The fascinating, wide-ranging autobiographical essays in writer Jay Neugeboren’s "Dickens in Brooklyn" include thoughtful perspectives on civil rights, family, literature, and mental illness. Neugeboren was raised by a strong but... Read More

A woman’s homecoming stirs dark suspicions in Melanie McCabe’s brooding historical thriller Road Longer Than Memory. In 1976, Sara, a high school senior, witnesses a fellow student, Nina’s, heated argument. Fear prevents her from... Read More

An heirloom’s centrality to its family becomes clear following a storm in the heartfelt picture book "Always There, Rocking Chair". In Tybre’ana Eaddy’s sentimental picture book "Always There, Rocking Chair", a family learns to... Read More

Southern Gothic meets feminist, supernatural horror in Allison Cundiff’s thrilling novel "The Mysterious Women of J Road", in which a gifted woman raised on the righteous side of an Ozarks divide is forced toward self-reckoning. The... Read More

A misunderstood girl has a dream that guides her toward acceptance from her peers in the upbeat novel Jane Smith aka Thistle Fabuloso. In Barra Grant’s whimsical novel "Jane Smith aka Thistle Fabuloso", an intelligent nine-year-old... Read More

In this exhilarating picture book about environmental appreciation, a girl goes out exploring each day. She jars the treasures she finds on her walks, bringing them home for her own nature-based cabinet of curiosities. An encounter with... Read More

In Alex Potts’s wry graphic novel "Was That Normal?", a man vacillates between social connections and solitude. In his forties, Philip rents a room, works from home, and is desperate to enjoy some social interaction. He’s awkward in... Read More

A. Natasha Joukovsky’s delicious, multilayered novel "Medium Rare" muses on contemporary American culture through an average man’s foray to unimagined heights. Phil, a discontented lobbyist of middling employment, happens to predict... Read More