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, Nigeria. 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...

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...

The Best Part is a historical novel based on Alessandra and Chiara Tumolo's grandparents, Bepi and Gelmina. In remote villages outside of Verona, Italy, with the backdrop of World War 2 horrors, fascism, and poverty, their grandparents' love story came to life. Each chapter features...

Espresso Talks: The Woodbridge Italian Bakery by Ozzie Logozzo is an absolute masterpiece of observational storytelling. If you’ve ever sat in a local bakery, inhaled the scent of fresh flour and sugar, and just listened to the world go by, you’ll know exactly why this...

The Fixer: The Shape of Her by Ozzie Logozzo is one of those books that hits you with its intensity right from the very first page. It isn't just a story you read; it’s one you feel. I was completely floored by the prose here....

I wasn't totally sure what I was getting into when I picked up The Romanov Episode by Clive Radford, but I’m glad I did. It’s one of those books where you realize pretty quickly that you're holding something special. It isn't just another mystery; it’s...