The Silence of the Spirits, the second novel by award-winning Afropean writer Wilfried N'Sonde, is the haunting story of a former African child soldier, Clovis Nzila, who makes his way into France illegally. Destitute and at the end of his rope, Clovis has spent an exhausting day avoiding the police. Feeling hopeless and with nothing to lose, he decides to jump onto a commuter train heading out of Paris. Sitting across from him on the train is Christelle, a red-haired, middle-aged woman heading home from her job as a nurses' aide at a Paris hospital. Sensing Clovis's distress, Christelle's "heart suddenly ignited... recognizing the pain from her own life in [his] eyes"; she wants to console him.

Their lives are so different, yet their pasts have much in common, including a shared history of violence, drawing them irresistibly toward each other. Over the next 24 hours, they joyfully discover comfort and solace in one another's company. Christelle brings Clovis "into her universe" and envelops him "in an aura of light." They enter "the epicenter of a magical vortex of curiosity, yearnings and desires." N'Sonde's lyrical prose, beautifully translated by Karen Lindo, is almost hypnotic in its intensity. It eventually forces the reader to bear witness to the atrocities committed by Clovis in the name of freedom, leaving us to wonder if he and Christelle can ever move beyond his violent past.

N'Sonde's broader message concerns hostility toward illegal immigrants and the danger for those who provide shelter to them. Originally written in 2009, this powerful story is narrated in Clovis's voice and unfolds through his desperate but hopeful eyes. --Shahina Piyarali, writer and freelance reviewer

The six stories in Paul Yoon's (Snow Hunters) second collection, The Mountain, are almost shocking in their simplicity. Possessing a fable-like sensibility, each one is a quietly elegant examination of how survivors of various sorts carry on in the face of profound loss. Yoon's strikingly uninflected prose heightens both the tension and the resonance of these tales.

Though The Mountain's stories range across more than a century and inhabit settings that include upstate New York, Galicia and Russia's Pacific coast, they're united by the distant echo of war. Yoon illuminates how the tragic consequences of conflict linger long after the guns fall silent. World War I soldiers are sent to recover from their injuries in a Hudson Valley sanatorium in "A Willow and the Moon." In "Milner Field," a stunning incident involves a weapon given as an expression of gratitude for a lifesaving act by a Japanese commanding officer to one of his troops.

The collection's title story is its most haunting. Its protagonist, Faye, was born in Shanghai, where her father worked in a chemical plant, but returned to South Korea as a teenager. When she's recruited for a mind-numbing job on the assembly line of a Chinese camera factory, she gradually unearths fragments of a past that yield both physical and psychological trauma.

It's impossible to separate the content of these stories from the daringly unembellished quality of Yoon's writing, where omission often feels as meaningful as the words on the page. The unadorned prose is of a piece with the fragility of these delicate stories. Individually and collectively they comprise an exquisite and memorable work of art. --Harvey Freedenberg, attorney and freelance reviewer

For Emilia Nightingale, her father's cozy bookshop in the Cotswolds isn't just the family business: it's always been her home. But after her father's death, Emilia is faced with a pile of bills and paralyzing grief. Determined to save Nightingale Books from a predatory property developer, Emilia enlists the help of her staff, a few regular customers and her accountant best friend to revitalize the shop and rescue its bottom line. But it's an uphill battle, and Emilia grows weary. She and her compatriots dig deep into the stacks of her beloved bookstore to unearth hope, the courage to move forward and even a bit of romance in Veronica Henry's U.S. debut, How to Find Love in a Bookshop.

Though Henry's narrative centers on Emilia, her engaging ensemble cast gets its due: shy chef Thomasina, local gardener Dillon and Emilia's father, Julius, among others, have the chance to tell their own stories. Julius's longtime lover, Sarah, is struggling with complicated grief after his death, as well as her daughter's injury in a car accident before her upcoming wedding. Emilia is befuddled by her growing feelings for Marlowe, a family friend. The characters' stories intertwine in charming and sometimes surprising ways, as Henry nudges not only her bookshop, but several of the people who love it, back to life. This warmhearted novel is catnip for bibliophiles and Anglophiles, but can captivate anyone looking for a story of hope and new beginnings. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Walter Lavender Jr. is a 12-year-old with a motor speech disorder, a brain pathway dysfunction that prevents him from producing the words he wishes to speak. Walter may be isolated and withdrawn, but over the years, he's learned to adapt and cultivate an uncanny sense of perception. This turns him into a sought-after expert at finding lost things. Despite finding other people's prized possessions, a great sense of loss marks Walter's own life. His father, an airline co-pilot, disappeared on a flight to Bombay just three days before Walter was born.

While he waits for his father's return, Walter skirts bullies at school and spends time at the Lavenders, his mother's eclectic bakery in the West Village of New York City. Devoted patrons believe the desserts are magical--the angel food cake is light enough to whisk away pounds, and carefully crafted marzipan dragons breathe fire. The centerpiece and good luck charm of the success of the bakery, however, is a treasured, leather-bound manuscript--an illustrated winter's tale of lost love. When the book goes missing, the shop takes a nosedive: the magic suddenly evaporates from the desserts, business drops off, a French bakery opens a few doors away and the landlord threatens to double the rent. Fearful that all will be lost, Walter commences his 85th--and most personally challenging--case.

With straightforward prose, Sophie Chen Keller tells this insightful story from Walter's singular point of view. This is a feel-good, message-driven story about the restorative power of human connectedness and how acts of kindness can ultimately change lives. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines.

For many years, Otto Penzler, owner of the Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, has commissioned authors to write Christmas stories for an annual anthology. Having built a loyal following of authors and bookshop customers, Penzler had the bright idea to merge the two by asking authors to write short "bibliomysteries"--stories where books or bookstores feature prominently. Many authors, including Jeffery Deaver, Loren D. Estleman, Nelson DeMille, Anne Perry, John Connolly, C.J. Box and Laura Lippman, were unable to resist, and the result is Bibliomysteries: Stories of Crime in the World of Books and Bookstores.

With such a variety of talent, a diverse assortment of delightful stories is the happy result. They range from the bizarre (a book collection funded by selling pronghorn antelopes to Nazis) to the unexpected (a Mexican drug cartel leader with an astounding assortment of rare first editions). In one charming story, Anna Karenina occasionally escapes a secret library where book characters live and reenacts her death on local train tracks. Bibliomysteries offers mysteries in myriad styles, including cozies, thrillers, noir and the supernatural.

With some set in the present, some set in the past and some set in magical places that any bibliophile would love to visit, these 15 stories are sure to hold the attention of mystery aficionados of all varieties. Bibliomysteries is a perfect collection for the bookish, the mysterious--or both. --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans

In the not-too distant future of Brock Adams's Ember, the sun is fading, losing its light and heat. To rescue the earth from a slow freeze, world leaders hatch a plan to reignite the dying star. They let loose the world's arsenal of nuclear weapons toward the sun, then sit back and wait, as it will take three years for the missiles to reach their destination. Meanwhile, the Earth grows ever colder, with temperatures below freezing the new norm in the southern states of the U.S. Regions farther north are encased in snow and ice year-round.

As the fateful, sun-rejuvenation day arrives, unhappily married couple Lisa and Guy and their faithful dog, Jemi, watch from a hillside, expecting to see a vast explosion and a resurgence of light and heat from the setting sun. But something goes awry and the earth is plunged into near darkness and then chaos. In the days shortly after the nuclear fiasco, militants use violence to take control, forcing millions, including Lisa and Guy, to become refugees as everyone searches for food, shelter, heat, guns and protection from the elements.

Winner of the 2016 South Carolina First Novel Competition, Adams takes a far future scenario of the sun's demise and brings it nearer, a maelstrom in which strangers must trust strangers to survive. With climate change and global warming a growing concern, Ember is a chilling scenario--a perfect read for a hot day at the beach. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer

Portland, Ore., a city renowned for creativity and local flavor, is also a hotbed for eateries, including Tasty n Sons, Tasty n Alder and Toro Bravo. Chef-owner John Gorham (Toro Bravo: Stories. Recipes. No Bull.) brings the tricks of his establishments to the page in Hello! My Name Is Tasty: Global Diner Favorites from Portland's Tasty Restaurants, written with Liz Crain and featuring artful photography by David L. Reamer.

The book opens with pantry stocking tips and equipment suggestions before diving into diner fare loosely grouped into three sections: Brunch, All Day Long and Dinner, including combinations of small plates, big plates, boards, sandwiches, cocktails, sides and sweets. Gorham and Crain usher home cooking into a new echelon with decadent dishes like Polenta and Sugo with Mozzarella and Over Easy Egg; Korean Fried Chicken with Rice, Tasty Kimchi and Eggs; Alabama BBQ Chicken; and Cedar-Plank Salmon with Salsa Verde.

Gorham writes, "Kitchens, primarily, have been my home"; this cookbook serves as an invitation into his. Personal stories, food histories and fun facts liven up long recipes. Many of the meals are indulgent; rarely are they quick. A number include ingredients that need to be ordered online. Yet this collection sizzles with possibility. Even among a roster of complex dishes, simplicity shines through in the easily replicable Sour Pickles, Potato Chips or a Big Batch of Bloodys. The recipes are odes to regions and spices, both sense-awakening and surprising. --Katie Weed, freelance writer and reviewer

Great scientists are often famous for one or two projects out of a lifetime of study. Charles Darwin is best known for the voyage of the Beagle, which he took in his 20s, and for his book On the Origin of Species. Biologist and author James T. Costa offers a more domestic view of Darwin's life and work in Darwin's Backyard, looking at his systematic explorations of the natural world in the context of his childhood and adult family life, his friends and neighbors and the larger scientific community of his day. At the end of each chapter, Costa provides Darwinesque experiments on seeds, plants, barnacles and earthworms, among other subjects.

Darwin comes across as a charmingly enthusiastic and curious character in this illustrated biography, which includes a college friend's early cartoon of him going beetle hunting, perched astride a giant beetle and waving a butterfly net. This is an unusual look at the daily creative life of a great scientist, with opportunities to dig in and observe the workings of nature first hand using methods very similar to his own. The reading level is high, but the experiments could be done by any sufficiently interested person over the age of 10, or modified by teachers. Costa provides clear instructions, supply lists, resources for unusual materials and suggestions for further reading. "Darwin's approaches were varied... rarely meeting modern standards of rigid experimental design. But for all that, Darwin managed to learn an awful lot about how the world works. And it all began in that smelly boyhood laboratory at the bottom of the garden." --Sara Catterall

Québécoise author Anne Renaud (Missuk's Snow Geese) and Italian illustrator Felicita Sala team up for a crisp, delightful envisioning of the birth of that American culinary classic, the potato chip.

In 1850s Saratoga Springs, N.Y., customers flock to Crum's Place to devour delicacies cooked by George Crum, shown flipping a flapjack with smiling poise, and served by cheery-cheeked, flame-haired waitress Gladys. Known for his sense of humor as well as his kitchen skills, Crum finds himself flummoxed when he meets "finicky, persnickety" customer Filbert P. Horsefeathers, resplendent in a purple-plumed top hat, polka-dotted cravat and sunflower boutonniere. Filbert sends back three plates, complaining his potatoes are too thick, too bland and undercooked. Deciding to have a little fun with the demanding diner, George sends a plate of finely shaved, crispy-fried spuds, but the joke happily backfires when Filbert adores the creation, and so Crum's Crisp Crispies--potato chips--are born.

Mr. Crum's Potato Predicament showcases American humor and ingenuity at its finest. Studded with playful phrases like "prickly porcupine pie," Renaud's vivacious vocabulary builder of a story sings alongside Sala's feather-soft watercolor and pencil depictions of George, who was of African American and Native American descent, ruddy-faced Filbert and a full house of diverse customers. An afterword to this "fictional tale with a helping of truth" explains that Crum's legend has roots in reality, even if no single cook can take credit for the chip. Readers age five through nine will giggle at this mischievous morsel. Bet you can't read it just once! --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager, Main Branch, Dayton Metro Library

"This isn't a movie about a girl who breaks up with her undermining boyfriend... It's not about some great white hetero hero who loves a woman he needs to save or teams up with a lesser-powered woman in a skintight suit. I am the center of the story now, Jule said to herself.... I am the center."

Jule West Williams believes in being hard physically and emotionally. She has several origin stories, but the one she prefers "to any other story she might tell about herself" paints her as the child of murdered secret agents, a skilled agent herself.

Jule tells herself she's powerful and safe, hiding under bravado and secret identities how small and scared she really is. She finds herself drawn to another orphan, the beautiful, wealthy and mercurial Imogen (Immie). Told in two timelines (one linear over the course of a few days, the other in backwards skips and hops over several months), it is clear from the first chapter that something is not quite right with the protagonist, and there's something amiss with the way the girls interact, with how Jule has braided their lives together. But the broken up and ever-rewinding timeline paired with Jule's own unreliable narration makes her difficult to decode.

E. Lockhart's (We Were Liars) Genuine Fraud is a young adult thriller with nods to The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Man in the Rockefeller Suit and Great Expectations. Readers will be engrossed as they wind their way through Jule's gnarled narration eventually to find the truth. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness