The Great Believers
2018
by Rebecca Makkai
A dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris.
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister.
Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.
Ayesha at Last
2018
by Uzma Jalaluddin
Ayesha at Last is a modern-day retelling of Pride and Prejudice, set in a Muslim community, for a new generation of love. Ayesha Shamsi has her life filled with various challenges. Her aspiration to become a poet has been shelved for a teaching occupation to settle debts owed to her affluent uncle. She resides with her lively Muslim household and is frequently reminded of her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, who is on the verge of declining her one hundredth marriage proposal.
Despite Ayesha's solitude, she is adamant against an arranged marriage. However, her world turns upside down when she encounters Khalid. He's as intelligent and handsome as he is traditional and critical. Ayesha finds herself inexplicably drawn to someone who disapproves of her life choices and appears to be from a different era entirely.
Amidst this, a surprise engagement between Khalid and Hafsa is declared, leaving Ayesha caught between her feelings for the forthright Khalid and troubling rumors about his family. Delving into these whispers, she must confront not only the revelations about Khalid but also the truths she uncovers about herself.
There There
2018
by Tommy Orange
A wondrous and shattering novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. Among them is Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, pulling his life together after his uncle’s death and working at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen-year-old Orvil, coming to perform traditional dance for the very first time. Together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism.
Hailed as an instant classic, There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.
Hailed as an instant classic, There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.
The Prince and the Dressmaker
2018
by Jen Wang
Paris, at the dawn of the modern age: Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride—or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian, however, is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night, he dons daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia—the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion.
Sebastian's secret weapon is his brilliant dressmaker, Frances—his best friend and one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances has dreams of greatness, and being someone's secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect her friend?
Jen Wang weaves an exuberantly romantic tale of identity, young love, art, and family. A fairy tale for any age, The Prince and the Dressmaker will steal your heart.
Feel Free
2018
by Zadie Smith
This electrifying new collection showcases Zadie Smith as a true literary powerhouse, demonstrating once again her credentials as an essential voice of her generation.
How much joy can a person tolerate? How many kinds of boredom make up a life? Who owns the story of black America? Should Justin Bieber be more like Socrates? And why is there a dead art collector floating in the swimming pool? Dazzlingly insightful, explosively funny and ever-timely, Zadie Smith is back with a second unmissable collection of essays.
From German Old Masters to the new masters of East Coast rap, from social networks opening lines of communication to national referenda closing doors, Feel Free reaches out in all directions and draws back a rich feast of ideas. Here pop culture, high culture, social change and political debate all get the Zadie Smith treatment- dissected with razor-sharp intellect, set brilliantly against the context of the utterly contemporary, and considered with a deep humanity and compassion.
With the easy intimacy of a local and the piercing clarity of an outsider, Feel Free casts a sharp critical eye over the creative luminaries that have shaped our world- from J. G. Ballard to Karl Ove Knausgaard, Orson Welles to Charlie Kaufman, Joni Mitchell to Beyonce, and far beyond. And it considers the points of contact where the author herself meets this world, where the political meets the personal and critique meets memoir.
How much joy can a person tolerate? How many kinds of boredom make up a life? Who owns the story of black America? Should Justin Bieber be more like Socrates? And why is there a dead art collector floating in the swimming pool? Dazzlingly insightful, explosively funny and ever-timely, Zadie Smith is back with a second unmissable collection of essays.
From German Old Masters to the new masters of East Coast rap, from social networks opening lines of communication to national referenda closing doors, Feel Free reaches out in all directions and draws back a rich feast of ideas. Here pop culture, high culture, social change and political debate all get the Zadie Smith treatment- dissected with razor-sharp intellect, set brilliantly against the context of the utterly contemporary, and considered with a deep humanity and compassion.
With the easy intimacy of a local and the piercing clarity of an outsider, Feel Free casts a sharp critical eye over the creative luminaries that have shaped our world- from J. G. Ballard to Karl Ove Knausgaard, Orson Welles to Charlie Kaufman, Joni Mitchell to Beyonce, and far beyond. And it considers the points of contact where the author herself meets this world, where the political meets the personal and critique meets memoir.