In immersive and lyrical prose, Vénus Khoury-Ghata’s novel "The Fiancée Rode in on a Donkey" illuminates the life of a forgotten figure from French-Algerian history. When a rabbi rides into the Jewish community of Banu Qurayza, every... Read More

A teenager who’s skilled at fighting is invited to participate in a battle contest in the graphic novel "The God of High School". Mori Jin, a seventeen-year-old trained in Taekwondo by his grandfather, has never been defeated in almost... Read More

Combining detailed descriptions of Connemara’s history, folklore, artistry, geology, and nature, Tim Robinson’s "The Last Pool of Darkness" is a sprawling, joyful romp along Ireland’s western coastline. The second volume in a... Read More

Philosopher Philip Goff’s new book "Why?" makes a succinct, ambitious case for a new, secular view of cosmic purpose. "Why?" opens with an ancient question: “What’s the point of living?” It then considers the vacuity of most... Read More

Joe Baumann’s "Where Can I Take You When There’s Nowhere To Go" collects surrealist short stories with grotesque physical manifestations of people’s emotional lives at their centers. Predicated on extended metaphors, their effects... Read More

Acclaimed journalist Joaquim Arena traverses the hidden byways of Portugal’s slave trade while reconstructing his own fractured identity in his evocative book "Under Our Skin". After receiving news of his stepfather’s death in... Read More

Mark Kurlansky is the bestselling author of culinary and social histories covering cod, oysters, milk, and salt. His latest book, "The Core of an Onion", gives the starring role to the humble yet essential onion, combining beguiling... Read More

Sandy Winterbottom’s "The Two-Headed Whale" intertwines her engrossing 2016 Antarctica travel account with the story of a whaling ship deckhand in the early 1950s. Winterbottom spent six weeks on a “sleek, beautiful, hand-built—and... Read More