Angel DownDaniel Kraus. Atria, $28.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-6680-6845-8
Kraus (Whale Fall) delivers a vivid tale, composed of a single sentence, about an angel’s appearance on a French battlefield near the end of WWI. American infantryman and card sharp Cyril Bagger is ordered by ambitious Major General Reis to investigate the source of an unearthly shrieking t... Continue reading »
We Don’t Talk About CarolKristen L. Berry. Bantam, $30 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-97443-8
Berry debuts with a striking and soulful crime novel about a woman investigating her aunt’s decades-old disappearance. Publicist Sydney Singleton draws on her skills as a former investigative reporter when she learns, after her grandmother’s death, that she had an aunt she never knew about. After a ... Continue reading »
The Secret Market of the DeadGiovanni De Feo. Saga, $28.98 (336p) ISBN 978-1-6680-7736-8
Debut author DeFeo crafts a sumptuous folkloric excursion into the depths of human creativity. In the fictional Neapolitan town of Lucerìa in 1747, preteen twins, Oriana and Oriano, both yearn to inherit their father’s smithy. Though Oriana is less physically strong, she excels Oriano in intellect a... Continue reading »
Fan FavoriteAdrienne Gunn. Grand Central, $18.99 trade paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-5387-6825-9
Gunn debuts with a hilarious romance exploring the ways in which pop culture influences every aspect of life, from the products people buy to their perceptions of love. Reality TV junkie Edie Pepper, 35, is decidedly unhappy with her life following a bad breakup and a series of even worse hookups. S... Continue reading »
The Once and Future RiotJoe Sacco. Metropolitan, $27.99 (144p) ISBN 978-1-2508-8026-0
In 2013, in Western Uttar Pradesh, India, two Hindu cousins killed a Muslim man, and an angry crowd killed them in retaliation. This is the conflict Sacco (Paying the Land) investigates in his meticulous and beautifully crafted account of religious and territorial strife. Massive riots ensu... Continue reading »
rock flightHasib Hourani. New Directions, $16.95 trade paper (80p) ISBN 978-0-8112-3885-4
This urgent debut from Hourani spotlights Palestine’s struggle for liberation through a book-length poem interwoven with personal history. Hourani grapples with how to find adequate language to confront histories of occupation and genocide: “the more time i spend with words/ the more i realize that ... 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 »
A Blacklist Education: American History, a Family Mystery, and a Teacher Under FireJane S. Smith. Rutgers Univ., $26.95 (226p) ISBN 978-1-9788-4505-3
Historian Smith (The Garden of Invention) discovers that her father was purged and blacklisted, alongside hundreds of other teachers, by the New York City Board of Education in this devastating and doggedly researched investigation. Puzzled by memories of her father being out of work when s... Continue reading »
Brunch Season: A Year of Delicious Mornings from the Buttermilk KitchenSuzanne Vizethann. Gibbs Smith, $35 (208p) ISBN 978-1-4236-6563-2
“Breakfast should be treated with respect,” asserts chef Vizethann (Welcome to Buttermilk Kitchen) in this delightful collection of recipes for creating tasty brunches. Emphasizing the importance of using fresh produce at its peak, she divides the recipes by each of the four seasons. Highli... Continue reading »
Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald TrumpMolly Worthen. Convergent, $32 (464p) ISBN 978-0-593-72900-7
The “story of American charisma” is one of destructive leaders advertising apocalyptic futures, institutionalists wielding big government, and trailblazers fighting for social progress, according to this illuminating intellectual history. Worthen (Apostles of Reason), a history professor at... Continue reading »
No More ChairsDan Gill, illus. by Susan Gal. Little, Brown, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-316-55269-1
Per an author’s note, Gill draws from his own childhood in this affecting dual-timeline story about acceptance. The central account’s setting is mid-century New York City, where pale-skinned Daniel and his best friend Archie, who reads as Black, head to a classmate’s birthday party. After the pair a... Continue reading »
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