Six years after her Orange Prize-winning novel, The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller returns to ancient Greece to sing of Circe--witch, goddess and nymph, daughter of a god, lover to great men and a fearsome power in her own right.

Born to Helios the sun god and his preening wife, Perse, nymph and daughter of the river god Oceanos, Circe has neither the power nor the beauty expected of a daughter of titans. She is bullied and scorned by her whole family until the birth of Aeetes, her youngest brother. Before he deserts her for his own kingdom, he mentions the magical pharmaka herbs that grow in places where titans have shed their blood. Desolate, Circe falls in love with a mortal fisherman, but when she uses pharmaka to make him immortal, her nature and that of her siblings is revealed--all have some facility with witchcraft, enabling them to flout the will of the Olympian gods. Ordered by an uneasy Zeus to punish his overreaching offspring, Helios exiles unloved Circe to the island of Aiaia. Her penance turns to pleasure when Circe realizes that a bounty of herbs useful for spells grow there, and that while alone, she has the freedom to do as she wishes.

Circe's world treats females, particularly nymphs, as currency at best and objects at worst. She must fight to walk a different path. Ambitious in scope, Circe is above all the chronicle of an outsider woman who uses her power and wits to protect herself and the people she loves, ultimately looking within to define herself. Readers will savor the message of standing against a hostile world and forging a new way. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Heather Abel's witty and immersive debut novel, The Optimistic Decade, set against the stark and beautiful backdrop of high desert and mountains in western Colorado in the early 1990s, explores the ways that people try to make a difference.

Eighteen-year-old Rebecca has grown up in an activist family in Los Angeles and now attends UC Berkeley. Her father, Ira, comes for a rare visit, and Rebecca is certain he's going to offer her a summer job at his leftist newspaper. She's ready to join the family business and make her father proud. Instead, he wants her to be a counselor at a utopian summer camp, Llamalo, in Colorado run by his nephew, Caleb.

Caleb has created an isolated camp where he can teach young people about living simply and protecting the land. The rancher who used to own the land works for him, but now his son is threatening to take back the property. Rebecca reluctantly agrees to work there, while David, a friend her age, enthusiastically attends camp for his last time--hoping that Caleb will hire him so he can live at Llamalo year-round and always be the person he is there.

All of the characters are changed that summer, while they grapple with questions of identity, purpose and how to make a difference in the world. A strong sense of place invites additional questions about land ownership and wilderness. Woven in among these thoughtful ideas is an engaging and entertaining story about growing up, passion and disillusionment. --Suzan L. Jackson, freelance writer and author of Book By Book blog

Nancy Thayer (Secrets in Summer, Between Husbands and Friends) is one of the undisputed queens of the summer beach read. Perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand or Mary Kay Andrews, A Nantucket Wedding is lovely, light and summery. The story begins with Alison, now happily engaged to David, the owner of a cosmetics company. She never thought she'd marry again after the death of her beloved husband a few years earlier. Since her wedding is just a few months away, she wants to connect her two grown daughters--Jane and Felicity--with David's adult children.

She invites all of them to come to David's Nantucket beach house as often as possible that summer. Jane, a high-powered Manhattan attorney, seeks refuge from her marital problems in the island's calm; Felicity, whose save-the-earth husband keeps their family strictly vegetarian, revels in eating steak and escaping from her kids. But Alison worries that David's son, Ethan, is trying to seduce both of her daughters. What's worse, she is struggling to connect with her soon-to-be-stepdaughter, Poppy, who resents Alison's presence in David's life.

Believable, laugh-out-loud funny and delectably entertaining, A Nantucket Wedding is a charming story of a mature bride and the complicated dynamics involved in merging two families. Thayer does an excellent job of conjuring a peaceful Nantucket summer, and the not-so-peaceful emotions lurking beneath the surface for Alison and her daughters. --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Tucson, Ariz.

Three years ago, Oxana Vorontsova ceased to exist. That's when the young Russian woman with that name was plucked from prison and turned into one of the world's most notorious assassins, code name Villanelle. She already had the requisite experience--she'd killed three men to avenge the murder of her father, a battle instructor who had trained her well. It helps that she's unable to feel human emotions, like guilt and repulsion and love, but can fake them well. She's not only drop-dead gorgeous but whip-smart, too.

On her tail is another brainy woman. Former MI-5 officer Eve Polastri is recruited by the Secret Intelligence Service to head up an effort to track down and capture Villanelle. As the hunt intensifies, Eve becomes obsessed with her prey, putting strain on her marriage and her husband's desire for them to have a baby. The closer Eve gets to Villanelle, the more she risks losing everything she cares about.

Because of Villanelle's lack of human feelings and author Luke Jennings's use of omniscient voice, readers may feel a sense of detachment from the action at first. But once Eve is introduced about 50 pages in, the story leans into its cat-and-mouse dynamic, pitting two formidable women against each other. Fans of international spy thrillers might want to join the chase before watching the BBC adaptation, titled Killing Eve and starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, blogger at Pop Culture Nerd

Since November 2016, many Americans have asked "What the hell just happened to our country?" Steve Almond answers: Bad Stories. Americans embrace cultural delusions, he writes, settling for entertainment: "Bad stories arise from an unwillingness to take reality seriously." In 16 pithy essays distilled from years of study, Almond (author of Candyfreak, Against Football and co-host of the Dear Sugars podcast) suggests we're seeing "the triumph of unseriousness."

"Elite" and "politically correct" have become insults hurled at anyone trying to discuss policy, epithets deployed to "recast moral negligence as a form of martyrdom." Bad Story #4, "Economic Anguish Fueled Trumpism," cites Trump's portrayal of minorities as predatory--Mexican rapists, Muslim sleeper cells--what Almond calls "fear of a Brown Planet." Racial resentment, rather than economic stress, was "a cause in search of a candidate." He also despairs over mainstream media, illustrating Bad Story #6, "What Amuses Us Can't Hurt Us," with a chilling example: a quote from CBS chairman Les Moonves on the "circus" of the Trump campaign, "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS."

Almond uses literary allusions--Orwell, Bradbury, Thompson--to reflect Americans' moral downturn, and sees parallels with Moby-Dick. He likens the novel's theme--man pitted against his own nature--to the situation in 2016, and "how one man's vile bombast can ensnare everyone and everything." This slim volume ends with guarded hope. Almond stresses that resistance must include voting and demanding serious media coverage. It's our task "to dream up stories that offer a vision of the American spirit as one of kindness and decency." --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, manager, Book Passage, San Francisco

Death is coming: How shall we live? As of publication, author Barbara Ehrenreich (Living with a Wild God) is 76, old enough to have plenty of personal experience with aging and with contemplating her demise. In addition, her Ph.D. in cellular immunology, her understanding of socioeconomic divides and her experience with a breast cancer diagnosis give her educated insights into the science of disease and aging, and fanatic beliefs in the power of diet, fitness and positive thinking. Natural Causes is her critical diatribe against the popular notion that we can control when and how we die.

With dry humor and plenty of scientific endnotes, Ehrenreich examines the poor science and status-seeking behind many fashionable wellness practices, including "ritual" and "humiliating" medical screenings. Exercise can increase our enjoyment of life, but it can also tip over into "another form of conspicuous consumption," as can the new craze for "mass-market mindfulness." Against the idea that we can perfect our minds and bodies, she sets the self-sabotage of our immune systems, illustrated by autoimmune diseases, our reproductive cycles and how our macrophages promote the growth and metastasis of cancer. Moreover, on the fear of mortality, she asks whether, given the facts, it makes more sense to regard death as a "tragic interruption" of one's life, or to see life "as an interruption of an eternity of personal nonexistence, and seize it as a brief opportunity to observe and interact with the living, ever-surprising world around us." --Sara Catterall

Carlos Magdalena is a man on a mission: to rescue and propagate the world's disappearing plants, and to spread the gospel of conservation. A Spaniard and a senior horticulturist at London's Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, he has crisscrossed the world on plant-finding adventures. His memoir, The Plant Messiah--Magdalena's nickname--chronicles his journeys to Mauritius, the Australian outback and other remote places in pursuit of rare specimens.

Magdalena begins with an account of his childhood in Spain and afternoons spent gardening with his mother. Eventually landing in London, he talked his way into an internship at Kew. Like the thousands of species housed in Kew's gardens and greenhouses, Magdalena has flourished there, becoming a champion for vulnerable plants. "Obsession and passion are the key," he writes. Like any zealot, he possesses both in spades.

While Magdalena may be a science geek, he writes for the interested layperson. Though his narrative is sprinkled with scientific names and botanical illustrations, he explains his techniques for capturing and conserving plants in clear, simple prose. Readers will learn about plants they never knew existed, especially the dizzying varieties of Magdalena's beloved waterlilies. Throughout the book, Magdalena returns to his key message: plants are vital to the health and survival of our planet, and all of them (or as many as possible) must be saved. He concludes with a few practical suggestions and a ringing call to "garden our way out of this apocalypse, green up the world, and plant our future." Amen. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

While hiking is often thought to be a laid-back, relaxing hobby, there are those who prefer to push their bodies--and minds--to their limits on the trail. This is most often seen in through-hikes (hiking thousands of miles from one end of a trail to the other). Fastest Known Time attempts (FKTs) take through-hikes one step further, as hikers push to through-hike as quickly as possible.

FKTs are the subject of Jennifer Pharr Davis's second book, The Pursuit of Endurance. Davis looks back at her own record-breaking supported hike of the Appalachian Trail (she completed the AT in 2011 in 46 days, averaging 47 miles per day). Though the book draws heavily on her experiences on the trails, it is also a deep-dive exploration of the sport of FKTs, packed with interviews with other record holders (including those who came before and after her own AT record). She studies their trails, acknowledges the different approaches to the sport, dissects gender differentials (real or imagined) and reflects on the grit and determination it takes to hike through bad weather, injury, fatigue, hunger and whatever else the trail throws at you.

The Pursuit of Endurance gives FKTs historical context while examining the physical and mental components of the endurance required to achieve them. But Davis's study of endurance is about more than through-hikes. "For each individual," she argues, "the greatest feat of endurance comes in uncovering his or her talents and applying them in a way that makes... [the world] a more beautiful, compassionate and daring adventure." Whatever stamina may look like to readers, The Pursuit of Endurance will prove an inspirational and educational read. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm

In October 1947, the Cold War came to Hollywood when the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) held nine days of hearings, searching for alleged Communist subversion in Hollywood. The subsequent firings and blacklisting of directors, actors, writers and film technicians lasted into the early 1960s. Doherty (Hollywood and Hitler 1933-1939) breaks his book into three sections: background conflicts between liberal unions and conservative studio heads; the 41 witnesses who testified during the nine days; and a summary of the careers affected by the blacklist and the decades-later resurrection of several of the "hostile" witnesses.

Doherty smoothly marshals his material and sets the stage well with colorful and knowledgeable backgrounds on all those involved. At this point in HUAC's history (before the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy), there are few villains to be found--just people scared of losing their careers, film empires and the trust of a very fickle and easily scared movie-going public. The book's middle section is its most compelling, as studio heads and "expert witnesses" like Ayn Rand comment on Mission to Moscow and Song of Russia as pro-Soviet propaganda films. These were the first hearings of their kind, and the public was fascinated, listening to Ronald Reagan, Adolphe Menjou and Ginger Rogers's mother find Communists under every bed. Meanwhile, Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Billy Wilder and the U.S.'s most decorated soldier, Audie Murphy, spoke out against the committee.

Doherty's concise background and the actual testimonies of the witnesses freshen the book. Show Trial is an important and valuable study that illuminates a dark period of American history. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant

Poet Carl Dennis has made Buffalo, N.Y.'s eastern shore of Lake Erie his home for 50 years. He has published some dozen books, which have earned him Pulitzer and Lilly Prizes, and both Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships.

Night School is another stellar collection from this quiet master of formalist narrative verse centered on the kind of middle-class, hardworking people that might call Buffalo home--who might indeed get a leg up by taking courses at night school. There's Ernie from Ernie's Red Hots in "Fast Food," for example, who offers simple hotdogs to customers who "needn't be rich/ To afford a meal that will leave them feeling/ They've received, for once, far more than they expected." That "for once" says it all.

Riding on the cadence of the plainspoken and rolled out in language both familiar and unexpected, Dennis's poems are consistently rewarding--the kind you want to read out loud to everyone around you at Dunkin Donuts. Always thoughtful, they are prolific with lines that stop you in your tracks--like these of the narrator of "Two Lives" who walks a maple-lined path: "Musing on the difference between a life/ Deficient in incident and a life uncluttered." Carl Dennis is a national treasure, and Night School is an excellent representation of what makes him so. Don't miss it. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.

It's been "only one week" since Rufus Holt finally "stopped entertaining pointless fantasies that, one day," ex-boyfriend Sebastian would take him back, and here Sebastian is at Rufus's bff's Fourth of July party. The appearance of his ex is not the worst thing that will happen to Rufus tonight. Rufus receives a phone call from his half-sister, April, begging for his help: she woke up covered in blood with a knife in her hand, next to the dead body of her boyfriend. April claims she's innocent but bribes Rufus to help her find the killer. With Sebastian in tow, Rufus lurches through a long night of lies, violence and threats, desperately hoping he'll be unscathed come morning.

Caleb Roehrig's (Last Seen Leaving) sophomore novel is a compelling and cinematic whodunit elevated by romance and melodramatic family dynamics. Using flashbacks, Roehrig reveals the complexities of Rufus's relationships with his father, half siblings and closeted ex-boyfriend, and his struggle with being an openly gay kid in a narrow-minded school. These isolated moments in time help ground this grisly, serpentine murder mystery and remind readers that these characters are everyday teenagers with everyday problems.

Most effective is how Roehrig uses weather to build tension. From the very beginning, the "thick and sticky heat" lingers in the "heavy, still air," mimicking the solemnity of the situation that lies ahead. Then, as the events unspool, "a mist [rises] up from the lake," turning into a fog that "seems to constrict, drawing in closer." White Rabbit is a riveting, atmospheric read, thick with anticipation, that holds readers in its grip to the final shocking reveal. --Lana Barnes, freelance reviewer and proofreader

"Long ago, here and far away, people looked for clues in nature to predict the weather," Elly MacKay's (If You Hold a Seed; Shadow Chasers) text begins. "They learned from experience by watching the shapes of clouds or noticing the behavior of animals. This wisdom was passed down through sayings." The story starts with a father and two children looking out of a large picture window at a blazing red sunset. One of the two children holds a fishing rod and the father points at the sky: "Red sky at night, sailor's delight."

Full dark now, the next page gives a peek inside the house from the outside, a child and a litter of kittens all in silhouette through the windows. "When the dew is on the grass,/ no rain will come to pass." Next, a double-page spread shows the father and children loaded down with fishing gear, leaving the house trailed by tumbling, pouncing kittens. The colors are muted, the sky a light gray: "Evening red and morning gray,/ two sure signs of one fine day."

MacKay's illustrations are exquisite, all pieces made "using paper and ink" and then "set into a miniature theater and photographed, giving them their unique three-dimensional quality." Her colors are vibrant and her world teeming with life. The book even gives life to the weather itself, depicting the winds and storms as ethereal cats playing and prowling. In her well-researched back matter, MacKay explains all the weather sayings in the book, as well as her sources for the material. Red Sky at Night is deliberately and beautifully paced in such a way that the book is entirely comprehensible as a wordless piece, making it accessible to pre-readers. The sayings enhance the work, though, allowing for both entertaining read-alouds and solo weather journeys. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness