This enjoyable tongue-in-cheek satire ingeniously threads hot-button issues into a farcical plot. Karen Schiff’s novelization of her play, "The First Supper", explores divisions among Republicans with tongue-in-cheek vigor. When... Read More

This novel is a sincere exploration of the struggles people go through trying to survive and do right, while still holding on to their dreams. Maya and Danny Johnson have all but given up on their dreams. After a decade of scraping... Read More

Spare prose boosts the psychological experience of this snapshot of grief and memory. Colin Winnette’s "Coyote" provides an intimate look at a child’s disappearance, told from the fragmented perspective of a distraught mother.... Read More

With both modern-day and historical characters equally believable in their desires and life journeys, this novel tells a little-known story that is complex and captivating. With "The Cherokee Rose", Tiya Miles has written a complex and... Read More

An Arctic exploration becomes an exploration of the self as a man seeks a new understanding of connection with loved ones. The North Pole reveals itself to be not what government worker Oscar imagined in "Fram", an artfully funny novel... Read More

In a style that is both literary and fable-like, this novel follows an antihero on a journey to uniting the self with society. In a fantasy world that oddly mirrors our own, John Benditt weaves a fable-like tale that offers subtle... Read More

This dark yet moving portrait of two teens both escaping and creating violence delves deep into the teenage psyche. “If you have a gun, you don’t need a role model.” In the dark but compassionate novel, Lighting the World, by Merle... Read More

The careful dance between the worthy and the regrettable helps the narration maintain balance, even as its characters careen toward their own ruination. The latest novel from NPR contributor Alan Cheuse draws its inspiration from the... Read More