In the moving latest from Barr (Women on Fire), a Jewish woman survives the Warsaw ghetto to become a Hollywood legend. In 2005, 85-year-old Lena Browning, known for her mid-century femme fatale roles, is approached by young movie star Sienna Hayes, who wants to make a biopic of Lena’s life... Continue reading »

A series of arson attacks lead to the discovery of a much deeper mystery in Auffarth’s jaw-dropping debut. In the small town of Riverside, Ga., police discover the scorched remains of a young woman at the latest in a string of deliberate blazes. After Dalia Wright identifies the body as her daughter... Continue reading »

Wolf (Send Me Their Souls) launches a new trilogy with this breathtaking epic, masterfully weaving threads of science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance, and mystery into a propulsive coming-of-age story. Six hellish months after the noble father that Synali Woster never met murdered her mot... Continue reading »

YA author Wood (the Poppy Pim series) makes her adult debut with an irresistible rockstar romance. Though PhD candidate Clementine “Clemmie” Monroe remains close with her two half sisters, singer Lil and record producer Serena, she otherwise avoids all reminders of their famous rocker dad, even goin... Continue reading »

Kaneko (Bambi and Her Pink Gun) outdoes himself with this gonzo sci-fi reimagining of Osamu Tezuka’s classic manga series Dororo. In Kaneko’s hands, the feudal Japanese setting of Tezuka’s original becomes a futuristic dystopia with a Soviet brutalist aesthetic. In the aftermath of... Continue reading »

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 »

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 »

“A garden is a time capsule, as well as a portal out of time,” according to this searching study. Critic Laing (Everybody) examines how historical British gardens reflect the periods in which they were designed and contemporaneous understandings of paradise on Earth. Some tracts were “found... Continue reading »

This captivating work of cultural criticism from journalist Whippman (America the Anxious), the mother of three young sons, explores how masculine norms deprive boys of connection. Interweaving personal anecdotes and reporting, Whippman discusses struggling to find books, movies, or other m... Continue reading »

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 »

A fledgling teen Valkyrie tries to avert Ragnarök in Finch’s spirited, Norse mythology–inspired debut. Most assume Bryn Martel, her older sisters Prima and Reagan, and their mother are ordinary people who live and work at Ravenswood Medieval Faire, a Chicago-area tourist attraction. In truth, Bryn’s... Continue reading »