The symbolism of the Soviet space program is examined in Cathleen S. Lewis’s cultural history "Cosmonaut". On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to enter space. Though brief, Gagarin’s venture outside of... Read More

Imagination runs wild in Rachel Cantor’s historical novel "Half-Life of a Stolen Sister", an innovative spin on the lives and work of the Brontë sisters. Maria’s mother is unwell. She no longer takes care of Maria’s younger... Read More

Emily Lynn Paulson’s eye-opening memoir "Hey, Hun" exposes the underbelly of the multilevel marketing industry. As a stay-at-home mother who abandoned her career for her husband and children, Paulson was disillusioned, lonely, and... Read More

In Artem Mozgovoy’s heartbreaking historical novel "Spring in Siberia", a gay man comes of age in a post-Soviet land. In the same year that Mikhail Gorbachev launches the Perestroika and sets the Soviet Union on the path toward its own... Read More

A woman relives her traumatic sexual assault in Tatiana Salem Levy’s epistolary novel "Vista Chinesa". Júlia went for her daily run to Vista Chinesa, a lookout point in Rio de Janeiro, on an ordinary afternoon. While she was... Read More

In Nothing Could Stop Her, Rona Arato tells the remarkable life story of trailblazing Jewish American journalist Ruth Gruber. Born in Brooklyn in 1911 to a Jewish family from Russia, Gruber was unstoppable from the start. Intelligent and... Read More

Loyalties, friendships, and family ties are put to the test in Alyssa Roat’s fantasy novel "Castelon". All hope seems to be lost when Brinnie and Marcus at long last reach Dirklon, one of the few estates standing after disaster struck... Read More

A secret between a husband and a wife threatens their existence in Marijke Schermer’s novel "Breakwater". Bruch is in love with Emilia. Everything about her is right. But without explanation, Emilia stops taking his calls. Her brother... Read More