Shadow Play

Charles Baxter. Penguin Books, $14 (400pp) ISBN 978-0-14-023510-4

Nine playful yet cumbersomely cerebral short stories explore the relationships between art and experience, intellect and passion, and discernable patterns between seemingly unrelated events. (Feb.)

Featured Fiction Reviews

Beck Dorey-Stein

Dorey-Stein’s engrossing latest (after Rock the Boat) follows the struggles and triumphs of two sisters from a family of soccer stars. It opens during the 2028 Olympics, with Continue reading »

Joyce Carol Oates

This captivating whodunit from Oates (Butcher) dives into the twisted mind of a pedophile and the mystery behind his untimely death. Francis Fox, the charming new 30-something Continue reading »

Princess Joy L Perry

Perry debuts with a remarkable narrative of slavery, indentured servitude, and a Black landowner in colonial Virginia. Freeman Andrew Cabarrus has struggled against all odds to Continue reading »

Jeyamohan

Jeyamohan charts the exhilarating highs and devastating lows of the human condition in this impressive 2011 collection, the prolific author’s English-language debut. Set largely Continue reading »