When Elly Bulkington's husband, Fred, is stricken with survivor's guilt after September 11--he was supposed to be at a meeting at the World Trade Center but traded places with a coworker--he enters, with Elly's support, a Irish brewery's contest to win a pub on the country's southwestern coast. Their arrival in the small seaside town offers the couple opportunities--a new business and a stab at novel-writing for Fred, and the challenge of a new ocean for Elly, a former competitive swimmer who feels most herself when in the water.

With Elly narrating, The Night Swimmer explores how these separate endeavors strain the Bulkingtons' marriage. Elly spends increasing amounts of time on the nearby small island of Clear, obsessing over making an open-water swim to its lighthouse, while Fred becomes more interested in the pub's inventory than its business prospects. And though the locals view the couple with some suspicion, Elly is increasingly drawn into local conflicts and intrigues, determined to unravel the island's mysteries.

Matt Bondurant (The Wettest County in the World) does not lay out or wrap up his mysteries neatly, but that doesn't entirely matter: what stands out in The Night Swimmer is its atmosphere and its narrating voice. Elly's struggles with the elements in storms and on the ocean are vividly conveyed, as are her puzzlement over Clear's secrets and her efforts to unravel them... even as what she learns makes her question whether she and Fred should even be in Ireland at all. Bondurant infuses his third novel with a pervasive sense of foreboding and a final act that hits with the impact of an Irish gale. --Florinda Pendley Vasquez, blogger at The 3 R's Blog: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness

"As I remember, I had just woken up from a nap when I decided to create the universe." From that offhanded beginning, Alan Lightman spins a beguiling tale of the birth of a universe called Aalam-104729, which bears a striking resemblance to our own, as told from the perspective of none other than the Creator himself, a humble character known only as Mr g.

Mr g. shares the Void with two bickering relatives, Aunt Penelope and Uncle Deva, who are skeptical about his science project. They're a pair of kibitzers, second-guessing nearly every detail of his audacious undertaking. The Creator's most intriguing conversations are reserved for a being known as Belhor, who jousts with him on the subjects of free will, the nature of good and evil, and the problem of human suffering.

There's nothing dogmatic about Lightman's approach to his material. Mr g studiously avoids intervening in the workings of his universe, instead establishing three fundamental laws (symmetry, relativity and causality), and then setting it in motion so that everything "happened on its own by trial and error, with no need for meddling by outside parties." There are even moments of humor, as when an impatient Creator decides to perform an "experiment" to speed up the process by which consciousness emerges from "billions of planetary years" to "mere moments."

As he demonstrated in his 1992 bestseller, Einstein's Dreams, Lightman is able to write with the keen insight of a scientist and the lyricism of a poet. If you approach this with an open mind, you are certain to find something worth pondering in this delightfully original novel. Who knew cosmology could be such a blast? --Harvey Freedenberg, attorney and freelance reviewer

If ever a couple were in need of a run of good luck it would be Art and Marion Fowler. Downsized from their middle-class jobs and facing foreclosure, they travel by bus from their Cleveland home to Niagara Falls on a snowy Valentine's Day weekend to relive their honeymoon of 30 years earlier. They're improbably committed to risking their remaining cash at the roulette wheel, "a fantastic last-ditch escape from the snares of their real life."

The Fowlers know failure guarantees both financial and marital ruin. But Art is ardent and romantic, desperate to ensure Marion is having a good time and fretting over when he'll give her the diamond ring he's brought with him. Marion, the realist of the pair, still can't shake her bitterness over Art's two-decades-old affair. Niagara Falls, decked out for the holiday weekend, is as much a character in this story as the troubled honeymooners. O'Nan evokes the surge of romantic impulses it inspires, its natural beauty wedded to kitschy attractions.

The Odds is a realistic fairy tale about the gravitational pull of an enduring relationship. In deft, knowing strokes, Stewart O'Nan exposes all the tenderness and tension, the compromises and evasions that lie at the heart of any long-term marriage. "The happiest she'd ever been was with him," Marion realizes, "and the saddest. Was that the test of true love?" Anyone who's experienced those emotions and doesn't confess to seeing at least a cloudy reflection in the mirror O'Nan has so lovingly crafted isn't telling the truth. --Harvey Freedenberg, attorney and freelance reviewer

Seré Prince Halverson's debut novel is a faultless exploration of sadness and shame, anger and forgiveness; a story well told about people we would like to know.

Ella Beene left an unhappy, childless marriage in San Diego and migrated up the coast to Northern California, where she met Joe Capozzi. His wife, Paige, had walked out on him four months earlier, leaving him with a three-year-old daughter and a four-month-old son. They fall in love, and Joe's children, Annie and Zach, become Ella's. This is the family she was longing for.

Joe's dreams of being a photojournalist ended when it became necessary for him to take over the family grocery store. He still loves to take pictures and one morning he sets out for the beach to do just that. This time, he doesn't come back. A rogue wave catches him and pulls him under.

After three years of marriage, Ella thought she knew everything she needed to know about Joe. But Joe took secrets with him. When Paige shows up at Joe's funeral and makes it clear that she wishes to reclaim her children, Ella is devastated. Paige had suffered from postpartum depression and, fearing that she would harm the children, left to seek help. She insists that she sent many, many letters to Joe and the children--letters that Ella never saw.

The custody battle takes unexpected turns. The truth about Paige and what happens between these two women brings an eminently satisfying conclusion to the novel. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Ore.

Donato Carrisi's debut thriller, The Whisperer, isn't for the faint of heart but it is most definitely for the connoisseur of fine fiction. A race to find the monster who has kidnapped and murdered five young girls, leaving only their arms behind, creates the foundation of the plot--then a new arm is discovered, but forensic evidence indicates the child is still alive. As the investigation proceeds, Carrisi probes the psyches of the sleuths--criminologist Goran Gavilia, missing person specialist Mila Vasquez, homicide investigator Sarah Rosa--each of whom harbors secrets that will waylay their efforts and build the novel's suspense. Carrisi carefully, effectively toggles the point of view between a limited third-person vantage point, an unknown first-person perspective and a series of prison reports; this alternating frame of reference catches the reader off-guard with well-crafted plot twists.

The translation of The Whisperer, though, is a bit awkward and inconsistent at times, and readers may be confused about the location of some scenes or find a stiffness in dialogue. These small details aside, The Whisperer is a hauntingly exciting, graphically thought-provoking psychological thriller--start this one early in the day, because you won't want to put it down and you won't want to turn out the lights. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts

Baby, it's cold outside, but things are heating up as Susan May Warren returns to the fictional town of Deep Haven, Minn., the frosty setting of several of her previous novels.

Since the murder of their daughter, ex-sheriff Eli Hueston can't connect with his wife, Noelle. When he's not busy fishing, Eli is making time with Noelle's gorgeous redheaded friend, Lee. Things get even messier when a random act of violence leaves Noelle with no memory of her husband. While the search for the criminal responsible for Noelle's amnesia goes on, Lee's daughter and Eli's son develop a romance of their own, keeping the novel's action at a jitterbug pace rather than a slow waltz. Warren keeps readers guessing as to which woman Eli will end up with, and her characters are all so darn sympathetic that you can't help but hope they'll all embrace polygamy so everybody wins.

The Shadow of Your Smile is an inspirational romance, though, so while it may feature rugged male characters chopping wood for their women, saving them from dangerous situations or whisking them away on snowmobiles, there are no graphic sex scenes, and each character turns to their intimate relationship with God as individual conflicts come to a head. Warren makes room for the Lord without being cheesy or preachy, proving that kick-butt characters in skinny jeans can be believers--and still be cool. --Natalie Papailiou, author of blog MILF: Mother I'd Like to Friend

The first oil wars--the battle for resource supremacy in the West--took place in the Mediterranean climes of ancient Greece and Rome. Olive oil, not crude, served as the source of life and sustenance, a salve and aphrodisiac that also cemented peace and provoked war between nations and linked the earthly to the divine. This catalyst of civilized life is the topic of Extra Virginity, Tom Mueller's delicious treatise expanding upon an article he wrote for the New Yorker in 2007.

Between tidbits of ancient and modern folklore, Mueller presents olives in their natural, pristine beauty--a fruit simultaneously cherished, abused and plundered with Mafioso-like zeal for the glory of country and of wealth. True olive oil, distinct in its fruitiness and chemical composition, is not a commodity to be tampered with or rendered tasteless by inferior fruits and by-products that assault consumers in watered down, cleverly disguised vintages lining today's supermarket shelves. That EVOO that Rachael Ray hawks on her popular Food Network programs? Maybe it's not so real after all.

Extra Virginity educates even as Mueller bemoans the lack of distinction in what we consume. "Olive obsession is an ancient obsession," he writes. "The fruit and fragrance of good oil are tempered with bitterness, as life's beauty is." Maybe it's about time we took inspiration from his words, stood up and gave ourselves the genuine taste of life. --Nancy Powell, freelance writer

With a great deal of wit and sincerity, David Finch shares pearls of wisdom gleaned from over a year of journal writing during the effort to be a better husband and father. At the age of 30, Finch was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome--a mild form of autism--and he readily acknowledges that this diagnosis put him on a path to save his marriage. Armed with a medical explanation for his perfectionism, his difficulty in social situations, his odd sense of humor and his tendency toward self-absorption, Finch begins an impressive project to minimize the negative effect of his quirks through the creation of a journal of best practices. These practices range from the general ("Use your words") to the more specific ("Laundry: Better to fold and put away than to take only what you need from the dryer") and potentially could be useful axioms all husbands.

The Journal of Best Practices, based on a popular New York Times article, surprises the reader with its overall upbeat tone. Finch writes unreservedly of his revelations; some are painful, some are straightforward, but all are cathartic. His story of his struggle to empathize--something particularly difficult for someone with Asperger's, but also, he points out, somewhat difficult for men, in general--is an extremely amusing and compelling illustration of his predisposition to take instruction too literally. This poignant memoir is a great read for those with Asperger Syndrome and the neurotypical alike. --Sarah Borders, librarian, Houston Public Library

Journalist and novelist Katherine Stewart has written a powerful exposé about the innocuously named Good News Club, a ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) that has nearly 3,500 branches in public K-6 schools around the country. In 2001, the Supreme Court, in Good News Club v. Milford Central School, ruled that an outside organization may proselytize after hours in public schools. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Souter wrote that "it is beyond question that Good News intends to use the public school premises... for an evangelical service of worship calling children to commit themselves in an act of Christian conversion."

Stewart visits a school in Seattle where the Club's presence has resulted in arguments between students over who is going to hell. She attends a CEF convention where Matthew Staver of the Liberty Counsel gives a speech telling attendees that any opposition to the Club is the work of Satan. She explores the rise of Christian fundamentalism since the '60s and '70s, and examines the influence Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice and owner of a popular Christian radio talk show, has had in shaping their judicial strategy. She covers the Texas textbook wars and the influence of the Christian Right in rewriting textbooks to suit their beliefs.

Howard tells us that she has met a number of nice people in the Clubs, but their good intentions "have been harnessed in service of a national agenda that will ultimately erode our communities and undermine our public schools." --Tom Lavoie, former publisher

Gifts for both observation and storytelling are common in those who choose to become physicians; those same gifts can make for great writing. Leah Kaminsky, a practicing family physician in Australia, is one such physician-writer, and she's also the editor of Writer, M.D., a collection of fiction and nonfiction by others who practice in both disciplines.

In her introduction, Kaminsky notes that the works she's chosen "aim to look behind the doctor's mask." After a foreword from Jerome Groopman, the nonfiction section features 10 essays, including selections from Abraham Verghese, Oliver Sacks and Atul Gawande; these are followed by six pieces of fiction from writers like Ethan Canin and John Murray (as well as Kaminsky herself). The majority of the contributors are well-known writers, and some readers may recognize these pieces from prior publication. They're still worth revisiting, though, especially in the context of Kaminsky's desire to look deeply into the mind of the physician, not only as a healer but as a human being.

With honesty, intelligence and empathy, the physician-writers in Writer, M.D. tackle difficult topics--guilt and grief, tragedy and trauma, disease and despair--even as they explore the gloriousness of the medical profession, the amazing diversity of true healers and the ever-present hope for those who seek to follow in their literary and medical footsteps. --Roni K. Devlin, owner of Literary Life Bookstore & More

Using the rhythm and pacing of blues lyrics, Jonah Winter (Diego) unspools the biography of dancer, singer, performer and activist Josephine Baker. Marjorie Priceman's (One of Each) loose line and expressive illustrations evoke the sensuality of the dances that rocketed Baker to the top.

Together they tackle some difficult moments in Baker's life in a way that picture book audiences can handle. They counter a sobering image of Josephine as a girl, huddled on the floor to sleep ("newspapers for a sheet--/ rats crawlin' all around,/ a nibblin' at her feet") with a picture of her Granny on the opposite page holding her and saying, "Someday you're gonna be a princess--/ you know what Granny says is true," as a fantasy tiara appears upon Josephine's head. Winter and Priceman portray her early dances and her inborn sense of showmanship. A tragic event interrupts Josephine's impromptu performing on the night when "there were white folks chasin' black folks--/ on the black folks' side of town." Winter marks this as the pivotal moment when Baker leaves St. Louis, and Priceman's stop-action sequence of her escape portrays a confidence that she'll find what she's searching for--and she does in Paris.

This portrayal of Baker as someone who adheres to her beliefs from childhood plants the seeds for her later work in the French Resistance and the U.S. civil rights movement. In the finale, "dressed to the hilt," Josephine wears a tiara. You know what Granny says is true. Brava! --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness

"Hello. I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. It's not as easy as it looks." So begins Katherine Applegate's (the Animorphs series) redemptive story of friendship. The narrator, an ape named Ivan, could well take his place alongside the likes of Babe, Charlotte and Wilbur.

Ivan's friends include an elephant called Stella and Bob, "a dog of uncertain heritage." Ivan lives in the Big Top Mall off I-95 with shows three times a day, 365 days a year. His domain's walls depict "a waterfall without water and flowers without scent and trees without roots." Characters develop gradually, filtered through Ivan's wisdom and hard-won experience, His taut, unadorned language reveals his views of himself and his world: "Gorillas are patient as stones. Humans not so much." Ivan perceives his surroundings through an artist's eyes ("the late-day sun reminds me of a ripe nectarine"), and uses whatever materials frequent visitor 10-year-old Julie passes to him to draw his surroundings.

When a baby elephant, Ruby, arrives at the Big Top Mall, she acts as a catalyst for the animal clan. Ivan's wisdom, his art and his loyalty to his friends all contribute to the building suspense. The climax may be a bit over-the-top, but it befits life under the big top, and it's just as satisfying as the all-threads-tied-up resolution. The book's airy design, short chapters and Castelao's soulful black-and-white illustrations make this book especially attractive to readers just embarking on chapter books. Adults reading this aloud with children will find it just as rewarding. --Ellen Loughran, consulting librarian