In Disaster Triumphant by Shane Curtin, Edwina Cagney, a devout first-grade teacher, refuses to take down her classroom cross and is fired. It is 1980 Kentucky, and a rising preacher with political ambitions notices her public stand. Soon, she morphs from being a martyr into...

Shane Curtin’s The Mirror Thesis follows Vivian Prespertine, a wealthy young woman raised among the manicured estates and social rituals of Barrow Island. At her father’s birthday party, she notices Patrick Weilston, a brilliant young broker whose reputation has already secured him a place among...