The fate of the first woman after her banishment from Eden is the focus of B. K. O’Connor’s transcendent novel "Eve". In the verdant, fertile glades of Eden, God creates Adam. When Adam aches for a companion to share in his paradise,... Read More

Generations of women wrestle with an inherited legacy of trauma in Celeste Mohammed’s sprawling novel-in-stories "Ever Since We Small". Split into two sections, “Then” and “Now,” the novel does a masterful job of capturing the... Read More

In Fidan Meikle’s empathetic novel "My Name Is Samim", a young Afghani refugee faces numerous dangers in his search for safety and belonging. Sensitive thirteen-year-old Samim narrates in dual timelines. In the present, he is a foster... Read More

A boy plays a parental role for a baby kaiju in E. C. Myers’s adventure-minded chapter book "Kaiju Gaga". On a trip to the Museum of Media, a boy drifts away from his class and visits an exhibit called Monster Movie Mania. There he... Read More

Art historian Roger Lipsey spent decades studying world art and encountering important pieces around the world. In "Eyes to See", a well-curated and contextualized virtual museum in book form, he highlights works that became meaningful... Read More

In Dana Diehl’s haunting short story collection "The Earth Room", spectral women are alienated from themselves and others. In “Daughter,” a woman births a floating ghost daughter following a pregnancy where “Things happened... Read More

In Cho Haejin’s intricate, touching novel "Simple Heart", a transnational adoptee returns to Korea. Nana, an actor and playwright, grew up in South Korea. Abandoned by her mother at a train station, she lived with the conductor and at... Read More

A night of violence is routine, expected, and devastating in Francisco Maciel’s literary novel There’s No Point in Dying. There is a favela (slum) in the birthplace of samba. At its center are three bars. They’re close enough that... Read More