This week, we feature a broad selection of riveting stories. The Rent Collectors by journalist Jesse Katz "deftly probes systemic ills" surrounding the true story of a gang shooting in L.A. that escalated into further violence; meanwhile, Jared Pechaček's debut novel, The West Passage, is "an absorbing tale of political intrigue" set "in a world both reminiscent of medieval Europe and unlike anything readers will recognize"; plus, The Coin by Yasmin Zaher presents a "hypnotic character study" of an unconventional Palestinian teacher in New York. And for younger readers, the "rib-tickling, revisionist princess story" Wicked Marigold by Caroline Carlson has "strong-willed princesses, nasty wizards, a fastidious imp, and a sentient yellow blob." What more could you want?
In The Writer's Life, We Could Be Heroes author Philip Ellis recalls the novel he hasn't stopped thinking about for a decade, describing it as a "swoonworthy lesbian romance and a rollicking Dickensian crime story wrapped up into one, with a twist you'll never see coming."