Every year the Amazon Editors read more than 1,000 books, sharing our favorites so that customers can find their next great read. Along the way, we search for the one special title that will emerge as the Best Book of the Year. This year, the Amazon Editors chose James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. In a world that is sometimes so divisive and isolating, stories can connect us and create community. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store not only captures that sentiment, it celebrates the power of goodness and looking out for one another—even people who are (seemingly) different from us.

McBride’s novel joins prior Best Book of the Year selections from the Amazon Editors, including Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow; Amor Towles’ The Lincoln Highway; Brittany K. Barnett’s A Knock at Midnight; Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments; Tara Westover’s Educated; and David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

Besides featuring formidable casts of female protagonists, many of our favorites this year share a common theme—they highlight the importance of found family and community. And these books also accomplish what the best ones do: Put us in other people’s shoes and expand our empathy.

Learn more about our Top 10 picks below. To view the full list, visit the Best Books of 2023. There you’ll find the titles that round-out our overall top 20, along with picks in popular categories, like debut authors, biographies, literary fiction, history, mystery, romance, sci-fi, and everything in between.