A man grapples with his past and his racial identity in Paulo Scott’s novel "Phenotypes". Federico and his brother Lourenço are both Black. But Federico, being light-skinned, escapes much of the prejudice that Lourenço faces. These... Read More

Ordinary people are haunted by loss and grief in Shahriar Mandanipour’s short story collection "Seasons of Purgatory". In these stories, death is a constant companion. For some, it has already come and gone, leaving survivors to cope... Read More

A historian investigates a decades-old murder that involves his own family in Sergio Pitol’s historical novel, "The Love Parade". While conducting research, Miguel, a historian, stumbles across information regarding the 1942 shooting... Read More

In Jacques Poulin’s lyrical novel "Autumn Rounds", a Canadian bookmobile driver travels from Quebec City to the villages along the country’s northern shore. The Driver, as he calls himself, has an enduring love of books and a curious... Read More

In Sébastien Japrisot’s taut mystery novel "The Sleeping Car Murders", a woman’s corpse is found on a train that just arrived in Paris. The train originated in Marseilles, and the woman appears to have been strangled in the sleeping... Read More

"The Last One" is a mesmerizing, semiautobiographical novel about the meanings of identity, family, and sexuality. The story of eponymous character Fatima Daas is slight, but there’s depth and substance in her struggles to find paths... Read More

In Clarence Boulay’s delicate, mesmeric novel "Tristan", a woman’s ardor on a volcanic island tests her emotional thresholds. From its seafaring opening aboard a lobster boat bound for rugged Tristan, a remote South Atlantic outpost,... Read More

When responsibilities derailed his childhood dream of becoming a famous explorer, Torbjørn Ekelund felt bereft of intimate participation in the seasonal changes of his beloved Norwegian forests. So he made a decision: once each month,... Read More