A veritable language factory, New York City may very well deserve its preferred moniker of being the greatest city in the world, at least when it comes to its influence on the way that English is spoken. The telling fact is that New... Read More

Believers in reincarnation, or past lives, are members of a harmonious choir, to the great amusement of skeptics who roll their eyes in mocking ridicule. Even so, surveys show that more and more people are open to the notion that... Read More

The four years of Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1944 surely rank as one of the most painful periods in France’s long history. Beyond the dread of having the Germans roll over the five-million-strong French army in six weeks, taking more... Read More

“At a certain point,” writes Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri, “the nightmare becomes home.” The entries of Petri’s collection are satirical dances through the most baffling moments of the Trump presidency, wherein... Read More

Though much of it is set among the dead, Valérie Perrin’s "Fresh Water for Flowers" is an exuberant novel whose thoughtful treatments of family tragedies are alchemistic. Abandoned at birth, Violette was shunted between disinterested... Read More

Woven of heartbreak and hope, Sandy Stark-McGinnis’s "The Space Between Lost and Found" is about a girl who’s determined to make the most of every moment. Cassie wishes that her mother were a dolphin—not because she doesn’t want... Read More

In North Korea in 1950, twelve-year-old Pak Sora sees her father only when he arises from the hole the family of five has dug for him in the backyard so that he can avoid being conscripted into the army. The family cowers in place as... Read More

“If there are to be stories about me, if I am to be a tameless girl, then let the story be mine,” says Florence “Floy” Hutchings in Joanna Cooke’s biographical novel "Call Me Floy". Headstrong, eleven-year-old Floy’s story is... Read More