For Jean Dornan, the protagonist of Langbein’s incandescent sophomore novel (after American Mermaid) whose life is still in shambles following a toxic relationship with her college professor almost two decades earlier, it feels like “#MeToo had come and gone like a parade two streets over.”... Continue reading »

In this superb historical espionage thriller, Parks (To Die in June) introduces Joseph Gunner, a former Scottish police detective on medical leave in Glasgow after being injured on a French battlefield during WWII. Gunner intends to return to police work once he’s healed and has found his b... Continue reading »

Sher sets her spellbinding debut in 1905 Odessa, where pogroms have torn apart the Jewish community. Mordechai works alongside his rabbi to build weapons and study the magic of Kabbalah to prepare for the next attack. Meanwhile, Yetta, his daughter, prepares for marriage to the man she loves, though... Continue reading »

A skeptical young woman, feeling directionless and disillusioned with love, agrees to be the first client for her older sister’s matchmaking business in Thurman’s refreshing and emotionally resonant debut. Dating apps have long been Kaia Harper’s antidote for lonely nights, leading to countless mean... 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 »

Historian Jones debuts with an illuminating and eclectic survey of how medieval thinkers grappled with perennial psychological challenges through the framework of the seven deadly sins. Drawn to the topic when his own “burnout, disillusionment, and... melancholy” made him wonder how someone from 700... Continue reading »

Emergency medicine doctor Alker (Goodnight Grandma Angel) explores in this witty yet indispensable guide 99 of the “most terrifying, interesting, and unfortunate ways to die.” Drawing on her experience as a “board-certified death escapologist,” Alker assumes the role of a medical translator... 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 »

Via cushiony round shapes, handsome landscapes, and colors that melt together, Parc’s English-language debut creates an extraordinary visual lullaby built around a slumber-granting figure’s nightly rounds. A wakeful child with two wide-open eyes snuggles into bed beside a puff-like feline as text re... Continue reading »