Costalegre, Courtney Maum, – In Costalegre, Courtney Maum’s third novel, Lara and Leonora Calaway are taking refuge in a remote mansion in the Mexican wilderness in 1937 with a group of Surrealist artists, who Leonora has helped to escape Hitler’s Europe.
Olive, Again, Elizabeth Strout, – I remember the moment I fell in love with Olive Kitteridge. It was near the end of the book and Olive was lying down looking out a window.
Things You Save In a Fire, Katherine Center, Macmillan – Katherine Center has a knack for creating women characters that are down to earth, yet heroic, inspiring, but real.
Vexations, Caitlin Horrocks, Little Brown – Caitlin Horrocks, author of The Vexations, had finished her MFA at Arizona State University in 2007 and had been writing short stories for a few years, when she signed up for a summer workshop in 2010.
We Love Anderson Cooper, R. L. Maizes, Macmillian – In her debut short story collection, We Love Anderson Cooper, R.L. Maizes takes readers into some intriguing scenarios: a young man who decides to come out during his bar mitzvah, a disfigured tattoo artist who discovers healing powers, a therapist, whose new couch has the power to take away sadness, a woman haunted by the spirit of her dead dogs.
The Editor, Steven Rowley, Peguin Random House – The Editor Explores Mother/Son Relationships – I can’t lie. I was drawn to Steven Rowley’s novel THE EDITOR for the chance to spend time, even fictionally, with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
The Magnetic Girl, Jessica Handler, Hub City Press – History and Imagination Yield Compelling Tale
The Shaman of Turtle Valley, Cifford Garstang, Braddock Avenue Books – A painting hangs over the fireplace in Clifford Garstang’s home in rural Virginia of a temple with the Mountain God between two mountain ranges.
Ripples, Evan Williams, Southern Fried Karma – Place is essential to storytelling. This is a concept author Evan Williams is quick to embrace.
The Wartime Sisters, Lynda Cohen Loigman, St. Martins Press – Lynda Cohen Loigman was taking her first creative writing class at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College when she discovered the power of having a writing community to better her work.
