Think about it: Some of the most unforgettable books hinge on a missed opportunity, a chance meeting, or even a random conversation. Such moments end up being the catalyst for life-altering journeys. What’s cool is that these stories can be found in almost all genres – romance, historical fiction, mystery, women’s fiction. And no matter the genre, they all toy with the same sentiment: What if? What if she hadn’t answered the phone? What if he hadn’t stumbled upon that letter? What if they’d turned right instead of left? Questions like these keep readers engaged and turning pages because we all encounter unpredictable situations and events in our everyday lives.
Simply put: We can relate.
Of course, the best novels don’t leave everything to chance. Fate can open the door, but it’s up to the characters to step across the threshold. And when they do, buckle up! Readers get a front row seat to their decisions, their mistakes, and ultimately, their transformation. A transformation which (hopefully!) turns coincide into something deep and meaningful.
In my new novel, A Singing Bird Will Come, a couple of text messages set two strangers on paths that later collide in the most unexpected way. While I was writing, I started thinking about fate’s role in other novels. If you’re drawn to these types of stories, I invite you to check out these brilliant novels written by my fellow Tall Poppy Writers. They explore this idea in their own memorable way, proving that sometimes a single, unexpected moment can change everything.
Burning the Raven Tree by Janyre Tromp
Northern Michigan is a land of ghosts and sweeping vistas. In a small town, an ancient oak stands heavy with grief, its twisted limbs hung with shoes like eerie gravestones.
The town whispers about Colwyn Cueny — the child murderer, the woman who sees specters in the woods and locked her own sister away. The curse of the ancient forest witch carved into flesh and bone.
But when embattled Chicago attorney Marcus Lenarsic arrives to board with her, he doesn’t find a monster. He finds a haunted woman, bound by secrets and buried beneath a decade of fear.
Marcus knows justice doesn’t live in shadows, and the stories people tell often hide the dark reality they can’t bear to face. In a world shifting under the weight of 1960s justice reform, Marcus must untangle truth from legend before the woman he’s come to love becomes the next ghost in the trees.
Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh
Violet Jessop is Miss Unsinkable.
After her mother becomes too ill to work, the responsibility to provide for the family falls to Violet as the oldest of nine. When the world enters the Great War, she serves as a nurse, helping men who could very well be her brothers. Working as a stewardess and wartime nurse, Violet not only survives a shipwreck but also two sinkings, one on the infamous Titanic. No one can understand why she would return to sea, but something keeps drawing Violet back to the tumultuous waters, where she struggles to put the tragedies of her past behind her and pursue a life and love all her own.
Daphne has survived calamity of her own.
Daphne Chaundanson grows up as an unwanted child after her mother died in a tragedy. She throws herself into education, collecting languages like candy in a desperate attempt to finally earn her father’s approval. When the Special Operations Executive invites her to be an agent in France in World War II, her childhood of anonymity and her love of languages make her the perfect fit. She sees it as an opportunity to help the country she loves and live up to her father’s expectations. But the dangers of war challenge Daphne in ways she never could have expected, and the secrets from her own past must be faced for her to truly have a future beyond the conflict–if she can survive it.
Red Thread of Fate by Lyn Liao Butler
Two days before Tam and Tony Kwan receive their letter of acceptance for the son they are adopting from China, Tony and his estranged cousin Mia are killed unexpectedly in an accident. A shell-shocked Tam learns she is named the guardian to Mia’s five-year-old daughter, Angela. With no other family around, Tam has no choice but to agree to take in the girl she hasn’t seen since the child was an infant.
Overwhelmed by her life suddenly being upended, Tam must also decide if she will complete the adoption on her own and bring home the son waiting for her in a Chinese orphanage. But when a long-concealed secret comes to light just as she and Angela start to bond, their fragile family is threatened. As Tam begins to unravel the events of Tony and Mia’s past in China, she discovers the true meaning of love and the threads that bind her to the family she is fated to have.
Almost Missed You by Jessica Strawser
Violet and Finn were “meant to be,” said everyone, always. They ended up together by the hands of fate aligning things just so. Three years into their marriage, they have a wonderful little boy, and as the three of them embark on their first vacation as a family, Violet can’t help thinking that she can’t believe her luck. Life is good.
So no one is more surprised than she when Finn leaves her at the beach―just packs up the hotel room and disappears. And takes their son with him. Violet is suddenly in her own worst nightmare, and faced with the knowledge that the man she’s shared her life with, she never really knew at all.
Caitlin and Finn have been best friends since way back when, but when Finn shows up on Caitlin’s doorstep with the son he’s wanted for kidnapping, demands that she hide them from the authorities, and threatens to reveal a secret that could destroy her own family if she doesn’t, Caitlin faces an impossible choice.
