Once upon a time, Beth and Sam Min-Lindstrom seemed like the perfect, wealthy family with two adorable daughters. But now Beth is in prison, convicted of pharmaceutical shenanigans. Without Beth’s oversight (never mind her hefty salary), Sam and the girls need his always-reliable older sister,...
*STARRED REVIEW Although Thai Italian artist Elisa Macellari’s Kusama (2020) hit U.S. shelves first, Papaya Salad is actually her debut title, originally published in 2018 in her native Italy. Introducing her tale as “a story the protagonist told me when I was a child and which I stumbled across...
Some happy endings are inevitable ...
*STARRED REVIEW It opens with the mellifluous Dion Graham and ends with an always-appreciated who-read-whom at recording’s end. In between, the horror is unrelenting, yet the three narrators persist with tenacious dignity and grace. Graham enthralls as the titular “my mother’s house” – Kay Manman Mwen...
*STARRED REVIEW Once upon a time, Junja was a “real” mermaid, a Korean haenyeo – one of the world-renowned freediving women who gather sea life – of Jeju Island. By 2001, she’s spent most of her life as “a pillar of the Korean American community in...
Friends from infancy, Jamie and Maya haven’t seen each other in almost 10 years – until food-related fiascos (runaway tangelos, tipped-over soggy pastries) lead to an awkward reunion. Both now 17, white Jewish Jamie has grown up shy, clumsy, and especially wary of public speaking....
The youngest winner ever of multiple important literary prizes in her native Korea, Ae-ran Kim’s first full-length novel arrives Stateside, hauntingly English-enabled by lauded translator Chi-Young Kim (no relation). Areum suffers from progeria, a rare disease that causes rapid, premature aging: “My dad sees his...
Wayétu Moore is the first to speak, although only briefly, to share her initial excitement over the possibility of narrating her elegant memoir. That opportunity, alas, became another “casualty of COVID-19,” preventing her from safe studio time, but she adds a personal thanks to narrator...
In a story of “they said, she heard, he believed, she can’t remember,” whom do you trust? Even the title misleads – True Story: A Novel – while the final words confirm little: “But I’m trusting you to see this is true ...
Prodigious Soneela Nankani – who reigns as the South Asian/South Asian American voice-of-choice – ventures onto onto a new continent, landing in Ghana to cipher debut novelist/gender scholar Peace Adzo Medie’s not-quite-Cinderella tale with energetic aplomb. Once upon a time, Afi was a poor village seamstress-in-training,...
What a striking confluence here: National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi’s co-writer, Yusef Salaam, was one of the Exonerated Five. Debut narrator Ethan Herisse portrayed the teenage Salaam in Ava DuVernay’s acclaimed dramatization of the aftermath of the Central Park jogger attack, When They See...
*STARRED REVIEW Edie is 23, has a bottom-tier publishing job, and inhabits a shabby sixth-floor Bushwick walk-up. Eric is 23 years older, a New Jersey archivist, and in an open marriage – with rules dictated by his wife. Their one-month online affair compels a first date...
Veteran voice actor Stacey Glembowski – already seasoned with substantial science fiction experience – immediately commands Diane Cook’s (Man v. Nature) timely novel debut in which 20 desperate men, women, children abandon their depleting City lives to become the inaugural Community in the Wilderness State....
For Naoki Urasawa newbies, his latest collection (another satisfying English translation by popular manga-specialist John Werry) is a beckoning introductory primer. For aficionados, these eight stories (none titled “Sneeze”), originally published between 1995-2018, are an affirming reminder of his irrefutable genius. Urasawa’s most memorable stories feature...
*STARRED REVIEW Former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey makes both her prose and narrating debut with a startling memoir that alchemizes neverending trauma into an exquisite memorial. On June 5, 1985, Trethewey’s mother, Gwendolyn Ann Turnbough, was murdered by former stepfather Joel Grimmett on Atlanta’s Memorial...
*STARRED REVIEW Introduced to Western audiences with the internationally awarded Bad Friends (2018), Ancco returns with a five-years-in-the-making collection she wrote in her early 20s, originally published more than a decade ago in her native Korea. Translated by prize-winning Canadian Janet Hong, these 13 stories are largely...
“I’m not a big fan of the common sentiment, ‘Cancer made me a better person,’” Kimiko Tobimatsu admits in her author’s note. “But then, cancer did make me a better person.” Diagnosed at 25 with “a rare form of breast cancer – mucinous,” Tobimatsu is...
Vikas Adam is three for three (because he’s that good) in voicing Sandhya Menon’s bestselling rom-com series. Rematched with Soneela Nankani after the success of There’s Something about Sweetie (2019), the pair presents Menon's latest frothy confection. The eponymous Pinky is another of Menon's feisty heroines...
*STARRED REVIEW Here’s what we might know – or agree on from limited historic documents and scholarly guessing research – about the Bard’s wife: she’s commonly named “Anne Hathaway” but her father referred to her as “Agnes” in his will; she was older than her still-teenage husband;...
*STARRED REVIEW With only a few audiobook credits each, Yetide Badaki and Chukwudi Iwuji might be considered audiobook newbies. Their extensive acting experience however – especially Iwuji with his substantial work on British stages – ensures that Nigerian-born, award-winning literary darling Akweke Emezi’s sophomore adult title...
