New & Recommended Fiction from the 2016 Winter Newsletter

With clean prose and a candid tone, Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon narrates the questionable deathbed confession of a character referred to only as “my grandfather.” Although the ratio of truth to fiction in this compelling tale may never be known, Moonglow is an engaging, existential adventure through the speculative past of an enigmatic figure. —Aric

For my money, Zadie Smith is one of the best novelists working today. Smart, funny, and honest, she describes the world and its inhabitants with the eye of an anthropologist and the pen of an artist. So I can’t wait for her new book, the story of two mixed-race girls growing up in London. They both dream of becoming dancers and find, as time goes by, that only one of them has the necessary talent. —Rico

Celebrated Colombian political cartoonist Javier Mallarino has maintained relative privacy in his daily life, though his illustrations and their political repercussions are legendary. But when he receives a national honor, an unexpected visitor from his past upturns his version of his own personal history, and Mallarino retraces the paths that have led to his present (a crumbled marriage, public notoriety). This unexpectedly gripping novel displays Vásquez at the height of his talent; a bitingly smart and sensitive meditation on self-reflexivity and persona.  —Julia

A day. That’s all Eleanor Flood wants—a single day where her misanthropic, retired-artist self will balance her idiosyncratic life and leave the world a little bit nicer. She should have known better. A call from her son’s school and a forgotten lunch with a forgotten acquaintance launch Eleanor into confrontation with her world, with secrets kept from her and those she’s kept from herself. —Jocelyn

The same qualities that make me daydream about becoming best friends with Ann Patchett are found on the pages of her new novel Commonwealth, where she conveys the deep ties and challenges within a family with her trademark honesty, humor, and emotional resonance. Commonwealth is the story of two families, broken apart and pieced back together through marriage and remarriage, and the unexpected relationships that tie siblings and half-siblings together in their new reality. This is the novel of the fall that you will want to talk about over and over again with your best friends just so that you can keep the characters in your heart for a little bit longer. Ann Patchett does it again.  —Casey

This story of the flight to freedom from slavery in the South is anything but straightforward. The writing is extraordinary; lines jump off the page with weight and significance. The journey is heartbreaking and inspiring and reveals what the human race is capable of, for good and for evil. Nothing is held back, and Underground Railroad will certainly leave you changed.  —Jax

Brit Bennett’s The Mothers is a remarkable debut, a novel whose characters are so well developed that you will find yourself happily along for the ride in the emotional roller coaster of their lives. The book follows the path of three African American teenagers—Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey—growing up in Southern California, each of whom faces a disappointment or tragedy that propels them into their current situation. They make decisions that not only affect their teenage years but their relationships and outlook over decades, and Bennett exquisitely layers the emotions found deep within their friendships, their community, and their families.  —Casey

When a young girl in Ireland claims to have gone four months without eating, a nurse named Lib is sent to her bedside. Skeptical from the start, Lib intends to use her nurse’s training to sort the miraculous from the mundane. The Wonder is an engrossing novel with a satisfying ending that took me by surprise. —Kat

With her poetic language and impeccable dramatic timing, Margaret Atwood has crafted an altogether compelling retelling of The Tempest. Prospero is an aging, grieving father named Felix Phillips. The island is a literal prison where, after having been relieved of his duties as a theater festival’s artistic director, Phillips teaches inmates Shakespeare. For an Atwood and Shakespeare fan, this book is a perfect storm. It gives plenty of nods to its source but is a fantastic story on its own. Just remember: The play’s the thing.  —Ivy

What Becomes Us is one of those delicious novels that immediately places you into a world of narrative glory, stunning setting, and characters so bold and original that the cadence of their voices fill your every thought. When Evie, pregnant with twins, moves across the country to escape her controlling husband, she ends up in Lonely Rincon, New York, made famous by its historical significance as the location where (real-life) settler Mary Rowlandson was held captive by Native Americans in 1682. Perks weaves together the facts of Rowlandson’s story with Evie’s journey toward independence and acceptance. The novel is part ghost story, part love story, and most of all, a wonderful, wonderful read.  —S.M.C.