Mitchell and Michael, twin brothers, were child prodigies. In Charter Road’s Play with My Heart, Mitchell is hailed as being perhaps the greatest violinist in the world, while his twin brother, Michael, is one of the best pianists. Their father promoted the boys’ talents, wanting...

Palms and Pomegranates by L.S. Csida is one of those atmospheric novels that really pulls you into its setting—a North African city caught right in the middle of a tug-of-war between ancient traditions and modern hustle. Perin's first week brings everything at once: a violent...

To H1-B or Not To Be by Hitesh Dev is a timely and powerful book. Amit Khanna is a young Indian student who pursues his dreams and ambitions, like many others of his generation, through higher education in the U.S. The foreign student experience, the...

Set in the Ottoman capital during the winter of 1602, Rebellion and Deceit, book two in the Empires and Kingdoms series by David Eugene Andrews, follows Aisha, sister of Sultan Mehmet III, as she leaves her residence near the Hippodrome and enters a palace system...

In Mary Romasanta’s La Llorona: The Awakening, Ruth arrives at her partner John’s family home for Thanksgiving, stepping into a household where his mother, Mi-Ra, presses her about having a child. When a last-minute errand sends John and his brother JJ to a nearby store,...

Bernadette Gage’s A Beautiful Sunrise begins in rural Ipole. Young Abi attends school because her father, Pa Okoh, refuses to accept the customs that reserve education for boys. His decision sends her away from home while she is still a child, places her in mission...

In Jean Grandbois' Nursing Flagstop, for nearly fifty years, Jerry has measured his life against a single song, “Borderless,” recorded by the elusive musician Flagstop. When a chance discovery reveals that Flagstop, now living under his real name Eugene Books, is in a Detroit care...

Voyagers: Homeland to Heartland is based on D. L. Norris’s own family history, and rings with authenticity. Opening in nineteenth-century Norway, like so many of their compatriots living in poverty, Kittil and Marte Dyrebu decide to emigrate to America. They have an extended bureaucratic battle...

Mask of Romulus by Mark Jamilkowski tells the story of the first emperor, Caesar Augustus, and the seer, Kamala. When Atia remarries, Augustus is sent to live with his grandmother, Julia, who introduces him to her brother, Julius Caesar. Augustus and Julius form a deep...

Ellen Rachlin’s Enheduanna’s Song From the Sands is set in Mesopotamia during the late third millennium BCE, where Enheduanna, born Ana, is sent by her brother King Rimush to take power as the high priestess in Ur, a city shaped by unrest and resistance to...