Book Reviews

Samira Ahmed's new novel bounces between two timelines, following a Muslim American art student in Paris, and the mysterious harem woman she believes inspired work by Lord Byron and his circle.

C Pam Zhang's debut novel follows a brother and sister, children of Chinese laborers, as the search the dusty hills of Gold Rush-era California for a place to bury their father's body.

Making Michael Arceneaux's book required reading in high schools would help a lot of young people think twice about the promise that going to college is the only path to upward social mobility.

Casey Schwartz writes of her reliance on Adderall and her realization that the focus it brought was not genuine. But she leaves readers wanting to hear more on the relationship of attention and love.

Anne Tyler's latest novel — about a man who discovers that his calm, routine life may not be the one he really wants — is a balm for jangled nerves.

Nicholas Gurewitch scratched images into clay with a stylus for this tale of Death's visit to an analyst — who helps him come to terms with Death Jr.'s lack of interest in the family business.

Rebecca Dinerstein Knight's oddball new novel follows a newly unemployed scientist, lovesick for her former mentor — but convinced of her own worth and her need for a life full of beauty.

Fernanda Melchor's poetic, foul-mouthed new novel sits on the border between crime fiction and horror: A woman known as the Witch has been murdered, and her neighbors want to know who did it and why/

Our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles reports that, stuck at home with her family, she's turned to a series by Brad Meltzer and Christopher Eliopoulos, for stories about relatable heroes.