A young family ripped apart by one parent’s early death is hardly new territory in fiction, and neither is the terrain of a strong widow holding together her family, forging a newly independent life, and succeeding against odds. Yet,... Read More

When a nonfiction book defies description (and that’s not a criticism), it helps to consider the extra-long subtitle publishers currently slather across book covers. In the case of Baxter Black’s book, Lessons From a Desperado Poet... Read More

Very early in Clark Blaise’s new collection, a sociology graduate student sits in Vivek Waldekar’s California kitchen and blurts the purpose of her research: “the problems of adjustment and assimilation” for successful South... Read More

One pleasure of this quirky, heartfelt novel is the feeling of being in direct conversation with the first-person narrator—an odd, spirited, and no-nonsense woman who speaks up even, one gets the sense, when she ought to know better.... Read More

Ken Harvey wants to be married, a reasonable enough desire, since he’s been part of a cohabitating couple for nearly a decade. But little is easy for a gay couple, even one living in Massachusetts before, during, and after the same-sex... Read More

Even without having seen her PBS Nature documentaries chronicling the wild horses of Montana’s Arrowhead Mountains, readers will appreciate Ginger Kathrens’ heartfelt book, Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions. The oversized book is... Read More

Themed anthologies strive to present a buffet, varied yet unified, so readers attracted by the overall idea can dig in and find, perhaps to their delight, that their favorite bites are sometimes not those they anticipated. Bob Cowser... Read More

Whether one arrives at a Las Vegas resort in a taxicab, shuttle bus, Maserati, or stretch limo, a visitor is greeted by a doorman who radiates welcoming optimism. Gamblers, vacationers and business travelers emerging from the hotel,... Read More