In Marlin Barton’s historical novel "Children of Dust", a family struggles with the repercussions of the death of their newborn. In the 1880s in Alabama, Rafe has multiple families. He’s married to Melinda, with whom he has five... Read More

A hearty “bless your heart” to those who misunderstand the South, the essays of Margaret Renkl’s Graceland, at Last vivify an often maligned region. Renkl is one angle of the face of the changing South: she cares about the... Read More

With consuming literary passion, Janet Todd’s complex novel combines the past and the present together with the living and the dead. Fran is a widow who spent her life immersed in teaching, reading, and gardening. Her retirement (and... Read More

Gritty Liverpool sets the mood for Caroline Smailes’s "The Unwrapping of Theodora Quirke", a most unusual Christmas tale. Nineteen-year-old Theodora (Theo, please), while grieving the death of her boyfriend, Gabe, lives in Dante House,... Read More

"Vector Zero" is a gripping thriller in which a small town faces the perfect storm of catastrophes. In Bryan McBee’s pandemic thriller "Vector Zero", a disease threatens a small town. Shelly, who was abused by a boyfriend, took action... Read More

Robyn Doolittle’s "Had It Coming" is a nuanced, unbiased investigation of rape culture and sexual assault prosecution in the #MeToo era. Doolittle asserts that #MeToo never would have achieved critical mass without the signal boost... Read More

A thought experiment wrapped in a science fiction novel, Chris Beckett’s "Two Tribes" audits Brexit and Britain’s current political and class gulf from a dystopian future, as a historian tries to find the origins of her world in the... Read More

In Terry Roberts’s ominous historical novel My Mistress’ Eyes Are Raven Black, Ellis Island’s immigration policies take a bleak post-war turn. In 1920, an Irish immigrant vanishes after being sent to the Isolation Ward. Suspecting... Read More