Katherine Mezzacappa draws the reader deeply into late 1700’s Ireland in her impeccably researched novel, The Ballad of Mary Kearney. In a tumultuous period of social and religious unrest, we witness the story of a simple serving girl named Mary Kearney, who, against all cultural...

Kalyani Adusumilli’s The Invisible Canvas begins in the throes of a medical emergency caused by an overdose, where Jansi, a wife and mother living in Texas, is admitted to a psychiatric facility for evaluation and treatment. What begins as a brief hospitalization becomes an extended...

In The Boy with the Butterfly Mind by Lorelei Brush, readers meet Julie, a math teacher juggling her job, marriage, and the nonstop energy of her four-year-old son, Patrick. She feels deeply proud of him, but also worried. His moods range from exuberant curiosity to...

The Color of Our Names by Mahitab Mahmoud follows the lives of four characters trying to navigate identity, faith, and secrecy between Egypt and the United States. Fareed, a 34-year-old man still living with his conservative family in Alexandria, finds fragile moments of freedom at...

Keith Landry’s The Garden Detectives is set at Riverview condominium, where the annual rush for garden plots coincides with the arrival of Cletus Hughes, whose confident manner quickly secures him a place among the residents. Bridge nights, committee meetings, and seasonal gatherings knit the community...

The Shadow of Death: A Tragedy of Yellow Fever by McKenna Rowell is set in 1793 Philadelphia, where Deborah Allard becomes entangled in a dispute that threatens David Byrne’s family after Mr. Foster accuses his father of a ruinous debt. Just when Deborah uncovers a...

The Metamorphosis of Marna Love by Tom McEachin is a coming-of-age story about a sixteen-year-old high school sophomore. Raised by her single mother, Marna Love never quite felt like a typical teenager. She would rather read Kafka than worry about boys. She finds existential writers...

In the riveting historical novel, The Making of a Witch by Judy Molland, Alice Molland begins questioning God and her way of life when her mentor and friend is convicted of being a witch and hanged. After her father is killed by Cromwell’s soldiers, twelve-year-old...

The Aspirants by J. Loretta takes a look at a near-future where politics and reality TV have merged with the concept of assisted dying. The story starts right in the middle of a livestream called “That’s EnterAttainment!”, where terminally ill people—dubbed "Aspirants"—turn their final moments...

The Star Thrower by Kathleen Welton is a fast-paced mystery about three young graduates who are best friends. Sam, Leo, and Ava are uncertain about the career paths they want to pursue, so they decide to take an impromptu trip to Bali. They hope this...