Fiction
Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling, by Michael Boccancino. Better than air conditioning: This Victorian Gothic novel promises to chill you to your core.
Motherland, by Amy Sohn. Five sets of parents from five rarefied locales (including Cape Cod and Greenwich Village) find their stories intersecting — and spiraling out of control.
Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World, by Sabina Berman. A Mexican poet and journalist crafts a revealing debut novel about youth, food, the environment and the human spirit. Tall order.
Royal Fiction
The Kingmaker’s Daughter, by Philippa Gregory. The queen of blue-blood historical fiction turns her sights on the court of King Edward IV.
The Shadow Queen, by Rebecca Dean. The details of Wallis Simpson’s life are well known, but seriously, what was going on in her head? A novelist imagines.
The Lost Prince, by Selden Edwards. One woman’s life journey from fin de síècle Vienna to turn-of-the-century Boston — with stops on Sigmund Freud’s couch and in William James’ salon along the way.
Biography
Dearie, by Bob Spitz. America’s Sweetheart, Julia Child, was born 100 years ago this week. Spitz takes a fresh look at her remarkable life.
Young Michaelangelo, by John T. Spike. He didn’t just sculpt David and paint the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. He also knew everybody — Machiavelli, Leonardo and the Borgias.
The Wives, by Alexandra Popoff. Think Dostoevsky, Nobokov and Tolstoy did it all themselves? Wrong. Behind every great Russian novelist was a great Russian woman.
History
American Empire, by Joshua Freeman. From 1945 to 2000 America transformed from a major world power to a dominant one. How? Read and learn.
Explorers of the Nile, by Tim Jeal. Six “indefatigable” men and one “intrepid” woman follow the Nile to its source in the mid-19th century. Or at least, they try to.
After the Fact, by Owen J. Hurd. The end is never really the end: Here’s what became of America’s most vivid characters, from Pocahontas to Billy the Kid to Rosa Parks.
Lit Crit
More Baths Less Talking, by Nick Hornby. A popular, semi-culty essayist and author (“High Fidelity”) riffs on what to read — and how to read.
Portrait of a Novel, by Michael Gorra. There’s a reason why Henry James’s “Portrait of a Lady” is a classic. Gorra tells us what it is.
Nonfiction
Still the Greatest, by Andrew Grant Jackson. The Beatles was just the beginning — all four fabs had extensive solo careers. Here, a comparison.
The Black Rhinos of Namibia, by Rick Bass. One the best nature writers of our time heads to southwestern Africa in search of an endangered animal.
Gravity’s Engines, by Caleb Scharf. Bet you didn’t know your entire life is run by black holes millions of miles out in space. Or maybe you did.
