At first glance, readers might not spot similarities between J. C. Carleson's The Tyrant's Daughter (2014) and Gabrielle Prendergast's Audacious (2013). Knopf - Random House, 2014 Laila, the 15-year-old daughter of an assassinated dictator, flees to North America with the aid of authorities who recognize the family's vulnerability
Readers can debate whether Etto or soccer or the town of San Benedetto is the main character in The Sun and Other Stars: the novel can reach readers' hearts via more than one route. Simon & Schuster, 2014 And, yet, that suggests that the three can be separated, whereas this
It was probably always a messy story, but at some point the focus for Donna Tartt's third novel shifted dramatically. As discussed in an interview with Jared Bland at the Appel Salon, the draft Tartt had been writing, which was set in Amsterdam and New York City, collided with a trip to Las
Reading Craig Davidson's Cataract City took me somewhere else. You might think, if you have heard something of the novel, that I am about to say Niagara Falls. But as much as the novel is about two boys' coming-of-age in this environs, it is a study of how 'what-came-before' morphs and
The cover image for Anthony De Sa's Kicking the Sky perfectly encapsulates the novel's themes, structure, setting and tone.* A child's bicycle leans against a garage door, the only sign of habitation. The view of the alleyway leaves the safety of home beyond the edges of the scene. The shadows are
