Leda Balni celebrates her 15th birthday with the charismatic but thuggish Nico Salisi; now dating, they’ve come a long way since their combative relationship as children, but they’re still not quite synced. Nico, unlike Leda, has zero interest in books, philosophy, or emotional conversations. Instead, he’s consumed by lust, while Leda is sexually curious but …
At 42, New Hampshire ski salesman Frank Cadwallader has settled into an increasingly lifeless marriage. A lifelong Quaker, he joins a peace mission to the Soviet Union, but the first cracks in his familiar world appear before he leaves—Russian lessons lead to an obsession with his alluring teacher, Olga, whose own titillating secrets prove nearly …
It’s 1926, and China is in a precarious state, with Chiang Kai-shek fighting various warlords for the future of the country. The setting, Hankow, sits at the junction of the Yangtze and Han Rivers: It’s a vibrant mix of American, British, Japanese, and of course Chinese people. Young Marine 2nd Lt. Jack Gaines is part …
Poet Aptowicz turns to the history of her native Pennsylvania with the story of William Parker, enslaved in neighboring Maryland. After having been forced to fight other enslaved men in bare-knuckle contests, a teenage William came to blows with his own enslaver. He fled, making his way to a little Quaker community across the state …
When Gaspar Ruiz, a widowed nobleman from neighboring Domingo, comes to Kindred Orphanage and offers to adopt 17-year-old Cataleya Donant, she’s hesitant—until he says the magic word: revenge. Witches killed many people, including Ruiz’s family, before being exiled from Domingo. And Cata wants to exact justice against the longtime friend who betrayed her; Sebastjan Arroyo …
“Whatever the final assessment of Trump’s second term, his achievement in recovering from ignominy and surviving the efforts of an entrenched establishment to destroy him will stand as the greatest political comeback in modern presidential history.” So exults Hanson, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a Trump booster from way back. Hanson is …
Wall Street Journal sports editor Robinson and executive news editor Clegg open with a football fanatic named Howie Roseman, who had pursued a position with a NFL team since high school. Finally hired to formulate salary-cap strategy, he became the league’s youngest ever general manager. For all his analytical savvy, Roseman was edged out of …
A dreamy, secretive teenage girl named Teddý living on a farm in rural Iceland has a chance encounter with a visiting cartographer in 1962. When he discovers her gift for mathematics, she unexpectedly finds herself encouraged to pursue a college education. Another chance encounter, this time with a U.S. astronaut preparing for the moon mission, …
In a village by a river, several round, anthropomorphic blobs called blue fuzzies live in little round huts. One day, a storm damages their homes, and as the blue fuzzies try to rebuild, a stranger—an orange fuzzy—arrives to live with them. The blue villagers shun the newcomer until one of them realizes that “sometimes, the …
Sparky’s no mutt; as his young owner tells us, he’s the “perfect mix of French bulldog, German poodle, and Andalusian rat terrier.” “His style and elegance, without a doubt, come from his French side.” (The accompanying illustrations show a chuckle-worthy parade of extravagantly modish canines.) His “loud bark” and “curly fur” are from his poodle …
