A woman learns about her frightening family connection to gods and demons in L. B. Hazelthorn’s novel "Rare Birds". Rom knows almost nothing about her grandfather, Jasper, save that he was obsessed with the supernatural—or... Read More

Matthew L. Harris’s exposé of one religion’s role in US race relations, "Second-Class Saints" covers an ill-understood episode in Mormon history. The book charts the history of Mormonism’s infamous “priesthood ban,” a... Read More

Alisa Alering’s alluring novel "Smothermoss" enters the bloodstream of Appalachian storytelling like a fevered dream, unraveling the intergenerational tales of women living on the edge. Half-sisters born five years apart, Sheila and... Read More

An ambitious video game is at the center of a global terrorist plot in Larry Gaudet’s novel "Eris". Don creates Greenhouse, a video game in which players work to curb (or exacerbate) climate change in a simulated world, both to make... Read More

Adèle Rosenfeld’s "Jellyfish Have No Ears" is a poignant novel in which lost hearing reshapes a woman’s understanding of the world. Louise has always been somewhat “uprooted from language” because of her imperfect hearing. Now... Read More

A botany-themed meditation on memory, absence, and loss, "Ephemera" is a beautiful graphic memoir. Returning to her childhood home, Briana Loewinsohn seeks to restore the gardens and plants that had dried up and became overgrown. Through... Read More