Parini’s fantastic latest (after Empire of Self) recounts the journeys of Paul of Tarsus as told from the apostle’s own perspective and that of his traveling companion, Luke, the Gospel’s author. A deeply intelligent and observant Jew determined to fight the burgeoning “Way of Jesus,” Paul ... Continue reading »

Spanish author Arévalo makes his English-language debut with this moving, fairy-dusted novel. Elementary school teacher Alice Williams is devastated when her young husband, Chris, dies from a brain aneurysm while driving back from a business trip, but she can’t help but wonder what Chris was doing 4... Continue reading »

Debut author Stout combines a pitch-perfect noir tone and a richly detailed world full of human, amphibian, and less-identifiable characters in this instantly gripping fantastical mystery. Carter is a smart cop with a troubled past, working in Titanshade, a garish metropolis in need of a miracle. Th... Continue reading »

Bittner (The Last Outlaw) beautifully evokes the beauty and hardships of life in the late-19th-century American West as a British aristocrat falls for a hardened bounty hunter in this spellbinding historical. Lady Elizabeth Baylor and her brother, William, travel across the Atlantic with pl... Continue reading »

Through vivid visual metaphors and personable dialogue, this graphic novel paints a thoughtful and poignant picture of the coy and muddled nature of virtual relationships. After a week of brief but explicit online rendezvous, JH becomes obsessed with gaining more than just an online acquaintance wit... Continue reading »

In his debut collection, Kunz crafts a poetics of disappointment and consolation: disillusionment with an alcoholic father, a marriage quickly entered into and dissolved, boyhood friends transformed into unrecognizable adults. In prose and free verse poems, Kunz paints a working-class world, “the fa... Continue reading »

This look at Samuel Johnson, his biographer James Boswell, and their social circle delightfully captures the bonds of friendship and competition which joined some of the late 18th century’s greatest minds. The titular club, which began meeting weekly at the Turk’s Head Tavern in London in 1764, was ... Continue reading »

Barbecue guru Raichlen (Project Smoke) turns his expert attention to that collagen-laced chest cut of beef known, in 1450 England, as bru-kette, revealing it as the modern-day centerpiece for an international menu of delicacies. Over 60 recipes and numerous cooking techniques are interwoven... Continue reading »

Journalist Vander Weele (Reclaiming Our Schools) presents a novel interpretation of the story of Job in this work of trenchant analysis. For readers who have wondered why an uncaring God allowed Job, a faithful follower, to lose everything—apparently just to test his faith—Vander Weele pose... Continue reading »

Set in the future, this inclusive, refreshing take on the Arthurian mythos by Capetta (The Brilliant Death) and McCarthy (Now a Major Motion Picture) stars an impulsive teen female incarnation of Arthur who faces a heartless intergalactic commercial monopoly. While escaping the Mer... Continue reading »