Mourning a BreastXi Xi, trans. from the Chinese by Jennifer Feeley. New York Review Books, $18.95 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-68137-822-0
This superb work of autofiction from Xi (1937–2022), which was originally published in 1992, melds an account of the author’s breast cancer with a reflection on the subjective nature of translation. While showering one day, Xi discovers a lump in her breast, which she initially takes to be a hive, t... Continue reading »
Trouble in QueenstownDelta Pitts. Minotaur, $28 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250-90421-8
In this promising series launch, Pitts (the Ross Agency Mysteries) introduces PI Vandy Myrick, the self-described “toughest bitch” in Queenstown, N.J. After her daughter died of an overdose at a college party, Vandy quit the Philadelphia police department and returned home to Queenstown. Her detecti... Continue reading »
In the Belly of the WhaleMichael Flynn. CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, $19.97 trade paper (306p) ISBN 978-1-64710-101-5
The thought-provoking final novel from Heinlein Medalist Flynn (1947–2023) speaks volumes through its formidable application of hard science fiction principles to softer sociology. Following 2013’s In the Lion’s Mouth, Flynn sets this meditation on human corruptibility within a hollowed-out... 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 Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American SuperpowerMichel Paradis. Mariner, $32.50 (528p) ISBN 978-0-358-68237-0
Dwight Eisenhower’s steady wartime leadership is limned in this meticulous account of the planning of D-Day. Historian Paradis (Last Mission to Tokyo) tracks Eisenhower’s tactful navigation of tricky problems and personalities involved in orchestrating the Allied invasion of occupied Europe... 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 »
Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American ChurchEliza Griswold. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30 (352p) ISBN 978-0-374-60168-3
Pulitzer winner Griswold (Amity and Prosperity) delivers a riveting chronicle of the fracturing of a progressive Christian church during a period of social and political turmoil. In 1996, “hippie church planters” Rod and Gwen White founded the Circle of Hope church in Philadelphia as an alt... Continue reading »
Safiyyah’s WarHiba Noor Khan. Allida, $19.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06335-186-8
Khan (The Extraordinary Life of Malala Yousafzai) offers a WWII story about a Muslim community in Paris, in which tween Safiyyah and her family reside in an apartment in the city’s Grand Mosque, where her father is a director. Safiyyah’s childhood in the serene mosque has been idyllic, enha... Continue reading »
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