Newell (Oola) delivers a crackerjack novel of a sex worker who comes undone after her ex-boyfriend’s disappearance. Ruth, the 27-year-old narrator, mainly uses her stripper name, Baby. She rates herself a seven out of 10, and her life feels “loose, like favorite panties with the elastic str... Continue reading »

Ros (Powell) delivers an immersive small-town mystery that subverts reader expectations at nearly every turn. When popular 16-year-old Greta Pugh is found dead at the bottom of an abandoned quarry with her head bashed in, the citizens of Bethesda, her tight-knit Welsh hometown, are shocked.... Continue reading »

Barker (The Incarnations) delivers a sweeping work of literary horror that spans the globe yet remains distinctly itchy beneath the skin. Strangers Jake and Mariko meet at an airport in Japan and, over the course of their brief conversation, uncover a disturbing connection between the recen... Continue reading »

Meadows (Wreck My Plans) wows with a contemporary that’s funny, sexy, sweet, and deliciously nerdy all at the same time. Entomologist Millie Oaks is up for a major promotion at the Wilhelmina Natural Science Museum. She did well in her first interview, despite getting rattled by the grumpy ... Continue reading »

A bored everyman does battle with the colossal enemy that is a dull Sunday in this epic mock-Proustian graphic novel from Belgian artist Schrauwen (Portrait of a Drunk). The narrative chronicles “one exemplary, lame day” in the life of Schrauwen’s real cousin, Thibault, who wakes up with va... Continue reading »

The fantastical and strange second collection from Fathi (Great Guns) evokes André Breton’s surrealism and the linguistic playfulness of Gertrude Stein in lines such as “Now each wave curtsies, the bather has anal/ and a suit of medieval holes for the dolphin’s spurs” and the “bride slip ‘n... Continue reading »

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 U.S. government’s restrictive requirements for tribal membership were designed to eradicate, not support, Native communities, and to this day they continue to undermine Native sovereignty, according to this brainy and illuminating debut from Lowry Schuettpelz, a professor of urban planning at th... Continue reading »

Restaurateur Mina (Michael Mina: The Cookbook) presents an exciting celebration of his Egyptian heritage. Traditional dishes—including ta’ameya (fried fava bean patties), ma’amoul (date-filled cookies), and koshari (lentils, chickpeas, pasta, and rice served together in a tomato sauce with ... Continue reading »

In the early days of Christianity, there were many different versions of Christ, according to this scintillating history from journalist Nixey (The Darkening Age). Studying texts that emerged in the centuries after Jesus’s death, Nixey dissects ancient Greco-Roman writings that depict Chris... Continue reading »

Instead of waking up in the cellar of her deceased royal librarian father’s home, 12-year-old Ella, who has a glass leg, finds herself in the home of a traveling merchant fallen on hard times. Out of kindness, she takes his place in meeting Neesa, the mysterious beast of the woods. Now imprisoned in... Continue reading »