An unsolved disappearance and Croatia’s independence overlap in Jurica Pavičić’s expansive novel "Red Water". In 1989, Silva disappears near Split, then part of Yugoslavia. A lengthy hunt ensues, continuing decades after the... Read More

An inestimable novel of ideas, Michael Lentz’s monumental book "Schattenfroh" follows the consciousness of a trapped man as he thinks through his existence, his relationship to his father, and centuries of German culture. “One calls... Read More

In K. L. Denman’s engrossing Hi-Lo novel "Trance", a perfectionist teenager loses control. Kira has a tight handle on her life and on her best friend Brigid’s psychic powers. When a horrible accident leaves Brigid’s client dead,... Read More

In Jan Fields’s stirring horror novel "The World Inside", a teenager discovers that her comatose aunt could trap ghosts in paintings. Tamika could be spending the summer in Paris with her best friends, but her mother dragged her to... Read More

In Maya Arad’s epistolary novel "Happy New Years", an Israeli immigrant writes annual Rosh Hashanah letters to her friends back home, masking the reality of her life in the US. From 1966 to 2016, Leah writes to women from her... Read More

The place bears play in American culture is given a scholarly growl in Daniel Horowitz’s "Bear With Me", which dissects the nation’s affection for, fear of, and ill-advised anthropomorphization of bears of all varieties. This is a... Read More

The nine intricate essays in Margot Singer’s collection "Secret Agent Man" braid investigations of womanhood, Jewishness, and family memory. The sly title piece contrasts spy movie clichés with the reality of Singer’s Czech-born... Read More

Struggling with tragedy, fear, and uncertainty, the characters of Erin Cecilia Thomas’s entrancing, woman-centered short story collection "I Watched You from the Ocean Floor" find hope through human connection and resilience. Easing... Read More