Scanlan’s outstanding debut inventively adapts a real woman’s diary. This slim volume’s opening note states that 15 years ago at an estate auction, Scanlan found the diary of a woman who lived in small-town Illinois; the diary covered 1968 through 1972, and the woman was 86 years old when she starte... Continue reading »

At the start of this expertly crafted domestic thriller from bestseller Armstrong (Watcher in the Woods), Aubrey Finch, who has made mistakes in her life, and her three-year-old daughter, Charlotte, meet a little boy and his mother on an Oxford, Ill., playground. Days later, Aubrey witnesse... Continue reading »

Moreno-Garcia (The Beautiful Ones) crafts a magical novel of duality, tradition, and change, set in the late 1920s as Mexico transitions from its post-Revolution period to the Jazz Age. Casiopea Tun leads a constrained life in her grandfather’s household in a small town, barely daring to dr... Continue reading »

Small-town atmosphere permeates bestseller Bailey’s comedic contemporary visit to Port Jefferson, N.Y., where outstanding children’s birthday clown Georgie Castle reconnects with her lifelong crush, Travis Ford, a former star professional baseball player sidelined by an injury. His despair over the ... Continue reading »

Hernandez explores the tensions between idealized young love and comfy mature reality in this powerful follow-up to The Love Bunglers. The saga of punk lesbian lovers Maggie and Hopey has been unfolding for more than 30 years in the Love and Rockets series, and this masterful episode gives ... Continue reading »

In her fifth book, Rekdal (Imaginary Vessels) reenvisions Ovid’s Metamorphoses to offer a haunting meditation on the vulnerability of the body and an exploration of how one goes on living after literal or metaphorical loss. In one poem, a woman experiences her child’s gender transi... Continue reading »

In this finely wrought story, Vogel Sawyer (Waiting for Summer’s Return) takes reader to the 1895 Cotton Exposition in Atlanta. Willie Sharp takes a job at the Expo to pay for his father’s medical treatment after he suffers a stroke. Laurel Millard, meanwhile, is expected by her older sibli... Continue reading »

This “only-in-America story” from O’Mara, a University of Washington history professor, puts a gloriously human face on the history of computing in the U.S. Her weighty but gripping account tracks Silicon Valley through four stages: 1949’s Palo Alto, a soporific town distinguished only by the presen... Continue reading »

Dagdeviren, a Turkish restaurateur and chronicler of the country’s foodways, draws clear lines between culture and cuisine in this impressive, comprehensive work. “Soup heals the sick and feeds the poor,” he writes in the introduction to a chapter that includes recipes for red lentil and cracked whe... Continue reading »

Virji (The Skinny Book), a family physician and bariatric specialist practicing in Dawson, Minn., paints a harsh portrait of small-town America following the 2016 presidential elections in this clear-eyed memoir. Virji, of South Indian descent, begins with the story of moving with his famil... Continue reading »

Writing in clear, lyrical first-person verse, debut author Salazar gives voice to 11-year-old dance enthusiast, Oakland-based Celi Rivera, as she grapples with her changing body and a first crush, as well as familial and cultural expectations about growing into womanhood. Celi describes her heritage... Continue reading »