When narrated by Slack, Lawrence’s philosophical conundrums are easier to follow. Sisters Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen struggle to balance independence, love, and marriage at the start of the twentieth century, in D. H. Lawrence’s... Read More

This resonant novel explores the intersections of truth and fiction. "Fever Tree", by Tim Applegate, takes its name from a band that, to people of a certain age, evoked the promises and disappointments of the late ’60s and early... Read More

In this compelling story, the characters change, and some grow, through choice and consequence. In "A Well-Made Bed", coauthors Abby Frucht and Laurie Alberts use strong and complex characters and an almost campy plot device to explore... Read More

Hollywood’s strivers take a skewering in this noir-ish satire. Beneath the glib Hollywood-insider banter captured on a podcast interview lurks a dark, satirical tale of bad luck, betrayal, and murder in Adam Novak’s book, "Take... Read More

The Texas-Mexico border makes for a thrilling, violent setting for this gritty novel of drug cartels, police dedication, and family. If you live in the American Southwest, newspapers assault you with drug-war statistics. In other parts... Read More

A search for identity through storytelling and an adoption of parental values bring an air of universality to the story of this young narrator. In a mash-up of film noir, fairy tale, and bildungsroman, Danish author Jonas T.... Read More

The constant presence of the past adds intrigue to this part travelogue, part detective novel, set in Italy. Posing as an American buyer of antiquities to help the Italian police bust a ring of thieves, translator Rick Montoya finds... Read More

“The whole father-son thing” drifts into focus in memoir of killer’s son. "Cloudbreak, California" is Kelly Daniels’ memoir of drifting through a series of adventures in Latin America, while attempting to reconcile the fantasy... Read More