First published in 1957, Arturo's Island is the story of a young boy, more or less abandoned by the father he idolizes, in a remote and dilapidated home on the island of Procida, off the coast of Naples. Isolated and idealistic, Arturo lives through the books he reads--stories of adventure and heroes, in whose roles he imagines his father. Then, his father returns to Procida with a child bride, Nunziatella. At 16, she is only a few years older than Arturo, and the boy is plunged into a maelstrom of conflicting and passionate longing.

Arturo's Island won author Elsa Morante major Italian literary prizes when it was originally published, and it's no wonder. An intense coming-of-age story, this novel is complex and intricate and, at times, deeply painful. Morante's prose is blunt and curt, but also fanciful, revealing the romanticism that colors Arturo's understanding of the world. As his experiences force him into maturity, and his illusions about his father's virtue and nobility are shed, Arturo's struggle is poignant and violent. Morante is especially adept at communicating all the conflicting and deeply psychological meanings other people can hold for us. With deeply complicated characters and a surreal, ethereal setting, Arturo's Island is an incredibly compelling read. --Judie Evans, librarian

In 1986, Marie, a young black woman, is irritated by the limits imposed on her at the FBI. Her career has hit a ceiling thanks to an unsympathetic boss and a work environment created and maintained by white men. Marie's status as a reluctant cold warrior chafes against her desire to rise in the ranks. She's finally given an opportunity to prove herself with an assignment concerning Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary president of the West African nation Burkina Faso. Sankara was a real-life figure, a charismatic pan-Africanist whose reform agenda had many admirers. However, his communist ideology puts him in conflict with the United States, and Marie is given a vague assignment to insinuate herself into his life and possibly undermine him.

American Spy is a busy thriller. Lauren Wilkinson's debut novel doubles as a family drama and offers potent critiques of the United States' Cold War policies in Africa. Marie grows up in the shadow of her sister, has a fraught relationship with her mother and family tension pushes them all apart. The espionage plot that eventually drives the action is only one component in this ambitious, multifaceted novel.

While Marie puts up a stony front, Wilkinson is adept at getting the reader to see her vulnerabilities. Marie's narration is directed to her children, and her tenderness toward them is a sharp contrast to her bitterness about the events that overtake her life. That is just one of many dualities and contradictions that make American Spy such a complex and powerful work. --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, N.C.

One Another is a story of love and regret by Swiss novelist Monique Schwitter, translated from the German by Tess Lewis. An unnamed narrator hears news that sparks memories of a "long-destroyed, shredded story whose scraps and tatters are banding together, piling up, towering over me--and forming hideous new aspects and grimaces."

The narrator, a writer, Googles the name of her first lover, Petrus, only to discover that he recently committed suicide. This shock upends her already shaky relationship with her husband, and sets in motion a decision to compose the story of all her lovers. "One after the other. Man for man." Twelve chapters in the book correspond to these men--one of whom, and not the last, is her husband. The story moves imperceptibly across time, just as each man's importance waxes and wanes in her memory. She attempts to understand her history with men through writing, asking herself, "Maybe I'll find a solution on the way, as I write? Perhaps enter higher spheres of love, free of corporeality, in Plato's pure realm?"

One Another may be autobiographical, or it may not, and the narrator's acute self-awareness leaves the reader pleasurably undecided. She says, "My introverted, unhappy delivery may be hardening the audience's inclination to believe the narrator is me into the certainty that... only one person is standing before them: the narrator, unhappy in love." This is a sophisticated love story perfect for fans of Lauren Groff and Kate Atkinson. --Cindy Pauldine, bookseller, the river's end bookstore, Oswego, N.Y.

Margaret Verble's sophomore novel is set 50 years prior to the events in her debut, Maud's Line, finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Cherokee America follows one family's tumultuous spring in an 1875 Cherokee Nation West community.

A series of unpleasant surprises plagues Cherokee "Check" America Singer as she attempts to juggle running a farm, mothering five boys and nursing her dying husband. Puny, her African American hired hand, has fathered a baby out of wedlock, much to the dismay of his wife, Ezell, the Singers' cook. Check's 19-year-old son, Hugh, shames the family with his involvement in a bawdy house disagreement that leaves two dead.

Then, rumors of a hidden gold stash ignite schemes that lead to murder. A tribal member herself, Check knows the U.S. government would love an excuse to interfere in the Cherokee Nation. So when two U.S. marshals show up to investigate the killing, Check and her neighbors must think quickly to protect their nation's sovereignty and keep one of their own from being arrested and hanged for the crime.

An enrolled Cherokee citizen, Verble based her story on real people and events. Her slice-of-life, episodic style deftly captures the harshness of life in the land that will become Oklahoma, and highlights the strength and close bonds it forged. Check's practicality and confidence rarely waver. Moreover, the friendship formed between Ezell and the 14-year-old mother of Puny's baby provides a counterpoint to the grimmer moments. Cherokee America is a powerful portrait of a vibrant community fighting to keep its independence. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

In The Cassandra, the eccentric Mildred Groves goes to work as a secretary at the Hanford research center. Situated by the Columbia River in a remote corner of Washington State, the top-secret Hanford site is host to hundreds of scientists and workers building a "product" to put an end to World War II. Mildred is thrilled at the opportunity to leave her unhealthy relationship with her mother behind and apply herself to meaningful, patriotic work with a "gallant dutifulness," but the longer she spends at Hanford, the more she begins to see its darker side. Wracked with visions and night terrors that tell of the product's violent, cruel future, Mildred is caught in an unkind world that seems determined to ignore her no matter the costs.

Sharma Shields (The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac) has re-created the Hanford research site--a part of the 1940s' Manhattan Project--with a great eye for historical detail. More than just the place, however, Shields's well-crafted novel succeeds in capturing the feel of Hanford and the moment in history it occupied. A sense of pervasive patriarchy seeps across every page, in many ways as damaging to the characters at Hanford as the product on which they are working. This historical detail, combined with Mildred's surreal, dream-like visions of the future, gives The Cassandra an edge of magical realism. The result is a compelling reimagining of a particular period in United States history, itself a testament to the many ways "humans have only ever been at the mercy of one another." --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm

For her debut novel, journalist Stacey Halls has crafted an engaging and atmospheric tale out of a dark chapter from English history. Fleetwood Shuttleworth is 17 years old and pregnant for the fourth time when the story opens in the spring of 1612. Weak and sick after three previous miscarriages, Fleetwood discovers among her husband's papers a letter from her physician that says she will not survive another pregnancy. While reeling from the knowledge that her husband is willing to sacrifice her life in pursuit of an heir, she encounters Alice Gray in the woods, and the strange young woman promises to help her give birth to a healthy baby. But when accusations of witchcraft start sweeping the area, Fleetwood and Alice find themselves caught up in the furor and must fight to save each other.

The Pendle witch trials of 1612 are among the most famous in English history, and Halls takes historic people and events to form the bones of her story. Alice and Fleetwood both were actual people, and by conjuring this link between them, Halls has reimagined this bit of history into a compelling story of women grasping for a power and agency that society denied them. Alice remains something of a mystery, but Fleetwood is drawn with bold and gritty details, and her setting is equally evocative. The Familiars is a fascinating and intricate piece of historical fiction. --Judie Evans, librarian

Thankfully, Lisa Gardner chucked her career in food service after catching her hair on fire too many times, freeing her to become the author of 20-plus thrillers. Gardner's writing is ever-evolving as she adds new forms and actors to the mix. In the 10th installment of her Detective D.D. Warren series, Never Tell, Gardner gives equal time to a newly recurring character, survivor advocate and confidential informant Flora Dane, and to the suspect in the murder at hand, Evie Carter.

Evie is found standing over her husband with the smoking gun in hand. D.D. recognizes Evie as the grown version of the girl she investigated for shooting her father to death years earlier. When the new case hits the media, Flora shows up with shocking news--she recognizes the victim, Conrad Carter, from when she was kidnapped and held captive several years earlier (Find Her).

From the alternating and varied perspectives of these three fascinating and complex women, Gardner delves into marriage and family dynamics, power, perception and the lengths people will go to hide and protect their secrets. Her character work is beautifully done, and she deftly handles multiple narrators, timelines and plot arcs. Gardner strikes what feels like a perfect tone with 10 books of background to contend with, keeping the present fresh while providing necessary history. Never Tell is an excellent addition to the D.D. Warren series and proof it's never too late to draw in new fans. --Lauren O'Brien of Malcolm Avenue Review.

Marlon James's fourth novel channels his interests in history and the supernatural into a full-blown fantasy epic. Black Leopard, Red Wolf is his follow-up to the Man Booker Prize-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings, and the first entry in the Dark Star trilogy. The novel takes place in an ancient Africa where gods and mythical creatures walk among humans; the protagonist, appropriately named Tracker, earns a living tracking down lost people with his extraordinary sense of smell. Tracker is hired into a motley band assembled to find a missing boy, but the quest is not as simple as it seems, taking Tracker on a series of journeys across James's inventive, magnificently realized world.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf is preoccupied with storytelling. The entire novel is essentially a story being told by Tracker to a mysterious Inquisitor, but it also contains tales within tales in which Tracker's companions share their own histories. In each, James experiments with language, inventing numerous dialects that follow their own grammatical rules. This is a book with dozens of characters and just as many distinct voices. Its pleasures are not only linguistic, however, as James more than delivers the epic fantasy goods. Fights are frequent and bloody, with Tracker employing his dual axes to deadly effect.

The experience of reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf might be best compared with listening to stories around a fire in the late, dreamlike part of the night. James's book is something fresh and new and completely unforgettable. --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Ever since the accident left Maman unable to work, 16-year-old Nathalie Baudin has been earning money penning "the daily morgue report" for Le Petit Journal. Nathalie and other Parisians stand in long lines to cluster eventually at "the viewing pane," where they can see the latest murder victim. Two weeks into her tenure, Nathalie accidentally touches the glass and is transported to "another place" where she sees the murder occur, "silent[ly] and in reverse." Her reaction to this experience is witnessed by "the fetching young morgue worker" Monsieur Gagnon, but she's too shaken to respond honestly to his inquiries.

Nathalie's friend Simone urges her to go to the police, but Nathalie is scared they'll think she's "unhinged." Nathalie's parents and her Aunt Brigitte were subjects in a series of experiments by now-disgraced Dr. Henard in which patients were given blood transfusions to grant them "magical powers." The procedure, once seen as "a promising new discovery," is now considered dangerous. Nathalie's Aunt Brigitte is proof of this: she is in an asylum, unable to tell the difference between dreams and reality. As the gruesome body count rises, the "Dark Artist" killer gets up close and personal, and Nathalie must decide whether to run from her visions or allow them to lead her to the murderer.

Jodie Lynn Zdrok has created an eminently readable, unapologetically macabre period piece that evokes the dark mystery of Jack the Ripper-era serial murders. Featuring a strong and likable heroine in Nathalie--who's proud to be the first woman "of any age" to write for Le Petit Journal--the power of Spectacle "is real, beautiful, and devastating," and should be especially welcome to fans of Libba Bray's Diviners novels. --Lynn Becker, blogger and host of Book Talk, a monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI

A child on the autism spectrum navigates the challenge of finding a good friend in this sweet, understated classroom adventure written by newcomer Jenn Bailey with diaphanous illustrations by Mika Song (Picnic with Oliver, Harry and Clare's Amazing Staycation).

Henry, a rosy-cheeked boy with sweeps of dark hair, wants to make a friend who isn't his teacher or Gilly the classroom fish. But he can't find the right fit: "tangle of colors" Vivianne loves her rainbow nail polish, but not the rainbows Henry thoughtfully paints on her shoes; energetic Samuel carelessly wrecks Henry's perfect pattern of carpet squares. Henry also finds other students' experiments off-putting--earthworms should not use the swing set. How can Henry find a friend when every other child seems too loud, too heedless, too much?

Though Henry's concerns reflect his autism, his quandary has universal appeal. Based on Bailey's observations as the parent of an autistic child, this emotional journey illustrates both the difficulties all humans face in finding connection, as well as the confidence fostered by friendship. Song's almost translucent ink-and-watercolor scenes balance sweetness with emotion, subtly conveying Henry's differences and feelings through still, tense body language that contrasts with the ebullient motions of his peers. Her sunny palette of pastels comforts the reader even when Henry has a frustrated outburst and slumps in dejection afterward. A Friend for Henry will speak not only to children on the autism spectrum and their caregivers but will also resonate with any four- to six-year-old child who feels anxious and out of place in their peer group. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services division manager at Main Branch, Dayton Metro Library