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These books highlight heroes who give courage to our souls—but most of all, they reveal the true, relatable humanity beneath their subjects’ seemingly supernatural heroism.

The Black Rose by Tananarive Due

The story of Madame C.J. Walker, the first self-made female millionaire, is one of the most remarkable American success stories. Her life inspired Netflix’s recent series “Self Made,” but I prefer The Black Rose, a gripping work of historical fiction by award-winning author Tananarive Due that chronicles Walker’s rags-to-riches rise. The first person in her family born free, Walker survived an abusive marriage and raised a daughter on a meager salary before launching a hair-care empire for black women. Ambitious and tenacious, Walker held fast to the idea that women like her deserved to feel beautiful and were willing to pay for it—despite naysayers all around, including famous men like Booker T. Washington. But money talks, and Walker’s success soon spoke for itself. She never forgot where she came from, giving back until her untimely death at 51.

—Trisha, Publisher

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

Mackenzi Lee followed The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue with another smashingly entertaining historical road trip, this time focused on aspiring doctor Felicity Montague. Entering the medical field was nearly impossible for an 18th-century woman (even a rich, white woman), and Lee strikes the perfect balance between inspiration and historical realism. This is not a simple “girl power” fable. Felicity confronts her own internalized misogyny as she comes to appreciate women whose dreams and personalities are different from her own but no less valid or deserving of respect. The characters in Lady’s Guide know they are outliers in their own time, but they press forward anyway, confident that they are blazing a path for the generations of women who will come after them.

—Savanna, Associate Editor

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

The Mirabal sisters of Julia Alvarez’s powerful novel may sound like the stuff of myth, but they were real. Four women, known as “the Butterflies,” joined an underground movement in the late 1950s against President Rafael Trujillo and became legends of resistance for the Dominican people. Three sisters died in the process, but they mobilized a nation to liberate itself from a decades-long dictatorship. Alvarez’s novel, like many feminist Latin American works, is rebellious even in its form, mixing timelines and genres in a polyphonic, metafictive masterpiece. During dark times, our impulse can be to protect ourselves before others, to stay silent out of fear. Stirring to its very core, Alvarez’s novel captures the crucial shift when a person decides to stand up for what they truly believe in, no matter the cost.

—Cat, Deputy Editor

The Life of Frederick Douglass by David F. Walker, illustrated by Damon Smyth & Marissa Louise

Few Americans are more remarkable than Frederick Douglass. To learn about his extraordinary life and work, you could read the autobiographies he wrote during his lifetime, or one of the thorough biographies that have been penned since his death. Or, for a totally different avenue into the history of abolition, you could read David F. Walker’s stunning graphic biography. Written in the voice of Douglass himself and illustrated with at times violent, at times beautiful scenes from Douglass’ life, this book offers a high-level portrait that is more humanizing, vivid and heart-stirring than words alone could paint. When the world seems full of impassable obstacles, The Life of Frederick Douglass is a helpful reminder of how to knock them down.

—Christy, Associate Editor

Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough

Blood Water Paint is an incredible true story. Artemisia Gentileschi, the daughter of an art dealer in Rome during the early 1600s and a talented painter in her own right, was attacked and raped by one of her father’s business associates. Defying convention, Gentileschi pressed charges against her attacker, risking everything—including her future as an artist—to seek justice for herself. Joy McCullough tells Gentileschi’s story in 99 poems, interspersed with the prose stories of Susanna and Judith, the biblical women depicted in two of Gentileschi’s best-known paintings. Gentileschi’s voice on the page is arresting, and her determination to prevail and carve out a life for herself as an artist, even in the face of horror and trauma, is unforgettable. You’ll never look at Gentileschi’s paintings the same way again.

—Stephanie, Associate Editor

Each month, BookPage staff share special reading lists comprised of our personal favorites, old and new.

These books highlight heroes who give courage to our souls—but most of all, they reveal the true, relatable humanity beneath their subjects’ seemingly supernatural heroism.

Debut Fiction, Family Drama, Fiction

Fiction Family Drama Debut Fiction

Book Clubs: Secrets of suburbia

Feature by Julie Hale

by Julie Hale

Reading groups who fell for Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere—now a series on Hulu—will savor these smart, sophisticated and brisk domestic dramas.

Anna Benz, the protagonist of Jill Alexander Essbaum’s Hausfrau, leads an affluent life in Switzerland with her family. But when an increasing sense of emptiness—and a distant husband—lead her into a string of secret sexual assignations, she becomes caught up in a web of lies. This bold debut from Essbaum succeeds thanks to its nuanced portrayal of Anna. How much do gender stereotypes play into our responses to a character like Anna? Prepare for a lively debate.

In Ask Again, Yes, Mary Beth Keane shrewdly dissects the tensions and connections between two families. Both new to the NYPD in 1973, Brian Stanhope and Francis Gleeson are next-door neighbors grappling with work and personal issues. Lena, Francis’ wife, feels isolated, while Brian’s wife, Anne, is becoming increasingly volatile. The entwining of their lives over decades results in emotional devastation for everyone involved. Expect serious discussion of topics like mental illness and addiction, stemming from Keane’s portrayal of the ways families can be torn apart. Yet there’s hope in this dark drama, as Keane’s characters reckon with the past and find redemption and grace.

Suburban life is anything but dull in Joshilyn Jackson’s Never Have I Ever, another new paperback release. Contented wife and mother Amy Whey’s peaceful existence is turned upside down during a book club meeting where she meets the captivating Angelica Roux. Angelica knows about a terrible incident from Amy’s past, and when she threatens blackmail, Amy must outmaneuver her. Readers can unpack themes of female friendship, morality and loyalty while delighting in the intricate, twisty plot and the novel’s singular momentum. Taut and enthralling, Jackson’s novel will inspire rousing conversation—while also providing an effortless read.

Any Big Little Lies superfans in your group? Pick up another winner from Liane Moriarty, The Husband’s Secret, which shares the same blend of propulsive writing and penetrating social commentary. Cecilia Fitzpatrick finds a letter from her husband that she’s not supposed to open until after his death. She reads it—naturally—only to learn that he harbors a shocking secret with repercussions that go well beyond their family. It’s the worst (best?) possible permutation of the “How well do you know your spouse?” plot, and readers of this provocative novel can look forward to fascinating discussion when their group convenes.

Reading groups who fell for Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere—now a series on Hulu—will savor these smart, sophisticated and brisk domestic dramas.

Mystery

Mystery

Whodunit: May 2020

Feature by Bruce Tierney

by Bruce Tierney

Two genre stalwarts, a surprising genre-bender and a promising debut top the list of this month's best new mysteries.

★ Shakespeare for Squirrels

Nobody writes mystery novels quite like Christopher Moore. In one of his books, the protagonist is helped and plagued in equal measure by the Navajo trickster spirit, Coyote. In another, a prehistoric sea beast is aroused from a long sleep and emits a pheromone that inspires uncontrollable lust in anyone within range. His latest, Shakespeare for Squirrels, is the third in a series, following Fool and The Serpent of Venice. Each entry is roughly based on a play by William Shakespeare and features a main character named Pocket, who is a Fool—as in, a court jester. The bones of the story resemble Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, although in much the same way that a dinosaur skeleton resembles a living, breathing dinosaur chasing you through a prehistoric field. From that loose starting point, Moore builds relationships that didn’t exist in the original work, fleshes out conversations that Shakespeare only alluded to and creates from whole cloth some conversations that were never had (with verbiage decidedly bawdier than in the original). And as hilarious as A Midsummer Night’s Dream is to begin with, Moore adds a contemporary dose of sly humor that I think would impress the Bard.

Before She Was Helen

It’s not often that I read a suspense novel in which the protagonist is older than I am, so I was delighted to meet Clemmie Lakefield, the feisty and likable 70-something heroine of Caroline B. Cooney’s clever new mystery, Before She Was Helen. Clemmie harbors a secret so big that it required a midlife identity change. But when you’re trying to hide from your past, you never know what random occurrence may blow your cover. She was just checking on a shut-in neighbor, using the key he had given her, when she saw an unusual door and, naturally, opened it. It led into an adjacent neighbor’s home, where Clemmie feasted her eyes upon a beautiful glass sculpture. She sent a photo of it to her grandnephew, who ran a Google image search and discovered that it had been stolen. So he posted a note to the artist’s website, saying: “Your rig is sitting on a table in the house next door to my aunt.” When the police find a body in situ and Clemmie’s fingerprints nearby, her carefully constructed secret identity is threatened—with potentially lethal consequences. Half cozy Miss Marple vibe, half gritty murder mystery, this genre-bender works better than I would have ever expected.

Editor’s note: Before She Was Helen was originally scheduled for publication on May 5, but its publication was delayed until Sept. 8 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Silence on Cold River

Early on in her debut thriller, Silence on Cold River, author Casey Dunn describes rural Tarson, Georgia, as “more like a morgue than it was like Mayberry.” It will prove to be a prophetic characterization as three people from wildly disparate lives rendezvous with destiny on a rarely traversed mountain trail: Ama Chaplin, a successful defense attorney; Michael Walton, Ama’s former client, erroneously acquitted of animal cruelty; and Eddie Stevens, returning to the scene of his daughter’s disappearance one year later, gun in hand, suicide in mind, to ensure that his daughter’s case is never forgotten. But life has other plans for Eddie. When he notices that Ama has not returned to her car after a reasonable time, he sets off into the woods to make sure she’s OK. An abduction and a shooting follow in quick succession, and one person lies on the forest floor, bleeding out. Enter police detective Martin Locklear, tentatively distancing himself from his demons and eager to prove his worth once again. From there, Dunn ratchets up the tension with each successive chapter en route to a satisfying conclusion. Silence on Cold River doesn’t feel like a suspense debut but rather the work of a genre veteran. Read it, and you will be on the lookout for whatever Dunn writes next.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Casey Dunn on fate and the importance of perspective.

Dead Land

Dead Land is Sara Paretsky’s latest mystery featuring the inimitable V.I. Warshawski. One of the major themes in the series is the political cesspool that is Chicago. Time and time again, Warshawski is drawn into investigating the shady dealings of Windy City businessmen and politicians. This time, those dealings still persist (hey, it’s Chicago, of course they do) but with international implications that date back to the repressive Pinochet dictatorship in 1970s Chile. A homeless folk singer is the link. Her deceased boyfriend, killed apparently at random in a mass shooting, was once an anti-Pinochet activist, and the repercussions echo forward to present day. As always, Warshawski is a dyed-in-the-wool, capital-L Liberal, and I suspect that her positions may ruffle a few capital-C Conservative feathers. But it’s only when our feathers get ruffled that we stand any chance of being motivated to rethink our positions on things. Paretsky might just be the Ruth Rendell of her era. Each time she releases a new book, it is invariably better than all the others that came before, and Dead Land continues this tradition with aplomb.

Two genre stalwarts, a surprising genre-bender and a promising debut top the list of this month's best new mysteries.

American History, Fiction, Nonfiction, YA, YA Fiction

Nonfiction Fiction YA Fiction YA American History

Book Clubs: Immigration sagas

Feature by Julie Hale

by Julie Hale

In these stories of farewells and fresh starts, crafted with discernment and compassion, book clubs will find inspiration for vibrant discussion.

Eitan Green, an Israeli surgeon, is involved in a fateful accident in Ayelet Gundar-Goshen’s suspenseful novel Waking Lions. During a late-night drive, Eitan hits and kills an Eritrean man and leaves the scene. When the victim’s wife tracks him down, she agrees to keep silent about the incident if Eitan promises to secretly treat undocumented Eritrean immigrants. Eitan agrees, but the decision leads him into a web of deceit. This razor-sharp examination of the plight of displaced peoples will give reading groups plenty to talk about as it delves into questions of integrity, loyalty and honesty.

For reading groups that enjoy science and social history, Daniel Okrent’s The Guarded Gate focuses on the eugenics movement in early 20th-century America and how it helped bring about the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act, a law that prevented millions of Europeans from immigrating to the United States. This volume is a sobering, expansive study of discrimination and nativism, but it’s also eminently readable thanks to Okrent’s accessible writing style.

In Rakesh Satyal’s novel No One Can Pronounce My Name, Harit, a middle-aged Indian immigrant, lives with his troubled mother in the Cleveland suburbs. They are each mourning the death of Harit’s sister, Swati, in their own ways. Harit finds an unexpected friend in Ranjana, a fellow immigrant coping with her own losses by secretly writing paranormal romances. Satyal fashions a narrative tinged with melancholy and humor in this rewarding book, which engages with issues of gender roles and family ties.

American Street, Ibi Zoboi’s debut YA novel, tells the story of 16-year-old Fabiola, who leaves Haiti to settle with her mother, Valerie, in Detroit. When they arrive in the United States, Valerie is detained by customs officials. After being taken in by her American cousins, Fabiola grapples with an unfamiliar culture while trying to hold on to the traditions of home. Poignant but hopeful, American Street is a powerful examination of identity and kinship that’s enriched by Zoboi’s use of Haitian mythology. It’s an unforgettable account of the difficulties of assimilation and the experience of being an outsider.

In these stories of farewells and fresh starts, crafted with discernment and compassion, book clubs will find inspiration for vibrant discussion.

Mystery

Mystery

Whodunit: June 2020

Feature by Bruce Tierney

by Bruce Tierney

Remarkable protagonists and surprising settings make this collection of suspenseful stories stand out.

★ The Shooting at Château Rock

Martin Walker’s wildly popular Bruno, Chief of Police series chronicles the adventures of Benoît “Bruno” Courrèges, chief of police of the fictional town of St. Denis in the Périgord region of southwestern France. Bruno loves horseback riding, basset hounds, truffles, fine wines, gourmet cooking, rugby and beautiful women, not necessarily in that order. In The Shooting at Château Rock, the affable but diligent policeman finds himself on the trail of some pretty nasty killers who are possibly connected to the Putin administration in Russia. Two parallel but interconnected real estate deals anchor the plot, one of them centered on a retirement village that is inexplicably bleeding thousands of euros every month, the other involving the palatial home of a former rock star whose son is enamored of a young Russian flautist with more than a passing connection to the aforementioned killers. Those who have read this column for a while know that Martin Walker’s books get reviewed often. This is because: a) they are consistently excellent; b) I really want to know Bruno, to eat at his dinner table with his charming and entertaining guests, to play fetch with his basset hound, Balzac; and c) I really want to be Bruno.

The Fire Thief

When the body of a teenage boy turns up on a lava beach in Maui, the initial assumption is that he had a surfing accident. That assumption is laid to rest after a shark’s tooth is discovered in the boy’s skull. It is quickly determined that the tooth is not there as a result of bad dental hygiene on the part of a sea predator. The boy was bludgeoned to death by an ancient Hawaiian war club, or a modern reproduction thereof, lined with shark’s teeth at the business end. The arrival of Detective Kali Ma¯hoe on the scene foreshadows one of the most compelling meldings of mystery and mythology since Tony Hillerman first put pen to paper in the Leaphorn and Chee series. As sightings of a legendary and malevolent faceless spirit mount, Kali must question her own long-held beliefs while remaining rooted in modern police procedures. Debra Bokur’s page-turning debut novel, The Fire Thief, covers all the bases I need in a mystery: individualistic lead, check; Hercule Poirot-level detection skills, check; plot-driven narrative that does not neglect other stylistic elements, check. It earns bonus points for depicting a lovely palm-ringed island destination, warts and all (high crime rate, the endless enmity of the haves and the have-nots). Even paradise has a seamy underbelly.

Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery

The summer of 1967 was the Summer of Love. If you were straight, it was a year promising unfettered experiences of the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll variety. If you were gay, however, you could be fired or evicted (or worse) if outed. The clubs you visited would routinely get raided. And so it comes to pass that lesbian ex-CIA agent Vera Kelly loses her lover and her job on the very same day. She isn’t going to get any sort of job reference, so after evaluating her highly particular skill set, she opts to open a private investigation agency in Rosalie Knecht’s second Vera Kelly book, Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery. Most callers assume Vera is the secretary; when they find out she is the lead (and sole) investigator, they hang up. But just as her financial situation is getting dire, she lands a client—a Dominican couple hoping to track down their missing nephew, the scion of a prominent Santo Domingo family. Vera bounces between the Big Apple and the Caribbean in search of answers, always staying one step ahead of the bad guys. And maybe, if she is lucky, she will save the life of a desperately ill child who has, up to now, been a pawn in a deadly political chess game. Knecht’s stylish mystery is impossible to put down and just begging for a third installment.

What You Don’t See

Cass Raines was once one of the few African American women on the Chicago police force, before she hung out her shingle as a private investigator. In Tracy Clark’s latest mystery, What You Don’t See, the take-no-guff PI finds herself serving as bodyguard/babysitter to Vonda Allen, a spoiled and decidedly annoying magazine publisher who has been receiving graphic death threats. When Cass’ assignment partner, Ben Mickerson, is badly slashed by a mystery assailant while accompanying Vonda to a book signing, Cass must delve into the personal history of her client in a frantic endeavor to ferret out a killer before they can strike again. Complicating matters is the fact that Vonda displays no desire whatsoever to help out; it would appear that whatever secrets she is guarding are more important to her than whatever danger she may be in. Subplots abound, as they do in real life, and Clark works them in smoothly, lending interesting, everyday challenges to a narrative that already has no shortage of excitement.

Remarkable protagonists and surprising settings make this collection of suspenseful stories stand out.

Family Drama, Fiction, Memoir, Nonfiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA, YA Fiction

Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Fiction YA Fiction YA Memoir Family Drama

8 ways to spend a summer day

Feature by BookPage contributors

by BookPage contributors

When the sun is high and a summer afternoon stretches out before you with zero expectations, a great book—read for inspiration, thrills or pure enjoyment—is all you need.

★ Happy and You Know It

For readers who want the fun of reality TV but the heart of a good drama

Laura Hankin’s Happy and You Know It is the sort of novel that can suck a reader in and hold them until a whole day has passed, but it’s also a multidimensional story with riches revealed through close attention. After Claire is fired from her band, she’s trying to pay her way through New York City life, and a gig as a playgroup musician will have to do. The mothers in the group are wealthy and wellness-obsessed, but they easily incorporate Claire into their lives, and she welcomes the inclusion. As the playgroup moms work out their insecurities—within themselves and within their friendships—the metaphorical masks they wear begin to slip. With a light hand and a touch of mystery, Hankin’s debut explores feminism, class and the expectations placed on mothers. This is a romp with substance, consumed as easily as a beach read but offering ample opportunities for self-reflection.

—Carla Jean Whitley

Safecracker

For readers who want fiery pacing

Michael Maven is a New York thief who’s very good at his job and thinks that his next gig, stealing a rare coin from a rich guy’s apartment, should be easy. Then the job is interrupted by a mysterious woman, and within a matter of days, Michael finds himself at the center of a deadly web of drug cartels, crooked cops, the FBI and the woman who very nearly killed him—twice. Tight, thrilling and charming, Safecracker is a new take on the classic “crook-in-over-his-head” crime story, unfolding through Michael’s effortlessly cool narration. In prose that calls to mind the breeziest work of crime legends like Elmore Leonard, author Ryan Wick drives his narrative forward like a freight train. It’s expertly paced, witty and surprising, while also retaining a sense of the familiar that only comes from a love of the genre.

—Matthew Jackson

Editor’s note: Safecracker was originally scheduled for publication on June 2, 2020, but it has been canceled by the publisher. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Madwoman and the Roomba

For readers looking for the humor in housework

In The Madwoman and the Roomba, Sandra Tsing Loh finds comedy in the indignities and absurdities of contemporary life while chronicling her 55th year. In two earlier nonfiction books, Loh adjusted to motherhood and went through a rocky divorce. This time, Loh is happily divorced and happily post-menopausal but still recording her life with let-it-all-hang-out charm. She recalls her embarrassing, claustrophobic freakout at the March for Science and tries to unleash her inner midlife goddess while parenting two teenagers. She describes her efforts to improve her terrible front yard, hire a painter, understand her malfunctioning high-tech fridge and follow her new cookbook’s recipes. Loh’s tone is chatty and self-deprecating, like having a glass of wine or a long phone call with your favorite witty, goofy friend. Because the narrative is loosely structured, you can read straight through or just dip into an essay when the mood strikes.

—Sarah McCraw Crow

★ The Obsidian Tower

For readers who believe that any season can be the season of the witch

In the kingdom of Morgrain, there is a castle. In that castle is a great black tower. And inside that tower, behind innumerable and impenetrable enchantments, is a door that should never be opened. Ryx, who has the power to kill anything she touches, is the Warden charged with keeping it safe. When a visiting mage ventures too close to the magic of the tower, Ryx finds herself at the heart of an international crisis. She must use all of her wits and talent to keep Morgrain, and the world, safe from unspeakable ruin. Like any good mystery, Melissa Caruso’s The Obsidian Tower slowly feeds the reader clue after clue, never fully revealing everything at once. But this book has moments of real pain and longing that have nothing to do with magic or towers. Not being able to have physical contact with anyone has changed Ryx, and the choices she makes to subvert or embrace this fact are beautiful and terrible—which makes her eventual confrontation with some very nasty magic all the more satisfying.

—Chris Pickens

My Kind of People

For readers who find strength in community

Sky is only 10 years old, but she’s experienced as much pain and confusion as someone three times her age. Although she was abandoned at a fire station as a newborn, she found a home with her adoptive parents. Now she’s starting over again, and this time she’s old enough to be aware of the pain. Sky’s adoptive parents have died in a car crash, and their will designates that Leo, Sky’s father’s best friend from childhood, will become her guardian. Leo is torn up at the loss of his friend, and now he must create a loving home for Sky. Her presence sends Leo and his husband, Xavier, into a tailspin. In My Kind of People, novelist Lisa Duffy paints a portrait of a community of people trying to find out who they are—and with whom they can be themselves. As neighbors jump in to help raise Sky, or to weigh in on what Leo could do better, Sky and Leo wrestle with their understanding of their changing circumstances. Duffy’s story is sweet but never cloying, and she’s unafraid to depict uncomfortable circumstances as the tale unfolds.

—Carla Jean Whitley

★ Last Tang Standing

For readers who say they hate drama but actually love it

It is a truth universally acknowledged that mothers will meddle in their daughters’ love lives. For Andrea Tang, a successful 33-year-old lawyer in Singapore, that truism extends to her aunties, cousins and anyone else who can claim relation to her. What everyone wants to know is, when will she get married? After ending a long-term relationship, Andrea feels the pressure to find The One while also putting in as many billable hours as possible to secure a partnership in her law firm. Her friends offer support, but Andrea can’t stop thinking about Suresh, her officemate and competition for partner. He’s annoying, engaged to a beautiful but domineering Londoner and not at all Andrea’s type. Except that he’s exactly her type. Author Lauren Ho is a former legal adviser, and her debut novel is a blast. With a relatable, laugh-out-loud protagonist, Last Tang Standing is a near-perfect blend of Crazy Rich Asians and Bridget Jones’s Diary, yet it still feels wholly original.

—Amy Scribner

Look

For readers who miss their feminist film studies class

In Zan Romanoff’s YA novel Look, Lulu Shapiro has mastered Flash, a Snapchat-like app that shares her perfectly edited life with 10,000 followers. But a racy Flash, meant to be private, accidentally goes public, and now everyone has seen Lulu being intimate with another young woman. Her classmates think she just did it for attention, but Lulu is bisexual and fears what sharing this truth about herself could mean for her popularity. Then Lulu meets the beguiling Cass and her friend Ryan, a trust-fund kid refurbishing an old hotel. With no phones allowed at the hotel, Lulu experiences a social life less focused on carefully curated images. She feels like she can truly be herself—until an abuse of trust brings it all crashing down. Anyone who has engaged in content creation—even just photos on Instagram—will have a lot to chew on regarding the praise and scorn women experience based on how they depict themselves. The cast of characters is almost entirely teens, but older readers will take a lot from Look as well. Self-commodification hardly started with Snapchat, after all.

—Jessica Wakeman

Rockaway

For readers ready to ride a wave of emotion

In 2010, following her divorce, Diane Cardwell finds herself shuffling listlessly through her life and work as a New York Times reporter. Casting about for an assignment, she heads out to Montauk, Long Island, and spies a group of surfers out in the shimmering surf. Transfixed by this group of men and women, she begins trekking out to Rockaway Beach from her Brooklyn apartment to take lessons and join her newfound troop. Cardwell dives into surfing, alternating between fear of failure and dogged determination. As she gains confidence and develops her own style, she moves to Rockaway Beach, buys a little cottage and a board and thrives in her new neighborhood. When Hurricane Sandy hits in 2012, she rides it out in Rockaway with some of her friends, and they emerge as an even more tightknit community. In Rockaway, Cardwell’s moving story washes over the reader with its emotionally rich portrayal of the ragged ways we can embrace our vulnerabilities in order to overcome them.

—Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this feature incorrectly stated that Lauren Ho is a former attorney.

When the sun is high and a summer afternoon stretches out before you with zero expectations, a great book—read for inspiration, thrills or pure enjoyment—is all you need.

Family Saga, Fiction, Nature, Nonfiction, YA, YA Fiction

Nonfiction Fiction YA Fiction YA Nature Family Saga

The Hold List: Explore the great outdoors

Feature by the editors of BookPage

by the editors of BookPage

Beautiful vistas. Shocking greenery. Bright, airy calm. Nature is magnificent, but sometimes the bug bites, poison ivy and boot-staining mud are not. Here are five literary landscapes you can discover from the comfort of your couch.

A Girl of the Limberlost

The U.S. is full of landscapes that capture the imagination, but the ones that remain are only a fraction of what once existed. Gene Stratton-Porter has preserved one of these lost natural wonders, the Limberlost Swamp of Indiana, in her bestselling 1909 book, A Girl of the Limberlost. As lonely young Elnora Comstock roams the swamp to collect moth specimens, Stratton-Porter uses her keen naturalist’s eye to bring its eerie beauty, watery dangers (quicksand!) and unique fauna to life. She hoped the book would encourage conservation of the wetlands, which were being ravaged by oil rigs and drained for agriculture. Read this classic to immerse yourself in a lost world, then console yourself with the fact that, due to recent conservation efforts, a small portion of the swamp has begun to bounce back.

—Trisha, Publisher

A Wizard of Earthsea

Practically all of the important action in Ursula K. Le Guin’s iconic fantasy novel happens outdoors on the windswept seas and craggy islands of Earthsea. Le Guin’s mages skip along the enormous ocean in small boats pushed by winds that they command, or they transform into birds to fly from island to island. As her protagonist, Ged, travels from the harsh island of Gont to a school for wizards on the island of Roke and then embarks on a quest to hunt down a shadow creature, Le Guin treats readers to one stunning vista after another. My personal favorite is the island of Pendor, which was once a stronghold for pirates and outlaws before their vast treasure attracted the attention of dragons. Once the dragons took over the island, they used the towers of Pendor as glamorous perches before flying off to terrorize unsuspecting villagers.

—Savanna, Associate Editor

Gathering Moss

Recently I have fallen back in love with moss, that ubiquitous, unexamined miniature landscape that is, rather surprisingly, absolutely everywhere—on the driveway and in sidewalk cracks, adorning tree trunks and hiding in the garden. It’s so small that it can easily become set dressing to the larger wonders of the forest, but through naturalist Robin Wall Kimmerer’s eyes, there is nothing more exciting or life-giving than a carpet of moss. In this loving series of personal essays, she is a gracious guide to the boundary layer where mosses flourish, blending scientific detail with poetic ruminations on her life spent observing these tiny rainforests. Her love of the mossy world is as buoyant as deep peat, and she leaves her readers with a profound sense of stewardship. If you’re like me, you’ll soon find any opportunity to stop and pet the moss.

—Cat, Deputy Editor

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Who better to deliver a shock to your stay-at-home system than Annie Dillard? Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is her nature writing masterpiece, full of all the scenery and savagery, tranquility and tragedy, mystery and miracle of the great outdoors—“beauty tangled in a rapture with violence,” as Dillard put it. This work of narrative nonfiction documents a year she spent exploring the natural world around her home in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley, through which the titular Tinker Creek runs. Dillard plays the part of pious sojourner, venerating monarch butterflies, muskrats, grasshoppers and pond scum in prose that is alternatingly lilting and electric. If summer’s monotony has dulled your senses, I recommend dipping into this iconic collection for a jolt of wonder.

—Christy, Associate Editor

Prodigal Summer

I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer for the first time one summer in Boston. I’d moved into an attic bedroom in a sprawling old house in Lower Allston, a neighborhood overrun with college students like myself. It had unfinished wood floors, mice and no air conditioning, so I often stayed up into the cooler hours of the morning reading, then caught a few hours of sleep before I had to head downtown for work. Kingsolver’s tale of the intersecting lives of humans and creatures in Appalachia was intoxicating. Reading it felt like falling under an enchantment—particularly since I was in the heart of a big city. Kingsolver explores the connections between humans and nature in many of her works, but this is the one I find myself returning to every year when the trees turn green and the sun shines warm.

—Stephanie, Associate Editor

A Girl of the Limberlost

The U.S.…

American History, Audio, Memoir, Nonfiction, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Technology

Science Fiction & Fantasy Romance Nonfiction Audio Technology Memoir American History

Lockdown listening: Our favorite quarantine audiobooks

Feature by the editors of BookPage

by the editors of BookPage

For years, audiobooks have been our constant companions while cooking, cleaning and gardening—and in the age of COVID-19, we’re spending a lot more time doing those things than we used to. A few of the BookPage editors share the audiobooks that have been keeping us company in quarantine.

Cat, Deputy Editor

Of all the quarantine reading and listening I’ve done, no audiobook has inspired more people to ask me for more information than You Never Forget Your First, Alexis Coe’s myth-busting biography of George Washington. Coe contextualizes and humanizes Washington’s victories and losses on the battlefield, his many (many) illnesses, his politics and home life in a whole new way, and it’s made all the more accessible by Brittany Pressley’s wry, clear narration. Most importantly, you’ll explore the hypocrisy in Washington’s fight for liberation from British rule while keeping black people enslaved. For readers interested in thinking critically about American history, this is a good start.

I didn’t think it was possible to be more chained to my phone—and thus, more uncomfortable with my relationship to social media—but here we are in a pandemic, and nearly all our social interactions are now on screens. Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing has helped temper those feelings by providing guidance to resist the guilt of feeling unproductive and the demands on our attention. I find Rebecca Gibel’s narration to be hypnotic in its dryness, allowing me to reprioritize and realign where I give my focus.

Stephanie, Associate Editor

My thoughts have increasingly strayed to the week each year my family spends at a condo on the Florida gulf—specifically, to the books I read on last summer’s trip, one of which was Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue, which feels like an Aaron Sorkin production with the more melodramatic moments of “The Crown.” When I decided to reexperience it via the audiobook, I’m not sure whether I was motivated by a desire to return to the world McQuiston’s ebullient romance between the president’s son and an English prince, to return to the beach itself or to transport myself to a happy moment in a simpler time. Probably a bit of all three. Regardless, the absorbing and rapid-fire story, paired with Ramón de Ocampo’s warm, exuberant narration (and fantastic British accent, when performing Prince Henry’s lines) made for the perfect, swoonworthy escape.

Ninth House is an addicting mystery set at a magical secret society at Yale University, author Leigh Bardugo’s alma mater. Narrators Lauren Fortgang and Michael David Axtell alternate between Galaxy “Alex” Stern and Daniel “Darlington” Arlington; of the two, Fortgang is the standout. Her performance is as sharp as Alex herself, who’s been through a lot before arriving at Yale. Scenes where Alex lets her rage and trauma surface are riveting as Fortgang snarls and performs through clenched teeth. Fortgang’s visceral performance of Alex’s anger makes the rare moments of genuine affection that Alex permits herself—particularly toward Hellie, a close friend, and Pamela Dawes, the society’s in-house researcher—moving in their tenderness, as Fortgang softens her voice to convey Alex’s vulnerability. Anyone looking to be swept up in a story of dark magic in which nothing is as it seems should give Ninth House a try.

Christy, Associate Editor

I read a hard copy of Kiese Laymon’s memoir Heavy when it came out in 2018 and loved it—in that had-to-lie-down-for-two-and-a-half-hours-afterward kind of way. (The book is aptly named.) When my professor assigned it for a graduate class I took this spring, I decided to give the award-winning audiobook a try for my second reading. Hearing Laymon’s words in his own voice was even more affecting than reading them on the page. In the audio version, you get the full playfulness of he and LaThon’s middle school riffing on words like “galore” (gal-low), “meager” (mee-guh) and “y’all don’t even know.” You also hear the full tenderness of Laymon’s conversations with his mother, in which they try to tell each other the truth about addiction, abuse, deception and love. When I finished listening to Heavy this time, I still had to lie down afterward to digest its contents—white supremacy, disordered eating and violence against Black Americans, among other things—but since a late afternoon stress-nap was already a staple in my quarantine routine, it turned out to be a perfect pandemic listen.

I was two chapters into my hardcover of Trick Mirror when the audiobook became available to check out from the library. (Apparently, I had placed it on hold during pre-COVID times and then, along with all the other trappings of normal life, forgot about it.) Jia Tolentino’s nuanced essays are the sort of reading you want to absorb every word of, so I wasn’t sure the audiobook would be the best fit. But out of curiosity (and a desire to make good on the library’s monthslong waitlist), I checked it out and grabbed my headphones. Next thing I knew, I was three hours in and plumbing the depths of my to-do list for more things to work on so I could keep listening. With an engaging balance between the personal and the reported, Tolentino’s exacting explorations of feminism, the internet and the self lend themselves nicely to audio, as it turns out. And as for my to-do list, her intellectual, no-frills narration provided the perfect soundtrack for taking a walk, doing the dishes, brushing the cats, making banana bread and mending that tear in my duvet cover.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Discover more of our favorite audiobooks.

Children's & YA, Fiction, Middle Grade, Nonfiction, Romance, True Crime, YA, YA Fiction

Romance Nonfiction Fiction Children's & YA YA Fiction YA True Crime Middle Grade

The Hold List: Crimes we can’t help but admire

Feature by the editors of BookPage

by the editors of BookPage

Generally we’re a law-abiding group, we promise. But something about Private Eye July makes us revel in bad behavior. These are some of our favorite crimes and criminals in literature.

Heresy

An all-female gang of Robin Hood-style outlaws in the Old West, robbing stagecoaches and seeking revenge on horseback? I’m in my boots and already out the door. In Melissa Lenhardt’s novel, the first daylight bank robbery in Colorado was not by Butch Cassidy in 1889, by rather by Margaret Parker and her Parker Gang in 1873. The women on Margaret’s ranch just want to make a home and care for their horses. But men, furious at their success, destroy everything, so the women take up a life of crime. They capitalize on being underestimated and then take what they want, only to use the ill-gotten gains to support their ranch and town. As far as reckless, unrepentant outlaws go, Margaret is one of my favorites, making the most of a lawless West and then distributing the wealth to those who need it most. If you loved Netflix’s “Godless,” then this feminist Western is for you.

—Cat, Deputy Editor

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

When it comes to trespassing, Claudia and Jamie Kincaid really know how to make a crime count. Twelve-year-old Claudia wants to run away from home, but she knows she doesn’t have what it takes to make it in the wide world, with all its bugs and sun and other trifles. So she devises a plan to disappear in style, by sneaking into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and living there with her younger brother until further notice. When I read this renowned middle grade novel for the first time (at age 31), I immediately related to Claudia’s poised practicality and fussy tastes. Why even bother breaking the law unless you’ll get to bathe in a marble fountain and sleep in an elaborate canopy bed? No matter your age, this childhood classic is sure to break and enter into your heart.

—Christy, Associate Editor

The Thief

I love a good con. Strictly speaking, the events that unfold in Megan Whalen Turner’s series opener, The Thief, are more of a con-heist hybrid, as Gen steals the king’s signet ring, gets caught when he boasts of having done so, is thrown in prison and is freed only under the condition that he steal something even more valuable on behalf of the king. But Gen has as much in common with successful con artists as he does with successful thieves. He’s patient and highly skilled at playing a very long game. He understands the power of misdirection, turning the expectations of others to his advantage repeatedly. The Thief’s best con, however, is on the reader, as Turner gradually reveals that nothing and no one in her story are what they seem. The first time I read it, I was, as they say, a total mark. It was the most enjoyable deception I’d ever experienced.

—Stephanie, Associate Editor

The Feather Thief

It’s easy to think of theft as a victimless crime: Items of financial value usually belong to people who can afford to part with them. But in The Feather Thief, Kirk Wallace Johnson writes about a real-life theft with an impact far beyond the financial. In 2009, Edwin Rist broke into a London museum to steal the skins of 299 rare birds. By the time Rist was arrested, more than half of the skins had been sold or stripped of their valuable feathers. Johnson’s quest to discover why leads him to a network of Victorian salmon fly-tying fanatics who’ll pay to pursue their esoteric hobby, as well as through the history of the birds, many of which were painstakingly preserved for 150 years before their ignominious end. A good crime story says something about the world: What do we value? What is worth protecting? Rist’s crime is a perfect, if heartbreaking, one, because of the answers Johnson finds.

—Trisha, Publisher

An Unnatural Vice

In K.J. Charles’ atmospheric Victorian romance, Justin Lazarus swindles his trusting clients out of their money by pretending to be a spiritualist. And while, yes, that frequently means taking advantage of people’s grief, it’s hard not to root for him given the desperate poverty of his background and the relative prosperity of his targets, not to mention his habit of taking in stray orphans, whom he in no way cares for, by the way—why on earth would you suggest such a thing? Justin’s love interest, idealistic journalist Nathaniel Roy, admits, in spite of himself, that to actually make people believe you can talk to the dead takes nerves of steel and a keen insight into human psychology. Charles puts readers in the same thrilling, uncomfortable place as Nathaniel: You know that what Justin is doing is wrong, but you also want to keep watching him do it.

—Savanna, Associate Editor

Generally we’re a law-abiding group, we promise. But something about Private Eye July makes us revel in bad behavior. These are some of our favorite crimes and criminals in literature.

Fiction, Nonfiction, True Crime

Nonfiction Fiction True Crime

Book Clubs: Four thoughtful takes on #MeToo

Feature by Julie Hale

by Julie Hale

More than two years after the #MeToo movement took off, writers have shaped the resulting conversation about sexual harassment and abuse into meaningful fiction and nonfiction that are sure to spark further discussion.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey deliver a watershed work of investigative journalism with She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement. The authors, who broke the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault story for the New York Times, have crafted an eye-opening look at how #MeToo took off, sharing details about how they located sources and persuaded them to talk about Weinstein.

In Chandler Baker’s novel, Whisper Network, Rosalita, Ardie, Grace and Sloane work under Ames, who is set to become CEO of Truviv, Inc. Ames has a reputation for making advances toward women, and his latest in-office transgression leaves the four co-workers determined to take action. Writing with humor and poise about a sensitive subject, Baker introduces complicated topics that will spark plenty of conversation and spins a suspenseful plot full of surprises that book clubs will enjoy unraveling.

Susan Choi’s novel Trust Exercise, which won the National Book Award in 2019, explores #MeToo concerns from the perspective of a group of students at a performing arts school who are manipulated by their elders, particularly their formidable drama teacher, Mr. Kingsley. The novel is at once a beautifully executed coming-of-age story and an unflinching account of lost innocence and idealism. It’s sure to prompt deep discussions of gender and age dynamics, especially the power plays that occur between teens and those whom they idolize.

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow is an electrifying account of the fall of convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein and the difficulties Farrow faced in bringing the media mogul’s story to light. Farrow also looks at abuses of power by Donald Trump, Matt Lauer and other high-profile figures as he creates—and sustains—a mood of suspense throughout the narrative. From ethics questions related to journalism to issues of gender discrimination, the book offers numerous subjects for conversation.

More than two years after the #MeToo movement took off, writers have shaped the resulting conversation about sexual harassment and abuse into meaningful fiction and nonfiction.

Mystery

Mystery

Whodunit: July 2020

Feature by Bruce Tierney

by Bruce Tierney

A sign-off to a beloved series, a not-so-accidental death and a sleuth who just might be the next Jack Reacher.

★ The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot

The latest Dr. Siri book by Colin Cotterill, The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot, is the last in a quirky, fiendishly clever series that has long been one of my absolute favorites. It’s 1981, and Siri Paiboun, the former national coroner of Laos, has received a mysterious gift: the diary of a Japanese kamikaze pilot who was stationed with occupation forces in Laos during World War II. The diary is fascinating for many reasons, not least of which is the officer’s evident descent into madness as the journal unfolds. Written half in Lao and half in Japanese, the diary ends abruptly and is missing a half-dozen pages—pages that may hold the key to the location of a gold fortune that mysteriously went AWOL as the Japanese beat their retreat from Southeast Asia. Furthering the intrigue, the notebook’s anonymous donor attached a note: “Dr. Siri, we need your help most urgently.” Although Siri, at his advanced age, is relatively unmotivated by hidden treasure, he and his wife, Madame Daeng, cannot resist a good mystery. And folks, neither can I. If this is indeed the final volume of the Siri series, he and Cotterill leave it on a high note. You cannot ask for more out of life than that.

Once You Go This Far

At first glance, Columbus, Ohio, doesn’t seem a likely candidate for the epicenter of private investigations, but there are certainly enough cases to keep PI Roxane Weary busy, as evidenced by Kristen Lepionka’s fourth novel about her, Once You Go This Far. The book starts with what appears to be an accident: A woman suffers an unfortunate, fatal fall from a park trail, and Roxane discovers the body during a morning hike. The daughter of the deceased woman thinks it was no accident and strongly suspects the victim’s ex-husband of having given his ex-wife the heave-ho in more ways than one. And who better to investigate than Roxane Weary, PI? It doesn’t take her long to find out that the ex is a real piece of work (not my first choice of descriptors, but hey, this is a family publication). That doesn’t necessarily make him a killer, however. Further muddying the waters is the victim’s connection to a cultish church, or perhaps a churchish cult, which in either case is a clear and present danger to both the resolution of the case and perhaps the safety of anyone who gets a bit too close to the group’s secrets. Read this one and see if it doesn’t send you scurrying in search of the previous three books in Lepionka’s series.

The Shadows

The Shadows is the second in a series by British author Alex North, set in the small (and fictional) English town of Featherbank, which was rocked by a bloody murder 25 years back and is now the scene of what may well be a copycat killing. Or worse, perhaps the new homicide marks the return of the original killer, who was never apprehended nor, for that matter, conclusively identified (although there was little doubt in anyone’s mind as to who the responsible party was). Paul Adams was friends with both the key suspect, Charlie Crabtree, and the killer’s victim. He has just made his way back to Featherbank to take care of his ailing mother, whom he has not seen in the intervening years. Although she is suffering from dementia, Paul’s mother is clearly frightened out of her wits about something, and her fear quickly becomes contagious. There are elements of the supernatural, or at least the not conventionally explainable, in the book, but more in the manner of John Connolly or T. Jefferson Parker than of, say, Stephen King. But it’s still probably not a good idea for late-night reading in a house with creaky doors. . . .

A Dangerous Breed

When Van Shaw receives a reunion invitation addressed to his dead mother, he hardly realizes it will be his stepping-off point to a whole new existence. Glen Erik Hamilton’s critically acclaimed suspense series returns with A Dangerous Breed. Van’s mother, Moira, lived a short but troubled life, leaving her young son to be raised by his stern yet criminally inclined grandfather. This upbringing put young Van in touch with some decidedly unsavory characters, a number of whom he nowadays counts as his closest friends. While doing a bit of sleuthing into his mom’s past, he stumbles onto information that hints at his father’s identity; it seems he could be a man well known in crime circles as someone not to be trifled with. Meanwhile, courtesy of one of his ne’er-do-well friends, Van is drawn into an extortion scheme that leaves him forced to choose between committing an act of domestic terrorism or watching several of his closest friends die slow and agonizing deaths. In best mystery fashion, nothing is quite what it seems, and as our hero begins to make some connections, he gets closer to an understanding that will place him directly in the crosshairs. If you’re a Jack Reacher fan, you’ll love Van Shaw.

A sign-off to a beloved series, a not-so-accidental death and a sleuth who just might be the next Jack Reacher.

★ The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot

The latest Dr. Siri book by Colin Cotterill, The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot, is the last in…

Mystery

Mystery

Thrills for every reader

Feature by BookPage contributors

by BookPage contributors

The phrase “summer thriller” tends to conjure up a specific sort of book, but our favorites for the season run the gamut from meditative mysteries to relentless page turners.

★ The Girl From Widow Hills

Killer line: “My head swam in a sudden rush of understanding. I moved the branches of the bushes aside to be sure: the shape of a torso; arms; the back of a head.”

Arden Maynor was sleepwalking when a flash flood swept her away. The country breathed a sigh of relief when the 6-year-old was found—and on every anniversary of that day, the media’s spotlight has returned to Arden and her mother. In Megan Miranda’s The Girl From Widow Hills, we get to know the Arden of two decades later. Now 26, she goes by Olivia Wells and lives in North Carolina. She’s beginning to feel secure in her life’s rhythms, but one horrible night, she sleepwalks and awakens with a bloodied body at her feet. Is the looming 20th anniversary stirring up tamped-down trauma? Or is someone from the past trying to torment her anew? Step by suspenseful step, Miranda lays a path for readers to follow as Olivia tries to separate dreams and reality, fear and fact, with a tenacious local detective not far behind. The Girl From Widow Hills is a creepy, compelling portrait of a life forever warped by unwanted fame—a timely theme in this era of internet celebrity and the fall from grace that often follows.

—Linda M. Castellitto

The Mountains Wild

Killer line: “When I turned around, I could no longer see the road. We were all alone in the woods.”

Sarah Stewart Taylor’s simmering The Mountains Wild is the first entry in a new series featuring homicide detective Maggie D’arcy. A divorced mother living on Long Island, New York, Maggie felt called to become a detective after her cousin, Erin, vanished in the woods of Wicklow, Ireland, in the 1990s. At the age of 23, Maggie traveled there to look for Erin, but neither she nor the Irish Guards, the national police, could locate her. After Erin’s scarf is found by investigators searching for a different woman, Maggie returns to Ireland to do some sleuthing, reentering a maze of painful memories. Taylor moves nimbly through the decades, flashing back to Maggie’s earlier trip to Ireland and providing glimpses of her friendship with Erin. Featuring a memorable cast that includes cheeky Irish Guards, sinister suspects and a not-to-be-messed-with female lead, The Mountains Wild makes for perfect summer reading. Maggie is a first-class protagonist—an ace investigator and appealing everywoman with smarts and heart. Suspense fans are sure to welcome her to the crime scene.

—Julie Hale

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Sarah Stewart Taylor reveals the haunting events that inspired her debut novel.

Out of Time

For fans of: Thrillers by David Baldacci or James Patterson and ripping through the pages of a good FBI search.

Author and screenwriter David Klass turns the serial killer mythos on its head in his new novel, Out of Time, in which the killer is intent on saving humankind through his inconceivable deeds. The Green Man, so dubbed by the media and the FBI pursuing him, doesn’t kill for the sake of some insatiable, perverse sexual desire but out of an acute calling to save the environment. His terrorist acts are meant to call attention to climate change and heighten awareness of its adverse effects. But FBI data analyst Tom Smith—not exactly a memorable name, he admits, adding, “I didn’t choose it”—and a task force of 300 FBI agents only see a killer who must be stopped. So begins a fast-paced game of cat and mouse as Smith zeros in on the Green Man’s identity and tries to stop him before more lives are lost. Klass writes with terse, straightforward prose, alternating between Smith’s and the Green Man’s points of view to allow readers a close-up perspective of each character’s motivations and desires. The fun is in the thrill of the chase, and in that respect Klass delivers.

—G. Robert Frazier

★ The Mist

Killer line: “ ‘Oh, the nights here are something else,’ Erla said quietly. . . . ‘I hope you’re not afraid of the dark.’ ”

The Mist is the third and final book in Ragnar Jónasson’s electrifying Hidden Iceland series. These labyrinthine murder mysteries, set against the bleak backdrop of Iceland, feature Hulda Hermannsdóttir, detective inspector with the Reykjavík Police Department. It’s Christmas in 1987, and Erla and Einar Einarsson are preparing for the holiday. In their region of Iceland, winter days don’t begin to brighten until 11 a.m., brutal blizzards are a regular occurrence, and skiing is easier than walking or driving. In the midst of a pummeling snowstorm, a stranger named Leó shows up at the farm looking for shelter. Leó claims to have gotten lost during a hunting trip with friends, but Erla doesn’t believe his story. She’s frightened of him from the start, and her fears worsen after the electricity goes out, leaving the farmhouse in darkness. Two months later, Hulda is asked to look into a pair of murders that occurred at the farm. Jónasson turns up the tension to a nearly unendurable degree as the novel unfolds. His complete design isn’t revealed until late in the book, when the story’s multiple threads coalesce in a surprising conclusion. Masterfully plotted and paced, The Mist is atmospheric, haunting and not for the faint of heart.

—Julie Hale

A Royal Affair

For fans of: Keeping calm and carrying on, drinking tea with a bit of fortification and maintaining a stiff upper lip until such time as a therapist can be seen.

In their second adventure, Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge would like nothing more than to get back to running their business, The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. But in Allison Montclair’s A Royal Affair, their reputation as crime fighters precedes them, so in addition to pairing off various lonely hearts, they’re also working for Lady Matheson, who herself works for the queen. Discretion is required as Gwen and Iris search for a cache of letters that could derail Princess Elizabeth’s engagement, and they quickly realize this is information that people will kill for. The balance Montclair strikes between humor and hard truths is arresting. Postwar England has raucous parties and a lot of can-do spirit, but the entire nation is still reeling—and rationing, for that matter. (Can a birthday party be any fun if the cake has “tooth powder frosting”?) Have faith, though: There’s not much that can stop this pair, and the climactic scene laying out the whodunit (and why) is like a maraschino cherry in a complex cocktail. Here’s to the return of these formidable women, and to many more chances to enjoy their company.

—Heather Seggel

★ The Distant Dead

Killer line: “It takes longer than you might think, for a man to burn.”

The small town of Lovelock, Nevada, is nestled in brush-dotted hills that crouch under unending blue sky—an eerie desert landscape that sets a tone of creeping dread in Heather Young’s The Distant Dead. Sixth grader Sal Prentiss goes to the fire station to report that he’s found a burned body while, in another part of town, social studies teacher Nora Wheaton is wondering why her colleague Adam Merkel hasn’t shown up to work. He’s a math teacher, and it’s Pi Day; surely he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to have math-centric fun with his class? No one else seems very concerned, as the enigmatic Adam has always kept to himself and doesn’t engage in gossip, but Nora can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong. Alas, her instincts are validated when she learns that Adam is the victim Sal found. Young takes the reader back and forth in time as she unfurls the characters’ relationships and life paths, with all their secrets and hopes and disappointments. The suspense is slow and steady in this meditative, artistic take on the murder mystery. Young’s language is poetic, and her contemplation of the corrosiveness of suppressed emotion is both sympathetic and impatient in this unusual, compelling portrait of a people and a place.

—Linda M. Castellitto

Blacktop Wasteland

For fans of: Bullitt, The Fast and the Furious and gritty Elmore Leonard-style noir.

Beauregard “Bug” Montage thought he was out—out of the rackets and the crimes that dominated his early life. He opened his own garage, settled down with a loving wife and had several children. But the past and the demands of the present have a way of catching up with people. In Bug’s case, mounting expenses leave him with nowhere else to turn. So, when an old associate, Ronnie, approaches him about a job that could set everything right, Bug reluctantly agrees. Author S.A. Cosby quickly establishes Bug’s financial burdens and emotional dilemma in his new novel, Blacktop Wasteland and never lets up on the gas. The result is a high-octane, white-knuckle thriller that will have readers whipping through the pages at breakneck speed. Needless to say, not everything goes to plan. Bug and Ronnie’s “simple” heist of a jewelry store goes horribly awry in more ways than one. Bug’s skills as a wheelman—and the Plymouth Duster he inherited from his father—enable him and his crew to get away with their lives, but it’s not enough to keep greed, betrayal and vengeance from closing in at every turn. Cosby’s tightfisted prose fuels this story with heart-pumping (and often brutal) action that begs to be adapted for the big screen but never loses its compassionate edge.

—G. Robert Frazier

The phrase “summer thriller” tends to conjure up a specific sort of book, but our favorites for the season run the gamut from meditative mysteries to relentless page turners.

★ The Girl From Widow Hills

Killer line: “My head swam in a sudden rush of…

YA, YA Fiction

YA Fiction YA

Most likely to . . . become your new favorite YA author

Feature by BookPage contributors

by BookPage contributors

We asked eight YA authors, first-timers and seasoned veterans alike, to talk about their new releases and reflect on their creative journeys.

THE FRESHMEN

Roseanne A. Brown

A refugee and a princess find themselves on a romantic, dangerous collision course in A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, a West Africa-inspired fantasy. Brown raises the stakes by exploring how we all have a responsibility to right the wrongs of injustice. (Click here to read the full review.)

What do you hope readers will love about A Song of Wraiths and Ruin?
The protagonists represent characters I wish I’d gotten to read when I was growing up. Their struggles are informed by the emotional roller coaster of my teen years, so I hope readers see themselves in these characters’ lows and triumphs.

How did you feel when you found out you were going to be published?
I got the call when I was living in Japan; my agent called me at 5 a.m. to break the news, and I was so delirious with sleep that I was half-convinced I was dreaming. As a black immigrant, the thought that I could actually get anything traditionally published had always felt about as likely as me becoming the first person on Mars. Some days, I wake up and it still doesn’t feel real.

A year from now, what impact do you hope A Song of Wraiths and Ruin will have made on readers?
It’s difficult to even imagine what the world might look like a year from now, but I hope that A Song of Wraiths and Ruin will help readers learn that they can draw their greatest strength from the parts of their identities the world has taught them to hate. I also hope the book helps them to know that healing from trauma is often a messy, painful process with no clear finish line, but it’s a journey that is always worth it.

Lora Beth Johnson

Andra wakes up after a long journey to a new planet and slowly puts together a horrifying truth: She’s been asleep for hundreds of years longer than she should have been. Goddess in the Machine offers a vision of how society, technology and language will be transformed over time that’s thoughtful and inventive but never weighs down the emotional urgency of Andra’s plight. (Click here to read the full review.)

What are you most proud of in Goddess in the Machine?
The dialect of some of the characters is my own rendition of a futuristic English, based on trends in linguistic evolution. It was difficult to develop and a challenge to write in, but it’s been amazing to experience early readers using it to communicate with me.

A year from now, what impact do you hope your novel will have made on readers?
It would be cool if readers were using my futuristic dialect in casual conversation! I also hope the book helps readers realize the power of their words—the way that language literally creates and re-creates the world around us.

How did you feel when you found out you were going to be published?
Honestly, I still don’t think it’s hit me. Probably one day, I’ll be perusing the shelves at my local bookstore and see my book and just start weeping.

Laura Wood

In the summer of 1929, Lou Trevelyan feels hemmed in by her small Cornwall town, under pressure to grow up and settle down, until she is swept into the intoxicating, glamorous world of the wealthy Cardew siblings. Wood creates an atmosphere in A Sky Painted Gold that readers can dive into headfirst. Lou’s whole world is tinted with an undercurrent of magic. (Click here to read the full review.)

What are you most proud of in A Sky Painted Gold?
I’m proud of how personal it is. I love Cornwall so much, and A Sky Painted Gold is a very heartfelt expression of that. I worked hard to try to capture the beauty and magic of the place, and the way it makes me feel. My family are Cornish and I included stories that my Nan told me. For example, my great-grandmother was called Midge, just like like Lou’s mother, and anecdotes from her life are woven through the story. It’s another way in which I feel close to it, a way that the story is a part of myself. It makes you very vulnerable as a writer, but I’m proud of that—it’s really the book of my heart.

What do you hope readers will love about the book?
Setting the book in the 1920s meant that I could go all out on the clothes and the music and the parties. It’s decadent, not just in the Gatsby–esque sense of the word, but in the pleasure it takes in small things, in warm seas and moonlit swims and the whisper of a silk dress.

How did you feel when you found out you were going to be published?
Stunned. I’d had the idea for such a long time, and it really is an amalgamation of all of my favorite things. I knew I would want to read it, but it’s a quiet book in a lot of ways—delicate, maybe a little old-fashioned—so I wasn’t sure anyone would want to publish it.

THE SOPHOMORES

Rory Power

In the small town where her mom grew up, Margot uncovers darkness lurking in the poisonous roots of her family tree. Whip-smart and suspenseful, Burn Our Bodies Down builds to a fantastically unsettling resolution. (Click here to read the full review.)

What are you most proud of in Burn Your Bodies Down?
I’m most proud of Margot, the main character. She’s grown up in an emotionally abusive household, so she has a particular mindset that is often at odds with what we expect and want from a thriller protagonist. Rather than always pushing for more answers, Margot often defaults to ignoring what’s going on around her, because she’s afraid of finding out something that will hurt her. Balancing that mindset with the needs of the story was tricky, and of everything in the book, I’m most proud of how that turned out.

What do you hope readers will love about the book?
I hope they’ll love getting to hang out in the town of Phalene. It was a joy to create this run-down farming town in the middle of nowhere, full of secrets and creepy cornfields.

How was writing your second book different than your first book?
Burn Our Bodies Down was a more difficult book to construct. With Wilder Girls, I took great care to cut my characters off from the world, which meant I could bring in speculative elements without having to consider any response from law enforcement or the media, but Burn operates on a larger scale and interacts with the world around it, which was entirely new to me.

What’s one of your favorite things you’ve heard from readers since your first book, Wilder Girls, was published?
I’ve been so lucky to receive a lot of really wonderful messages from readers, but I’m particularly fond of readers responding to the queer representation in the book. I know how much it’s meant to me to be able to see myself reflected in literature, so to be able to give that to a reader is an incredible feeling.

Liara Tamani

Carli and Rex have promising basketball careers ahead of them, but their whirlwind romance is challenged by loss, grief and the pressure to succeed. All the Things We Never Knew offers a raw, honest portrait of the bond between two teens on and off the court. (Click here to read the full review.)

What are you most proud of in All the Things We Never Knew?
I’m most proud that Carli and Rex’s love feels real. Experiencing love for the first time is such an overwhelming sensation. I remember feeling like every ounce of my teenage body was buzzing with it. But knowing the feeling and putting it into words are different. I had to dive deep into their psyches and find language to articulate the very specific love between Rex and Carli.

What do you hope readers will love about the book?
I hope readers will fall in love with Rex and Carli. The book alternates between their perspectives, so readers will get to know them both and see both sides of their first love. Carli is fiery; Rex is sensitive. They’re both deep thinkers who are dealing with family drama and pain. Their love journey is a messy, complicated one, but there’s lots of talking and ruminations along the way. In those shared exchanges and private reflections, I hope readers will come to know and care about Carli and Rex deeply.

How was writing this book different from writing your first book?
The process for writing my first book, Calling My Name, was meandering and exploratory. That novel begins when Taja, the main character, is 12 years old and ends when she’s 17, so it spans several years. It’s structured in vignettes and short stories that I wrote out of order. I didn’t outline at all and allowed the book to come together piece by piece. Writing All the Things We Never Knew was more straightforward. Its events only span a couple of months of Carli’s and Rex’s junior year, so the plot is much tighter. I started with an outline (which was super short, because I still like to give the characters space to make their own decisions), and I wrote it chronologically.

What’s one of your favorite things you’ve heard from readers since your first book was published?
Many teens have written me to say Calling My Name inspired them to be themselves, and every time, I’m filled with so much gratitude. There’s so much pressure for young people to fit in⎯really, for all of us to fit in. So many people sacrifice so much of themselves to feel like they belong. It’s hard to be completely free and face whatever judgement comes with it. It takes bravery, which is something that I’m constantly working on and trying to inspire with my words.

THE UPPERCLASSMEN

Tanaz Bhathena

After her parents are murdered by the king’s army, Gul’s desire for vengeance could destroy the kingdom—and with it, everyone she has come to care about. Hunted by the Sky is a medieval India-inspired fantasy that’s beautiful, brutal, fresh and feminist. (Click here to read the full review.)

What are you most proud of in Hunted by the Sky?
It’s in a completely different genre! I spent 10 years focusing on contemporary fiction. I’d dabble in fantasy, but I never had the courage to write a whole novel—until now.

What do you hope readers will love about the book?
I’m biased, but I love the book’s medieval India-inspired setting and I hope readers will love it too! I want them to be able to escape to a world of magic, romance and fierce women warriors.

How has your readership impacted your writing over the course of your career?
My readership definitely keeps me on track about ensuring accurate representation in my books—especially about communities I don’t belong to. But other than that, I find readers very open to the stories I want to tell. Sometimes, I have to remind myself that I am my first reader and if I don’t like the story, no one else will.

What themes have you carried forward from your previous books into this new novel?
Love and courage are common themes in all my novels, and they’re usually explored through flawed main characters. Gul is a fierce girl who loves deeply, but her mission of avenging her parents’ murders sets off a chain of events with disastrous consequences. There are warrior women with strong bonds of sisterhood, but they are also thieves who engage in vigilante justice. Love and courage bring out the best and the worst in us, even when we are aiming for great things.

Lori M. Lee

When Sirscha’s best friend, Saengo, is killed in battle and Sirscha unexpectedly resurrects her, the awakening of Sirscha’s magical powers forces the two to undertake a dangerous journey to the Dead Wood and its ruler, the ancient and mysterious Spider King. The horrors faced by the heroines of Forest of Souls echo their inner conflicts as they confront terrifying spirits and bloody battles as well as fear, prejudice and loss. (Click here to read the full review.)

What are you most proud of in Forest of Souls?
I’m super proud of the journey my main character Sirscha takes in Forest of Souls. Many of her insecurities were modeled after my own at a young age, and her path towards self-acceptance and self-worth is one I hope resonates with others as well.

What do you hope readers will love about the book?
I want the story to linger inside readers. I hope they will love the friendship between Sirscha and Saengo. It was really important to me to portray a friendship between girls that was unconditional and sweet but also real and complex. I hope that Sirscha’s path toward self-acceptance resonates as well.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I wanted to be a writer from a very early age. I’ve always loved stories because they hold a very specific escapist kind of magic. Writing was my way of claiming that magic for myself.

Editor’s note: In the print issue of BookPage, we placed Lori M. Lee under the ‘Freshmen’ header, incorrectly suggesting that Forest of Souls is Lee’s first YA book. Lee is the author of two previous YA novels, Gates of Thread and Stone and The Infinite.

Rachel Lynn Solomon

On the last day of high school, Rowan is determined to beat her nemesis, Neil, in the annual senior class scavenger hunt. Today Tonight Tomorrow is a puzzle, a nostalgic reflection on a rite of passage and a delicious romance. (Click here to read the full review.)

What are you most proud of in Today Tonight Tomorrow?
When I started writing Today Tonight Tomorrow, I knew the book would take place over 24 hours on the last day of senior year. I also knew I didn’t want to include lengthy flashback scenes, because I wanted it to feel like a snapshot of this one day that changes everything. I decided to scatter ephemera throughout the book—emails, lists, receipts and other tidbits—to enhance the relationship. I’m proud that I was able to tell a full story, a full romance, with this short timeline. My publisher did an incredible job with the design of the book, and the final version feels like a scrapbook of Rowan’s high school journey.

What do you hope readers will love about Today Tonight Tomorrow?
The slow burn of the rivals-to-lovers relationship! Rowan begins the book despising Neil—though readers will probably pick up on some hidden attraction—and gradually discovers the person she’s spending the last day of high school with is completely different from the nemesis whose demise she spent four years plotting. Over the course of 24 hours that take them all over the city, they share secrets and fears and a slow dance in an empty library. “Just kiss already” is what I hope readers will think as they turn the pages.

How has your readership impacted your writing over the course of your career?
It’s made me so wildly grateful. When I saw the reaction my first book received from Jewish readers, I made a vow to myself that I’d only write Jewish protagonists moving forward. Some of my characters are religious and some aren’t, but they are all Jewish, and that is a vital piece of their identity, as well as mine. There are still so few Jewish characters in contemporary YA novels, and I feel very proud to contribute to this small but important category.

What themes have you carried forward from your previous books into this new novel?
Every female protagonist I write is ambitious and full of yearning, with all the messiness that comes with wanting something that may be just out of reach. I think that sense of yearning appears in all my books in slightly different ways—yearning for another person, a dream school, a future career. In Today Tonight Tomorrow, Rowan wants to write romance novels, a passion she hides because she’s been judged in the past. Alongside her real-life romance, her story is about gaining the confidence to embrace what she loves without shame.

Photo credits: Roseanne A. Brown photo by Ashley Hirasuna; Lora Beth Johnson photo by Kailan Sindelar; Rory Power photo by Henriette Lazaridis; Liara Tamani photo by Seneca Shahara Brand; Tanaz Bhathena photo by Nettie Photography; Lori M. Lee photo by PrettyGeeky Photography; Rachel Lynn Solomon photo by Sabreen Lakhani.

We asked eight YA authors, first-timers and seasoned veterans alike, to talk about their new releases and reflect on their creative journeys.

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Roseanne A. Brown

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