A girl raised by Russian immigrants in an Appalachian mining community encounters hardships and love in Mary Kay Zuravleff’s evocative historical novel "American Ending". In a western Pennsylvania coal mining town in the early 1900s,... Read More

Juxtaposing whimsy and seriousness to innovative effect, "Once upon a Wonderland" refreshes classic tales and seeks untold stories. Fairy-tale characters infiltrate Lewis Carroll’s fantasy realm in DJ Stoneham’s novel "Once upon a... Read More

Philip C. Almond’s fascinating and comprehensive cultural study of Mary Magdalene reviews hundreds of interpretations of the revered saint and explores the creative tension between her complex tradition and the history of religious... Read More

Out of the cloister and into the world, a young nun with a tragic past is presented with a chance for a new beginning in Anna Quinn’s novel "Angeline". After taking vows to escape losses that she cannot talk about, Angeline fades into... Read More

Daniel H. Turtel’s "The Family Morfawitz" is an original and striking multigenerational saga centered on a power-hungry family. Inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it follows the determined rise of a family that immigrates to post-war... Read More

In Hemley Boum’s novel Days Come & Go, a woman’s terminal diagnosis triggers memories of her family’s tragic history. Anna grew up without a mother. Her daughter, Abi, has never known a world without her mother in it. But Anna... Read More