A kingdom’s fate rests on the shoulders of a princess who deals with dragons in Ellen McGinty’s novel "Saints and Monsters". Meera’s back brace and blue hair draw the unjust denigration of others who consider her cursed. She is... Read More
A charismatic band of wood nymphs, shapeshifters, and a gigantic humanoid mushroom protect their home from an ancient force in Christopher Mackie’s charming fantasy novel "Cloudlanders". The story begins “years from now, in a strange... Read More
Polly Atkin’s memoir "Some of Us Just Fall" reveals the concentric circles surrounding chronic illnesses, drawing on history, experience, science, and literature to explore life lived in a liminal space with nuance. From toddlerhood... Read More
In prose drenched with awe, Charlie J. Stephens’s tender novel "A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest" takes a child’s perspective on the pains of being poor in rural Oregon. For eight-year-old Smokey, poverty is part of the landscape, just... Read More
In Elaine McCluskey’s novel "The Gift Child", a former news photographer explores her genealogy following a mysterious disappearance. When her cousin, Graham, vanishes, Harriet is drawn back into the orbit of her narcissistic father,... Read More
Lithuanian-Canadian Antanas Sileika’s memoir "The Death of Tony" is about moving between two worlds. Sileika’s parents fled Lithuania following the Soviet takeover in 1944. Sileika grew up outside of Toronto, where he had jaunty... Read More
Lally Pia was born in Sri Lanka and raised in Ghana. When she was a baby, a fortune teller told her father that she would be a doctor someday. Her memoir The Fortune Teller’s Prophecy is a testament to the importance of resilience and... Read More
Death is owed a debt, and a mother and daughter face underworld threats, in Rania Hanna’s lush fantasy novel "The Jinn Daughter". Nadine, a jinn, consumes the souls of the dead, which take the form of pomegranate seeds. She tells their... Read More