The Bookbinder’s SecretA.D. Bell. St. Martin’s, $29 (400p) ISBN 978-1-250-41264-5
In this stellar debut from Bell, a British bibliophile courts danger while seeking answers about a mysterious note she found in a book. Lilian Delaney is a bookbinder’s apprentice in 1901 Oxford, where she also assists her widowed father with running his bookstore. Lilian’s confidence in her skills ... Continue reading »
The Murder at World’s End: A Stockingham & Pike MysteryRoss Montgomery. Morrow, $30 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-345877-2
Children’s bestseller Montgomery (I Am Rebel) pivots to adult fiction with this entertaining locked-room whodunit set in 1910 England. After ex-convict Stephen Pike is hired as a footman at Tithe Hall, a grand estate on a tidal island near Cornwall, he discovers that the estate’s eccentric ... Continue reading »
The Great WorkSheldon Costa. Quirk, $18.99 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-68369-505-9
Debut novelist Costa sets this astounding tale of alchemy, prophecy, and adventure in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in 1889. Gentle Montgomery and his mentor, Liam O’Kelly, make their living as embalmers while Liam endeavors to complete the Great Work of alchemy, “the conquest of death.” When Liam ... Continue reading »
Love Letters for Other PeopleShaylin Gandhi. Canary Street, $18.99 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-335-01696-6
Old wounds reopen and old feelings resurface when a woman returns to her hometown in this stunning small-town sizzler from Gandhi (When We Had Forever). After mathematician Aubrey MacLean unfairly loses her job in New York, she heads back to Henderson, Ind., to figure out her next ... Continue reading »
Patchwork: A Graphic Biography of Jane AustenKate Evans. Verso, $34.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-8042-9622-6
This artful and thought-provoking graphic biography from Evans (Threads) stitches a postcolonial layer into the narrative by examining the fabrics worn by Jane Austen and her contemporaries. Inspired by a patchwork coverlet that Jane “meticulously folded and painstakingly stitched,” the tit... Continue reading »
Death of the First IdeaRickey Laurentiis. Knopf, $27 (160p) ISBN 978-0-593-80270-0
Laurentiis’s visionary sophomore outing (after Boy with Thorn) showcases her incredible lyric range and incisive commentary. At its core, the collection charts a 10-year period from 2015 to 2025 chronicling the speaker’s gender transition; along the way, the poems address the speaker’s poli... 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 »
The Oak and the Larch: A Forest History of Russia and Its EmpiresSophie Pinkham. Norton, $35 (352p) ISBN 978-1-324-03668-5
In this epic but sprightly history, journalist and critic Pinkham (Black Square) explores the central role forests have played in the Russian cultural imagination. Noting that “long after western Europe had felled a large portion of its trees, the Russian Empire still had more forests than ... Continue reading »
Indian Block Printing: An Inspirational Project BookTess Grace and Holly Jones. Herbert, $25 trade paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-78994-341-2
This stellar debut from Grace and Jones, cofounders of the U.K.’s Indian Block Print Co., teaches readers the art of block printing, a centuries-old method of using wooden blocks carved with intricate patterns to hand-print designs onto fabric and paper. The 14 projects vary in difficulty, with some... Continue reading »
Beard: A Memoir of a MarriageKelly Foster Lundquist. Eerdmans, $28.99 (250p) ISBN 978-0-80288-473-2
Lundquist, an English professor at North Hennepin Community College in Minnesota, debuts with a wrenching account of the breakup of her marriage to a gay man. Lundquist met her future husband in the late 1990s at a Christian camp, where the two bonded over their love of TV soaps and off-kilter humor... Continue reading »
The Swan’s DaughterRoshani Chokshi. Wednesday, $22 (400p) ISBN 978-1-250-87310-1
To become ruler of the Isle of Malys, one must win the hand—or literal heart—of a male descendant of the royal bloodline, resulting in sometimes deadly consequences in this sharp romantasy by Chokshi (The Spirit Glass). Unless Prince Arris meets a girl who loves him, any potential bride... Continue reading »
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