Marcela Fuentes. Viking, $29 (384p) ISBN 978-0-593-65578-8
Fuentes debuts with the astonishing story of two malas, or women who challenge traditional Mexican gender norms. The year is 1951 and Pilar Aguirre, who is eight months pregnant with her second child, has recently joined her husband, Jose Alfredo, in the Texas border town of Barrio Caimanes, where h... Continue reading »
Alex Finlay. Minotaur, $28 (336p) ISBN 978-1-250-86379-9
Finlay (What Have We Done) returns with a tightly coiled spine tingler about a law student under suspicion for his high school girlfriend’s disappearance. Five years ago, while Ryan Richardson and his girlfriend, Alison Lane, were on a date, Ryan fell unconscious and Alison vanished. After ... Continue reading »
Mark Lawrence. Ace, $29 (384p) ISBN 978-0-593-43794-0
After the shocking ending to The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, Lawrence has a lot to answer for—and he doesn’t disappoint; there’s no trace of sophomore slump in this fast-paced sequel. The kaleidoscopic story of the vast and perilous athenaeum library continues, again jumping between different ... Continue reading »
Susie Dumond. Dial, $18 trade paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-59627-2
Dumond’s triumphant sophomore outing (after Queerly Beloved) finds heroine Gray hesitant to reenter the dating scene after ending her relationship with her partner of 10 years. Being new to New Orleans, where she’s living in the garage apartment of her childhood best friend Cherry and worki... Continue reading »
Anna Härmälä. Nobrow, $20.99 trade paper (168p) ISBN 978-1-913123-22-2
Härmälä’s wit glows as warmly as her saturated pastel colors in her semi-autobiographical debut about tackling parenthood alone. Her partner dumps her while she’s pregnant, leaving her to shoulder the responsibilities of birthing and then raising their daughter, Alma. After she fantasizes about burn... Continue reading »
Cindy Juyoung Ok. Yale Univ, $20 trade paper (100p) ISBN 978-0-300-27392-2
Winner of the 2023 Yale Younger Poets Prize, Ok in her refreshing debut uses language to push against the staid edges of the status quo, exposing the tenuous and often contradictory beliefs that seemingly undergird reality. With their capacious perspective, these verses bear witness to the hypocrisi... Continue reading »
Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee. Revell, $26.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8007-4275-1
In this tour de force from Brotherton (A Bright and Blinding Sun) and Lee (A Single Light), four friends’ lives change irrevocably when America becomes embroiled in WWII. In 1930s Mobile, Ala., preacher’s son Jimmy Propfield shares an idyllic upbringing with childhood sweetheart Cl... Continue reading »
Morgan Parker. One World, $28 (224p) ISBN 978-0-525-51144-1
For African Americans, “becoming a person, forming an identity” is a “sham assignment from the start,” according to this graceful and deeply personal essay collection from National Book Critics Circle Award–winning poet Parker (Magical Negro). Cataloging a lifetime’s worth of mental health ... Continue reading »
Jack Turban. Atria, $28.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-6680-1704-3
Psychiatrist Turban debuts with a vital parenting guide for raising trans children. Writing for parents who may have little familiarity with trans terminology, Turban explains the basics of gender expression and the importance of using the right pronouns. A wealth of client stories addresses common ... Continue reading »
Corinne Fowler. Scribner, $30 (400p) ISBN 978-1-6680-0397-8
“Colonialism... affected the remotest corners” of Britain’s landscape, demonstrates historian and curator Fowler (Green Unpleasant Land) in this revelatory travelogue-cum-exposé. Narrating ten walks through the British countryside, Fowler traces how a global web of slavery, indentured servi... Continue reading »
Joëlle Retener, illus. by DeAnn Wiley. Barefoot, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 979-8-88859-074-4
It’s Pride Month, and Marley, a Black transgender child who has sensory sensitivities, is anxious about the upcoming festivities. But their grandparent, Zaza, is receiving an award for transgender advocacy and, after years of skipping Pride, Marley wants to attend. Preparations include self-talk and... Continue reading »