Books & Authors

Dragon's Breath and Other True Stories by MariNaomi is a graphic memoir that explores the relationships and episodes in the author’s life, all in a simply drawn style. Many of the vignettes were first published on the online magazine The Rumpus as the series, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.”

In this spellbinding novel, a pandemic kills off most of the population of North America. Among the few who remain are the members of a symphony orchestra who double as a Shakespeare troupe. The novel tracks their wanderings in the post-apocalyptic world, with glances back in time at how they got there.

Belle Boyd, Emma Edmonds, Rose O’Neal Greenhow and Elizabeth Van Lew were four women who refused to stay behind the scenes during the Civil War. Each took matters into her own hands, creating lesser-known but fascinating chapters in that war. Author Karen Abbott uncovered the women’s stories and weaves them together in this novelistic account.

This ambitious epic novel follows the Indian-American Eapen family as they build a life in the southwest US, guide their children as best they can, and maintain their connection to family back in India.

June 16th is the date of the Portmans’ annual Bloomsday party, and nothing -- not even the funeral of Grandma Portman that same morning -- is going to stop them. Maya Lang’s debut novel, The Sixteenth of June, takes place entirely on that day. It tracks the Portman sons, Stephen and Leopold, as well as Leo’s fiancee Nora, as they respectively try to break free from the stasis that their twenties have brought them.

When college water polo star Owen Burr gets injured during a match and loses his chance to compete in the Olympics, he heads to Berlin to become an artist. Back in the US, his professor father has lost track of Owen and sets off on a speaking tour to try to find him. From there, father and son manage to stay several steps away from each other in this riveting novel.

After Chief of Police Edward Shank took down the serial killer known as The Butcher, he was lauded as a hero. Until more bodies started showing up and it became clear that The Butcher was still at large. Jennifer Hiller's twisty thriller The Butcher will keep you turning pages, hungry to know what's going to happen next.

When a group of high school girls come down with a mysterious illness, their teachers, parents and friends are sent into a frenzied panic.

Cressida Hartley has moved from Los Angeles to her parents’ mountain cabin to finish her economics dissertation. While there, she falls into some relationships with men that conveniently keep her from her work. The novel traces her time in the mountains -- how she manages as an outsider and what she decides will be her next move.

This peek into the intense world of professional ballet combines a large, sweeping plot with finely wrought characters. Shipstead's first novel won the LATimes Prize for First Fiction, and she's created another beautiful work with this novel.

Zal is a light-skinned Iranian boy whose disturbed mother kept him in a cage throughout his childhood. He is adopted by a kind man at age 10 and brought to the US. The Last Illusion traces Zal’s life afterward, and the lingering effects of his bizarre upbringing.

Teo Levin is a top dancer and choreographer working with the Tel Aviv Ballet but thinking about wrapping up his career when he meets Vivi, a waitress in the coffee shop he frequents. An artist somewhat adrift in her own life, Vivi nonetheless makes a connection with Teo and they manage to rekindle in each other their love not only for their respective arts, but for life itself.

Anna Brundage was an indie singer-songwriter sensation who fell off the music world’s radar screen. Seven years later, she’s back on tour. Will she rise again?

Chin describes how her childhood in Queens, New York, as the grandchild of loving Chinese grandparents led her to become the New York Times's "Urban Forager."

Julia Fierro, author of CUTTING TEETH and Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, author of BITTERSWEET, talk with Cary Barbor about their novels, writing, parenting and more. This conversation took place live at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York.