A hornet's nest of family secrets, Gothic horror with a blanket thrown over it, the institutionalization of women who would not or could not confirm, and a dramatic ending. Page-turning suspense from the author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait.

If you ever doubt that one person can make a difference, Elizabeth Nyamayaro is your answer. A child alone, starving and unconscious near her village home in Zimbabwe, she was saved by a UN worker. She swore to herself at that moment that she would eventually work for the UN to help others the way that she had been helped. She achieved all that and more. 

Beautifully told cross-generational saga of the Tran family -- daughter, mother and grandmother -- set in the US and Vietnam. The novel opens with the death of Minh, revered and fearless matriarch. Secrets are revealed from all corners when her death brings Huong and Ann, estranged daughter and granddaughter, back together to sort through her things, and decide what, on every level, is worth keeping. 

An anthology of favorite poems, including Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg, Maya Angelou, Seamus Heaney and many others, each illustrated, in vastly different styles, by comics artist and illustrator Julian Peters. This beautiful collection is targeted toward young adults but can be loved by anyone.

What a perfect fantasy novella! Great setting and world building and a strong central character, all deftly created in a handful of pages. I hope Fonda Lee has more of these on the way. I would have started the next as soon as I put Untethered Sky down.

Art, politics, hair.

Just pick up this book and look at it.

A captivating, at times heartbreaking and poetic, novel set during the Euromaidan demonstrations in Ukraine 2013-2014. We follow four characters whose paths cross in the heat of the protests, one of whom, Katya, is a Ukraine-born but Boston-raised physician. This ambitious novel offers not only a ground-level view of Kyiv in the years that shaped the current political situation, but is also structurally innovative and a compelling read.

A beautiful little novel. Ramon, the uncle our 12 year old narrator Miguel, our 12 year, upends the neighborhood (the universe?) when he takes a job caring for a rooftop billboard--and then decides to live there.

Great collection -- disorienting in a way that left me open to the complexity and heart of each of these stories. Highly recommend.

V.V. Ganeshananthan's latest offers a window into the Sri Lankan Civil War, told through the fates of a Tamil family. A moving story, powerfully written. I loved this novel. 

Juliette Fay's talent for creating flawed but engaging and sympathetic characters is at the forefront again in this, her sixth novel. 
Cass has lost Ben, the man she loved (and the father of her unborn child), a decade to drinking, and now faces motherhood alone. With no where else to look, she turns to Scott, Ben's brother, a man with his own problems -- their unlikely friendship is at the heart of this story of redemption, forgiveness and hope.

The stories in this collection are told with an openness that is funny, raw, and inspiring in equal parts. Anthony Veasna So, who passed away only months ago at the age of 28, drew on his own experiences as the child of Cambodian immigrants, survivors of the Khmer Rouge transplanted to California's Central Valley. It's not that all these stories are perfect, only that they are so full of life.