The Queen's Gambit, by Walter Tevis

One day Beth Harmon wanders into the orphanage basement and discovers the janitor playing chess. It is the birth of not just a pastime, but an obsession, one which will take her a long way from Kentucky. Walter Tevis lays out his pieces on the very first page and moves them with the sure intent of a grandmaster. This book is a wonderful entertainment, with an endgame full of cheers and tears. Behind the moves, counter-moves, and checkmates, though, is a serious tale of the loneliness it takes to become the best at what you do – and to be seen, at last.