Maren Meinhardt’s biography of early nineteenth-century scientist Alexander von Humboldt shows how he came to have more places and objects named after him than any other person. The text focuses on the scientist and explorer’s... Read More

Six giant pigs, four kids, and a gang of adults on a magical island maintain a tenuous balance of power until two castaways show up in Johanna Stoberock’s probing literary novel, "Pigs". Every day, Luisa, Andrew, Mimi, and Natasha feed... Read More

What happens in Jerusalem is as much about family as it is about the Israeli-Palestinian divide. Lis Harris’s cultural and political history "In Jerusalem" combines deft analysis with open inquiries in search of the emotional truth... Read More

Fifteen-year-old Beatriz Mendez lives a split life between school and gang life, caring for her mother and enforcing gang rules, dancing with an attractive Haitian boy, and carrying a razor blade tucked in her cheek. Set in the 1980s,... Read More

Maya Abramovna Klotsvog, a Jewish Ukrainian mathematics teacher born in 1930, comes of age during the Soviet Union’s post-war era of power and becomes an exemplary Russian woman, wife, and mother in every respect. If you believe this,... Read More

The accumulation of the small daily events and exchanges that make up a life are the focus of Glynnis Fawkes’s Persephone’s Garden, a collection of comics written from 2012 to 2018, some previously published in magazines, journals,... Read More

Cora, her twin brother Kyle, and their friend Sybella have been inseparable since the second grade. As they start fifth grade, though, conflict arises between Cora and Sybella, and their best-friendship seems doomed. Told through the... Read More

Aoife Clifford’s "Second Sight" is a gripping, gut-wrenching thriller. Set in Kinsale, Australia, the novel moves at a tantalizing pace. Eliza discovers Kinsale’s blackened heart, with new horrors revealed at every turn. After a... Read More