The Left and the LuckyWilly Vlautin. Harper, $25.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-06-334663-5
Vlautin (The Horse) delivers a surprisingly uplifting tale of neighbors helping neighbors while eking out a living in Portland, Ore. Connie works nights as a stripper while raising her two sons, Curtis and Russell, neither of whose fathers live with them. Curtis, 15, bullies his undersized ... Continue reading »
The Ending Writes ItselfEvelyn Clarke. Harper, $30 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-344461-4
A quirky cast of wordsmiths vies for a life-altering prize in this deviously plotted satire of the publishing industry from Clarke, a pseudonym for Cat Clarke (The Lost and the Found) and V.E. Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue). Invited to the remote Scottish island of Skel... Continue reading »
OdessaGabrielle Sher. Mulholland, $29 (288p) ISBN 978-0-316-59585-8
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 »
Darling Daffodils FarmBrittanée Nicole. Putnam, $20 trade paper (416p) ISBN 979-8-217-17976-3
Kicking off the Hope Harbor series, this sweet and steamy contemporary from Nicole (the Boston Bolts series) sends aspiring chef Tally Darling home to her family’s New England daffodil farm to help with the spring season after her father’s death. Upon arrival, she’s shocked to find an incredibly han... Continue reading »
Everything in Color: A Love StoryStephanie Stalvey. 23rd St, $29.99 (528p) ISBN 978-1-250-34780-0
In her luminous debut, Stalvey meditates on her separation from fundamentalist Christianity and how she found love despite questioning her faith. Born into a “lineage of preachers and teachers,” young Stephanie and her sister grow up so conservative that they’re discouraged from looking at “unnecess... Continue reading »
The Distance of a ShoutMichael Ondaatje. Knopf, $35 (240p) ISBN 978-0-593-80501-5
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 »
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 the World Sleeps: Stories, Words, and Wounds of PalestineFrancesca Albanese, trans. from the Italian by Gregory Conti. Other Press, $28.99 (240p) ISBN 978-1-63542-603-8
“I am writing these words at a strange moment in my life: I have just been sanctioned by the United States.... for the absurd ‘crime’ of allegedly working with the International Criminal Court,” begins this incisive, heart-wrenching account from UN special rapporteur Albanese (Palestinian Refuge... Continue reading »
99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid ThemAshely Alker. St. Martin’s, $30 (384p) ISBN 978-1-250-35964-3
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 »
We Mend with Gold: An Immigrant Daughter’s Reckoning with American ChristianityKristin T. Lee. Broadleaf, $27.99 (256p) ISBN 979-8-88983-502-8
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 »
The Mysterious Magic of Lighthouse LaneErin Stewart. Aladdin, $17.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-6659-5228-6
Luminous first-person narration by Stewart (The Forgotten Magic of Zoey Turner) relays an introspective slice-of-life tale that forefronts connection and the lessons to be learned about friendship, family, and oneself when approaching relationships with an open heart and mind. Following an ... Continue reading »
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