AustralCarlos Fonseca, trans. from the Spanish by Megan McDowell. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27 (224p) ISBN 978-0-374-60665-7
Fonseca (Natural History) explores art, violence, and madness in his stunning latest. After celebrated author Alicia Abravanel dies before finishing her final novel, her old friend Julio Gamboa receives a letter expressing Alicia’s wishes that he edit the work. Upon arriving in Humahuaca, A... Continue reading »
Three FiresDenise Mina. Pegasus Crime, $22 (352p) ISBN 978-1-63936-455-8
Mina (Rizzio) fictionalizes the life of Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498), who was executed for heresy, in this vivid historical thriller. The novel opens in 1498 Florence, with Savonarola reading a coerced confession stating that he’s been lying about having the gift of proph... Continue reading »
The Beast You ArePaul Tremblay. Morrow, $30 (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-306996-1
These 15 invigorating horror shorts from Tremblay (The Pallbearer’s Club) showcase the author’s imagination and versatility. Two are radically different ghost stories: in “Ice Cold Lemonade 25¢ Haunted House Tour: 1 Per Person,” the narrator reflects on the youthful experiences that ...
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The Blonde IdentityAlly Carter. Avon, $30 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-327664-2
Bestselling YA author Carter (the Gallagher Girls series) serves up an irresistible cocktail of danger and passion in her un-put-downable adult debut. A woman wakes up on an icy Paris sidewalk with no memory of who she is and bad guys closing in. According to her enemies, she’s a rogue CIA operative... Continue reading »
Anaïs Nin: A Sea of LiesLéonie Bischoff, trans. from the French by Jenna Allen. Fantagraphics, $29.99 (200p) ISBN 978-1-68396-759-0
Angoulême audience award winner Bischoff’s English-language debut is an exhilarating if sometimes disturbing graphic biography of writer and artist Anaïs Nin (1903–1977). “My lies are protective, life-giving,” says Nin, whose deceptions include affairs, clandestine meetings, and a secret diary full ... Continue reading »
ChildcareRob Schlegel. Four Way, $17.95 trade paper (76p) ISBN 978-1-954245-56-3
“I have no place to put everything/ my children make me feel,” Schlegel announces in his ruminative fourth collection (after In the Tree Where the Double Sex Sleeps). Yet he captures as much as he can with quiet, urgent desperation that gives these poems a flickering liveliness. Writing ami... 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 »
Sipping Dom Pérignon Through a Straw: Reimagining Success as a Disabled AchieverEddie Ndopu. Legacy Lit, $29 (240p) ISBN 978-0-306-82906-2
In his sharp, illuminating debut memoir, South African disability rights advocate Ndopu chronicles his trials and triumphs as a disabled gay Black man enrolled at Oxford University. Diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, which weakens the body’s skeletal muscles, at age two, and not expected to liv... Continue reading »
Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern MotherhoodMinna Dubin. Seal, $29 (256p) ISBN 978-1-5416-0130-7
“Mothers are America’s care infrastructure, and it’s costing us emotionally,” according to this trenchant outing. Essayist Dubin, mother of a nine-year-old boy and five-year-old girl, suggests that mothers’ frustrations with child-rearing stem from feeling unable to meet the “impossible expectations... Continue reading »
The Ballot and the Bible: How Scripture Has Been Used and Abused in American Politics and Where We Go from HereKaitlyn Schiess. Brazos, $19.99 trade paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-587-43596-6
Journalist Schiess (The Liturgy of Politics) presents an erudite history of both America’s “proper application” and “deep misuse” of scripture during pivotal events, from the Revolutionary and Civil wars through the Cold War and 9/11. Among other topics, Schiess examines politicians’ invoca... Continue reading »
Galápagos: Islands of ChangeLeslie Bulion, illus. by Becca Stadtlander. Peachtree, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-68263-496-7
Haiku, tanka, soledad, as well as free verse and myriad rhyming forms offer an evocative deep dive into the unique biodiversity of the Galapagos ecosystem in this conservation-minded tribute. Many pieces honor individual species—from phytoplankton, marine iguanas, and blue-footed boobies to lava liz... Continue reading »
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