As humans wage war on each other and on nature, a visionary Wisconsin forester discovers a poisoned gift within himself in B. Pladek’s historical novel "Dry Land". Rand trained to be a forester after losing his beloved marshland to... Read More

In Ronya Othmann’s captivating novel "The Summers", a German Yazidi girl comes of age in a time of political crisis. Syria is “found on maps, globes, and official documents,” but Leyla, who spends summers there with her... Read More

A child of Houston, Cairo, and Caracas, a mother of three in Bolivia, Emily Bludworth de Barrios comes at her work from all directions at once, with a frenzied takedown of parental angst, violence against women, existential hopelessness,... Read More

In "Plain", Mary Alice Hostetter chronicles her formative years within a Mennonite family and her later quest for personal independence. In Pennsylvania, Hostetter and her siblings worked on her parents’ farm. She also helped with... Read More

In Mary Wimmer’s atmospheric novel "The Art of the Break", a woman inherits her father’s cheese-making business. In mid-1970s Milwaukee, Charlie is having increasing marital problems with Rick, her Vietnam veteran husband. An... Read More

In Kent Quaney’s captivating novel "One Breath from Drowning", pursuits of love and self-fulfillment are complicated by family, religion, finances, and addiction. Sydney is the setting for this detailed story about a thorny romance... Read More

In "Correctional", poet and academic Ravi Shankar reckons with his public fall from grace, which landed him in jail, but also allowed for an inside look at the court system of the United States. Born in Washington, D.C. to Brahmin... Read More