Elevator in SaigonThuân, trans. from the Vietnamese by Nguyễn An Lý. New Directions, $16.95 trade paper (192p) ISBN 978-0-8112-3854-0
A Vietnamese woman becomes an amateur sleuth after her mother’s accidental death in the intriguing latest from Thuân (Chinatown). The unnamed 30-year-old narrator, a single mother, teaches Vietnamese language classes in Paris and is occasionally mistaken for her mixed-race son’s nanny. Afte... Continue reading »
Once More from the TopEmily Layden. Mariner, $28 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-331509-9
A Taylor Swift–esque pop star is blindsided by the discovery of her high school best friend’s corpse in this powerhouse sophomore effort from Layden (All Girls). Dylan Read is a chart-topping, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter famous for her diaristic lyrics. The only major life event she ha... Continue reading »
The DissonanceShaun Hamill. Pantheon, $29 (496p) ISBN 978-0-593-31725-9
Hamill (A Cosmology of Monsters) returns with a dark and enchanting account of four friends whose dabbling in the supernatural as teenagers threatens their present happiness. In the 1990s, Hal, Athena, Erin, and Peter discover the Dissonance, which enables them to transform negative emotion... Continue reading »
Ne’er Duke WellAlexandra Vasti. Griffin, $18 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-250-91094-3
An American in London pairs with a seemingly respectable lady with a licentious secret in the captivating first Belvoir’s Library Regency from Vasti (the Halifax Hellions series). New Orleans native Peter Kent never expected to inherit a British dukedom, but now that he has, he’s determined to use t... Continue reading »
The Puerto Rican War: A Graphic HistoryJohn Vasquez Mejias. Union Square, $20 (112p) ISBN 978-1-4549-5246-6
Indie cartoonist Mejias’s energetic trade debut, an Angoulême award winner, depicts 20th-century Puerto Rican history in striking woodcut panels. The bulk of the account takes place in 1950, as members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist movement launch an uprising against U.S. control of the island. Af... Continue reading »
Fugitive/RefugePhilip Metres. Copper Canyon, $22 trade paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-55659-669-8
The powerful sixth book from Metres (Shrapnel Maps), who is of Lebanese descent, confronts the trials of the present moment—including forced migration, climate change, and nationalism—through his family’s migration story. Metres wields poetic forms (among them odes, sonnets, and prayers) to... Continue reading »
The Long March HomeMarcus 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 »
The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920Manisha Sinha. Liveright, $39.99 (544p) ISBN 978-1-63149-844-2
In this ambitious study, historian Sinha (The Slave’s Cause) traces Reconstruction’s ramifications beyond its span as official government policy from 1865 to 1877. She proposes that the 60-year period between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the ratification of the 19th Amendment comprised a ... Continue reading »
The Levantine Vegetarian: Recipes from the Middle EastSalma Hage. Phaidon, $39.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-83866-764-1
Hage (The Lebanese Kitchen) extols the vegetarian bounty of the Levant in this appealing collection. The region is known for its vegetable sharing plates, but Hage goes well beyond mezze. A brunch chapter includes muffin-style buns—made with a batter that incorporates cooked, soaked, and gr... Continue reading »
Somehow: Thoughts on LoveAnne Lamott. Riverhead, $22 (208p) ISBN 978-0-593-71441-6
Lamott (Dusk, Night, Dawn) brings her signature wit and warmth to these effervescent meditations on matters of the heart. Drawing from across her life, Lamott details how seemingly lost love can be transmuted into different forms, recalling how friends and family stepped in after she was br... Continue reading »
Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on FirePaula Yoo. Norton, $19.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-324-03090-4
Via vivid prose, Yoo (From a Whisper to a Rally) depicts the events surrounding the acquittal of the four police officers who brutalized Black motorist Rodney King in 1992 L.A. By centering the violent attempted arrest of Black 21-year-old Marquette Frye in 1965, the author contextualizes t... Continue reading »
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