New arrivals to Ransh Cyfle Olaf or Last Chance Ranch learn that “this isn’t prison; this isn’t holiday camp. This is a place to start at the beginning.” The novel opens with Nell and four other young people on a bus in rural Wales. Nell tells readers “I’m quick to rage will flip if pushed and I like girls.” As she does chores tends to the horses and explores the hills forest and river surrounding the ranch Nell makes new friends including Fran whose mother runs the farm. Both Nell and Fran have had complicated relationships with girls they fell for who then betrayed their trust. Nell also discovers that she can calm Gully a horse who’s anxious around people due to previous mistreatment. As Nell begins to heal the complicated details of her past come to light. The climax unspools with a dramatic event that takes Nell and Fran into the hills. The conclusion is realistically not tied up neatly and readers especially those who feel different in any way will be satisfied with the romance friendship and sense of mental quiet. Bettridge’s writing is descriptive and lyrical as well as accessible to reluctant readers. Nell’s first-person voice rings true as she details her time away from the modern world. Most characters present white; in Birch’s fluid impressionistic art Zed has brown skin and curly black hair.

Growing up a Catholic schoolgirl in 1970s Ontario the nameless protagonist of Bondy’s debut novel does just about everything that's expected of her from joining the choir to helping out the priest at the rectory with various tasks. The narrator knows she’s no standout and she likes it that way: “I’d always been quiet…I wore quiet like a woolen shawl protective and comforting.” But it is perhaps this very lack of remarkableness that makes her a target for the pedophile priest—”Father Feeler”—at her parish. Years later after she's found her calling by opening up her home as a hospice for gay men dying of AIDS—who were mistreated or failed to be treated at traditional hospitals and banned from seeing their partners or friends—other victims of the priest begin to come forward. As the narrator weighs whether or not to join them in telling her story she learns the insidious power that secrets have to fracture families and communities—as well as how healing might be possible. In the novel’s afterword Bondy reveals the novel’s inspiration as a real-life case out of Chatham Ontario and her desire to explore the lesser-known stories of female victims of church abuse. The necessity for home hospice networks for AIDS patients in the 1980s was also sadly very real. Bondy’s decision to juxtapose the two scenarios gives the novel much of its power. But the nameless protagonist—who sometimes shifts into the plural first person—seems designed to be a kind of everywoman for victims and so never develops a vivid personhood of her own undoing some of Bondy’s intentions to move and outrage the reader through the power of fiction.

Sometime after the 2030s in an age of widespread economic and social global turmoil Earth’s commercial exploitation of space becomes the “Next Big Thing” and hope for a bright tomorrow. Charles Sorrel an erstwhile astronaut who “washed out” of the program is eking out a living (and paying alimony) by putting together shady deals for shadier private aerospace startups. His powerful former father-in-law senator Robert McClusky hands Sorrel a lucrative gig: the White House’s inquiry into a shattering space tragedy. Celebrity entrepreneur Ethan DeWaal funded a pioneering expedition to capture a mineral-rich asteroid and maneuver it back toward Earth for consumption but a titanic explosion caused the deaths of all four astronauts including charismatic Carol Mathers the enormously popular public face of the mission who represented DeWaal’s company (called Abundance). Sorrel interviews DeWaal Mather’s heartbroken wife Jen and others; and what at first seemed to be a tragic accident assumes a more sinister tone with the involvement of Chinese space corporation Yangshen. They claim to have detected a massive fragment of the destroyed asteroid hurtling toward Earth and plan to take control of it as their own property. Was there a lethal conspiracy in place from the outset? Chan’s somewhat Chandleresque hardboiled prose is rife with Los Angeles references (“it became briefly infamous late last century for being the place where an army of police cars finally arrested a retired football star driving a white Ford Bronco but that’s a subject best swept under the rug”) as well as sidebars on Chinese culture and values. The novel is a satisfying blend of near-future forecast technothriller geopolitical crime whodunit (though the guilty parties are no great surprise) cyberpunk and space adventure. The author’s background in the entertainment industry is evidenced in the cinematic slam-bang chase finale and headlong momentum that helps to propel the material through the iffier patches.

At one point the speaker offers readers a quick framework for his musings saying that this “story is a memoir in the form of a novel pretending to be a memoir.” After a life spent in Manhattan where he faced the deaths of many friends from complications from AIDS the gay storyteller and wanderer moves to a smaller college town and begins to work at an architecture firm. Conversationally he reveals details of his personal relationships both in the city and in his new space. Some involve the tragedies of friends while others limn narcissistic lovers and companions. Readers catch glimpses of his past aspirations to be a writer. Set during an era of epidemic the novel effectively describes how a missed phone call from a friend could be a missed chance to say goodbye. In lighter moments though it describes a narrator who can’t help telling stories but also expresses frustration about how he spends little time writing. As readers hear tales of friends gone too soon and failed attempts at love with cheaters or people soon to die they effectively catch glimpses of how they shape the narrator’s outlook and sense of self. The book is filled with compelling characters and its well-paced storyline gives the impression that the novel is just a start; there could easily be another engaging 200 pages about what happens next. The revelations are hopeful as when the narrator discovers his role in finding love: “My expectations changed when I realized I was not as honest and truthful and trusting as I wanted another man to be.” Overall it’s a relatable work that gives a voice to a period of suffering.

From author and comedian Raskin comes a sincere examination of the laws history and social norms surrounding Western society’s expectations for a successful relationship and marriage. Drawing on personal experience as well as interviews and first-person stories from American couples she explores the cultural effects of marriage and how modern-day relationships continually change and evolve. Beginning by questioning what the actual definition of marriage is and why so many unions are often dissolved she invites readers to explore the complexities of marriage in society today. “I think our changing world is developing a new relationship toward it. People considering marriage are confronting different variables…and it’s left them with a lot of uncertainty and differing opinions than past generations.” Weaving research and statistics with viewpoints shaped by her experiences with OCD and anxiety Raskin challenges her audience to ask questions and to explore the “why” when deciding what modern-day marriage means to each person. Ten chapters explore the different variables to consider when determining whether marriage is right for someone including sex cultural norms financial issues couples therapy religion and divorce. Ending on a compassionate note Raskin urges readers to define marriage for themselves and their individual needs. “I think the true value of modern marriage is getting to build your own definition of what it actually means to be married” she writes. “In Western society at least marriage has shifted from a requirement to a choice. And not just the choice of whether to get married but the choice of what kind of marriage to build together.”

Newly 15-year-old Cat really wants her new girlfriend Morgan to get along with her friends but they’re just not gelling. English Cat is part of the fashion-conscious makeup-wearing group surrounding her school’s queen bee Siobhan while Irish Morgan hangs with an edgier goth-leaning cohort. To make matters worse Morgan and Siobhan are both running for head girl. The competition gets fierce and to avoid favoring one person over the other Cat auditions for the school play Romeo and Juliet—and lands the lead! Now she’ll be too busy to help out with any campaigns. Meanwhile Cat’s best friend the Polish Zanna is acting weird—it seems like she doesn’t want to listen to Cat’s many woes. What’s up with that? This sequel to 2023’s Never Trust a Gemini which traverses the zodiac calendar from the self-focused Aquarius to the grounded Taurus allows for solid character development while still delivering plenty of farcical rom-com antics. Cat and Morgan’s relationship remains strong despite various elements attempting to foil them which is sweet and refreshing. Cat’s narration (and much of the dialogue) is still chock-full of slang as well as her own hilarious coinages (she’s fond of invoking Aphrodite and exclaiming “gooseberries!”) and her chatty style will draw readers in. Woolf’s sophomore novel firmly establishes her as a young adult author to watch.

In each of these 40 stories family pulls at the characters in different ways. In “Mother False” it’s in a fantastical way extra hands growing out of her body after her mother dies and she must take over that role in the household. In “There Are Places That Will Fill You Up” a girl leaves the comfort of her father’s home for the dangerous magic of her unknown mother’s world. In “Nartaki” a girl runs from the responsibilities of her family to join a group of dancers led by a woman everyone calls Mother which is both her making and her downfall. In contrast there are also stories that are almost painfully real. In “Fever” the reader follows a relationship between a man and woman through some of its important moments. “Shabnam Salamat” follows a daughter’s relationship with her family when her father marries a second younger wife in an attempt to finally have a son. “Saanwalee” sees a girl trying to bleach her skin as she falls for a lighter-skinned boy and “White Ash” follows a couple whose daughter has gone missing. The thing that connects all these stories is Zambrano’s poise with a sentence. Each word is meticulously planned with short thoughts connecting to create sprawling worlds. Despite the author’s skill with brevity it’s her longer stories rather than the two- or three-page snippets that truly shine. Spending more time with the characters pays off with a sense of realism and empathy that rings true. Sometimes the precision is perhaps a little too precise giving the stories the feeling of textbook entries but the good more than outweighs the bad.

Gertie’s mother tells her that their yak herd must move because the weather on the mountain where they reside has gotten too warm. This news unsettles Gertie because all her favorite belongings are right here. Mummy sagely tells her “A home is much more than the things that you pack.” But a skeptical Gertie is determined to cram every item she owns onto her sled including books pine cones skis jump rope photos and her second-best hat. Mummy tells Gertie that no matter what they must remember to take Dot Gertie’s baby sister. At last Mummy gives the order for the herd to leave. Gertie stops to pick up more pine cones. Unbeknownst to her one of these stopovers results in Dot plopping off the sled and rolling away! When Gertie realizes what’s happened she’s distraught. Fortunately Granny Yak soon comes along and assures Gertie that all’s well: She found Dot who’s now safe. Gertie understandably relieved is finally convinced that mere things don’t make home a home—family does. This U.K. import told in lyrical bouncy verse is a lovely story with a simple yet uplifting empowering message that will resonate with readers. The lively illustrations rendered in pencil and ink and colored digitally are crisp and clear like cold mountain air. Gertie and tiny moon-eyed Dot are adorable. Note the striking patterns on the yaks’ hats blankets and elsewhere.

In her fourth book Sedivy a Canadian academic specializing in linguistics and psychology and the author of Memory Speaks and Language in Mind takes a personal tack recounting how her life has been focused on the search for the essence of language. She grew up speaking several different tongues which made her particularly sensitive to the twists and turns of language and how words connect to social conventions and the formation of identities. Eventually “English would come to dominate all the others jostling its way to the front of everything.” She cites research investigating why certain sounds such as l and m seem to make words more attractive while t and d have the opposite effect. Our understanding of language changes over the course of our lives starting with infants struggling to knit the words together. Sedivy notes that her own grasp of meaning has become richer as she has entered middle age even as she occasionally forgets a word or two. Along the way the author explains how poets and novelists think about language in unusual ways the differences between spoken and written language and how deaf people have developed a complex syntax and vocabulary for signing. Throughout the text Sedivy interweaves her professional observations with recollections of how she communicated or failed to communicate with important figures in her life. In the end she discovers the answers she has been searching for realizing the simplicity and necessity of saying the right words to draw us together. Her love of her subject shines through in her graceful writing resulting in a pleasing sometimes beguiling read.

On the first page of Trabucco Zerán’s novel the narrator Estela García offers a deal to the people who may or may not be on the other side of a mirrored glass pane: “I’m going to tell you a story and when I get to the end when I stop talking you’re going to let me out of here.” Estela it seems is waiting to be interrogated in connection with the death of a girl Julia the daughter of a couple for whom Estela has worked as a housemaid for seven years. What follows is Estela’s account of her time as a domestic from her responding to a want ad—“Housemaid wanted presentable full time”—to her experience working for the couple whom she refers to as “the señor and señora.” Estela clearly resents her bosses—he’s a doctor she’s a lawyer and both are condescending snobs chiding their employee for every oversight and expecting her to essentially raise Julia for them. Estela is painfully conscious of the class differences between her and the couple and she disdains their family “an unhappy little girl a woman keeping up appearances and a man keeping count: of every minute every peso every conquest.” Estela talks for more than 250 pages eventually getting to the story of Julia’s death which is of course tragic but also (perhaps by design) anticlimactic. Trabucco Zerán has crafted an interesting narrative setup but she can’t quite make it work—Estela’s frequent asides to her apparent interrogators (“Did I tell you about this?” “Do you see what I’m getting at?”) quickly wears thin and the suspense never really materializes. Her treatment of the theme of class differences is shallow and the character development just isn’t there.

The political crisis culminating in the deposition of Richard II in 1399 by his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke ignited the issue of sovereign legitimacy between the houses of York and Lancaster for the next 85 years. In her probing work in four parts with chapters titled after lines from the Shakespeare plays Castor delves into the upbringing and character of these two very different men: Richard the effete “spare” becomes king at age 10 after the successive deaths of his older brother father (the celebrated Black Prince) and grandfather Edward III in 1377 and his swashbuckling cousin Henry son of the ambitious influential John of Gaunt. It is a time of constant tension and war between England and France as well as internal rebellions and Richard’s incessant need of money creates tensions with the Commons in Parliament. Richard’s ennobling of his favorites and increasingly imperious tone prompt the actions of the so-called Lords Appellant including Henry. The author adds a “Directory of the Main Players” at the end as many have different names from those in Shakespeare’s plays. Richard’s calculated revenge on these men eight years later and Henry’s ultimate challenge to Richard’s authority mark what Castor calls “a moment of political masculinity in crisis.” Castor follows Henry IV through his brief “white-knuckled” reign and emphasizes that the era’s “themes of power legitimacy and the limits of rule and resistance are as urgent now as they have ever been.”

Technology giants have long been known for an atmosphere of sexism with the upper tiers looking like a boys-only club. Malone head of the interaction design program at the California College of the Arts argues that women have always been an essential part of the tech equation even though men reserved the spotlight—and the high-paying positions—for themselves. The “side door” for women to enter the tech industry was the field of user interface design which called for deep skills in communication empathy and imagination. The company men treated the area with disdain believing that the development of operating systems was the crucial profit driver. Malone disputes this emphasizing that most customers were more concerned with an interface that was simple clear and flexible than with programming details. The emergence of the internet called for a new generation of tools which were mostly developed by women including those with backgrounds in social psychology and aesthetic design. Despite their work women were usually denied promotion into leadership positions remaining locked in the interface field. The situation has improved in the past decade mainly because the latest generation of female designers has included activism in their skill set. True equality and due recognition however are still a long way off. Malone’s book has important things to say but is a dense read and the narrative sometimes becomes lost in technical issues. Despite the importance of its subject the book is more for specialists than general readers.

Sir Kelton Squire and Shadow are escorting Cade to wizard school but they keep returning to the same marked cairn. They encounter Sir Reynholm the Bold of Upper Claxtonbury but the group is separated when a swarm of giant mosquitoes attack. Squire relies on his wits survival skills and flashback memories of a conversation with Queen Marley about his duties to Sir Kelton but he is captured by gnolls large doglike monsters that intend to eat him and Cade. Fortunately the gnolls are lost in the forest as well giving Shadow a chance to rescue them. Back at the cairn Squire nearly gives up but memories of Queen Marley and support from Cade revive him and he realizes what they’ve missed all along: The cairn hides a lodestone that will help them find the castle. The palette consists of earthy greens and browns and the action is easy to follow with no more than six panels per page; the flashbacks are in a washed-out version of the same colors. While in the first tale Squire was the obvious hero this one sees him humbled when being right isn’t enough. Sir Kelton is once more filled with cheerful bravado. A victory against the gnolls and a humorous twist ending will satisfy readers who may hope for a third installment. Sir Kelton Squire and Queen Marley are light-skinned.

In this second series entry the Weirdoughs—werewolf Bram Sheila the ghost surly Mona the elf-witch Skele-tony Le Bone and fartmeister extraordinaire Bryan the Lion—immediately smell something rotten in Felix Frostbite a charismatic if literally icy new instructor. The friends wind up in a good position to scupper his genuinely villainous scheme to destroy the Villains Academy—and oh yes the world. Meanwhile the increasingly tightknit squad disrupt exams (to the grudging approval of homeroom teacher Master Mardybum) and learn evil arts from teachers with names like Whiz Warmbottom and Professor Plops. They also struggle to keep secret the pair of runty but rapidly growing dragons they’ve illegally rescued from culling. In the end through teamwork and TLC the Weirdoughs come out smelling like…well not roses considering the continual noxious contributions of Bryan but at least close friends. Told that even she is loved student villain Mona responds characteristically “I know…But never tell anyone I just said that or I’ll have to destroy you.” The pages of accessibly written text are festooned with charming duo-toned illustrations. In the multispecies cast Hammond depicts Bram as a boy who’s lightly covered in fur and Emma and some fellow students with dark skin and pointy ears.

The nameless narrator can’t stand uncomfortable hats thick coats stiff boots and cold wind. The youngster especially dislikes new places. But today the child must endure all these things: Mom and the protagonist are going to watch ice sculptors building in the park. The unimpressed narrator doesn’t see the point of making sculptures that will ultimately melt. Worse the child loses a comforting horse figurine. Reluctant to revisit the park the next night without it the child is now more confident: “I know the way so it’s okay.” And visiting the completed sculptures from whale to goldfish feels magical; the cold and the crowds “melt away.” Then in a moment of serendipity the narrator spies the horse figurine beneath an ice foal’s feet cementing the child’s newfound appreciation. As seasons pass and another winter nears the narrator dreams of icy creatures and smiles as a cold wind blows outside. The narrator realizes that though the sculptures melted they “never went away. Not entirely.” In rhythmic text Kurpiel gently demonstrates that ephemeral moments should be treasured and that venturing outside one’s comfort zones can be richly rewarding. Fluid illustrations clearly convey the narrator’s emotions; eye-catching blue and white hues immerse readers in the wintry atmosphere. The narrator and Mom have skin the white of the page; background characters are racially diverse.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler was born in 1831 to free parents in Delaware. Little is known about her childhood except that early on she went to live with an aunt in Philadelphia who raised her. When Rebecca was 17 she enrolled in the West Newton English and Classical School in Massachusetts. In Boston she worked as a nurse both with doctors and in her own practice. Rebecca received letters of commendation from doctors and was the first Black student admitted to the New England Female Medical College completing her medical degree in 1864. In 1865 Rebecca married Arthur Crumpler and together they relocated to Richmond Virginia where she worked for the Freedmen’s Bureau. In 1869 the couple returned to Boston where she maintained a nursing practice. Upon retirement she continued to teach and wrote a book Medical Discourses published in 1883. The book’s introduction provides much of our knowledge about her life and work. With this intriguing look at a woman who made great strides King demonstrates the difficulty of finding information about lesser-known historical figures. He seamlessly incorporates quotes from Rebecca’s book and uses what is known about the times and places she inhabited to craft his detailed narrative. Rebecca’s support and care for her community come through clearly in Tadgell’s warm watercolor illustrations.

Clementi spent much of her early 20s as a journalist in various European countries dealing with sexual assault and harassment from a number of her supervisors before heading to Israel to live in a kibbutz to recover from a breakup with a boyfriend who had “an ego of steel a heart of mud and a soul of distilled alcohol.” But in the back of her mind was always the dream of moving to the United States and particularly to New York which was more of a fantasy than a real city in her mind thanks to multiple viewings of Woody Allen movies. When Brandeis University offered her a scholarship to graduate school in 1995 she accepted it as a step in the right direction even though its location near a historic American city was no incentive since according to Clementi “Boston is disliked by most people.” Eventually she dropped out of the program and with more than a little help from her parents moved to New York and picked up work as an adjunct professor teacher of Italian and journalist before becoming an American citizen and earning her doctorate at City College of New York while juggling a series of romantic relationships some good and some horrifying. In her late 30s she received the offer of a tenure-track job as an assistant professor of English and Jewish studies at the University of South Carolina and once there despite the initial culture shock found herself happier than she had ever been. Clementi's wry and often startling memoir zigs and zags through her life at vertiginous speed but readers willing to hang on through a wild and sometimes confusing ride will be rewarded with the author's uncensored observations both positive and negative of life in this strange new world.

Le Bloc an acronym of “bâtiment libre occupé citoyennement” (free building occupied by citizens) was a Parisian squat occupied primarily by artists and immigrants until they were evicted by police in December 2013. It is also the subject of American journalist Feldman’s first book a poetic study of squats squatters and broader themes of community and housing rights in Paris that often reads like something of a love letter. Feldman lived in Paris for years as she reported on Le Bloc often staying as a guest amid its eight floors of artists and their creations. Even after squatters were evicted Feldman remained connected to many of the people she’d met there and continued to interact with other squats around the city. Although Feldman’s personal observations can have a rosy tint her deep knowledge of the subject keeps the narrative grounded. In addition to her reporting Feldman shares a fascinating history of squats in Paris noting “Authorities handled a squat differently if it contained artists referring the dossier to the ministry of culture which evaluated in its own words the ‘artistic value of the project.’” The inclusion of interviews can feel chaotic at times but the authenticity with which she renders her subjects on the page creates memorable characters and brings Le Bloc to life as a character in its own right.

Best known for his posthumously published work The Luminous Novel (2021) this collection by Levrero (1940-2004) resurrects his earliest fiction most with shades of paranoia and self-consciousness that would turn Philip K. Dick green. The opener already gives off a strong “Tell-Tale Heart” vibe as one man’s checklist of his nightly bedtime rituals descends into disaster—and that’s the cheerier of the two stories that bookend the collection (“The Thinking-About-Gladys Machine” and “The Thinking-About-Gladys Machine (Negative)”) both concerning a machine that seems to offer a self-destructive feedback loop instead of white noise. Even a casual action like igniting a lighter becomes a labyrinthine quest for salvation in “Beggar Street” while brevities like “One-Way Story No. 2” use a mere handful of words to examine existential truths. There is some humor here albeit very dark. “The Stiff Corpse” offers Pythonesque absurdity while seemingly innocuous items become instruments of destruction in “Jelly” (a take on The Blob by way of Latin American surrealism) and in “That Green Liquid” which shows a home product demonstration going Cat in the Hat–grade awry. The only notion that’s overused is the haunted house motif that marks “The Abandoned House” full of tiny men and spiders and unicorns and whatnot and the locked-room-mystery that morphs into a hero’s quest in “The Basement.” Similarly insomnia and obsession grip the protagonists of “The Golden Reflections” and “The Boarding House” where nocturnal wanderings lead men astray. Most of the collection’s protagonists are unnamed gray men whose featurelessness sharpens the bizarre elements of each tale. They often seem adrift navigating a slow descent into mediocrity that makes their encounters with the surreal and the dichotomy between their worldviews and Levrero’s phantasmagorical imagination delightfully jarring.

Realizing that it’s nearly Christmas Busy Betty launches into a brainstorming whirlwind; Betty wants to buy the perfect gifts but lacks the necessary funds. Last summer Betty and best friend Mae had good luck running a lemonade stand so the kids start a Christmas cookie stand. But chilly temperatures keep prospective customers away even after Betty and Mae sing loud creative Christmas carols to get people’s attention and build snowpeople to create the illusion of customers. When Betty’s dog Frank accidentally crashes the stand and ruins the beautiful treats a distraught Betty is sure that “Christmas is ruined!” But upon discovering one intact cookie Betty has a great idea and dashes to the kitchen to whip up some perfect presents. On Christmas morning Betty’s homemade gifts are scrumptious and tailor-made for their recipients—a holiday success! Though the story is slightly predictable Betty’s inimitable voice (“Sweet cinnamon biscuits it’s Christmas!”) sets it apart; Witherspoon ably captures the emotional extremes that young children often grapple with. Yan’s illustrations effectively portray the steps of Betty’s journey using a vivid palette of greens and pinks and a dynamic use of perspective to keep wiggly young readers entranced. An appended recipe for cookie bars encourages readers to follow Betty’s worthy example. Busy Betty presents white; Mae is tan-skinned with dark hair.