"If Clara" is moving and wiry, and full of poetic coincidences. A story of artistic accomplishment and mental struggles, "If Clara" comes through four narrators who are connected to the enigmatic title character. Creative, troubled, and... Read More

Hood finds human-shaped hope even in the desperate landscape of a death-penalty-obsessed culture. Jeff Hood’s The Execution of God: Encountering the Death Penalty doesn’t just make the case that God is dead, but that each of us... Read More

Settings are technicolor in this brilliant and engaging historical novel. Lucy Treloar’s "Salt Creek" is a mesmerizing novel in which an English woman reminisces about her Australian youth and the tragedies that befell her family. In... Read More

Sketching out a cross-time search for a meaningful connection, "The Madeleine Project" is a sweet, respectful ode to an ordinary life. In a time when platforms like Twitter seem more dangerous than hopeful, Clara Beaudoux’s magnificent... Read More

Confidently rocking a bright red hand-me-down pocketbook, Charlie’s quiet courage shines in Belle DeMont’s delightfully inspiring "I Love My Purse", a tribute to being unapologetically true to yourself and embracing individuality, be... Read More

In their book "The Secret Life of Your Microbiome", Susan L. Prescott and Alan C. Logan provide an extremely detailed overview of what the microbiome is, both inside and outside the body, and its importance to health. They argue that a... Read More

This is a believable and heartfelt family story about seeking justice despite great odds. "Trell" is the fictionalized account of one of Boston’s most notorious murders: that of Tiffany Moore, “the girl on the blue mailbox.” Dick... Read More

Rare and invaluable is the writer who can address a topic that can’t possibly withstand further scrutiny—oh please, not again—only to produce a brilliantly original, insight-filled manifesto. Maurice Rajsfus pulls off that exact... Read More