part rich portrait of an eccentric family and its troubled matriarch.

Read Stephan Lee’s review.

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Nell Freudenberger, The Newlyweds

What happens when an innocent young Bangladeshi woman marries some dude from Rochester after they meet on a website? Freudenberger expertly explores their odd relationship in this continent-hopping novel.

Read Lisa Schwarzbaum’s review.

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John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

The most fun you’ll ever have reading a YA cancer-teen love story. Also: deeply sad.

Read Stephan Lee’s review.

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Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

This twisty, can’t-stop-reading mystery features a divisive ending and real insight into human relationships.

Read Jeff Giles’ review.

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Chris Ware, Building Stories

Ware’s astonishing deconstructed graphic novel comes in a box that looks like a Monopoly set — which consists of 14 interchangeable parts — and captures the lonely lives of people living on top of each other in a Chicago apartment building.

Read Melissa Maerz’s review.

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10 of 11

Junot Díaz, This Is How You Lose Her

A linked series of flawless short stories that train Díaz’s sharp ear on narrator Yunior’s wandering eye.

Read Thom Geier’s review.

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