Stalin: if you’re Russian and of a certain age, his name causes your blood to run Siberian cold. It’s not for nothing that Uncle Joe’s twenty-four-year reign (1929–1953) is frequently called the “other Holocaust”—upwards of... Read More

Lara Tupper’s melancholy alternative history combines the romance of visionary, socially outlying artists with down-to-earth events that reveal them as fallible people. "Off Island" reimagines Paul Gauguin’s final year and connects... Read More

The lives of Las Vegas convention goers, perky prostitutes, casino gangsters, a firearms instructor, and a brothel owner converge in Wesley S. Lewis’s deadly, nonstop suspense debut, "West of Sin". New Wave, a Dallas-based real estate... Read More

"Penny Helps Portia Face Her Fears" is a charming chapter book with friendship at its center. Penny is an adorable pit bull who was abandoned by her original family. She’s set free by a neighbor, but living on the streets, she’s... Read More

Middle school crushes, competitive sports games, and teenage shenanigans play out on Jupiter’s ice moon Europa in Myles Christensen’s "Frozen Secrets". Thirteen-year-old Max and his family move to Europa for his father’s job.... Read More

Soviet Jews faced anti-Zionist actions within the USSR; under pressure from human rights campaigns, they were finally offered opportunities for emigration, though leaving was risky. Poignant and suspenseful, Emil Draitser’s "Farewell,... Read More

In Jaime Jo Wright’s haunting Christian thriller "Echoes Among the Stones", grief paralyzes a family. After losing her job and losing her mother to cancer, Aggie moves to Wisconsin to care for her grandmother, Mumsie, who lies and... Read More

Ann Harleman’s "Tell Me, Signora" is about heartbreaking loss, second chances, and resurrecting and righting the past. Kate, an archaeologist who’s still reeling from the death of her husband, is awarded a three-month fellowship in... Read More