Former Palestinian war reporter Asmaa Alatawna's searing debut novel, A Long Walk from Gaza, is an unblinking examination of a woman's coming-of-age in Gaza, and her onerous journey to find "somewhere new--quiet and safe--where [she] could just live." Significant parallels with Alatawna's own background--including sharing her name with her protagonist--suggest she draws heavily from her own life.

Asmaa's two-part story begins in Toulouse, where her lawyer is working to "legitimize and legalize [her] stay in France." Part One, "Leave," tracks Asmaa's perilous escape from "the giant hell of the open-air prison" that was Gaza to Spain and then France. Part Two, "Return," chronicles Asmaa's left-behind life as the fourth daughter in a Palestinian Bedouin family without sons, straining against gendered expectations, "regularly beat[en] into submission" by her parents, attacked by teachers, and bearing witness to fatal violence in her community. All the while, the relentless threat of kidnapping, rape, and murder by the Israeli occupation soldiers looms. In young adulthood, Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Brontë, and Louisa May Alcott save Asmaa's life: women writers "infuse[d] my soul with a spark of life that ignited my sense of freedom and lit my path."

Originally published in Arabic in 2019, Alatawna's unadorned prose and unrestrained narrative is empathically rendered by literary translators Caline Nasrallah and Michelle Hartman. Their ending note is especially wrenching: "We finished the translation... during the unfolding of a genocide in Gaza.... We watched the places mentioned in this book, the houses, businesses, schools, hospitals, and lives be bombarded and destroyed live on our phones." Unexpectedly, poignantly, Alatawna's intimate history becomes "a testament to a Gaza that will never be the same." --Terry Hong

Discover: A Long Walk from Gaza searingly chronicles--in reverse--a violent girlhood in occupied Gaza and the arduous journey to reach freedom in France.

J. Nicole Jones's The Witches of Bellinas sets a newlywed couple in a vibrant small community--a lovely wealthy commune, or a cult?--and watches the fallout, in an atmospheric, suspenseful experiment involving witchcraft, love, and dividing loyalties.

Tansy and Guy have been married mere months, although they've been together for a decade, when they move from New York City to the hamlet of Bellinas on the coast of northern California. Wealthy, health-oriented, idyllic, and highly exclusive, Bellinas is led by the charismatic Manny, or Father M to his followers, a business mogul turned self-styled guru, and his wife, Mia, a former model. Guy falls easily and head-over-heels into the lush, indulgent lifestyle: surfing, diving for abalone, carousing. Tansy, expected like all the wives to serve her husband's whims, finds Bellinas a bit suspicious. But the town's high shine, like its perfect weather, is hard to resist. She wants things to work out with Guy, so she goes along.

The Witches of Bellinas is narrated by Tansy in hindsight, from an apparent confinement in the town schoolhouse, after something has gone awry. Jones (Low Country) gives Tansy a strong sense of the wrongs done women at the hands of men, from both her experience and her scholarly work as a former academic. She writes, it seems, for her life.

At the intersection of the supernatural and simple human ugliness, The Witches of Bellinas gives its readers chills and thrills along with a profound sense of wrongs done, but no heroes or villains. This is a novel for anyone who's wondered if the picturesque might be too good to be true. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Discover: In this atmospheric and suspenseful novel, an exclusive coastal California community is either the best thing to ever happen to an unhappy newlywed, as her husband believes, or a frightening trap.

Whether it's directing films or performing in them, fashioning visual art, or writing, Miranda July (The First Bad Man) has demonstrated she's a multitalented creative. That talent manifests itself again in her second novel, All Fours, an unconventional but engaging story about one woman's attempt to navigate the sometimes perilous passage through the middle years.

Less than 30 minutes away from the home in Los Angeles where she lives with her husband and their seven-year-old ungendered child, July's highly self-aware 45-year-old unnamed narrator abandons her "vision quest-style journey" to New York City. Instead, she holes up in a "shabby, pale-yellow stucco motel" in the town of Monrovia, Calif., and gets her room professionally redecorated. It's in that lavishly appointed space over the course of the next two weeks that she engages in one of recent literature's more unusual affairs with Davey, a man nearly 15 years her junior, who works at a Hertz dealership and dreams of becoming a professional hip-hop dancer. For July's narrator, the emotionally charged moments that transpire in room 321 of the Excelsior trigger a profound re-examination of her life.

July's narrator is, by turns, intriguing and exasperating, but her forays into her past and a future she struggles to envision are never dull or predictable. With an often wry but consistently provocative approach, July relies on her complicated protagonist's insight to interrogate a variety of weighty themes, including female sexuality, creativity, and the sense many have as they cross the threshold of the mid-40s that a clock is ticking more insistently. For all those reasons, All Fours is a frequently surprising and refreshingly original story. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer

Discover: In this wry and unconventional take on middle age, a woman abandons the cross-country journey she hopes will illuminate the path of her life only to find some answers closer to home.

Cyn Vargas's Nothing's Ever the Same is a starkly honest coming-of-age story told in the disarming voice of its 13-year-old protagonist. Simple but moving, this novella documents events that are traumatic but not unusual, thus marking the kinds of pain that are heartrending, as well as common, for a child approaching young adulthood. Itzel is clever and thoughtful, and her experience reflects universal elements of being a teenager: disappointment, betrayal, discovery, acceptance, and always, unavoidably, change.

"The first time I saw my mom cry was after my dad's heart attack," Itzel begins in the opening chapter. The heart attack comes during preparation for her 13th birthday party. Itzel's beloved father recovers from his heart attack, but something feels off. The family suffers one loss and then another. Itzel explores new feelings for her best friend. And then she sees something that will change the course of life for her entire family. What to do with her new knowledge? Who to blame? As the known routine is uprooted for Itzel and her parents, she has to navigate redefining relationships.

Vargas (On the Way) gives Itzel a straightforward storytelling voice, often naïve but also sharp-eyed. Her father, mother, Tia Amelia, and best friend Fred are characters sketched only briefly in Itzel's telling, but each has personality and redeeming qualities even when making mistakes. The author behind the narrator commands this story with a quiet compassion. Nothing's Ever the Same is a work of restraint and understatement, its young narrator capable of stoic relating of events as well as emotional reaction. The effect is deeply moving. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Discover: With a remarkably true-to-life adolescent narrator, this novella charts the large and small traumas that accompany a girl's coming of age.

A marvelous star-crossed caper that jets from Los Angeles to New York and across Europe, Jessie Rosen's The Heirloom is perfect for readers who can't resist a dash of globe-trotting drama in their romance novels.

Italian American Shea Anderson works in marketing for a film festival and lives in Los Angeles. Shea was raised under the influence of her beloved Nonna and inherited many of her grandmother's superstitions, including one advising brides against wearing heirloom jewelry lest any negative karma from the item's previous owner adversely impact their own marriage.

So when John, the man of Shea's dreams, presents her with a stunning heirloom engagement ring he bought at a quaint New York jewelry store, what should be the best moment of her life turns into a "personal proposal nightmare" for poor Shea. Determined to unearth the ring's history so that she can assuage her superstitious fears, she embarks on a whirlwind European adventure that takes her to Florence, Rome, Lisbon, and beyond in search of the ring's original owner.

The ring's provenance turns out to have more intriguing layers than Shea could have imagined. Adding to the adventure is Graham, a handsome journalist whose investigative skills turn out to be invaluable to Shea's search. But the longer she's away from John, the more confused she feels about her upcoming nuptials. It doesn't help that Graham is utterly charming, and they have a great deal in common. Meanwhile, the usually patient John isn't feeling so patient anymore.

The Heirloom is an impressive debut with a gorgeous, heartfelt ending. --Shahina Piyarali

Discover: Superstition over the karma attached to her heirloom engagement ring leads a Californian bride-to-be on a whirlwind European adventure in this heartfelt debut.

Simi Monheit's sparkling debut novel, The Goldie Standard, follows a 21st-century Jewish grandmother's attempts to secure her granddaughter's happiness, with surprising results for both women.

Goldie Mandell, widowed and stuck in a New York City assisted-living facility, is determined to find a nice Jewish boy, preferably a doctor, for her granddaughter, Maxie, a doctoral student. But when Goldie schedules some appointments for herself (to secretly vet potential suitors), she hits a snag or two: for one, her body may be hiding a few secrets of its own. And for two, Maxie seems attracted to Goldie's driver, T-Jam Bin Naumann, an artist with an eclectic history. As Goldie juggles Maxie's love life, her daughters' overbearing attentions, and a budding romance with a fellow resident, she must examine long-held assumptions about what matters most.

Monheit's witty dual narrative highlights the generational gaps and the strong bond between grandmother and granddaughter. Goldie's daughters, Esti and Tamar, also have their say about everything from medical paperwork to fashion choices, resulting in a warmhearted cacophony of assertive Jewish voices. Maxie worries for Goldie's health as she struggles to move past her recent breakup and step fully into her adult life. Goldie frequently flashes back to her childhood in Germany, before she fled the Nazis, and to her long, loving marriage to her husband, Mordy. Though Goldie often wishes she could ask Mordy for advice, it's her own hard-won wisdom--plus a dose of reality from Maxie--that steers her through medical and personal challenges. The Goldie Standard is both a highly entertaining comedy and a deeper story about faith, complicated histories, identity, and love. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: Simi Monheit's sparkling, insightful debut novel follows a Jewish grandmother's attempts to secure her granddaughter's happiness, with surprising results.

Lorenzo Carcaterra brings readers back to the sun-drenched Italian island of Ischia in his charming third Nonna Maria mystery, Nonna Maria and the Case of the Lost Treasure. The titular sleuth, a widow devoted to espresso, wine, and cooking elaborate meals for her family, helps her friends solve two mysteries that turn out to be intertwined. Carcaterra (Three Dreamers) pays tribute to his grandmother, the real-life Nonna Maria, through his fictional amateur detective's clever actions and delectable cooking.

Paolo Murino, a captain in the national Carabinieri police force, has found both love and solace on Ischia after moving there eight years earlier. But someone still has it out for him. Determined not to put Nonna Maria in danger, he warns her against getting involved, but Nonna Maria is equally determined that no one will harm her friend. At the same time, a local young woman named Rita comes to Nonna Maria with a hand-drawn map. Her recently deceased grandfather, Paolino, supposedly hid a priceless treasure in the island's network of caves, and Rita wants help in finding it.

Like life on the island, Carcaterra's plot moves at a leisurely pace, with occasional dramatic moments (like a fender bender and a fireworks display) and plenty of delicious meals, most cooked by Nonna Maria. Nonna Maria, with her ever-present black tote bag, dispenses wisdom and wine to her friends, and though the dramatic tension escalates, readers can predict correctly that the narrative will end with a celebratory feast. With wry humor and a vividly realized setting, Nonna Maria's third adventure feels both cinematic and cozy--a treat for mystery lovers and Italophiles. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: Lorenzo Carcaterra's charming third Nonna Maria mystery follows a treasure map, a group of gangsters bent on revenge, and a cunning local widow-cum-sleuth.

A Nest of Vipers, Harini Nagendra's twisty third mystery featuring amateur sleuth and mathematician Kaveri Murthy, plunges into Indian politics in the 1920s as Kaveri is drawn into a web of conspiracies while searching for a young man's missing father.

As Great Britain's Prince Edward prepares to visit Bangalore in early 1922, Kaveri and her doctor husband, Ramu, stumble onto a mystery at the circus: a magician known as Das goes missing after his performance. His son, Suman, enlists Kaveri's help in finding his father, but both men are hiding multiple secrets. As Kaveri investigates, she uncovers connections to a local ring of thieves, the growing Indian independence movement, and her friend Anandi's unsavory husband. With the help of Ramu and her female friends in the Bangalore Detectives Club, Kaveri must solve the mystery before the prince arrives and Bangalore's citizens are put in danger.

Nagendra (The Bangalore Detectives Club, Murder Under a Red Moon) expertly weaves together Indian politics (as when Kaveri attends a secret meeting of the independence movement) with concerns of daily life. Sharp-eyed, tenacious Kaveri crisscrosses Bangalore in search of answers regarding Das's disappearance, the recent spate of burglaries of wealthy homes, and the rumblings of possible danger. Kaveri's friends hold a range of views regarding India's occupation by the British, but all of them work together to counter threats to their city. Kaveri solves the mystery in satisfying fashion, with some wry commentary by several characters on the limitations of the British Empire, and--of course--a few mouthwatering snacks when the job is complete. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: Harini Nagendra's twisty third mystery features her sharp-eyed sleuth, Kaveri, investigating a web of conspiracies connected to politics, burglaries, and a missing circus magician.

The vulnerability of teenage girls is the pulsebeat of Emiko Jean's The Return of Ellie Black, a crafty thriller in which not just misogyny but classism play villainous roles.

Ellie Black has been missing since she was 17. Two years later, the Coldwell, Wash., girl is found in the Capitol State Forest, two hours from where she was abducted. Coldwell police detective Chelsey Calhoun is working the case, but she can get only so much out of Ellie: something about waking up in darkness after her kidnapping, something about a man with a red bandana on his face. A doctor has confirmed that Ellie was abused in captivity, making the girl's reluctance to relive what happened understandable, and yet Chelsey begins to suspect that Ellie's reticence is obfuscation; "What are you hiding?" she finds herself wondering. She's also aware that the ferocity of her interest in justice for Ellie reflects her own story: Chelsey's older sister died gruesomely when Chelsey was 14.

While Chelsey's perspective dominates the novel, Jean (Mika in Real Life) has collaged it with the viewpoints of other characters--Ellie's working-class parents, her boyfriend, and so on--to present an intimate small-town portrait. Ellie, too, takes the point-of-view reins; in interspersed chapters, she replays what happened to her, eventually revealing how she escaped her captors. As for the other question driving The Return of Ellie Black: Who held her captive? Even readers who don't totally buy the book's answer will probably agree that it's the right one. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

Discover: The return of a teenage girl who was abducted two years earlier launches this crafty thriller in which not just misogyny but classism play villainous roles.

Alyssa Cole (When No One Is Watching, How to Catch a Queen) plumbs the darkest expanse of depravity in One of Us Knows, with a look at racism and the treatment of marginalized people. Her unpredictable plot combines a locked-room mystery with a gothic tale about a woman with dissociative identity disorder. One of Us Knows revolves around Kenetria "Ken" Nash, who created a safe place for her seven "headmates," or multiple personalities, in a castle-like inner world.

Ken doesn't know that she has been dormant for six years following an incident, or that her headmates have been managing her life. She wakes up on a dock, waiting for a boat to take her to an abandoned Hudson River island, where she will be the caretaker of a crumbling estate, "a defiant treasure." Ken has no knowledge that a headmate applied for the job, but she hopes to make a "deep dive" into the estate. Before her career stalled, she was enrolled in a historical preservation graduate program and had planned to concentrate on Black historical sites such as this one. Ken and her headmates expect that the surly groundskeeper, Celeste, will be the island's only other resident. Then Ken's entitled ex-boyfriend arrives, followed by his racist, misogynistic father and other members of the island's trustees. Events take on an even more sinister turn, but an approaching storm traps everyone on the island, making it impossible for Ken to escape from danger.

Cole keeps the chilling action churning as One of Us Knows illustrates the daily challenges Ken faces in communicating with her headmates. The island's unsavory past, tension between Ken and the trustees, and the estate's warren of rooms add new depths of terror, intensified by the trustees' bigotry. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer

Discover: A woman with dissociative identity disorder is trapped on an island with a group of racists as a storm bears down in this intense thriller.

Before there was Death on the Nile, there was murder on the Atlantic. Originally published in 1933, S.S. Murder by Q. Patrick--something of a catchall pseudonym for, in this case, Richard Wilson Webb and Mary Louise White--is a seafoam-sparkling epistolary shipboard murder mystery with a literal boatload of suspects.

New York journalist Mary Llewellyn is on board the Rio de Janeiro-bound S.S. Moderna, convalescing from a recent appendectomy. What starts as some time-killing journal writing, with entries addressed to her fiancé back in New York, becomes Mary's record of the sinister goings-on aboard the ship. The drama begins with the fatal poisoning of wealthy businessman Alfred Lambert during an alcohol-soaked game of bridge at which Mary is in attendance. So much for her "rest cure." Always hungry for a scoop, she's thrilled to be back on the beat.

With S.S. Murder, the American Mystery Classics series has exhumed another lost treasure from detective fiction's golden age. The puzzle's smart resolution caps off the book's superb premise: a ship at sea is a natural locked-room mystery setting, and the journal-writing conceit allows for Mary's jotted-down diagrams showing, significantly, where various suspects were positioned when Lambert fell dead. Another perk: while Mary may be pining for her fiancé, she has the funny-strident voice of the female lead in a screwball comedy of the novel's vintage. At one point she harrumphs, "Some men haven't got enough gumption to like a sensible sort of woman, even if she isn't any lingerie ad." --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

Discover: Originally published in 1933, S.S. Murder is a seafoam-sparkling epistolary shipboard murder mystery with a literal boatload of suspects.

Eleven Huskies, Philipp Schott's twisty, thoughtful third mystery featuring veterinarian Peter Bannerman, follows the amateur sleuth (and Peter's dog, Pippin) on a case in the Canadian wilderness that quickly becomes more complicated than it initially seems.

Days before a planned canoeing trip, Peter is called to a wilderness lodge in northern Manitoba to examine a team of huskies showing symptoms of poisoning. John Reynolds, who owns the dogs and the lodge, appears distressed, so Peter isn't sure whether to suspect John himself or someone else who may have it out for him. The same day, three people are killed when someone shoots down a small plane over a nearby lake. Though his primary professional concern is the dogs, Peter can't help but wonder if the cases are related. He returns to the lodge with his wife, Laura, for the canoeing trip, and their interactions with lodge staff and fellow guests send Peter's brain spinning to find a solution to the case.

Schott (The Accidental Veterinarian; Six Ostriches) has created an engaging protagonist in Peter, who is autistic and has worked to counterbalance his own literal thinking and blend in socially. Peter's talented sniffer dog, Pippin, proves a great help when a wildfire spreads through the area near the lodge, and Laura and her brother, Kevin, an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, also assist in solving the case. Animal lovers and mystery fans will enjoy Schott's narrative, which meanders through its stunning backcountry setting at just the right pace. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: Philipp Schott's twisty third mystery featuring veterinarian and amateur sleuth Peter Bannerman follows a pair of possibly connected cases in the gorgeous Canadian backcountry.

Two bereaved strangers work to unravel the mystery of their siblings' disappearance in Sylvie Cathrall's dreamy, witty epistolary underwater fantasy, A Letter to the Luminous Deep, the first book in a planned duology.

E. Cidnosin is fascinated with the previously undiscovered "Elongated Fish" she spots through the window of the Deep House, her underwater home, so she writes to Henerey Clel, a natural history scholar and complete stranger. Her social anxiety leads her to exhort him not to read her letter but to "crumple it into an abstract shape that might look quite at home on a coral reef." He does not, and the pair fall in love over a series of letters. One year later, E.'s sister, Sophy, writes to Henerey's brother, Vyerin, to ask for help unraveling E. and Henerey's tragic disappearance in an explosion that destroyed the Deep House. Sophy and Vyerin swap the papers their siblings left behind and uncover a mystery involving a lost society, unexplained underwater melodies, and a glass object dubbed "the Structure" that inexplicably appeared in the Deep House's garden.

Cathrall's characters speak with a whimsical Victorian-esque wryness that allows for sly one-liners, effusive descriptions of sea creatures, and deep, understated passion. Her world-building combines an island-dwelling culture, whispers of ancient technology, and deep-sea exploration in the name of academia to create a soft and satisfying blend of science fiction and fantasy, perfect for fans of T.J. Klune's In the Lives of Puppets. This love letter to sibling bonds and uncharted depths will beguile readers. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Discover: Two strangers try to solve the mystery of their siblings' tragic disappearance in this dreamy, witty epistolary fantasy novel with an underwater setting.

A band of killers unites to destroy a god king in Mai Corland's breathtakingly high-action romantic fantasy Five Broken Blades.

Euyn, the former crown prince of Yusan, is mistrustful when his lover-turned-betrayer, Mikail, finds him in hiding. Mikail works as spymaster to King Joon, the elder brother who ordered Euyn to be left for dead. Mikail has come to Euyn with a proposition: kill the god king Joon and take control of Yusan. The king is not just heavily guarded but also wears a crown that renders its owner immortal, so a frontal assault would be a fool's errand. However, Mikail has two aces up his sleeve in Aeri, an adorably quirky master thief, and Sora, an indentured servant raised as an expert seductress and poisoner. Joining them are Aeri's gruff bodyguard, Royo, and nobleman Tiyung, who pines for Sora and is also the son of the man who owns her indenture. To seize the crown, the would-be murderers will have to trust one another, no mean feat when there may be a traitor in their midst.

The party journeys across a vast Korean-inspired fantasy landscape beset with mythical beasts and populated by scheming nobles and suffering peasants. Corland, who has also published middle-grade and YA fiction as Meredith Ireland, explores the chemistry in multiple romantic pairings, and builds a dense network of friendships, alliances, and love. This triple-romance wrapped in a heist and rolled up into an epic fantasy will grab romantasy and fantasy fans alike, and its daring cliffhanger ending will leave its readers breathlessly awaiting the sequel. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Discover: An elite cadre of thieves and killers unite to kill an immortal king in this action-packed, romantic epic fantasy set in a world inspired by Korea.

Kathleen Hanna has led such a high-octane life that her memoir wouldn't need to be especially well written to hold reader interest. As it happens, Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk delivers on both the sentence and the story fronts.

Born in 1968, Hanna grew up "at the lower end of middle class," bouncing between suburbs in Oregon and Maryland. Her father's alcoholism blighted a childhood redeemed by Hanna's youthful epiphany: "I had something to live for. I was a good singer." Despite a minefield of challenges, including being the victim of sexual violence, Hanna got into and graduated from Washington's Evergreen State College. In Olympia, she played in a couple of punk bands before becoming "indie famous" fronting Bikini Kill, in which she finally had bandmates who didn't consider "my 'domestic violence/feminist stuff' annoying"; meanwhile, she was a force behind the feminist-punk Riot Grrrl movement. In 1998, Hanna quit Bikini Kill, tired of the fishbowl life, male violence at gigs, and hostility from women who felt she wasn't leading the feminist charge perfectly. Rebel Girl takes readers up to the present, which, following a debilitating stretch with Lyme disease, finds Hanna in a good place.

The book's hundred-odd chapters, many with punch-line-like endings, conjure Bikini Kill songs: they come on like a storm and are over before people know what hit them. Rebel Girl is the kind of book that leaves readers, like concertgoers after watching their favorite band play its last song, wishing it wasn't over. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

Discover: This memoir by the Bikini Kill frontwoman leaves readers, like concertgoers after watching their favorite band play its last song, wishing it weren't over.

Possessed of a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies and performing at an exemplary level in his job as a counter-terrorism intelligence analyst for the State of Florida, Jonathan Rigsby in 2016 was successful by any reasonable definition of that term. But in the dark year when his marriage broke up and he desperately needed to supplement his income to hold up his end of the divorce settlement, he signed on as an Uber driver in his home town of Tallahassee, Fla. Drive: Scraping by in Uber's America, One Ride at a Time is the grimly frank account of his experiences.

Rigsby quickly stepped onto a 70-hour-a-week hamster wheel that left him sleep-deprived and miserable as he struggled to pocket the extra $250 per week he estimated he would need to earn to avoid financial ruin. He recounts the psychological pressures he endured, facing a choice between washing clothes and buying food while wrestling with the thought that he was failing his young son, and he shares vivid stories of his riders.

Drive concludes with a biting epilogue in which Rigsby dissects the business model of Uber and other well-known companies that exploit the labor of gig workers like him. The structure handsomely rewards wealthy venture capitalists and startup entrepreneurs, while treating its essential laborers as disposable commodities. As Rigsby explains, Uber's low cost and undeniable convenience extract a considerable price, not only from the workers who keep its wheels turning, but also from the society willing to ignore their plight. After reading this book, some may find themselves pausing before they tap into their smartphone's app. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer

Discover: In biting and frank personal detail, an Uber driver exposes the dark underside of its operations and questions the claimed benefits of the gig economy.

There's probably no person living who is more qualified to talk about performing Shakespeare or who is more entertaining while doing so than Dame Judi Dench. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent will be read religiously by all actors, and raptly by anyone who enjoys the theater, the craft of acting, or simply the work of Shakespeare himself. The book is written in the form of an extended conversation between Dame Judi and her friend Brendan O'Hea, an actor and director who has staged many plays at Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

Dame Judi's ruminations are wide-ranging. She offers illuminating insights into the texts themselves and the staging of the plays in venues storied and modest throughout the world, and delightfully candid insider gossip from her more than half century of performing with some of the most talented actors of the day.

"All I ever wanted to do was play Shakespeare, nothing else," Dame Judi says, and it's clear from her stories that she's loved almost every minute of it, though some plays are closer to her heart than others. When O'Hea asks if there are any plays she hates, she recounts the story of one director scolding the cast by saying, "If I hear this play being called The Merchant of [vomit sound] again I shall be very angry."

The book covers every Shakespearean role that Dame Judi has performed, from Ophelia in Hamlet in 1957 to Paulina in The Winter's Tale in 2015, and it still leaves readers wanting more. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.

Discover: Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent is an irresistible invitation into the world of Shakespeare through the insights of the brilliant and incomparable Dame Judi Dench.

In Did I Ever Tell You?, a deeply affecting memoir of her mother's legacy of love, debut author and playwright Genevieve Kingston writes of growing up nurtured by the messages her mother left for her children to open on significant occasions throughout their lives.

Kingston's mother, Kristina Mailliard, died in 2001, nearly nine years after her cancer diagnosis and days before Kingston's 12th birthday. Kingston recalls resentfully watching her mother craft the collection of boxes and cards, their existence symbolizing "so many years stretching ahead without her." At every birthday through her 30th, and at graduations and other milestones, Kingston savored the mementos her mother so carefully wrapped: her mother's birthstone ring, a string of pearls, a keychain to commemorate getting her driver's license. Her mother also included notes about the objects and words of love and advice, such as "Love is stronger than death. I will always be part of you" and "wear your seatbelt and drive with caution."

Kingston includes candid stories of the joys and sorrows she shared with her sometimes challenging father, her devoted older brother, and a group of supportive, lifelong friends. As she grew older, she sought insight into her mother. She learned that Mailliard had anticipated this, too, and encouraged acquaintances to welcome her daughter's questions. A heartfelt memoir of navigating life in the wake of loss and a poignant homage to a mother and the love she left behind, Did I Ever Tell You? is unforgettable. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.

Discover: Genevieve Kingston's first book is a poignant memoir of growing up with a legacy of mementos and loving letters her mother left behind to be opened on significant occasions throughout their lives.

From patriotism to pathos, historian Michael Korda (With Wings Like Eagles) movingly illuminates how the "soldier poets" of World War I experienced their generation's "war to end all wars." Korda explores "how the initial enthusiasm for the war gradually gave way to embittered resignation" for most of the six poets living at "the tail end of the Victorian and Edwardian age": Rupert Brooke, Alan Seeger, Isaac Rosenberg, Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon, and Wilfred Owen. Korda begins his free-flowing narrative of their lives with an extended rumination on Brooke, who, at the war's outset, "embodied the national spirit perfectly." His poem "The Soldier," famous throughout the English-speaking world, declares "If I should die, think only this of me:/ That there's some corner of a foreign field/ That is for ever England." After Brooke's death and subsequent obituary by Winston Churchill in the Times, he became a "recruiting symbol" for the British army.

Korda's inclusion of two lesser-known soldier poets, Seeger and Rosenberg, adds depth and dimension to a cast otherwise composed of junior officers and members of the British upper class. Seeger, an American, joined the French Foreign Legion and, like Brooke, was devoted to the war's purpose until his death at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Rosenberg joined the war out of necessity and "hated it all." He never rose above the rank of private and his poetry was "expunged of patriotism" as it catalogued the war's horrors from an ordinary soldier's perspective. An innovative blend of biography and literary insight, Muse of Fire is a welcome addition to the World War I history canon. --Peggy Kurkowski, book reviewer and copywriter in Denver

Discover: The lives and perspectives of six "soldier poets" reveal the breakdown of idealism and the limits of patriotism amid World War I's senseless slaughter and misery.

"Beaches are places of mystery and contradiction," writes Per Högselius, a Swedish professor of technology and the history of science, in Death on the Beach: Essays from a Marginal World, translated by Agnes Broomé. In 15 fascinating, expansive essays that encompass wars, religions, crime novels, murders, poets, and much more, he proves his point that "the seashore is a borderland," a place that once "evoked fear and repulsion." His examples are often visually evocative. For instance, before the mid-18th century, the unfortunate Europeans who had to live by the shore faced their windows away from the sea, as it was seen as an area of death and putrefaction, where "Creation itself was incomplete."

The collection is a treasure of assemblage. Högselius deftly unites travelogue, memoir, and contemporary culture with historical facts and stories to tremendous effect. "In the Tidal Zone," for example, begins by summarizing the 2009 movie Marea de arena (Tides of Sand), from the Mexican director Gustavo Montiel Pagés. From there, Högselius discusses a cliffside hike he took in Germany with a friend from England; the historical fear of tides experienced by many Britons; accounts of quicksand in England, France, and in literature, such as in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables; then returns at last to the aforementioned film.

While many of the essays are Eurocentric, some touch on the Middle East, Africa, Central America, and the U.S. Asia is mostly absent, except for Thailand, as featured in the ubiquitous novel and movie The Beach. Regardless of location, Högselius's curious and nimble mind leads readers down a captivating path. --Nina Semczuk, writer, editor, and illustrator

Discover: Obsession with the dark side of the seashore proves to be fertile ground in Death on the Beach, a fascinating collection of essays by a Swedish professor.

Zoologist Nick Crumpton and illustrator Gavin Scott follow their Everything You Know About Dinosaurs Is Wrong!--the first installment in the Everything You Know About series--with a mesmerizing dive into the world of the oft-maligned shark. Crumpton structures the work around common myths about the shark and its close relatives, the ray and the skate. Scott supports the fascinating text with naturalistic art that faithfully re-creates the animals described. The result is a spellbinding picture book for middle-grade readers that corrects the record on a highly misunderstood creature.

Sharks have existed for millions of years, and there are several fallacies associated with them: these vicious killers (actually, they kill fewer people than cows) serve no purpose (except being "one of THE most important animals in the world's oceans") and are stupid (even though some species exhibit curiosity, and others contemplate future events). As Crumpton dispels myth after myth, he highlights multiple species of shark and illuminates amazing characteristics, like the sharks that can clone themselves through parthenogenesis: "When some female sharks can't find a mate but choose to have a baby, they grow one using only their own DNA."

Scott's realistic illustrations dazzle with their intense detail, showing texture and the distinctive characteristics of each species, such as long snouts and large crests. Every page features sharks up close as well as in their natural habitats, adding to the overall awe of this reading experience. Shark lovers, future marine biologists, and anyone who thinks they know everything about sharks should find Everything You Know About Sharks Is Wrong! engaging, entertaining, and enlightening. --Jen Forbus, freelancer

Discover: Myths about sharks evaporate as zoologist Nick Crumpton and illustrator Gavin Scott expertly reveal a marine creature that has inhabited Earth's waters for millions of years.

In Road Home, the heart-wrenching final book in his memoir trilogy that began with Free Lunch, Rex Ogle details the turbulent summer of 1998 after high school when he came out as gay and was forced out of the house by his father.

"I never thought I would have so little," Ogle writes of his 17-year-old self, "Not when I need so much." The young man, with nowhere else to go, packs a duffle bag and drives from Alabama to New Orleans to stay with an older man whom he met during a vacation. Their short, tumultuous relationship leads to domestic violence, and Ogle flees and lives on the streets. When he becomes unhoused, Ogle calls his religious abuela for help, but she doesn't answer. "I can't bring myself to leave a message. What would I even say? 'I'm gay. I'm homeless. I'm scared.' "

Detailed dialogue and short, punchy sentences are captivating and effortlessly convey Ogle's bleak experience. Throughout, Ogle vividly recounts his desperation and bouts with suicidal ideation while also highlighting shreds of hope, such as reminders of his childhood. For example, one evening, after obtaining enough money from panhandling to afford a McDonald's Happy Meal, Ogle delights in finding a red plastic dragon. The small toy goes on to serve as a companion and good luck charm during some of his darkest moments. Ogle eventually bravely reaches out to a family member and is given the opportunity to begin rebuilding his life--ultimately, Road Home is a story of queer survival and reclamation of self. --Kieran Slattery, freelance reviewer, teacher, co-creator of Gender Inclusive Classrooms

Discover: This heart-wrenching final book in a memoir trilogy details the summer after high school when the author comes out as gay and is forced to leave his family home and fend for himself.

In the beguiling On a Summer Night, Deborah Hopkinson (Carter Reads the Newspaper) and Kenard Pak (On the Horizon illustrator) eloquently showcase the hushed, magical wonder of a hot summer night.

A child wakes on a night so warm that "even the crickets think it's too hot to sing." The child walks through the house and explores the yard in moonlit shadows. Hopkins sets the story in present tense, with a second-person voice asking: "What has woken you?" As the child explores inside and outside the home, the world comes alive. The cat sleeping on the table wakes and follows the protagonist, the dog across the street starts barking, and one cloud sways in the sky. Separately, the child and cat take in the wonder of it all: "You breathe in the night, slow and quiet." When all settles, the child lifts the cat and heads back to bed.

Hopkinson builds a cumulative tale with a series of questions about who wakes each thing: Who woke the cat? "Was it you?" This is followed by the introduction of the dog: "Who has woken him? Was it the cat? Was it you?" The story, tantalizingly, provides no answers. Hopkinson's text is evocative. She fills the book with bustling verbs, descriptive phrasing, vivid figurative language, and pleasing alliteration. Pak uses shadowy shades of plum, pine green, and slate to illustrate the brown-skinned child in a neighborhood by a body of water. Intentionally off-kilter compositions, as well as interstitial spreads with a moving band of growing light, accentuate the mystery of the night and its quiet surprises. --Julie Danielson, reviewer and copyeditor

Discover: In the beguiling On a Summer Night, Deborah Hopkinson and Kenard Pak invite readers to experience the quiet, magical wonder of night during a hot, hushed summer month.

Jas Hammonds, winner of the 2023 Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Award for We Deserve Monuments, delivers another exceptional work of YA contemporary fiction in their scintillating sophomore title, Thirsty, about a young woman desperate to be seen and valued.

Eighteen-year-old Blake, girlfriend Ella, and friend Annetta are spending the summer pledging the Serena Society, which is, as Annetta puts it, "a club for powerful, badass women of color." Entrance seems a foregone conclusion for Ella and Annetta, whose mothers are Serena alumnae. Blake, though, isn't as sure about her own acceptance; she's the daughter of a Black pilot and a white night-shift 7-Eleven employee and the first in her family to go to college. So, if the partying of the Serena girls is as "next level" as Blake has heard, she will lean into her "wild" reputation to impress. Although Blake gets sloppier with every party, she keeps drinking.

Hammonds depicts alcoholism with spectacular accuracy, including the heady, dizzying, warm rush of the first few drinks. In the beginning, drinking gives Blake "That Feeling": "swollen lips, invincibility, sexiness, power." As she gets drunk, though, her thoughts become disjointed, the writing staccato. While the conclusion feels a bit long on the romantic story and short on the recovery, Thirsty is accessible, energetic, and never over-burdened by the heft of the issues Hammonds deftly covers. Hammonds crafts with care, giving time and space to the many facets of Blake's identity while highlighting a kind of addiction story that is rarely told. Thirsty is as effervescent as it is weighty. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness

Discover: A CSK John Steptoe New Talent Award winner delivers a scintillating sophomore title about a young woman desperate to be seen and valued.

Death's Country by R.M. Romero (A Warning About Swans) is a splendidly rhapsodic novel-in-verse retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice that tenderly portrays polyamorous queer love and the expansive emotions behind embracing a complex self.

Sixteen-year-old Andres Santos is "a snarl/ of thorns playacting/ at being a boy," a tempest of "pointless fury" sustained by his Cuban mami and Brazilian papi's volatile relationship. Then, he meets Liora and Renee. The three soon form a romantic bond that serves as Andres's "sanctuary." After an accident lands Liora in a coma, Renee and Andres travel to the underworld to retrieve her soul. But, unbeknownst to Renee, Andres has already been here. Months ago, Andres drowned and bargained for his life with Death herself. Death agreed to cleave away Andres's shadow--his anger--in exchange for something he loves. Now, Andres fears Liora is that something. Andres, however, isn't the only one with secret wounds.

Romero's transportive prose, via Andres's soulful first-person narration, conjures a land of "broken animals," the "phantom perfume" of "crumbling flowers," the envy of stuck "film-strip souls" desperate to forget regrets, and predatory "vulture men" with "sickle-edged" smiles. The story bursts with the beauty of romantic love ("my first kiss with Liora/ became the third bar of our trio's anthem") and stresses that "any rule that limits love/ doesn't make sense... We're a circle, not a series of strings/ about to knot and break." Romero sleekly references literature (The Divine Comedy) and music (Bowie, Cobain, the Beatles) between gorgeous turns of phrase (kisses "soft/ as sea-foam"; "ballad blue" Miami nights; a highway as the city's "electrified spine"). A melodic marvel. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer

Discover: This splendidly rhapsodic novel-in-verse tenderly portrays polyamorous queer love and the expansive emotions behind embracing a complex self as two teens rescue their girlfriend from the underworld.