In Ravi Ranjan Goswami’s Missing, we take a close look at Suresh, a young man in Orai overwhelmed by his family’s expectations. He has a university degree but no career path, which triggers a non-stop stream of cruel remarks from his mother. His family even...

Linda C. Wisniewski’s Time is a Pilgrim is set in 1830 Podhale, where Regina arrives in Biały Kot to help her daughter Marianna through childbirth as the halny, a destructive mountain wind, sweeps the villages. The baby, Halina, is born with a red mark across...

Carrie Kabak’s Shibby Magee unfolds in two timelines, following the identical twins Isabelle “Shibby” and Isadorah “Dorah” Magee, who are like chalk and cheese. The story starts in the 1970s when the kids are abandoned by their Traveler mother, Vera Coffey. They are raised by...

Sparrows by Rose Betit follows Isabelle, a young girl whose childhood is affected by poverty, family instability, and the difficult choices made by the adults around her. The story traces Isabelle’s early years as she and her older brother, Stevie, struggle with their Southern-born mother...

“If people would stop murdering other people in molten glass, it would be easier.” Yes, it would be easier, but perhaps these murders are just one issue in Resurrection of the Ruby Skull (Fox Argall Mysteries book four), a novel by Collings MacCrae. The story...

In Baseball, Birthday, and Ten-Cent Beer by Gregg Sapp, Solomon Zuch loves baseball, and his favorite team is the Cleveland Indians. The Indians' management runs a lottery for home games to pick birthday boys to serve as honorary ballboys. Plans were made for the entire...

Seraphin Stone: Say Yes to Heaven by Ettenig Sayam is a coming-of-age story that follows Marie Ange "Mari" Seraphin, a gifted ballerina from Haiti who gets entangled with a wealthy man, David Stone. She was once attacked by a boy who seemed to be under...

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...

“There’s no such thing as a whole, functional, fuck-up-free human. We all have our problems and things that prevent us from being perfect.” True, and that may include Nicholas Bruechle, author of the novel All Writers Are Liars. At the very least, his characters certainly...

In Ali Hamdoun’s Habracadabrah, after surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Shinobu stays alive way beyond his expected lifespan. This is in the care of Seiren, who moves him to an isolated forest home where his damaged body requires constant treatment so he can keep...