Book Review
The Hollow Beast
In Christophe Bernard’s novel "The Hollow Beast", a patriarch’s fervent pursuit of revenge has intergenerational consequences with the emergence of a mysterious beast that haunts one of his descendants decades later. During a fateful...
Book Review
Mr. Patches Is Bored!
Creativity and fun are bolstered at the visual, aural, and textual levels in Mr. Patches is Bored!, a feline-focused picture book that brims with color and adventures. A spectacular cat who’s tired of mundane living sets off on wild...
Book Review
Forty Years to Life
Analytical and entrenched in personal experiences, "Forty Years to Life" is a singular exploration of the experiences of late-transitioning trans people. Brenda Bradford Ward’s memoir–cum–social science survey "Forty Years to Life"...
Book Review
All I Know
Young members of intertwined families forge a complicated bond in the tense coming-of-age novel "All I Know". As she grows up from girlhood, a young woman comes to terms with the devastating effects of her family trauma in Holly C....
Book Review
Emotion Catchers
"Emotion Catchers" is a quaint modern fairy tale that’s most focused on the happenings of daily life. In Beatrice Descamps’s charming coming-of-age novel "Emotion Catchers", girls harness their empathic powers to fight off evil...
Book Review
Animals
In Eva Menasse’s short story collection "Animals", families, parents, and lovers are understood in terms of excerpted zoological descriptions of animal behavior. “Butterfly, Bee, Crocodile” delves into the private grief of a woman...
Book Review
Daughter of a Promise
Women storytellers and communal bases of women’s knowledge undergird a woman’s year of self-discovery in New York in the intimate novel "Daughter of a Promise". In Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg’s coming-of-age novel "Daughter of a...
Book Review
The Prophets of Gentilly Terrace
Political scheming reveals the complicated historical webs that plague diverse contemporary New Orleans in the thrilling novel "The Prophets of Gentilly Terrace". An extortion-related political conspiracy unravels against New Orleans’s...