Doubleday Review by Walter Cummins Like the characters and happenings in Kate Atkinson’s latest novel, its title—Our Noble Selves, a phrase of stoicism used by British soldiers—is ironic. It serves…
Category: Fiction
Mothsblood by Lynn D. Jung
Bloomsbury Review by Brian Tanguay An ancient discipline. A secret society. Precocious students. A complicated protagonist. These are some of the ingredients that create the world of Mothsblood, a bold…
Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel
Knopf Review by David Starkey Emily St. John Mandel is one of those increasingly uncommon writers whose work appeals both to a popular and a literary audience. She’s a dab…
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
Random House Review by Walter Cummins The title captures the central concern of Elizabeth Strout’s latest novel, which addresses with depth and complexity what a community of individuals is willing…
Madame Chrysanthème by Pierre Loti, trans. by Clémence Aubert
Espresso French Classics Review by Linda Lappin In 1890, the American writer Lafcadio Hearn stepped off a ship in Yokohama, ready to begin a new life in Japan as a…
The Kindness of Terrible People and Other Stories by Stephanie Dupal
Swan Abbey Review by Walter Cummins This is a collection of original and unusual stories, the characters richly developed as they face essential dilemmas. Some of these people exemplify the…
Sunrise by Téa Obreht
Random House Review by Walter Cummins Téa Obreht’s latest work, Sunrise, while offering seemingly self-contained narratives about events from several different time periods, can also be regarded as a novel…
Please Don’t Touch The Body by Emily Doyle
Bloomsbury Review by Brian Tanguay I appreciate a finely crafted short story and the eleven stories in this collection easily meet that criteria. For a debut collection, Emily Doyle displays…
Harper Perennial’s 2026 Olive Editions
Harper Perennial Review by David Starkey Olive Editions is an annual series of small-format publications of eight of top science fiction and fantasy titles on Harper Perennial’s list. For mass…
Born Lucky by Sarah McElwain
Rain Mountain Review by Walter Cummins A question hovering over Sarah McElwain’s entire novel from the very first sentence is whether the unlikely named Evening K. Titlebaum will be granted…