With a unique pace and logic, the text provides a desirable space in which to consider any number of interesting ideas about solitude and connection. Inspired by Blaise Pascal, a 17th-century philosopher best known for his posthumous... Read More

Striking imagery imbues the ordinary with meaning—every vivid word serves a purpose. With layers of symbolism and poetic lyricism, Laura Long’s carefully crafted "Out of Peel Tree" begs to be slowly absorbed, read and reread, as it... Read More

This novel is as bleak and scouring as the dust storms which fill its pages. Set in a near-future America, "Above All Men" follows the life of former army medic David Parrish, his wife, Helene, and their adolescent son, Samuel. After a... Read More

A search for identity through storytelling and an adoption of parental values bring an air of universality to the story of this young narrator. In a mash-up of film noir, fairy tale, and bildungsroman, Danish author Jonas T.... Read More

Anguishing in old age, this vivid character documents his fragmented memory of a childhood in Cuba and an art career in rural America. “I know that memories wrinkle and spoil even more than the flesh—and I know they lie.” So... Read More

Motifs of Eden and the apple preach themes of fate, desire, and the unavoidability of sin. In "Parental Sins", guilt is a monster that cannot be slain, only appeased. And sin comes back to bite you. The story follows two families from... Read More

The natural beauty of a small town in the early 1900s and the effects of industrialization on small-town life are intricately rendered in this murder mystery. The search for a murderer in a small South Carolina town ignites this strong... Read More

Good and evil are questioned, violence is confronted as part of the human experience, and characters’ motives blur lines. Rich Shapero’s novel, "The Hope We Seek", takes place in a remote, unnamed place more than a century in the... Read More