Readers unfamiliar with the science of fusion reactions can either wait, as this fast-developing field of energy production already dominates many discussions around climate change and the future of our planet, or read Joe Mungo Reed's moving and intelligent novel Terrestrial History, which places at its center the work of fusion scientist Hannah and the generations to follow her. No prior expertise in nuclear physics is needed, but neither does Reed (We Begin Our Ascent) dumb down the details in this richly drawn family history.

Reed uses the multivocal structure to great effect, with each chapter devoted to one of four characters living at a different point in time (and space). In 2076, Hannah's son, Andrew, an optimistic politician who believes in the power of humanity to unite behind a common goal, and granddaughter Kenzie, also a fusion scientist, offer competing visions for how to save the planet--or at least its people--from the certain devastations of climate change. The final member of the quartet is Roban, Kenzie's son and one of the First Gens born of the "Homers" who established the first colony on Mars. It is 2025 when Hannah encounters the young man from the future, the one who changes everything for her.

The novel is a triumph of the climate fiction genre, asking readers where they would invest their hope: on a failing Earth or a fragile Mars. Terrestrial History offers no easy solutions, however, choosing the certainty of countless uncertainties. Perhaps readers must resign themselves to not knowing, as Andrew recognizes, "What could we have done but what we thought best at the time?"--Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian

Discover: A brilliant exploration of time and the possibilities inherent in any vision of the future, Terrestrial History manages to be both hopeful and devastating, a triumph of climate fiction.

Tech bros, TV actors, social-justice warriors, gay dentists--nobody escapes a good-natured ribbing from Paul Rudnick (Gorgeous; Playing the Palace) in What Is Wrong with You?, a pot-stirringly funny novel centered on a wedding that's doubling as the site of a product launch.

Linda Kleinschmidt is engaged to tech entrepreneur Trone Meston, and for a reason she can't get her head around, she has invited her ex-husband, Sean, to the wedding, where Trone plans to launch a mystery product. Sean is sure he understands Linda's motivations for inviting him: as he tells his friend Rob, "She wants me to stop her" from marrying Trone. Sean taps Rob, who could use a diversion, to be his plus-one at the wedding. Rob is still reeling from his husband's year-ago death, which he knows "may very well have been" his fault. What's more, a "sensitivity associate" has just fired Rob from his job as an editor at a publishing house.

These and other characters making up Rudnick's gangbusters ensemble cast take turns with the book's point of view, gradually supplying answers to the novel's key questions, among them: Why did Linda and Sean break up, and how did Rob's husband die? The sheer number of narrative strands can hinder the novel's forward momentum, but the writing is zingy throughout and flush with the ultra-specific thumbnails that Rudnick is known for (one character has "the frostiness and aplomb of a dowager dryly outraged by horseless carriages"). What Is Wrong with You? is an ode to love written with two pens: one dipped in sugar, the other in poison. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

Discover: This pot-stirringly funny novel centered on a wedding is an ode to love written with two pens: one dipped in sugar, the other in poison.

There's more than one way to pilfer. One can steal material goods, but one can also steal more precious items, such as a person's dreams or their trust in others. It's no spoiler to state that a lot gets stolen in Theft, a quietly powerful novel by Abdulrazak Gurnah (The Last Gift), the Tanzanian British writer who received the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature. Start with 17-year-old Raya, who falls for a Tanzanian soldier, "a heroic, slender warrior" back from military training in Cuba, only for her father to insist she marry a divorced building contractor in his 40s who demands that "her duty required submission" in bed. He's relentlessly cruel, so when their son, Karim, turns three, Raya leaves with the boy for good.

The family has more highs and lows in store in this constantly surprising work. Raya finds a new love in pharmacy owner Haji and marries him when Karim is 14. She and Haji move to Dar es Salaam while Karim stays in Zanzibar to complete his early schooling. When he gets a scholarship from the University of Dar es Salaam, he moves in with Raya and Haji, who have taken in a distant family relation, 13-year-old Badar, as their servant. Much more follows, including Karim's marriage to Fauzia, who had "the falling sickness" as a child and fears a recurrence; Badar's job at a fancy hotel; and, of course, acts of thievery--all of it set against the backdrop of a new Tanzanian government taking over from British rule. Elegantly told in Gurnah's customarily spare prose, Theft is a hypnotic family novel from one of literature's greatest stylists. --Michael Magras, freelance book reviewer

Discover: Theft by Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah is a magnificent novel about forced marriages, family strife, and all kinds of thievery, set against the backdrop of Tanzanian politics.

Katie Kitamura's spectacular Audition examines the enigmatic relationship between a middle-aged woman and a younger man, until readers "can no longer distinguish between what is real and what is not real." Kitamura (A Separation) divides her spare, Manhattan-set novel into two distinct parts that open and close in the exact same settings--a "large establishment in the financial district" and a theater stage. Both feature the same main cast: an unnamed actor; her husband, Tomas; director Anne; playwright Max; and Xavier. While the actor claims the definitive "I"-voice throughout, the linchpin is actually Xavier, as the mutability of who he is drives both narratives, with unpredictable results.

In Part I, the actor agrees to lunch with Xavier but tells him, "I don't think we should see each other again.... No relationship between us can be possible." They first met each other two weeks previously, when over coffee he tells her, "I think you might be my mother." She recalls her past--abortion, miscarriage--suggesting an impossibility to his claims.

Part II unexpectedly mutates what was initially presented as a physical impossibility into an altered reality in progress: the actor is now "Xavier's mother," their relationship comprising "the affinities and understandings built over a lifetime."

Kitamura offers a virtuoso performance of sly agility, presented in elliptical, elegant prose. "There are always two stories taking place at once, the narrative inside the play and the narrative around it," the actor observes about the theater, "and the boundary between the two is more porous than you might think." Provocatively perplexing and utterly beguiling, Audition deftly captures that playacting magic on every page. --Terry Hong

Discover: Katie Kitamura's spare, captivating Audition provocatively spotlights an enigmatic, transformative relationship between a middle-aged woman and a younger man.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez's powerful fourth novel, Happy Land, examines the intricacies of family lineage, interwoven with land ownership and the story of a free Black kingdom in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

After years of estrangement, real estate agent Veronica "Nikki" Lovejoy-Berry is summoned to her grandmother's house in North Carolina. When she arrives, Nikki has many questions about the contentious relationship between her mother and grandmother, but Mother Rita has other plans: she tells Nikki about a remote kingdom of Black people who made their home on this land in the days after slavery. The kingdom's queen, Luella, is Mother Rita's--and Nikki's--ancestor. As Nikki learns to listen to her grandmother (and help care for her lush, extensive flower garden), she draws closer to some answers about her family's discord, and some guidance for her own next chapter.

Perkins-Valdez (Take My Hand) shifts between Nikki's 21st-century perspective and Luella's narrative as she helps build the kingdom alongside her father and other formerly enslaved people. Luella marries, becomes a mother, and works alongside her husband, William, and others to keep the kingdom a place of peace, joy, and self-sufficiency. But their semi-utopia can't last forever: eventually, Luella and her community face difficult choices and must adapt their individual and communal lives amid hardship and tragedy. Their legacy, however, endures until Nikki's time with Mother Rita, and their history raises thought-provoking questions about agency, self-governance, and love.

Sensitively rendered and potently described, Happy Land asks important questions about self-determination and explores the complexities of enduring emotional bonds. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: Dolen Perkins-Valdez's powerful fourth novel explores family bonds and land ownership through the story of a remote kingdom of free Black people in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Following five books of poetry, Greg Hewett (Blindsight; darkacre) astonishes with a transcendent first novel about friendship, desire, music, loss, and love in its many forms. No Names is rough-edged, glittering, and brilliant as it spans decades and lives, traveling from a fictional American refinery town to Europe's capitals, from Copenhagen to a place known simply as the Island, and back again.

Solitary teenager Mike's world expands when he meets easy, outgoing Pete, with whom he shares a love of literature and especially music, and a nearly instant firm bond. Music, for Mike, is all bound up with sex and violence and epiphany. The two guitarists form a punk band in the late 1970s, and with their two bandmates take off on a rocketing tour of the United States and then Europe that ends in enigma and tragedy.

In 1993, another angst-ridden teen from the same gritty, class-divided hometown discovers a dusty record in his mother's attic and goes looking for a mostly forgotten punk band. Isaac pursues the mystery of the No Names until he unearths Mike on a remote island in the Faroes. Mike, Pete, and Isaac, among others, form permutations and re-combinations of friendship, affection, artistic inspiration, love, and desire.

Hewett brings a poet's ear for language to a complexly layered story that treats sex, drugs, and rock & roll as simultaneously hard-grained and gorgeous. His evocations of music and the power of the muse are tantalizing and apt, as are his lines about the strain of finding oneself, of love and lust and pain. Hewett's first novel is scintillating and absolutely unforgettable. --Julia Kastner, blogger at pagesofjulia

Discover: This dazzling first novel applies poetry to the overawing power of art, friendship, and the ways in which many forms of love blend into one.

Claire Anderson-Wheeler's elegant debut mystery novel, The Gatsby Gambit, turns a keen eye on the wealthy socialites of F. Scott Fitzgerald's West Egg. Mixing recognizable characters with a fresh perspective and a dash of intrigue, Anderson-Wheeler considers the darkness behind the glittering facades of Long Island's mansions.

Greta Gatsby, Jay's younger sister, is thrilled to be returning to her brother's home after finishing school, and unsurprised to discover he has houseguests: Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Nick Carraway, and Jordan Baker. All of them are surprised, though, when Tom ends up dead. The initial verdict is suicide, but Greta's not so sure, and her investigation uncovers a number of dark secrets above and below stairs. As Greta searches for the killer, it becomes clear that someone is determined to keep the truth hidden.

Anderson-Wheeler has created an engaging protagonist in Greta, whose position just outside Jay's exalted circle makes her an astute observer of it. Some interpersonal dynamics, especially Jay's hopeless love for Daisy and the world she represents, will be familiar to readers of The Great Gatsby. Others, like Greta's dawning awareness of her own privilege, add texture to the narrative and help point toward the mystery's solution. The novel brims with lavish 1920s details such as etched crystal wineglasses and Jay's Rolls-Royce; it brims, too, with reflections on power, wealth, and who has access to true happiness. Entertaining and slyly philosophical, The Gatsby Gambit is a clever mystery and a neat twist on an American classic. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: Claire Anderson-Wheeler's elegant debut mystery mixes a fresh twist on the world of The Great Gatsby with insightful reflections on power, wealth, and happiness.

Xhenet Aliu crafts a vibrant, multi-perspective narrative about the true meaning of family in Everybody Says It's Everything. Twins Drita and Petrit, or Pete, were adopted and raised by an Italian American family in Connecticut, unconnected from and uneducated about their Albanian heritage. Aliu (Brass) poignantly examines the way the family came together and the heartbreaking ways it fell apart, and ponders whether it can be put back together.  

Determined to make something of her life, Drita goes to college while Pete, always a troublemaker, ensures his family's expectations for him remain low. After their sibling bond is broken by their teenage differences, not even the death of their father and their paraplegic mother falling ill is enough to restore the relationship. Drita puts her life on hold to care for their mother, and her plans are further derailed when Pete's ex-girlfriend and son show up unexpectedly. She is forced to consider that, though it will be under unfavorable circumstances, her family may reunite after all. She is determined to find the missing piece: Pete.  

Drita and Pete struggle in their relationships with each other and themselves. Desperate to uncover their purpose and place in the world, they encounter hilarious and heartrending situations. Aliu expertly intertwines each character's complex life with a thorough exploration of topics such as class, identity, and Albanian immigrant experiences. Aliu creates a gripping family portrait brimming with empathy and second chances. --Clara Newton, freelance reviewer

Discover: In Xhenet Aliu's vibrant novel, adopted Albanian twins navigate their relationships with their heritage, each other, and themselves.

Josh Duboff's debut novel, Early Thirties, begins with Victor (the only character who narrates in the first person) recovering in a New York City hospital from ostensibly attempting suicide after his boyfriend dumped him. His best friend, Zoey, is there when he wakes up; she's the first person he texts whenever something big (or small) happens to him. While still in the hospital, Victor finds out he got a job at a celebrity website and print magazine. It's his big break, and after a few months, he lands an assignment to interview someone famous. Meanwhile, Zoey works for a fashion startup but has vague dreams of starting something of her own. These two are the heart of the novel, which traces their relationship's vicissitudes, interspersed by secondary and tertiary characters who sometimes intertwine with the main narrative.

Early Thirties is lively and chatty, filled with real actresses, podcasters, influencers, and #girlbosses who appear alongside purely fictional ones. Duboff, a former senior writer at Vanity Fair, knows the territory well. Celebrity culture and the circus behind it, such as the publicists, profile writers, and fans who keep the show going are all featured here.

Over the course of about two years, Victor and Zoey settle into their 30s, love lives change, careers ebb and flow, and characters gain agency. Amid the volatility of fame, Duboff captures the uncertainty and randomness of growing older, and the tender heartbreak of friendship. Expect to laugh, cringe, and maybe cry. --Nina Semczuk, writer, editor, and illustrator

Discover: Josh Duboff's lively debut novel follows a rotating cast of characters in a narrative about fame, friendship, and growing older.

Children's and YA author Aisha Saeed (Amal Unbound; Yes No Maybe So) weaves a murder mystery into romantic suspense at its best in her first novel for adults, The Matchmaker, a fast-paced and entertaining read.

To the outside world, Nura Khan is perfect. "She's a magician," gush the online reviews of her boutique matchmaking agency, Piyar. "Nura is not just your matchmaker, she's your life fixer." But appearances aren't everything. Nura's best friend, Azar, has been her plus-one to all the weddings she attends, but he might want out of playing her pretend fiancé. Khala, the beloved auntie who raised Nura and taught her everything she knows about matchmaking, has had a series of minor strokes and was recently diagnosed with vascular dementia. And according to the hate mail piling up, someone wants Nura dead.

As a cat-and-mouse game played by someone coming ever closer to executing their threat of murder escalates, The Matchmaker shifts into something more tense than the typical romance narrative, with secrets, guns, danger, and more than a few twists and turns. It seems a given that a novel titled The Matchmaker, about a modern-day matchmaking service, would address themes of love and relationships, and Saeed does reflect on romance here. "There's a special kind of mythmaking people do when it comes to love," she writes. Nura grapples with this alongside her clients every day, not to mention in her own relationship with Azar. But as Nura and those she loves become amateur sleuths, Saeed also pulls in themes of family and belonging, friendship and support, class and race and culture. The Matchmaker is a smart, compelling mystery that sparkles with tension--and engagement rings. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer

Discover: A professional matchmaker and amateur sleuth tries to understand why someone wants her dead in this novel that's romantic suspense at its best.

An ancient mummy is discovered in a cave by the Arabian Sea in Maha Khan Phillips's suspenseful archeological drama, The Museum Detective. Set in the port city of Karachi, Pakistan, Khan Phillips's novel delves into the world of antiquities smuggling, corrupt policewallahs, and the mystery of a missing teenager named Mahnaz.

As an independent working woman, Dr. Gul Delani is an outlier in her wealthy family. She is an Egyptologist and museum curator at Karachi's Heritage and History Museum. It's a far cry from the society marriage she was groomed for, hence her overbearing family's disapproval. Despite these hostilities, Gul has someone very important in her corner: the resourceful Mrs. Fernandes, a museum employee whose eccentric habits sprinkle light comic relief on Khan Phillips's intense, multilayered plot.

It's been a tough three years since Gul's niece Mahnaz disappeared. But now, distraction arrives in the form of an unusual police request. A sarcophagus carved with Persian cuneiform and containing a gold-masked "Lost Princess" was seized during a drug raid, and Gul's expertise is sought to determine the mummy's authenticity. As she navigates the potentially history-altering discovery--if verified, this would be the first Persian mummy on record--and a terrifying attempt on her life, Gul is unsure who to trust. Meanwhile, she unearths other details about Mahnaz's disappearance, making Gul even more desperate to learn the truth about her beloved niece.

Khan Phillips (Beautiful from This Angle, The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby) captures the lively, chaotic essence of her former hometown in this thrilling saga that's replete with startling twists, charmingly offbeat characters, and a truly breathtaking revelation awaiting readers at the end. --Shahina Piyarali

Discover: An ancient, gold-masked mummy is discovered in a smuggler's cave by the Arabian Sea in this multilayered mystery that's replete with startling twists and charmingly offbeat characters.

Victoria Lavine's debut, the smart, sexy rom-com Any Trope but You, is a witty send-up of common romance motifs and a sweet tribute to the power of second chances.

After being publicly exposed--and humiliated--for no longer believing in love, romance novelist Margot Bradley accepts her sister Savannah's offer of a trip to a remote Alaskan lodge. Determined to rebound by writing her first murder mystery, Margot is shocked and irritated to find that Forrest, the lodge caretaker and the owner's son, is a walking romance archetype: a gruff, handsome, muscular doctor with a heart of gold. As the snowy days pass, Margot can't help but count the multiplying tropes, including attraction of opposites, forced proximity, only one bed (or tent), and--quite possibly--enemies to lovers. Meanwhile, Forrest is struggling with his decision to jettison his medical career to care for his ailing father.

While Lavine's narrative has plenty of heat (including a very sweaty sauna scene), she also plumbs Margot's backstory with sensitivity and depth. Savannah throws a wrench into the mix with a series of letters designed to force Margot to confront her past wounds and face her uncertain future: whether and how she can salvage the career she's passionate about, and maybe even take a chance on love again. With appealing characters, witty banter, and plenty of Alaskan touches (including a moose named Bullwinkle), Any Trope but You is a spicy confection for avid romance fans. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: In Victoria Lavine's smart, sexy rom-com, a disgraced romance novelist must confront her past (and a handsome doctor) in the Alaskan wilderness.

Beth O'Leary (The Flatshare; The Switch) returns with Swept Away, a romance with an uncommonly captivating premise. Thirty-one-year-old Lexi, displaced by the new boyfriend of her flatmate, Penny, just moved out to stay on Penny's family's houseboat. Lexi is covering for a bartender friend at a seafront pub, and she impulsively invites a handsome young customer named Zeke back to the boat with her. Meanwhile 23-year-old Zeke, who just bought back his late father's houseboat from a woman named Penelope, can't resist taking the beautiful bartender home with him.

When dawn breaks, they realize that (a) they're locked in a tug-of-war over the same houseboat; (b) although they both agreed up front that they would just have a one-night stand, the boat slipped its moorings during the night; and (c) they are now way, way out to sea.

Cut off from civilization, Lexi and Zeke are thrust into intimacy of a different kind. They find themselves growing incredibly close as they navigate storms, injuries, and the lack of fresh water. But it's what they must endure back on land once they're finally rescued that will truly test their budding relationship. Was their connection merely the product of their peril, or could it be the start of something permanent?

Witty and reflective, Swept Away invites readers to ponder how they would fare on an adventure such as Lexi and Zeke's. Perfect for armchair adventurers and romance aficionados, Swept Away is an irresistible, wave-tossed escapade. --Jessica Howard, former bookseller, freelance book reviewer

Discover: In this witty and reflective romance, a one-night stand on a houseboat results in two strangers being stranded at sea together.

Legendary Canadian comics creator Jeff Lemire delivers another addictively bizarre series of stories with Fishflies, which collects all seven issues. "They come for, like, a week every summer and then they all die at once," a boy explains about the fishfly infestation in small-town Belle River, Ontario. Lemire's author's note confirms the reality of the annual plague in the lakeside Essex County communities where he grew up.

Stranger things will happen over this fictional season. A barefoot dare among three friends to procure popsicles leaves young Paul hospitalized when he interrupts a convenience store robbery in progress. Young Franny--bullied for her constantly runny nose--befriends the criminal hiding in her family's barn, provoking her vicious alcoholic father's wrath. Paul's single mother has inexplicable visions about Belle River's first settlers. A pair of aging siblings clearly know too much. And Officer Danny Laraque is the single citizen determined to save the children.

As in his acclaimed, Netflix-adapted Sweet Tooth, Lemire again centers--and eventually empowers--neglected, abused, and abandoned kids. Here, he quickly moves Franny into the narrative spotlight: wearing her red coat, she's often the only bright color on the page. Lemire defaults to meticulous black-and-white illustrations washed over with muted grays, blues, and yellows. He tints the recent past in green, while depictions of the previous century turn virtually all green (except for bloody red), panels lose their frames, and the art becomes less detailed, with broader strokes. Dipterological transformations are nigh. --Terry Hong

Discover: This collection of the first seven issues of renowned comics creator Jeff Lemire's extraordinary series, Fishflies, is a grotesquely addictive, trypophobic nightmare epic.

Australian artist/writer Rachel Ang's compelling I Ate the Whole World to Find You gathers five loosely interrelated stories exploring a young woman's evolving relationships--romantic, platonic, familial. Ang draws black-and-white panels of assorted sizes, including full pages, boxed inserts, symmetrical divisions of two, four, six, as if repeatedly imposing order on emotional experiences and difficult confrontations. Where Ang places their text bubbles--often outside the panels--seems to underscore the inevitable unpredictability of real-life conversations.

In "The Passenger," Jenny travels on a train with a couple with whom she is having trouble communicating; she turns "into some silent interior part of myself," berating herself for being "revolting... wholly unlovable." But as their failure to communicate devolves into a dreamscape, her rebuffed attempts to talk to her angry ex-partner make her realize, "I can't stay here. I gotta go."

A phone call from her cousin sends Jenny into memories of a shared past in "Your Shadow in the Dark," with utterly shattering revelations. In "Purity," pregnancy offers Jenny a chance to "start anew" with another soul: "a connection far deeper, wider, purer, than the limited frame of language." Communication beyond the womb, however, "is easily jammed by external frequencies."

Ang's narrative is textually minimal. Their expressive art builds layers of meaning not reliant on extensive words. "This is how I build a way out," for example, is an otherwise wordless, two-page how-to that Jenny must devise to create her own escape. "It's like no one knows what to do with women's bodies," a character comments. Step-by-step, panel-by-panel, amid complications and challenges, Ang enables Jenny to painfully, tenaciously, figure out her own self. --Terry Hong

Discover: Australian comics creator Rachel Ang poignantly, hauntingly explores a young woman's journey toward self-realization through her relationships with lovers, friends, and family.

The increasingly repressive nature of the Chinese state against those who do not comport with Xi Jinping's vision of Chinese society is the focus of journalist Emily Feng's absorbing Let Only Red Flowers Bloom. Feng documents the experiences of more than two dozen people whose backgrounds, identities, and professions compose a holistic portrait of life in 21st-century China. Through these affecting stories, Feng reveals the myriad human fronts of resistance to Xi's repression of ethnic and religious minorities. Feng's subjects, who include lawyers, teachers, booksellers, and believers, amplify the chorus that to be safe in China, one must adhere to a specific set of characteristics.

For example, early on in Xi's tenure, a communique known as "Document Nine" proclaimed a singular "Chinese" approach to running a country, "one administered by the [Communist] Party alone." Feng recounts the plight of groups such as the Chinese Hui and the Turkic Uyghurs, who suffer continued persecution for their Islamic faith. As she writes, it is all part of China's efforts "to re-engineer the human soul" through the vague process of "Sinicization" or "becoming Chinese." This process includes suppressing the teaching or speaking of any language other than Mandarin; Feng's portrait of a Mongolian teacher protesting the expulsion of the Mongolian language from school textbooks in Inner Mongolia captures the draconian character of China under Xi. It is a nation that desires only one kind of flower in its garden: the red kind. Let Only Red Flowers Bloom is a fearless work of reportage that reveals the alarming array of attacks against diversity, freedom, and identity in Xi's China. --Peggy Kurkowski, book reviewer and copywriter in Denver

Discover: Journalist Emily Feng reveals the repression of religion, languages, and other freedoms in Xi Jinping's China in this absorbing and fearless work of reportage.

With The Mesopotamian Riddle, Joshua Hammer (The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu) has written an engaging and fast-paced history of the rediscovery of Mesopotamian cuneiform during the Victorian era. On paper, upper-class Henry Rawlinson, a British diplomat in Baghdad, had little in common with Austen Layard, a law clerk turned archeologist, and Edward Hincks, a curmudgeonly Irish clergyman. But what Rawlinson, Layard, and Hincks did share was a fascination with the Middle East.

By the mid-19th century, when the discovery of Assyrian palaces led to thousands of inscribed tablets from the Assyrian royal library, the civilization of ancient Mesopotamia had been "almost entirely forgotten." Scholars in the 1840s still were not sure whether cuneiform was a Semitic language, or exactly which culture it belonged to. The "rediscovery of this lost civilization... seized the public's imagination" and led to the Royal Asiatic Society arranging a competition to see who could most accurately translate a relic "inscribed with eight hundred lines of tiny cuneiform characters." Layard and Rawlinson both traveled in what is now Iraq and Iran, uncovering treasures on archeological digs, while Hincks, who had limited resources, translated from Ireland via the casts and impressions of artifacts created by others.

Reading about their adventurous efforts, their "feat of analysis, intuition, and stamina," and seeing cuneiform interspersed in the book's text is truly fascinating. Finally, the Mesopotamian Riddle had been solved, and once again the symbols could be read. The story of the rivalries among these three men, interspersed with the history they uncovered as they translated, makes for irresistible reading. History buffs, adventure seekers, and linguists will all love The Mesopotamian Riddle. --Jessica Howard, former bookseller, freelance book reviewer

Discover: In this fascinating work of history, three Victorian men compete to be the first to accurately translate ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform.

Sharing a lifetime's worth of lessons in a tiny treasure of a book, Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives by Gretchen Rubin offers masterly guidance on how to tackle difficult decisions, fight temptation, navigate the "perplexities of relationships," and more.

Rubin (The Happiness Project; Life in Five Senses; The Four Tendencies) is a former lawyer who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She has authored multiple books on human nature, making her an expert on the subject. Her award-winning podcast is beloved for its motivational insights.

Although each section of the book opens with a narrative introduction, Secrets of Adulthood is crafted as a series of aphorisms, compact statements that contain broad truths and "distill big ideas into few words." Comparing the aphorism to the haiku, Rubin explains how these "short and well-expressed" statements are "easy to remember" and "provoke our reflection."

The section titled "Making Things Happen" speaks to topics such as creativity, persistence, and procrastination. On that final subject, it helps to remember that "nothing is more exhausting than the task that's never started." Perfectionists might consider how "perfectionism is driven not by high standards but by anxiety." Michael Jackson never learned to read sheet music, hence Rubin's observation that "we don't have to be good at something to be good at something."

Rubin's aphorisms offer memorable perspectives to boost emotional intelligence, making Secrets of Adulthood an ideal guide for readers desiring a refresher course on navigating the rocky terrain of adulting. --Shahina Piyarali

Discover: Author and podcaster Gretchen Rubin offers aphorisms about tackling difficult decisions, fight temptation, navigate relationships, and overcome procrastination in this tiny treasure of a book.

In her first book, What We Value, neuroscientist Emily Falk presents a meticulously researched yet practical exploration into the science behind making decisions. By probing the scientific workings of the mind, Falk shows how the brain navigates and sorts through personal experiences and self-will.

The idea of "value calculation" (how the brain naturally weighs and deals with options based on who each person is at their core) resides at the heart of this comprehensive, easy-to-read guide. Case studies of decision-making in student groups and large swaths of people demonstrate hands-on ways to use past experiences and current needs in order to bring choice-making, in work and in relationships, into greater awareness. In one of the examples using notable people, Falk delineates the steps basketball superstar LeBron James took in determining whether or not to stay with his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, which had yet to win a championship.

Falk examines the impacts of defensive habits, social relevance, how choices come to define a person, and the role of cultural backgrounds. All of this enables understanding how the operating systems of others can affect their personal choices and learning how to connect with those who might have differing points of view. By seamlessly melding science with identifiable personal values, motivations, and goals, Falk offers beneficial strategies to tap into reasoning patterns--with the end goals of working toward greater self-insight and fostering better communication.

Falk's organized, analytical approach is refreshingly down to earth. Through understanding individual motivations behind decision-making and the variables that can ultimately align toward bigger-picture goals and values, Falk empowers readers to make more consciously attuned choices. -- Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

Discover: A thoroughly researched, empowering examination about how the brain--along with personal, societal, and cultural influences--affects decision-making.

Irish playwright/author Neil Sharpson (When the Sparrow Falls) comically invades kid lit with Don't Trust Fish, a picture book illustrated by National Book Award and Caldecott Medal winner Dan Santat (A First Time for Everything; The Adventures of Beekle), that, at first glance, appears to be a compendium of animals.

The title starts unremarkably enough: "This animal has fur. This animal is warm-blooded. This animal feeds her babies milk. This animal is a MAMMAL." The text is accompanied by a realistically executed drawing of a cow in grass. Turn the page and the boring orderly categorizations continue: a snake illustration possibly pulled from an encyclopedia features text defining it as REPTILE; a yellow BIRD has feathers because "anything with feathers is a bird."

Then the trouble begins. The next spread features an oversized FISH drawn in Santat's signature, cartoonish style. "DON'T TRUST FISH"--they "don't follow any rules." Gills or lungs, salt or fresh water, egg-layers and not, the sly inconsistencies are endless. Also, "some fish eat poor, innocent crabs who are just trying to have a nice time in the sea." Fish spend all their time in the water "where we can't see them." Beware, beware!  

Sharpson and Santat's co-creation is a symbiotic marvel. Santat takes every opportunity to joke around--fish in pickle jars, the SS MINNOW sinking, a sneaky self-portrait, a moment of requisite toilet humor. In an interesting final twist, it's Santat who gets the last word--what follows Sharpson's "THE END" is a double-page illustrated reveal (no spoilers!) sure to elicit many a guffaw. Never trust fish indeed. --Terry Hong

Discover: Neil Sharpson and Dan Santat exhibit perfect comical timing in trying to convince their readers it is imperative they Don't Trust Fish.

Rebellion 1776 is a gripping novel that takes place smack in the middle of a revolution. Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak; Shout; The Seeds of America trilogy) applies her trademark humor, sensitivity, and prodigious other talents to the Revolutionary War, this time from the sharp-witted perspective of a 13-year-old white kitchen maid.

Political turmoil, a deadly epidemic, controversy over inoculation, systemic classism: 1776 was not an easy time to be a servant in Boston, especially one whose mother and siblings have died from smallpox and whose sailmaker father has disappeared. But spirited and resourceful Elsbeth Culpepper is up to the task. She finds work caring for patriot spy Mister Pike and his large family during the Siege of Boston. Between minding the children while they recover from the smallpox inoculation ("Taken together they were a Misery of Pikes, a Fever of Pikes, and a Puke of Pikes.") and trying to track down her Pappa, she barely has time to inflict revenge on two thieving scoundrels who are making life even more difficult for her and the Pike family.

Elsbeth's brave though risky stands against unfairness mark her as a feminist in spirit, if not in name. Anderson's fluid and lively storytelling is on full display in Elsbeth's thrilling exploits, clever manipulations, and hilarious wordplay, which shows up in biting parenthetical asides and entertaining insults like "foggy-brained numbskull" and "Captain Fizzlefart." Rebellion 1776 brings the American Revolution to street level, shining a brilliant light on the relevance history always has for the present. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor

Discover: Laurie Halse Anderson's exciting novel stars a feisty, funny heroine trying to squelch her rebellious nature while scrambling to survive a smallpox epidemic as her city is under siege.

Everybelly is an amusing, original look at bodies and the idea of home, narrated by an inquisitive youngster who stands tummy-high to their neighbors.

One summery day, a child and their mother join neighbors at a local pool. Readers are first introduced to Mama, whose belly was where the narrator "used to live... until I grew too big." The brown-skinned child wears a flowery long-sleeved swim shirt, pink bottoms, and a polka-dot swim cap, as they discuss their neighbors. "Vibhuti's in a band. They know how to keep a beat"; an unnamed neighbor has a shy belly and prefers "pigeons to people" (which the kid understands because, likewise, they prefer "jelly beans to broccoli"). Also presented are neighbors with tattoos, wrinkled bellies, insulin pumps, appendicitis scars, stretch marks, and bellies that "make great tables." The diverse cast speaks to this child's easy acceptance of all bellies, though they do profess themselves puzzled by "flat" ones: Why do people "work hard to keep their bellies flat" when they can fill them with "ice cream topped with jellybeans, donuts in sprinkles, har gow, gimbap..."?

Everybelly showcases a delightful parade of funny, sweet, and sometimes misunderstood moments. Thao Lam (One Giant Leap) consistently employs a child-centric point of view in language and in her lively, innovative cut-paper collage illustrations. Brimming with goodwill, the child's cheerful spin on everything they encounter creates a welcome place for readers to feel at home. Indeed, Mama's belly, where the child used to live, bookends the story: the book closes with the child resting atop Mama's belly, a place that "will always feel like home." --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author

Discover: The funny, sweet, and child-centric Everybelly introduces readers to a kid's neighbors via their bellies.

Multi-award-winning author/illustrator Raina Telgemeier (Guts; Smile) and comics expert Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics) combine their prodigious talents to give middle-grade readers a graphic novel that is both a winning story and a charming instructional tool.

Makayla and Howard love to create new tales--Makayla through imagination; Howard through illustration--and decide to join forces to create one cohesive work. But they struggle with combining their separate ideas. Ms. Fatima, the school library's media specialist, explains to Makayla and Howard that they must cooperate with their individual talents: "in comics, you want the pictures and words to work together to tell stories." Makayla and Howard grow so excited about cartooning that they ask Ms. Fatima if they can start a comics club. Fellow schoolmates Art and Lynda join, and the Cartoonists Club is born.

Telgemeier and McCloud create a cast of characters who are each on a genuine comics-discovery journey. Makayla can't decide what is important to share and not share with her readers; Howard's dad doesn't appreciate his illustrations; Art juggles their love of comics with their many other loves; and Lynda is apprehensive about sharing her "really personal" art. The characters break the fourth wall and speak directly to the child reader, both extending an invitation and giving advice on how to create one's own comics. The illustrations are dynamic, with characters exploring their panels, poking their frames, and even noticing readers. An amazingly entertaining "how-to" and a perfect step up for fans of the Cat Kid Comic Club series by Dav Pilkey. --Kharissa Kenner, library media specialist, Churchill School and Center

Discover: Four middle-grade characters explore the ins and outs of being a cartoonist in this amusing, inviting, and informational graphic novel.

Tanya Boteju's Messy Perfect is a kindhearted and affecting YA novel about a closeted teenager creating an underground club for queer students at her conservative high school.

"Between Catholic church and Catholic school and Catholic immigrant parents," Cassie Perera "learned a very specific set of rules and expectations for how to carry" herself. These rules informed her that her fourth-grade best friend, Ben, "who danced ballet and had a lisp" was "odd." Though Ben and Cassie built a friendship, when Chinese American Ben and Sri Lankan American Cassie were bullied after an incident by racist and homophobic classmates in sixth grade, Cassie betrayed Ben. Afterward, Ben moved to Toronto to study ballet and Cassie dedicated herself to being the perfect daughter, student, and Catholic. Now a junior at St. Luke's Catholic high school, Cassie is surprised to learn that Ben is back. After meeting members of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) from Pinetree, the public school across the street from St. Luke's, Cassie founds Crosswalk, an underground safe space for queer kids at her conservative school. She tells herself she started Crosswalk to absolve herself of some of her guilt around Ben but begins to wonder if the club was more for her than it was for him.

Messy Perfect is an inspiring and beautifully written coming-of-age novel. Boteju (Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens) carefully tackles topics of sexuality, religion, and morality through Cassie's struggle to define her sexual identity alongside her religious identity. Boteju uses an LGBTQ+ lens to encourage readers of all identities to develop and be true to their own moral compasses. --Natasha Harris, freelance writer

Discover: In this superbly written coming-of-age novel, a closeted queer teen starts an underground club for LGBTQ+ students at her conservative Catholic school.