A retired English teacher learns to hope and love again while he helps his daughter face a devastating illness in "Outer Sunset", Mark Ernest Pothier’s graceful, wise, and tender novel. Jim retired early from teaching; he seems to have... Read More

The creative, bracing essays of Rebecca May Johnson’s "Small Fires" redefine the act of cooking and elevate the value of domestic labor. They critique what it means to interpret recipes; with a combination of intellectual rigor and... Read More

In Olivia Wolfgang-Smith’s emotive novel "Glassworks", four generations struggle under the weight of unexpressed feelings, unsaid words, and unmet needs. It starts with a bee. In 1910, heiress Agnes takes a renowned glass artist,... Read More

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The City of Lost Chances is a gritty adventure fantasy of uncommon breadth, fashioning a universe brimming with magic and treachery. Illmar was recently conquered by Pallesand, an authoritarian nation. The shocking... Read More

Kapka Kassabova’s dreamy and meandering book "Elixir" covers her travels through the Mesta River region of Bulgaria in search of a cure for the pains of the human condition. Examining its people, history, and natural beauty, this Mesta... Read More

A woman once undone by empathy now finds that it could be her salvation in Claire Fuller’s stunning postapocalyptic novel "The Memory of Animals". In her childhood, Neffy split her time between her father’s Greek island and her... Read More

The climate crisis is a global problem, with every individual playing a role: Nikolaj Schultz confronts this conundrum in his lovely, essay-length book "Land Sickness". In beautiful prose that makes everyday moments seem profound,... Read More

In Ada Zhang’s short story collection "The Sorrows of Others", people of all ages confront personal and cultural losses. Throughout the book, Chinese and Chinese American people face an age-old problem: loneliness in the company of... Read More