In Pilar Quintana’s engrossing novel "The Bitch", a woman’s search for companionship leads her to an orphaned puppy. Damaris and her husband, Rogelio, have an uneasy, distant relationship. They live in a shack on a bluff near the... Read More

Drawing on personal experiences and cultural analysis, Jaswinder Bolina’s essay collection "Of Color" is an important examination of race in the US. The son of Sikh Punjabi immigrants by way of London, Bolina writes about navigating a... Read More

Narine Abgaryan’s "Three Apples Fell from the Sky" is a charming novel set in a remote Armenian village that’s perched on a mountaintop. Though the story acknowledges its tragedies, it also captures the warmth and resilience of a... Read More

In the novel "Include Me Out", a woman tries to remake her life on her own terms and meets unexpected obstacles. Mara is a simultaneous interpreter who has had enough of a job that demands constant attention to language. All she wants is... Read More

In Peter Stamm’s philosophical novel "The Sweet Indifference of the World", writers and actors who’re struggling to make art become a means of exploring both identity and reality. Christoph is a writer who sends Lena, a young... Read More

In Tomas Moniz’s bighearted novel "Big Familia", a man comes to terms with changes in his family, his neighborhood, and himself. Juan Gutiérrez lives with his daughter, Stella, in a gentrifying neighborhood in Berkeley. Stella is... Read More

Fiona Alison Duncan’s "Exquisite Mariposa" is a funny, thought-provoking novel that levels pointed critiques at gender and class inequality and captures what it’s like to be a young person today. The novel’s narrator—a woman in... Read More

Nabarun Bhattacharya’s "Harbart" is a wild ride—a short novel that documents the unexpected rise and precipitous fall of Harbart’s fortunes in vibrant, humorous prose. The novel opens with a scene of debauchery that is followed by... Read More