Julian Borger’s illuminating, elegiac memoir "I Seek a Kind Person" traces his search for his Viennese father’s wartime history. In 1983, Borger’s father, Robert, committed suicide. Borger, a journalist, later discovered an... Read More

Lida Maxwell’s enthusiastic academic study reappraises scientist Rachel Carson’s motivations in light of ecological crisis and queer studies. Although Carson grew up in Pennsylvania, her affinity for the ocean became paramount. On... Read More

In her outstanding book-length essay "Immemorial", Lauren Markham compares language, memorials, and rituals as strategies for coping with climate anxiety and grief. Monuments to famous men are passé, the work insists; instead, it is... Read More

A couple experiences the futility and horror of trying to outrun their problems in Dennis Mahoney’s horror novel "Our Winter Monster". Holly and Brian rumble toward a ski resort to salvage their scattered partnership. A blizzard is on... Read More

A beautiful love letter to the power of reading, Katherine Paterson’s biography of Jella Lepman covers how she built a massive literary collection for the children of post–World War II Germany. Lepman endured the death of her World... Read More

Set in the 1960s and 1970s in a city where World War II still reverberates, Robert Seethaler’s tender novel "The Café with No Name" is about a Viennese restaurateur’s interactions with his acquaintances and customers. Robert,... Read More

The spirit of perseverance is given wings in Aaron Gwyn’s touching coming-of-age novella, "The Cannibal Owl". Levi was raised in the rough-and-tumble Arkansas territory in the first decades of the nineteenth century. His unexpected... Read More

Nuanced, wise, and enthralling, "Elephants in the Hourglass" is Kim Frank’s extraordinary memoir about her adventures investigating the plight of Asian elephants in northeast India—inquiries that run alongside accounts of personal... Read More