Maryse Condé’s novel "Waiting for the Waters to Rise" addresses immigration, nationalism, friendship, colorism, and political power through the intersecting lives of three friends. Babakar, a handsome obstetrician in Guadeloupe, is... Read More

The two story lines of Ames Sheldon’s historical novel "Lemons in the Garden of Love" focus on important eras for women’s rights. In 1977, Cassie, who just married traditional Martin, is living in Minnesota and searching for a... Read More

"Doubting Thomas" is a harrowing novel in which Thomas, a gay teacher, is falsely accused of inappropriate touching. Thomas is a fourth grade teacher at a prestigious private school. He is dedicated and well liked, and his teaching... Read More

Cassandra Lane’s hybrid memoir "We Are Bridges" incorporates imagined histories and evocative memories into its multigenerational tale of trauma. In the moment that Lane decided to have a baby, she also became determined to discover... Read More

The inner world of a sick, antagonistic young man is the compelling focus of Aziz Mohammed’s novel, The Critical Case of a Man Called K. Narrated in direct, plain language, the book delves into the unsettled mind of a young man who is... Read More

French Azerbaijani writer Banine’s memoir of her childhood, Days of the Caucasus, is an entertaining early twentieth-century account. Banine was born in 1905 to parents of new wealth. Her mother died from complications following her... Read More

"Where Madness Lies" is an utterly compelling historical novel about the Nazi genocide, told from the perspective of psychiatric patients who reveal the generational impact of mental illness. The two-part story begins in 1934 in Germany,... Read More

Jeffrey H. Jackson’s "Paper Bullets" is a captivating tale of queer love and resistance during World War II. From Paris’s Jazz Age through the war and beyond, Jackson tracks two childhood friends who became lovers and artists and... Read More