Ginzburg (Family Lexicon) takes a close look at the effects of fascism on an Italian family in this engrossing novel first published in 1961 and reissued with an introduction by Colm Tóibín, who sheds light on Ginzburg’s interest in her characters’ “competing versions of reality.” The wealt... Continue reading »

Delta Dawn, the narrator of Carter’s outstanding debut, is a much-sought-after photographer of children’s fetes among Brooklyn’s artsy set, who has the ability to create picture-perfect moments of connection that never were through the magic of Photoshop and other manipulations. Trouble is, the egoc... Continue reading »

The impeccable third Ghost Roads urban fantasy (after The Girl in the Green Silk Gown) explores and expands on McGuire’s modern-day mythology, brilliantly marrying old traditions and more recent urban legends to create an enthralling tapestry of highway hauntings and hard-traveling horrors.... Continue reading »

MacGregor (Wild, Wild Rake) packs this saucy Regency-era romp, the first in the Widow Rules series, with scandalous secrets and sordid affairs that threaten the welfare of a successful businesswoman. Boutique owner Katherine “Kat” Greer married her husband, Meriwether Varek, never suspectin... Continue reading »

In a series of deeply felt comics essays, Powell (the March series) chronicles his efforts to maintain and pass on progressive political beliefs in a regressive political climate, effectively summing up the conflicts and battle scars of the Trump era for those shocked by his election. As the parent ... Continue reading »

In this extraordinary debut, Wang (Carceral Capitalism) creates a symbolist dream diary for catastrophic times. A cross between Mei-mei Berssenbrugge’s elliptical poetic treatises and Marosa di Giorgio’s fevered fables, Wang tells stories that begin in clarity but unfurl into complex landsc... Continue reading »

Wade continues her Misty River Romance series (after Stay with Me) with this enjoyable story about identity and opening one’s heart after trauma. When high school math teacher Leah Montgomery takes a genetic test, she discovers she is not biologically related to her family. After talking to... Continue reading »

MacArthur fellow Miles (The Dawn of Detroit) paints an evocative portrait of slavery and Black family life in this exquisitely crafted history. She frames her account around a cloth sack packed in 1852 by an enslaved woman named Rose for her nine-year-old daughter, Ashley, when the girl was... Continue reading »

When Mauro, host of Food Network’s Sandwich King, was growing up, he writes, “come on over” meant two things: family and food. In this charming and utterly scrumptious collection, he shares recipes and humorous anecdotes that will entertain as well as sustain, offering an eclectic array of ... Continue reading »

In this charming memoir, Pieh Jones (Stronger than Death), an expat American writer living in Djibouti, recounts her experiences moving from Minnesota to the horn of Africa when her husband took a professorship there, showing readers how her time in Muslim regions freed her from Islamophoic... Continue reading »

Nostalgia for the unknown controls the rhythm of this resonant novel in verse. Muslim, implied Sudanese American Nima, 14, feels invisible and unmoored, wishing she were “a girl mouth open & fluent who knows where she is from.” Pining for the love of her late father, and facing constant abuse at ... Continue reading »