Great recent titles you may have missed, selected by our librarians.
January-March 2021 Issue
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See also:
- Featured Review: His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
- Nonfiction Recommendations
- Previous Issues
Alam, Rumaan. Leave the World Behind.
A white family’s peaceful summer vacation is disrupted when the Black couple who own their rental house unexpectedly appear at the door after escaping a massive blackout and other dire events in New York City.
Amis, Martin. Inside Story: A Novel.
In this “novelized autobiography”, the author writes about his development as a writer and pays tribute to three older writers who were important to his life and work.
Baxter, Charles. The Sun Collective.
In Minneapolis, a retired couple spend their time searching for their son, an actor who has broken off contact with them and is living on the streets; they discover a community group that started out helping the homeless, but has become a group of violent anarchists.
Beatty, Pete. Cuyahoga.
The story of Big Son, a bigger-than-life Paul Bunyanesque character on the Nineteenth Century American frontier, who attempts to build a bridge between Cleveland and Ohio City.
Chang, K-Ming. Bestiary.
This saga of three generations of women in a Taiwanese family uses magical realism to tell the stories of women whose lives are full of violence, abuse, and loss.
Clegg, Bill. The End of the Day.
This complicated novel follows the secret histories and relationships between the members of an upper-class Connecticut family, their friends, descendants, and former servants.
Cline, Emma. Daddy: Stories.
A collection of ten perceptive short stories, with complex characters facing crises in their lives.
Crossan, Sarah. Here Is the Beehive.
This Irish novel, written in verse, begins when a lawyer receives a call from her lover’s wife informing her that he has died.
Danforth, Emily M. Plain Bad Heroines.
This unusual novel tells the ghostly and queer history of a girls boarding school that was haunted by a curse.
Diop, David. At Night All Blood Is Black.
A young man from Senegal who served as a rifleman in the French army in World War I recalls the horrible violence of the war and his part in it.
Evans, Danielle. The Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories.
Stories about Black women and the issues of race and power that affect their lives.
Gallen, Michelle. Big Girl, Small Town.
In this dark comedy, a young woman who works at the local chip shop in a small Northern Irish village observes the lives of her customers and tries to make sense of her own.
Guo, Xiaolu. A Lover’s Discourse.
A lonely and recently-orphaned young Chinese woman, who has moved to London to pursue a Ph.D., meets an equally lonely and displaced man, the son of English and German parents, and they fall in love.
Hajdu, David. Adrianne Geffel: A Fiction.
This satire tells the story of a famous experimental musician of the 1980’s, talented, defiant, and eccentric, through conversations with people who knew her.
Hornby, Nick. Just Like You.
In this comic novel, a white middle-aged single mother, who teaches English at a high school in London, begins an affair with her babysitter, a much younger Black man, but when their relationship deepens, their friends and families are alarmed.
Joukhadar, Zeyn. The Thirty Names of Night.
A young Syrian-American man living in Brooklyn discovers the diary of a Syrian artist who painted rare birds; learning her story helps him to come to terms with his own transgender identity.
Klay, Phil. Missionaries.
The lives of soldiers, civilians, and a journalist intertwine in this gritty novel set in contemporary Colombia amidst the violence of the drug wars.
Krauss, Nicole. To Be a Man: Stories.
This is a collection of ten stories, set in many different places around the world, that explore the connections between men and women.
Leavitt, David. Shelter in Place.
A wealthy liberal woman decides to flee America and buy a palazzo in Venice after the election of Donald Trump in this satirical novel.
Lethem, Jonathan. The Arrest.
In this playful post-apocalyptic novel, a burned-out Los Angeles scriptwriter is visiting his sister’s farm commune in Maine when a disaster called “The Arrest” destroys the world’s technology and economy.
Makumbi, Jennifer Nansubuga. A Girl Is a Body of Water.
In Uganda in the 1970s, a feisty young girl who has been raised by her grandparents in a rural village after her mother abandoned her at birth is admitted to an elite girls school in the city.
Matsuda, Aoko. Where the Wild Ladies Are.
A collection of stories that reimagine traditional Japanese ghost stories and folk tales with modern and unconventional heroines.
Murata, Sayaka. Earthlings.
In this imaginative and unsettling story, a Japanese girl, who feels estranged from her family and the conformist society she calls “The Factory” comes to believe that she is an alien from another planet, with magical powers.
Nemerever, Micah. These Violent Delights.
After two gay Jewish college students meet and settle into a relationship in Pittsburgh in the 1970’s, they begin to plan to murder a complete stranger, just for the thrill of it.
Philyaw, Deesha. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.
The short stories in this collection describe Black women and their relationships with their church.
Randall, Alice. Black Bottom Saints.
A portrait of Detroit’s Black Bottom, a thriving Black community of the first half of the 20th century, told through the reminiscences of a nightclub impresario who recalls the many celebrities and personalities he encountered throughout his life.
Roanhorse, Rebecca. Black Sun.
In this first book of a fantasy trilogy set in a world based on pre-Columbian cultures, the lives of three people collide: a powerful priest, a sea captain, and a man seeking revenge for the massacre of his people.
Swift, Graham. Here We Are.
In Brighton, England in the late 1950’s, a showman hires his old army buddy, a magician, to be part of his variety show; the magician in turn hires a beautiful woman as his assistant, leading to rivalry between the men.
Walschots, Natalie Zina. Hench.
A woman who does freelance office work for a supervillain is injured after a superhero saves her boss’s victim, and while she recuperates, she begins to calculate the amount of damage that fighting between heroes and villains causes everyone.
Walter, Jess. The Cold Millions.
This novel, set in Spokane, Washington in 1909, during the free speech and labor rights demonstrations led by the Industrial Workers of the World, tells the story of two Irish immigrant brothers who join the cause.
Washington, Bryan. Memorial.
In this touching and funny love story, a Black man’s partner goes to Japan to visit his dying father; meanwhile, his partner’s mother comes to stay for a long visit.
Yang, Susie. White Ivy.
A Chinese-American woman with an unhappy childhood reconnects with a wealthy man she had a crush on in school, but mistakes she’s made in her past catch up with her and lead her to question what she really wants.