Lady TremaineRachel Hochhauser. St. Martin’s, $29 (352p) ISBN 978-1-250-39634-1
Hochhauser’s splendid debut retells the “Cinderella” story from the stepmother’s perspective. Twice-widowed Lady Etheldreda Tremaine Bramley has a title and a manor house but virtually no money. Her daughters Mathilde and Rosamund face bleak futures if they cannot marry well, so Etheldreda sells som... Continue reading »
This Story Might Save Your LifeTiffany Crum. Pine & Cedar, $29.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-250-39523-8
A podcaster’s disappearance casts suspicion on her secretly besotted best friend and business partner in Crum’s dynamite debut. Joy Moore and Benny Abbott have been BFFs for 13 years, the last four of which they’ve cohosted a chart-topping “comedy survival” podcast about people’s near-death experien... Continue reading »
The Midnight MuseJo Kaplan. Clash, $23.95 trade paper (350p) ISBN 978-1-960988-80-5
Kaplan (When the Night Bells Ring) serves up an eerie feast for the senses in this addictive horror novel. Brynn Werner, lead singer of the metal band Queen Carrion, vanished into thin air after an unexplained episode of mass hysteria during one of her shows. Now, on the one-year anniversar... Continue reading »
A Widow’s CharmCaitlyn Paxson. Del Rey, $19 trade paper (432p) ISBN 978-0-593-97627-2
Debut author Paxson playfully toys with tropes in this heartening and hilarious romantasy set in the Regency England–esque land of Eldmere. Low-born Lady Hilde Croft has built a lovely life for herself and her sister, Han—until her dear husband, Lord Thorgoode Croft, dies and his dastardly brother t... Continue reading »
A Brief History of a Long War: Ukraine’s Fight Against Russian DominationMiriam Naiem, Yulia Vus, and Ivan Kypibid. Ten Speed Graphic, $19.99 (112p) ISBN 978-0-593-84015-3
The informative and inspiring graphic nonfiction debut by Ukrainian researcher and podcaster Naiem assumes that most readers outside Ukraine know little of its history. In a framing device, a woman named Vika takes shelter from bomb blasts and finds solidarity with her fellow evacuees. From there, N... Continue reading »
Bakandamiya Saddiq Dzukogi. Univ. of Nebraska, $18.95 trade paper (112p) ISBN 978-1-4962-4427-7
The masterful second collection from Dzukogi (Your Crib, My Qibla) draws on the mythic and poetic traditions of northern Nigeria for a lyrical reimagining of the legend of Bayajidda, a prince whose exile from Baghdad leads to his founding of the Hausa States in what is today Nigeria’s predo... Continue reading »
The Long March HomeMarcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee. Revell, $26.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8007-4275-1
In this tour de force from Brotherton (A Bright and Blinding Sun) and Lee (A Single Light), four friends’ lives change irrevocably when America becomes embroiled in WWII. In 1930s Mobile, Ala., preacher’s son Jimmy Propfield shares an idyllic upbringing with childhood sweetheart Cl... Continue reading »
The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg—and the Battle for the Soul of American CinemaPaul Fischer. Celadon, $32 (480p) ISBN 978-1-250-87872-4
Writer and film producer Fischer (The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures) explores in this entertaining group biography the lives and works of filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg. He begins on the set of the 1968 film Finian’s Rainbow, one of the last ... Continue reading »
99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid ThemAshely Alker. St. Martin’s, $30 (384p) ISBN 978-1-250-35964-3
Emergency medicine doctor Alker (Goodnight Grandma Angel) explores in this witty yet indispensable guide 99 of the “most terrifying, interesting, and unfortunate ways to die.” Drawing on her experience as a “board-certified death escapologist,” Alker assumes the role of a medical translator... Continue reading »
Light for the Way: Seeking Simplicity, Connection, and Repair in a Broken WorldEdited by Rose Marie Berger. Broadleaf, $28.99 (336p) ISBN 979-8-88983-541-7
These stimulating essays and interviews from the first 50 years of Sojourners magazine, collected by poetry editor Berger (Who Killed Donte Manning?), seek “sabbath rest, contemplation, solitude, simplicity, and communal resilience” in today’s world. Franciscan priest Richard Rohr ... Continue reading »
Navigating NightJulie Leung, illus. by Angie Kang. Random House/Schwartz, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-593-89769-0
In a touching familial picture book from Leung (The Truth About Dragons) and Kang (Our Lake), a rainy evening sees a child considering two nighttime journeys—one past and one present. In a pre-GPS era, an unnamed narrator dutifully navigates their father’s takeout delivery route wi... Continue reading »
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