Julia Zarankin’s memoir is a moving, and often hilarious, account of how she—a type A, perfectionistic, and nature-avoidant novice—became a bona fide “bird nerd,” transforming her life in the process. Zarankin’s story begins... Read More

With its themes of family, loss, sexuality, and self-discovery, Erin Moynihan’s "Laurel Everywhere" is a touching and quirky coming-of-age story. Laurel was named after the laurel bush, a nondescript plant that is found everywhere... Read More

Why witches? What accounts for our Western fascination with women who hex and heal, summon demons and project power, eschew religion yet embrace religious iconography, live contentedly in darkness, anonymity, and seclusion? Most... Read More

“Writing about experiences afield is a way of reliving them,” environmental reporter Ted Williams writes in "Earth Almanac", which synthesizes half a century of his nature observations into essays that mark the changing of the... Read More

In Sarah M. Eden’s graceful historical romance "Forget Me Not", a marriage is arranged between once-friends who grew apart. Julia always looked up to her neighbor, Lucas, as a beloved older brother. But Lucas left for an adventurous... Read More

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones’s riveting historical study, "The Nazi Spy Ring in America", concerns Germany’s efforts to infiltrate America in the 1930s through espionage. In the prewar period, espionage agents led by Admiral Canaris, the... Read More

Politics, family frictions, and divided loyalties collide in Ehsaneh Sadr’s engrossing novel, which is set during the aftermath of Iran’s controversial 2009 presidential election and subsequent “Green Wave” protests. The families... Read More

D. A. Mishani’s "Three" is a gripping novel that begins with an affair and continues through the salacious surprises and everyday horrors of contemporary dating. What pains Orna most about her recent divorce is that her ex-husband is... Read More