Set in antebellum Virginia, the novel tracks interconnected lives in a county shaped by slavery and unexpected ownership dynamics, including Black Americans who themselves become slaveholders.

Six distinct narratives, each written in a different voice and set in a different time and place, are arranged so that echoes between them imply moral and causal connections across eras.

Set in Laos in the 1970s, an elderly physician with little formal forensic experience is appointed state coroner. He confronts suspicious deaths amid political upheaval and scarce institutional support, and must piece together causes and motives while navigating party politics and local customs.

Set in Nazi-era Germany, the novel follows a young girl who acquires books and navigates life in an adoptive household while war encroaches on daily routines. The narration comes from Death, offering an outside, occasionally amused perspective on civilians, loss, and the act of reading.

Set in 1960s Nigeria around the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), the novel traces three principal lives—a village youth who becomes a houseboy, a university intellectual, and the intellectual's partner—whose personal relationships are reshaped by political upheaval.

A retelling of the Mahabharata told from Draupadi (Panchaali)'s point of view: the novel follows her life within royal courts, her relationships with brothers, husbands, and Krishna, and the personal consequences of living in a patriarchal world where public honor and private feeling collide.

Set on an 18th-century Jamaican sugar plantation, the novel follows Lilith, a young woman born into slavery, as she navigates the violent limits imposed on her body and choices.

Set in early sixteenth-century England, the novel follows the rise of a skilled lawyer and fixer inside the royal court, concentrating on his practical work, alliances, and the political currents that elevate him.

A retelling of the Trojan War era centered on the relationship between a famed Greek warrior and the person who witnesses and loves him. The account compresses mythic events into a personal, emotionally charged narrative that follows their bond through training, war, and the pressures of fame and fate.