Book Reviews

Annalee Newitz's new novel pits a group of time-travelers trying to make the future better for women against a dangerous rival organization inspired by vicious Victorian moralist Anthony Comstock.

This month, our kids' books columnist Juanita Giles is thinking about how hard it is to race through a series — as her son did with The Last Kids on Earth — and have to wait for the next book.

Maaza Mengiste's new novel is set just before the second Italo-Ethiopian War, and follows a woman who becomes a guard to a "shadow king," a man impersonating exiled Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassie.

Smith's musical career sometimes threatens to overshadow her accomplishments in other creative fields, but every page in this book reminds us that she is an accomplished novelist, essayist and poet.

With her new essay collection, Jamison reverses the arc of The Empathy Exams by moving from the external to the internal, from others' longings and hauntings to her own.

At points, it is hard to read Miller's devastating, immersive memoir and breathe at the same time. Miller is an extraordinary writer, with her sharpest moments focusing on her family and their grief.

Patchett's new novel is a story of paradise lost, dusted with fairy tale. It follows two siblings who bond after their mother leaves the family home — an ornate mansion she always hated.

Rutendo Tavengerwei's YA debut is a glimpse into the lives of two struggling teens: Shamiso, who moves to Zimbabwe after her father dies in a suspicious car accident, and cancer survivor Tanyaradzwa.

This month sees the arrival of a handful of bold new graphic novels aimed at young adult readers, with unexpected topics and settings from a contemporary Chinese American community to the Old West.