A half-submerged island is the setting of a love story “not meant for land” in "When Water Became Blue", Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s sweetly wanton novel about women’s desire. Brought to shore by her partner and child, Anaïs, a... Read More

In the big city where Lisa lives, all she hears is silence, and all she sees are people on their phones. Wanting to help people see beauty again, she sets off through the countryside, through a forest, through a labyrinth, to the sea,... Read More

In Ludwig Volbeda’s intimate novel "Self Portrait", a lovesick teenager grapples with their self-image. During a school break, Jip struggles with their art class assignment. Between their attic bedroom sketches and... Read More

In Harry Mathews’s literary novel "The Conversions", stories nest, esoterica abound, sentences fail, and gibberish is spoken. A beguiling unnamed narrator with distinguished connections and intellectual leanings attends a gathering... Read More

Sara Gothelf Bloom’s sophisticated novel-in-vignettes "Just Enough to Start Over" is about an artistic German Jewish family in exile from the Nazis. There are three Dubrovsky sisters: Bertha, a talented musician; Annelene, a gifted... Read More

An orphaned toad journeys through the natural world in the magnificent graphic novel "Alyte". Alyte is one of many eggs on his father’s back. When his father dies, he is thrown into a harsh but beautiful world. After meeting other... Read More

Catharina Coenen’s memoir-in-essays "Unexploded Ordnance" draws on history, biology, philosophy, and linguistics to explore social trauma and unspoken, inherited memories. A German immigrant, Coenen moved to the United States for... Read More

With intimate black-and-white illustrations and prose that reads like an incantation, this picture book seeks to banish the darkness of winter and summon the light of spring. Deep in the darkness of winter, a little girl must seek out,... Read More