An ambitious journalist chases a big scoop and seeks to understand her Brooklyn roots in Savitch-Lew’s impressive debut. The story hinges on events from decades earlier, when Lina Rodriguez Armstrong, a Black Puerto Rican community organizer, ran a Freedom School to empower children of color out of ... Continue reading »

Sullivan keeps his hot streak alive with the crafty fifth case for neurodivergent detective George Cross of the Avon and Somerset police (after The Politician). Cross’s colleagues call him in when they discover the corpse of Brother Dominic, a monk who’d recently been reported missing, tied... Continue reading »

Set in a world where carefully chosen words and phrases can conjure magic, Kauwe’s smart and satisfying urban fantasy debut combines gripping mystery, tantalizing romance, and sharp cultural critique. Clan head Kealaokaleo “Kea” Petrova, 25, lives with her family on the Homestead, an independent Haw... Continue reading »

The glimmering and surprisingly gritty latest from Hall (Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot) is a queer historical romance that tends slightly darker than the average genre fare. In 19th-century London, Michael “Micha” Dashwood is a sex worker whose addiction to opium has led him to illness and dest... Continue reading »

Nothing comes easy for the denizens of Hamilton, Ontario, in these wry, bruising, and mordantly funny stories from Ollmann (Fictional Father). In “Nestled All Snug,” a toppled pile of boxes traps a bookstore employee in a dingy staff bathroom. In “Meat,” a security guard at a meat-packing f... Continue reading »

Ondaatje (A Year of Last Things) presents a superb and comprehensive collection of selected works, or “condensary of time,” that crystallizes for devotees and new readers alike the poet’s lifelong devotion to place. “From now on I will drink my landscapes,” he writes, “here, pour me a cup o... 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 »

Every writer, from novelists and journalists to town-council minute-takers, can enliven their work with a few choice verbs, according to this graceful guide from Pulitzer winner Kaufman (The Art of Grace). “My argument is simple: Excellent writing requires smart verbs,” she explains, noting... Continue reading »

Council devotes her warmhearted debut to the culinary heritage passed down by her mother, Mildred Council, the restaurateur behind North Carolina’s Mama Dip’s Kitchen, which closed in 2025 after a 50-year run. Drawing on food traditions from Chapel Hill’s Northside Black community, these 100 recipes... Continue reading »

In her penetrating debut, physician Lee uses the Japanese art of kintsugi, the practice of mending broken pottery with gold lacquer, to illustrate how she repaired a faith fractured by a childhood steeped in Western theology. Lee grew up in an immigrant church in Iowa that practiced Chinese customs ... Continue reading »

A straightforward and inclusive message distinguishes this powerfully wrought narrative definition of “we” from Reeves, making his picture book debut, and Tonatiuh (Game of Freedom), which opens with the U.S. Constitution’s Preamble. A clear concept serves as the work’s opening and concludi... Continue reading »