Welcome to Part II of our series highlighting the best of 2025: the awarding of Topsfield, Massachusetts’ most prestigious literary awards of the year, The Golden Goulds (named after our benefactor, George L. Gould).
In Part I, we highlighted the borrowed titles of the year in Topsfield (the “People’s Choice”). Now, we highlight what the Topsfield Library staff considered their favorites of the year.
Only the best of the best will win…so, who will it be?!
Fiction
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
“Secret pasts, forbidden desires, and shattered illusions figure into this ambitious family drama from Paul Murray…” -Publisher’s Weekly Review
Happiness Forever by Adelaide Faith
“In Faith’s witty and irreverent debut, a British woman develops an unshakable obsession with her therapist…Readers will fall in love with this meditative and heartfelt novel.” – Publisher’s Weekly Review
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
“Charming, engrossing, and deeply moving, Evans’ novel explores the way everyday choices and relationships shape a life and shows it’s never too late to form new connections, make amends, or even fall in love.” — Kristine Huntley (Reviewed 10/22/2025) (Booklist, vol 122, number 4)
Hellions: Stories by Julia Elliott
“A stultifying rural South Carolina provides the backdrop for these intoxicating, fantasy-tinged stories from Elliott…” -Publisher’s Weekly Review
I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
“Suggest to every reader who loves a perfectly rendered time and place or just wants a chilling, captivating, and thought-provoking story where every detail matters and every page is worth their time…” Becky Spratford (Reviewed 5/15/2024) (Booklist, vol 120, number 18, p23)
How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
“Fans of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series will enjoy this delightful romp that on its surface is about senior citizens—whom everyone tends to discount—and others coming together to save the local community center but really is about so much more: aging, love, crime, friendship, making mistakes and living through them, and life’s complicated emotions and choices.A frothy, fun, and well-paced cozy mystery—in which no murders take place.” (Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2024)
We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad
“…a wickedly intoxicating journey into the heart of dark academia: a fairy tale slasher that explores the wonder and horror of creation itself.” -Novelist
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
“Yarros’s worldbuilding is intricate without being overbearing…readers will be spellbound and eager for more. (Publishers Weekly, vol 270, issue 10)
Non-Fiction
Awake by Jen Hatmaker
From Jen Hatmaker—beloved New York Times bestselling author and host of the For the Love podcast—a brutally honest, funny, and revealing memoir about the traumatic end of her twenty-six-year-long marriage, and the beginning of a different kind of love story.
How to Be Well: Navigating our Self-Care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time by Amy Larocca
“Penetrating and thought-provoking, this will cause readers to think twice before reaching for the latest purported cure-all.” (Publishers Weekly, vol 272, issue 14, p)
The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon
“The author makes the Fitzgerald the centerpiece of a broad account of Great Lakes shipping, the careers and daily lives of the crews—and the industries, cities, and bars that feed them—and tales of other sinkings. A gripping account of a maritime disaster.” (Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2025)
The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell
After being given an opportunity for a new life in Jutland, the author shares her experiences living in the happiest place on Earth for a year, discussing where the Danes get it right and wrong and how others can benefit from living a bit more Danishly.
Children’s and YA
Odder: An Otter’s Story (Picture Book Adaption) by Katherine Applegate (Illustrated by Charles Santoso)
Buffalo Fluffalo and Puffalo by Bess Kalb and Erin Kraan
