In Shokoofeh Azar’s intricate fabulistic novel "The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen", an Iranian girl comes of age in a time of war. When a gowkaran tree—likened to the Tree of Life, though no one seems certain about its... Read More

Helen Wolff’s exquisite autobiographical novella "Background for Love" captures a brief yet idyllic Côte d’Azur respite from the impending fascism of 1930s Germany. A nameless German woman travels with her forty-year-old lover from... Read More

Dizzying visions haunt the otherwise delicate beauty of Frederic S. Durbin’s supernatural novel "The Country Under Heaven". Since surviving the Battle of Antietam, Ovid experiences the intrusion of premonitory shimmers. As he migrates... Read More

An art conservator, a scholar, and a portraitist embrace the mysteries of love and ancestry in Katherine Scott Crawford’s enchanting fantasy novel The Miniaturist’s Assistant. In 2004, Gamble works in a Charleston museum. Fascinated... Read More

In Milo Todd’s humane historical novel "The Lilac People", a transgender man fights for the survival of his community and loved ones during World War II. In 1932, Bertie’s work at the Institute for Sexual Science and evenings at a... Read More

Set among people whose worship is based on sacred reciprocity with the earth, K. M. Huber’s rich novel "Call of the Owl Woman" follows as a powerful girl embraces her destiny. Patya comes from a long line of medicine women, but she... Read More

Violence undoes a young couple’s love in Alan Govenar’s wrenching autobiographical novel "Come Round Right". When they meet during their freshman year at Ohio State, Adriana is a revelation to Boston-born Aaron. The daughter of a... Read More

Driven by quiet unease and its hero’s mounting discomfort with the truth about American culture, "The Stuff What Actually Is" is a powerful historical novel. J. A. Nunn’s incisive historical novel "The Stuff What Actually Is" is... Read More