The innocence of boyhood is eclipsed by a fraught world in Vijay Khurana’s coming-of-age novel "The Passenger Seat". From the first page, Teddy and Adam are described as “boys, or men,” as if even the narrator is uncertain about... Read More

Revenge, murder, and gender-based hypocrisy in communist China drive the unsentimental narrative of Fang Fang’s short novel "The Running Flame". Yingzhi lives in a small village in the Chinese countryside. Desiring more than what her... Read More

"Plum" is Andy Anderegg’s wise and touching novel about a woman’s struggle to heal from a childhood of neglect and abuse. J grows up sad and lonely because of her parents’ substance abuse, depression, and rage. To the outside... Read More

A Native American line of uncommon women endure the Spanish conquest in Alisa Valdés-Rodríguez’s piercing historical novel "Where Rabbits Gathered". In 1598 in New Spain, an expedition gathers to colonize the lands that constitute... Read More

Two women, their lives separated by a century, learn the meaning of standing witness to horrific injustice in Roohi Choudhry’s epic historical novel "Outside Women". In 1890s India, after the British abolish slavery in their colonies,... Read More

Abused in her childhood and taught to believe that she doesn’t deserve love, a woman seeks independence in Sarah Jollien-Fardel’s heartbreaking novel "My Favorite". After a village doctor ignored the truth about her injuries, Jeanne... Read More

Sylvian Trudel’s novel "The Harmattan Winds" is an unusual coming-of-age tale imbued with undercurrents of magic, mystery, and tragedy. Hugues is an adopted orphan of unknown ethnic origins who falls under the spell of Hakébé, an... Read More

Geopolitical and magical intrigue entangle in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s intricate fantasy novel "Days of Shattered Faith". As a new aide to Gil, Pallesand’s diplomat in Usmai, Loret seconds her superior in a duel with Lor’s diplomat.... Read More