In Claudia Hernández’s complicated novel about war, longing, disappointment, and resilience, "Slash and Burn", story and style vie for supremacy. The story begins with the memory of a schoolgirl struggling through an exam on which the... Read More

In Andrea Carter’s wonderful Ireland-set cozy mystery "The Well of Ice", murder comes to town over one memorable Christmas week. Sarah Benedicta O’Keeffe—Ben, for short––has lived in Donegal for only a short time. She serves as... Read More

In Lisa DeSelm’s feminist young adult take on Pinocchio, a girl who became real through enchantment comes into her own and fights for her community’s well being. Seven years ago, Piro was fashioned from wood and spoken to life under... Read More

In Wendy Voorsanger’s novel "Prospects of a Woman", a woman travels to Gold Rush California, where her New England upbringing, femininity, and traditional role are challenged. In California, Elisabeth and her husband Nate discover that... Read More

The fabulist translated Yiddish tales collected in "Honey on the Page" speak with grace to the tensions and joys of Jewish life. Both didactic and celebratory, the collection first concerns itself with stories about Jewish holidays,... Read More

California’s history of racist legislation against Black Americans is brought to light in Lynn M. Hudson’s "West of Jim Crow". Attracted by the promise of economic opportunity and freedom from enslavement and Jim Crow, Black... Read More

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess’s account of her youth during the Bosnian War is a timely personal testimony on the strictures of survival. Gripping and achingly humane, "The Cat I Never Named" captures what it means to face an ideological tide... Read More

"The Trouble with Love in the Movies" is an engrossing memoir filled with familiar lessons and new and exciting people and places. Expert storytelling and social understanding lend a clear direction to the whirlwind world of filmmaking... Read More