It’s 1990. Sixteen-year-old Morgan’s mom left when she was 10, but Morgan tries not to think about that; she has a decent life with her white commercial fisherman father. But Morgan finds it tough being Native in a largely white school. When she drops out, her friend Skye, who was expelled, convinces her to join …
Stephanie Zamekova, the queer daughter of immigrants from the Czech Republic, has no recollection of what caused the fire that took the life of her best friend, Matt; tore apart her friend group; and left her with a traumatic brain injury. Now, ominously, the survivors receive invitations to return to BREAKOUT to participate in “an …
“The shoes were packed. ‘Daddy loves you,’” Josie’s father tells her, “glancing around—had he left anything?” Martin Brier is halfway out the door, first wife cast aside for the younger model destined to become his second. Shorr’s latest novel is a mid-20th-century, Midwestern, nearly father-free coming-of-age story that follows Josie, her two brothers, and their …
Tennis isn’t the only thing weighing on Leo: He’s gay and not out to anyone. He doesn’t always agree with his father, legendary tennis player Johnny Chambers, who retired to coach Leo after a multiple sclerosis diagnosis cut his own career short. After Johnny suffers a stroke that keeps him from traveling as much as …
In 1930, the Rosenthals were a bustling, happy family. Friedel and Gina were two of six children, their father a successful small businessman who managed three corner shops throughout Dusseldorf. Antisemitism was on the rise, however, and Hitler eventually came to power. The Rosenthals were systematically stripped of their businesses, property, possessions, and humanity. The …
“Welcome to Shipikisha Club,” goes the traditional Zambian saying for women who are about to be married. “Shipikisha,” meaning “to relentlessly endure,” is also a synonym for marriage, whose peaks and valleys the novel follows through the stories of three generations of women: Peggy, the preacher’s wife; her daughter, Sali, a secondary-school teacher; and her …
In Fourspires, familiars exist to serve their arcanists, wresting power from bone, botanicals, blood, and stone until overexertion kills them. Taro, a bone familiar with an “unhealthy obsession with black eye liner” and an “attitude problem,” dreams of running away with Nixie, the love of her life. Nixie, familiar to the head botanic arcanist, despises …
Eva, an 18-year-old intern at London-based Low Slang Records, wants to break into the A&R side of the music industry but spends her days fetching coffee for higher-ups who won’t give her the time of day. Then she finds 16-year-old Alora Storm-Jones. When Eva comes across a video of Alora singing, she’s transfixed by her …
When Redo Hauptshammer arrives from Vienna in the Prussian village of Szonden on the banks of the Oder River in the 1820s, his first task is to bury his murdered young Spanish wife, Odra—the victim of random gunfire—on the same plot of land where he hopes to raise sugar beets. But when he first places …
Emilia is both excited and nervous about spending the day outdoors. Her younger brother, Nico, is ready to go, but Emilia feels unsure. Her grandmother arrives to pick up the kids and their parents, and they all set out. Before long, Emilia begins to notice the forest’s sights, smells, and sounds, discovering the beauty of …
