Phyllis Barber is, more than anything else, an explorer. In "The Precarious Walk", she explores the physical and mental landscapes that make up her world. Her settings include places as diverse as the Mojave Desert, Ecuador, and... Read More

The surfing culture that California embodied in the middle of the twentieth century wouldn’t have been possible without the sport’s Hawaiian origins—or without George Freeth, the surfing virtuoso and heroic lifeguard who helped... Read More

Erica Gies’s book documents how conventional water control efforts damage ecosystems and the water cycle, and how they are overwhelmed by natural disasters driven by climate change. Still, whether in Midwestern floodplains, Vietnam’s... Read More

A woman’s obsession with a forgotten poet leads to life-changing personal and historical discoveries in Shola von Reinhold’s novel "LOTE". Mathilda finagles her way into the lives of others and lives off of their largess until... Read More

In Emi Watanabe Cohen’s family-oriented fantasy novel The Lost Ryū, a boy, with his miniature dragon, comes to grips with past tragedies and forges ahead with optimism. Ten-year-old Kohei lives in Japan, where most people keep ryū,... Read More

In Meron Hadero’s short story collection "A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times", Ethiopian emigrants strive to find their places in the world. Leaving one’s home country, even for a good reason, takes courage and resilience. So... Read More

The wounds of a friend group break open following a chance discovery in Valerie Perrin’s gripping novel "Three". When they were children, it seemed that Adrien, Nina, and Etienne would always be inseparable. Those outside of their trio... Read More

When Edgar was small, he and his father built puzzles together. Each piece had its own special place; if one small piece was missing, the puzzle would be forever incomplete. And in Edd Tello’s novel-in-verse "Only Pieces", Edgar’s... Read More