Tokaido Road

Lucia St Clair-Robson, Lucia St Clair Robson. Ballantine Books, $5.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-345-35639-0

Robson bases this romance on an actual feud and steeps it in the customs and culture of 18th-century Japan. Despite the book's impressive historical detail, its young heroine's picaresque adventures lack a vital spark. (May) *CHILDREN'S *BOOKS*

Featured Fiction Reviews

Jane Yang

Yang debuts with a fascinating portrayal of ambition and cruelty in 19th-century China. Little Flower, a young woman with bound feet, is sold to the Fong family and forced to Continue reading »

Olivia Wolfgang-Smith

Wolfgang-Smith (Glassworks) explores tensions in the private lives of three queer misfits turned business titans in her stunning latest. In 1899, 18-year-old Vivian Lesperance Continue reading »

Megan Howell

Howell debuts with a beautiful and striking collection about friendship, secrets, and unspeakable desires. “Lobes,” the outré opener, explores the narrator’s obsession with her Continue reading »

Mischa Berlinski

In the sharp-witted and weighty latest from Berlinski (Fieldwork), #MeToo allegations roil an off-off-Broadway Shakespeare company, prompting a 50-something actor to reevaluate Continue reading »