| American Spirits by Russell BanksWhat It's About: The last book by the late, great Russell Banks offers three gritty, character-driven tales set in rural Sam Dent, New York. The elegiac stories explore a kidnapping, the loss of family land, and problems with new neighbors.
Read-alikes: Mariana Enriquez's Things We Lost in the Fire and The Northern Reach by W. S. Winslow. |
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| Paper Cage by Tom BaragwanathPlot: Lorraine Henry, a white policeman's widow, works as a police records clerk in a small New Zealand town rife with drugs and racial tension. When a part-Māori relative is one of three Indigenous children who go missing and the cops aren't all that concerned, Lorraine investigates.
Noteworthy: First published in New Zealand in 2022, this gritty, suspenseful debut novel has "a truly crackling mystery" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl GonzalezDescription: In the 1980s, up-and-coming artist Anita de Monte is married to Jack, an established white artist, when she dies after a suspicious fall. In the 1990s, Brown University student Raquel Toro researches a project on Jack while starting her own relationship with a wealthy white man. This Reese's Book Club pick presents a witty, thought-provoking look at art, race, class, and gender.
Read-alikes: Hernan Diaz's Trust and Wendy Guerra's I Was Never the First Lady. |
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The Painter's Daughters
by Emily Howes
Plot: The daughters of one of England's most famous portrait artists of the 1700s, Peggy and Molly Gainsborough are inseparable due to Molly's bouts of mental confusion, and as Peggy goes to great lengths to protect her sister's secret, she falls in love with a charming composer, which sparks the bitterest of betrayals.
Read-a-likes: Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff and The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman.
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| The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn KisteSummary: Twenty years after surviving a cosmic event that turned everyone in her hometown into ghosts, Talitha Velkwood returns to the site of the haunting to confront past traumas and reckon with horrors, both real and supernatural.
Try this next: What Grows in the Dark by Jaq Evans. |
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| Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny MoraineWhat It's About: Sunny Moraine's suspenseful, apocalyptic, horror novel centers on a virus in which eye contact causes murderous rage among the afflicted. This novel stars an isolated young woman whose chance encounter with a stranger could threaten the peace she's worked so hard to build.
For fans of: The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson. |
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| The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. RozanPlot: In 1924 London, unexpected events lead quiet academic lecturer Lao She to team up with larger-than-life Judge Dee Ren Jie to figure out who's killing Chinese immigrants, who served in France during the Great War.
For fans of: Sherlock Holmes; intricately plotted mysteries with a strong sense of place. |
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| Grief Is For People by Sloane CrosleySummary: Novelist and essayist Sloane Crosley's moving and darkly humorous memoir chronicles how she navigated the grief of losing her best friend to suicide in 2019.
Try this next: Molly by Blake Butler. |
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| Whiskey Tender: A Memoir by Deborah Jackson TaffaSummary: In her thought-provoking debut named a "Most Anticipated Book" by Elle, The New York Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, Deborah Jackson Taffa, a member of the Quechan (Yuma) and Laguna Pueblo, recounts her fraught coming of age in the 1980s as a "Native girl in a Northwestern New Mexico town where Cowboys still hated Indians."
Try this next: There There by Tommy Orange. |
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| You're Going to Love This Book! by Jory John; illustrated by Olivier TallecWhat It's About: Unabashed verve overflows from this picture book as it announces its supposed appeals: Bedtimes! Dentists! Brussels sprouts! Plus Chores -- Ah yeahhh! With exuberant artwork, enthusiastic interjections, and a twist ending, this book is sure to elicit heaps of giggles. YEAHHH!
More by this Author: Goodnight Already! and The Bad Seed. |
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| The Lumbering Giants of Windy Pines by Mo NetzDescription: Shortly after they move to Windy Pines, Georgia, 11-year-old Jerry’s mom disappears. Determined to find her, Jerry -- along with new friend Chapel and Yiddish-speaking imaginary dragon Paul -- ventures into the eerie woods, discovering her mom’s secrets (and the advantages to demon-slaying in a wheelchair).
You may also like: Ferris by Kate DiCamillo |
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| A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah FaizalPlot: Despite humble beginnings, Arthie Casimir gained power collecting the secrets of influential humans and vampires frequenting her teahouse. Arthie's scheme to infiltrate vampire society and overthrow the colonizing monarchy will thrill fans of heist novels and found family.
Series Alert: This fast-paced fantasy opens a duology. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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