GliffAli Smith. Pantheon, $28 (272p) ISBN 978-0-593-70156-0
Smith (How to Be Both) delivers an ingenious speculative novel in which two children come to terms with the mysteries of their unnamed country, which carries a whiff of post-Brexit England. The narrator, a 16-year-old boy named Brice, accompanies his younger sister, Rose, to see off their m... Continue reading »
The Boundaries We CrossBrad Parks. Oceanview, $29.95 (416p) ISBN 978-1-60809-624-4
Parks (Say Nothing) fashions a propulsive page-turner out of familiar parts in this topical academic thriller. For the last 11 years, Charles Bliss has taught creative writing at an elite Connecticut boarding school. He’s shocked when the headmaster calls him into the administrative office ... Continue reading »
The Scholar and the Last Faerie DoorH.G. Parry. Redhook, $19.99 trade paper (464p) ISBN 978-0-316-38390-5
Parry (The Magician’s Daughter) skillfully weaves together the mysterious and the mundane in this ambitious historical fantasy about hidden magic, dangerous ambition, and familial loyalty. In 1918, the accidental summoning of a fairy during the last days of WWI leaves many dead and a few su... Continue reading »
Bride of the Shadow KingSylvia Mercedes. Ace, $19 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-593-95220-7
The thrilling first in a romantasy trilogy from Mercedes (the Warbride series) layers plentiful intrigue and action with delicate worldbuilding and vibrant characters. As the eldest daughter, Princess Faraine of Gavaria has always known her role as a pawn in her father’s machinations. Her volatile g... Continue reading »
Milk Without HoneyHanna Harms, trans. from the German by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp. Street Noise, $21.99 (112p) ISBN 978-1-951491-36-9
Through elegant yellow and black illustrations, Harms’s powerful English-language debut traces the ecosystems that pollinators inhabit—and exposes the dangers that threaten their existence. A series of overlapping geometric panels shows a single bee’s voyage from a small flower petal to a thriving h... Continue reading »
Granny CloudFarnoosh Fathi. New York Review Books, $16 trade paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-68137-859-6
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 »
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 »
Context Collapse: A Poem Containing a History of PoetryRyan Ruby. Seven Stories, $15.95 trade paper (96p) ISBN 978-1-64421-423-7
Literary critic Ruby (The Zero and the One) delivers a dazzling and ambitious “verse essay” tracing the history of poetry from Homer through the present. He begins with early Greek poetry performances, where audiences didn’t seek to interpret the poet’s words so much as “judge the skill wit... Continue reading »
Pass the Plate: 100 Delicious, Highly Shareable, Everyday RecipesCarolina Gelen. Clarkson Potter, $35 (272p) ISBN 978-0-593-58187-2
Foodie influencer Gelen debuts with an eclectic and endlessly appealing collection of recipes for any occasion. Taking inspiration from her experiences working in professional kitchens, she puts a new spin on dozens of classics. For example, she gives chicken nuggets an upgrade with a coconut-panko ... Continue reading »
Heretic: Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of GodCatherine Nixey. Mariner, $32.50 (384p) ISBN 978-0-358-65291-5
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 »
Wolves at the DoorSteve Watkins. Scholastic Press, $18.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-5461-0998-3
Tween Asta, her younger sister Pieta, and their mother flee their East Prussian home of Konigsberg in the final months of WWII, before Konigsberg is raided by Soviet forces. They arrive at their grandparents’ farm in the countryside, hoping they will be safe there. But when the order comes for the r... Continue reading »
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