Phyllis Barber is, more than anything else, an explorer. In "The Precarious Walk", she explores the physical and mental landscapes that make up her world. Her settings include places as diverse as the Mojave Desert, Ecuador, and... Read More

What young woman wouldn’t want to discover a secret basement room filled with sequined gowns, feather boas, and wigs? In Amy Tector’s novel "The Honeybee Emeralds", Alice Ahmadi is that lucky woman. And then she puts her hands in the... Read More

“Turn the page, and you may give up your entire life” begins "My Annihilation", Fuminori Nakamura’s jigsaw puzzle of a novel exploring themes of connection and consequence through personal identity and responsibility. In a remote... Read More

In Susan Hunter’s thriller Dangerous Waters, a newspaperwoman undertakes a murder investigation while navigating the difficulties of her romantic life. Leah returns to her dilapidated hometown after a failure in the big city. Leah’s... Read More

A Scottish nanny is shot and dies in the home of her wealthy employers, initiating the scandal that inspired John MacLachlan Gray’s novel "The White Angel". It takes a sweeping view of life in Vancouver in 1924. Labor unrest, enormous... Read More

When narrated by Slack, Lawrence’s philosophical conundrums are easier to follow. Sisters Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen struggle to balance independence, love, and marriage at the start of the twentieth century, in D. H. Lawrence’s... Read More

This resonant novel explores the intersections of truth and fiction. "Fever Tree", by Tim Applegate, takes its name from a band that, to people of a certain age, evoked the promises and disappointments of the late ’60s and early... Read More

In this compelling story, the characters change, and some grow, through choice and consequence. In "A Well-Made Bed", coauthors Abby Frucht and Laurie Alberts use strong and complex characters and an almost campy plot device to explore... Read More