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In 2023 Dublin, after Saoirse has an argument with her boyfriend about whether or not to have children, she meets an older woman, Maura, on a train platform, who turns out to have been instrumental in the founding of the 1970s Irish Women’s Liberation Movement.

If you were riveted by The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010), read Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum (2024).

When I first read the 'schtick' for Titan of the Stars, I was completely hooked: Alien meets Titanic. That could either be completely terrible, or excitingly great.

Zadie Smith became a famous author at the ripe old age of twenty-four, with the publication of her first novel, White Teeth (2000). Since that time she has published numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, all of which deal with issues of race, class, and politics.

I really enjoyed Emilia Hart’s debut novel Weyward and was excited to read her next book, The Sirens (2025).

Shy Creatures (2024) takes inspiration from a true event to bring us the story of a ‘hidden man’. In 1964 William, a man in his late thirties, is found secluded in a house, mute and disheveled, after his last remaining relative dies. No one knew he lived there; he hadn’t left the house in decades, and neighbors never even knew he existed.  

Kaia Alderson writes historical fiction inspired by real people. Her sophomore effort, In a League of Her Own (2024), tells the fictionalized story of powerhouse Effa Manley. In 1930s Harlem, independent Effa works hard toward her dream of opening a hat shop. A chance meeting at a baseball game brings Abe Manley into her life.

Sybil's job as a Diviner is to see the future at the cathedral she calls home, and lords from all over the kingdom make the journey to hear their future from her and her sister Diviners. One night, the king comes to visit to hear his future from Sybil. Among his company is a roguish, irritating, and handsome knight named Rory. 

John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs (2025), by Ian Leslie, draws on a wealth of material, including footage from the recent Get Back film, to present a new portrait of this complex songwriting pair.

The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Fall of a Serial Impostor (2011), by Mark Seal, tells the unbelievable story of German con man Christian Gerhartsreiter. At age seventeen, Hollywood-obsessed Christian achieved his childhood dream of moving to the United States.

A year after Nan's best friends Luce, Edie, and Jane disappeared, the town of Saltcedar is still mourning. So is Nan-- or so it seems to everyone else. Saltcedar holds a memorial for the girls at the river to commemorate the anniversary of their disappearance, and during it, a body of one of the girls is found.

A body that is alive, not dead.

Nan should be relieved that one of her besties is still alive. But she's not, because Luce should be dead, and Nan knows this because she is the one who killed them all.

I have been on a bit of a Geraldine Brooks kick lately. Having recently read Horse, I decided to immerse myself in an earlier novel of hers, Caleb’s Crossing (2011).