AttilaAliocha Coll, trans. from the Spanish by Katie Whittemore. Open Letter, $15.95 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-960385-37-6
Coll (1948–1990) offers a literary riddle for the ages in this gorgeous 1991 novel, his English-language debut. Fragments of plot arise and dissipate over the course of the mysterious narrative, set mainly in the fifth century, as Coll tracks a love affair between Quixote Historia, son of Attila His... Continue reading »
Fair PlayLouise Hegarty. Harper, $28.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-336055-6
Hegarty’s brilliant debut kicks off with a murder mystery–themed New Year’s Eve party at a posh London Airbnb. The guests of wealthy siblings Abigail and Benjamin include work acquaintance Barbara; Benjamin’s childhood friend, Stephen; bankrupt spoilsport Declan; extravagant couple Cormac and Olivia... Continue reading »
The Sun Blessed PrinceLindsey Byrd. Random House Canada, $19.95 trade paper (432p) ISBN 978-1-03-901246-2
In this rip-roaring queer romantic fantasy from Byrd (On the Subject of Griffons), Prince Elician of Soleb is sent to the front lines to fight Alelune’s forces for control of the Bask River, which is believed to be blessed by gods. Cat, an Alelune Reaper capable of killing with a single tou... Continue reading »
Passion ProjectLondon Sperry. Penguin Books, $19 trade paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-14-313856-3
Sperry’s big-hearted debut finds Bennet Taylor grieving the death of her first love two years earlier. She feels like a shell of her former self, with no interest in her career or hobbies and no desire to date. “It’s like my grief has tethered me to myself,” she muses, “the walls of sadness like shr... Continue reading »
Paul Auster’s The New York TrilogyPaul Auster et al. Pantheon, $35 (400p) ISBN 978-0-553-38764-3
This spectacular graphic adaptation of Auster’s postmodern trilogy, cowritten by Paul Karasik (How to Read Nancy), unites three tales of lonely men seeking meaning into a distilled portrait of the haunted urban soul. The volume opens with a reissue of David Mazzucchelli and Karasik’s 1994 v... Continue reading »
Shadow ReaderImtiaz Dharker. Bloodaxe, $18.95 trade paper (160p) ISBN 978-1-78037-709-4
Dharker (Luck Is the Hook) combines her poetry and drawings to deliver an exquisite and complex vision of exile, immigration, and adopted homelands. The poems go beyond simple ekphrasis to consider the power dynamics of language and text; in one entry responding to a 19th-century sketch by ... 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 »
When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed WorldJordan Thomas. Riverhead, $30 (368p) ISBN 978-0-593-54482-2
Anthropologist Thomas debuts with an essential meditation on fire’s role on a warming planet. The central narrative recounts his six-month tenure as a member of the Los Padres Hotshots, an elite federal fire-fighting crew, in 2021, discussing how even as the group engaged in lighthearted prank wars ... Continue reading »
Bitter & Sweet: Global Flavors from an Iranian-American KitchenOmid Roustaei. Weldon Owen, $35 (240p) ISBN 979-8-88674-183-4
“My mission has always been to make Iranian cuisine more inviting and accessible,” writes chef and culinary instructor Roustaei in his memorable debut. The vast selection of traditional fare includes pomegranate and cucumber salad as a starter, grilled lamb kebabs as a main, and rose rice pudding fo... Continue reading »
Godstruck: Seven Women’s Unexpected Journeys to Religious ConversionKelsey Osgood. Viking, $30 (368p) ISBN 978-0-593-83467-1
In this illuminating account, memoirist Osgood (How to Disappear Completely) interweaves her own story with those of six other women who found religion in a rapidly secularizing society. All millennials currently in their 30s, Osgood’s subjects converted to faiths ranging from Mormonism to ... Continue reading »
Wake the Wild CreaturesNova Ren Suma. Little, Brown, $18.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-61620-672-7
A teen recovered from an off-grid Catskills commune of female fugitives struggles to adapt to society in this evocative and empowering novel from Suma (A Room Away from the Wolves). After committing murder and arson to avenge her own rape, Pola Lasker takes her infant Talia and decamps to t... Continue reading »
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