Abi Daré. Dutton, $28 (400p) ISBN 978-0-593-18655-8
Daré’s harrowing sequel to The Girl with the Louding Voice chronicles 14-year-old Adunni’s flight from the indentured servitude she’d fallen into after fleeing her husband. Having escaped her abusive employer Big Madame, Adunni now lives with Big Madame’s neighbor Tia in Lagos, Nigeria. Adu... Continue reading »
David Lagercrantz, trans. from the Swedish by Ian Giles. Knopf, $30 (352p) ISBN 978-0-593-31923-9
In Lagercrantz’s excellent second investigation for Stockholm police officer Micaela Vargas and professor Hans Rekke (after Dark Music), the pair reopens a cold case when a holiday snapshot suggests a long-missing banker may be alive and well in Venice. Financier Claire Lidman was last seen... Continue reading »
Meg Shaffer. Ballantine, $29 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-59887-0
Shaffer (The Wishing Game) plays on portal fantasy nostalgia in this brilliant riff on the Chronicles of Narnia. Emilie Wendell is mourning the loss of her adoptive mother when she discovers she has a half-sister who was kidnapped 20 years ago. She begs the help of famous missing-persons in... Continue reading »
Chad Beguelin. Penguin Books, $19 (336p) ISBN 978-0-14-313839-6
Playwright Beguelin’s sparkling debut novel sees Broadway musical writer Noah Adams returning home to rural Plainview, Ill., after his father suffers a heart attack. Noah is suffering, too; Stage of Fools, his adaptation of King Lear, has “joined the list of tragic musicals that op... Continue reading »
Ram V and Filipe Andrade. Boom! Studios, $16.99 trade paper (160p) ISBN 978-1-60886-153-8
The creative team behind The Many Deaths of Laila Starr serves up a tempting blend of supernatural horror and foodie fantasy that doubles as a love letter to India. Mohan, a down-on-his-luck filmmaker, is hired by Rubin Baksh, an elegant gourmand of Nero Wolfe proportions, to collaborate on... Continue reading »
Sophie Cabot Black. Copper Canyon, $17 trade paper (72p) ISBN 978-1-55659-692-6
Cabot Black’s stunning, fable-like fourth collection (after The Exchange) urges readers, “do not expect the known; you were not there.” This unusual and poignant volume is equal parts gothic and pastoral, full of incisively written imagery characterized by sparse stanzas that allow each lin... Continue reading »
Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee. Revell, $26.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8007-4275-1
In this tour de force from Brotherton (A Bright and Blinding Sun) and Lee (A Single Light), four friends’ lives change irrevocably when America becomes embroiled in WWII. In 1930s Mobile, Ala., preacher’s son Jimmy Propfield shares an idyllic upbringing with childhood sweetheart Cl... Continue reading »
Edwidge Danticat. Graywolf, $26 (192p) ISBN 978-1-64445-302-5
Novelist and essayist Danticat (Everything Inside) delivers a collection of piercing reflections on her native Haiti. In “A Rainbow in the Sky,” Danticat describes the steep toll that increasingly severe hurricanes are taking on the country (after Hurricane Matthew hit in 2006, “there were ... Continue reading »
John Kanell. Simon Element, $35 (336p) ISBN 978-1-66802-682-3
Bestseller Kanell follows up Preppy Kitchen with an impressive and memorable collection of flavor-packed recipes made with minimal fuss. Plenty of sweet and savory options—including skillet steaks with garlic-herb butter, balsamic-roasted zucchini and chickpeas with soft cheese, and piña co... Continue reading »
Bruce Gordon. Basic, $35 (528p) ISBN 978-1-54161-973-9
Yale Divinity School history professor Gordon (Calvin) delivers an ambitious study of how a collection of prophecies, poems, and letters became a sacred text that has shaped cultures. Styling the Bible as a migrant, he describes how diverse writings—the rabbinic Bible, the four Gospels, Act... Continue reading »
Kate DiCamillo, illus. by Júlia Sardà. Candlewick, $17.99 (160p) ISBN 978-1-536223-31-6
While white-cued Marta Buchelli’s mother works as a maid in the Hotel Balzaar, Marta ponders the art in the hotel’s once grand lobby, yearns for her soldier father’s return, and stays out of sight and quiet as a mouse. Despite her efforts, she is noticed by a countess accompanied by green-feathered ... Continue reading »