World Literature

Pssssst! Hey, You, Yes…YOUR Generation (whichever that may be). Are you looking for Saccharin love sonnets? Maudlin two-line musings? Droning co-opted hip hop lyrics? You won't find that here....

Kazim Ali is a poet, novelist, and essayist whose work explores themes of identity, migration, and the intersections of cultural and spiritual traditions. His poetry is known for its lyrical and expressive language, as well as its exploration of themes such as love, loss, and the search for meaning in a rapidly changing world. "Sukun" means serenity or calm, and a sukun is also a form of punctuation in Arabic orthography that denotes a pause over a consonant.

An elderly Blackfeet warrior tells the story of his youth, when his tribe owned and lived free on the great plains at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. During those days of freedom and plenty, they hunted the vast herds of buffalo, worshipped their ancient gods, and sought glory in war parties against their traditional tribal enemies. In order to achieve his adulthood in the tribe, Little Otter must face the dangerous vision quest to find his sacred helper and then risk death as a member of a daring war party. Most of all, though, Little Otter wants to become a Sun priest.

Demon-wrangling mortician Tennessee England plays detective. When a corpse shows signs of foul play, Tennessee's on the case! Cats are missing. People are drowning. Could the cozy beach town of Saint James have a cat-nabbing serial killer in its midst? Catching a killer should be as easy as embalming a corpse, right? Wrong. The town is stewing in mystical mayhem. It's infested with demons! And the culprit is hiding in a sea of quirky locals.

Meet Isidore “Ezzy” Desjarlais and Grey Ginther: two distant Métis cousins making the most of Grey’s uncle’s old trailer, passing their days playing endless games of cribbage and cracking cans of cheap beer in between. Grey, once a passionate advocate for change, has been hardened and turned cynical by an activist culture she thinks has turned performative and lazy. One night, though, she has a revelation, and enlists Ezzy, who is hopelessly devoted to her but eager to avoid the authorities after a life in and out of the group home system and jail, for a bold yet dangerous political mission.

Based on an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River Valley in Alaska, this is the suspenseful, shocking, ultimately inspirational tale of two old women abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine.

Tuscany, 1942: having moved from England to the beautiful city of Lucca before the outbreak of war, Lizzie Thornton adores her job as tutor to eight-year-old Cristo – despite the fact that his father, Count Antonio de Falco, is a notable fascist and supporter of Mussolini. Then war is declared, and Lizzie is suddenly regarded as an enemy in the country she loves so much. When new tutor Vincenzo Baldini arrives, Lizzie is exposed to a new secret world; Vincenzo is actually a member of the Italian resistance, running an anti-fascist propaganda magazine.

When news of her grandfather’s stroke sends Jo Beth Ellis back to the family farm, she finds it in danger of foreclosure. Lone Oaks Crossing is in rough shape, but Jo has big plans—she’ll use her expertise as a Derby-winning horse trainer to reinvent the property as a healing retreat. But renovating while trying to keep her independent grandfather in check is a huge job for one woman—and even more challenging when she receives her first client, the unruly fourteen-year-old Cheyenne, who is determined to do anything but cooperate.

In this immersive novel, Zuravleff weaves Russian fairy tales and fables into a family saga within the storied American landscape. The challenges facing immigrants-and the fragility of citizenship-are just as unsettling and surprising today as they were 100 years ago.

In the rural South, a retired colonel in an upscale retirement community grieves the sudden death of his wife on the tennis court. On the other side of the highway, an elderly Black woman grieves the murder of her niece by a white man. Between them lies an abandoned field where three centuries of crimes are hidden, and only she knows the explosive secrets buried there. When the colonel runs into her car, causing a surprising amount of damage, it sparks a feud that sets loose the spirits in the Field, both benevolent and vengeful.

Seventeen-year-old Mariana Villalobos's mystic gift creates a sensation in northern Mexico as hundreds of people undergo a personal religious epiphany. Even gangsters reject crime. Seeing revenues tumble in the drug trade, the Liones cartel issues a hit order on the girl.

Ocean Yoon has never felt very Korean, even if she is descended from a long line of haenyeo, Jeju Island’s beloved female divers. She doesn’t like soju, constantly misses cultural references, and despite her love of the game, people still say that she doesn’t play Hwatu like a Korean. Ocean’s also persona non grata at the Alliance, Korea’s solar system-dominating space agency, since a mission went awry and she earned a reputation for being a little too quick with her gun.

When tensions veer between hope and despair, the ensuing fracture can swing like a scythe and cut a ragged seam between past and present. In One Wild Word Away, Geffrey Davis weaves a deft set of poems about illness, family, loss, and rebirth. The luxurious sonics and crisp descriptions in each line are haunted by grief and buoyed by love as the speaker confronts generational trauma and the potential loss of a loved one while in the process of raising his own son.

Life in Blossom Branch hasn’t always been sweet for Leah Marks. Growing up in the shadow of her overachieving siblings, the shy psychology grad has struggled to find her own place in the world. So when she inherits a long-forgotten summer camp, Leah sees an opportunity to help other kids who are struggling—and maybe find happiness for herself. Her plan takes an unexpected turn, however, after a scorching encounter with the local fire chief, Lucas Carter. He’s brave, he’s kind…and he’s not quite ready to settle down.

Forbidden. Commanding. Mysterious. Beau Rochester has an entire house full of secrets. And those secrets are putting Jane Mendoza in danger.