Fifty Words for Rain, Asha Lemmie, Dutton - Eight-year-old Nori is dropped off by her mother at the estate of the grandparents she never knew she had. For three years, she lives in their attic, suffering acid baths to lighten her skin and beatings with a wooden spoon.
Snapshots, Eliot Parker, Morgan James fiction - Eliot Parker grew up in Appalachia, so it is no surprise that his award winning collection of short stories Snapshots is rooted in the people, places and customs of the region. His stories have a dark, sometimes surreal edge, befitting the author, who also pens mystery novels.
Silence Is My Mother Tongue , Sulaiman Addonia, Graywolf Press - Saba, her brother, Hagos, and their mother are refugees from the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. They live in a mud hut in a refugee camp.
Interview: The Foundling, Stacey Halls, Manilla Press - Stacey Halls is the author of the new historical novel The Foundling (The Lost Orphan, in the US), which takes place in 18th century London.
The Wrong Kind of Woman, Sarah McCraw Crow, Harper Collins - An unexpected death and a wave of social upheaval collide in Sarah McCraw Crow’s The Wrong Kind of Woman (MIRA Books/HarperCollins).
Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey - New York Times best-selling author, Silvia Moreno-Garcia offers her readers another rich, intricate tapestry in Mexican Gothic, which was recently optioned for TV by Hulu this year.
The All-Night Sun, Diane Zinna, Random House - Diane Zinna’s The All-Night Sun tells a story of grief, loss, and friendship between Lauren Cress, a 28-year-old English teacher from Washington, D.C., and Siri, an 18-year-old art student.
The Son of Good Fortune, Lysley Tenorio, Harper Collins - When he is 10, Excel’s mother, Maxima, tells him they are TNT – hiding and hiding – they are not in the U.S. legally.
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family, Robert Kokler, Doubleday - Hidden Valley Road is the best-selling, critically acclaimed non-fiction work by Robert Kolker, the New York Times best-selling author of Lost Girls.
Saving Missy, Beth Morrey, Harper Collins - Best-selling debut author, Beth Morrey, was inspired to write her ‘coming-of-old’ novel, The Love Story of Missy Carmichael/Saving Missy, about a lonely woman saved by the people around her, when she got to know her community on maternity leave.