"The Fountain"

New from Harper: The Fountain: A Novel by Casey Scieszka.

About the book, from the publisher:

A propulsive and deeply moving novel about eternity and mortality that asks what it would mean to live forever.

Vera Van Valkenburgh hasn’t been home in one hundred and eighty-eight years. But now Vera, forever twenty-six and able to heal from any wound, has returned to the Catskills. Whatever made her family immortal happened here, and if she can uncover it, maybe she can reverse it. After nearly two centuries—an endless sequence of unnoticed, meaningless lives and a soul-shaking incident in the desert—she longs to be released.

Posing as a newly arrived forest ranger, she quickly blends into the upstate community and learns of something curious and disturbing. A mysterious, well-funded company is snapping up local property, no matter how high the asking price. But when her brother, a fellow immortal shows up, accompanied by a woman whose face is incredibly familiar to Vera, the purpose for her return gets clouded and Vera is in a race against time to find out what has caused her condition before someone else does.

Blending the spectacular with the everyday in a tale filled with humor and warmth, The Fountain explores what gives life meaning and how our understandings of our histories shape—and cage—us.

Visit Casey Scieszka's wesbite.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Sanctuary Making"

New from the University of California Press: Sanctuary Making: Immigrant Families Reshaping Geographies of Deportability by Carolina Valdivia.

About the book, from the publisher:

Immigration policy and enforcement practices in the United States now extend beyond the border to the country's interior, impacting the private lives of millions of undocumented and mixed-status families in new ways. Sanctuary Making traces this shift, showing how as enforcement has expanded and deepened, new "hot spots" have appeared across nontraditional sites such as neighborhoods, roads, worksites, hospitals, grocery stores, and homes. Undercurrents of fear, anxiety, and loss permeate the everyday lives of the families navigating these terrains of enforcement.

Carolina Valdivia reveals the emotional and material labor of young adults that often underpins families' sanctuary making efforts—strategies to shield against the worst outcomes of enforcement. Many young adults are compelled to take on parental responsibilities and serve as a primary source of emotional support for family members while also brokering legal processes tied to their family's immigration cases. How might policymakers, organizers, educators, and the wider community better support these young people in their efforts to create sanctuary for their families in an increasingly hostile landscape?

Visit Carolina Valdivia's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Somewhat Wicked Witch of Brigandale"

New from Ace: The Somewhat Wicked Witch of Brigandale by C. M. Waggoner.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A practical witch must sabotage her beloved son's ascension to the throne in order to keep the kingdom from ruin, in this delightful cozy fantasy from the author of The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry.

Once upon a time, a somewhat wicked witch named Gretsella lived in a cozy little cottage in the Dark Forest of Brigandale. She dispensed herbs and tinctures at reasonable prices, met with her slightly oddball coven on a regular basis, and had absolutely no need of any further company whatsoever, thank you very much. But then one afternoon, Gretsella came home to find a screaming infant on her doorstep.

Against all her better judgement, she took the baby in. She named him Bradley.

Eighteen years later, Bradley has grown into a bafflingly likable young man under Gretsella’s extremely tolerant—one might even say doting—eye. But the witch’s hopes for an unremarkable yet fulfilling life for her son are shattered when small woodland animals start prophesying that he is the lost prince and should ascend to the throne. Bradley ignores Gretsella’s advice that prophecies and talking chipmunks are to be avoided at all costs, and sets off for the capital. But soon confusion and chaos are reigning, and scheming courtiers are using Bradley for their own ends. Sometimes a witch has to roll up her sleeves and take matters into her own cauldron. So Gretsella resolves to bring about the downfall of her darling son…

Visit C. M. Waggoner's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Writer’s Room"

New from Princeton University Press: The Writer’s Room: The Hidden Worlds That Shape the Books We Love by Katie da Cunha Lewin.

About the book, from the publisher:

A journey into the unique spaces where some of literature’s greatest writers created their most memorable works

Virginia Woolf famously wrote in A Room of One’s Own that “it is necessary to have five hundred a year and a room with a lock on the door if you are to write fiction or poetry.” Writers have worked in all kinds of places, from garrets and sheds to boarding houses, bathrooms, and even while on the move. What is it that fascinates us about the writer’s room? This book takes readers inside literature’s creative spaces to explore this tantalizing question.

Beginning with her own secondhand writing desk, Katie da Cunha Lewin invites us to consider how these environments embody the craft of writing and shape the literary works we love. She paints vivid portraits of Woolf’s garden room at Monk’s House, Emily Brontë’s shared table in the parsonage, Sigmund Freud’s study with its legendary couch, and the bustling Parisian cafés where Ernest Hemingway crafted stories in notebooks. She dismantles the familiar furniture of the writer’s room to cast it in a surprising new light, from the hotel rooms where Maya Angelou wrote poetry to the busses where Lauren Elkin wrote on her phone to the kitchen tables around which Audre Lorde and the founders of Women of Color Press convened.

Lyrical, insightful, and rich with personal insights, The Writer’s Room reveals how these spaces are brimming with possibilities, shaping the creative process of authors and capturing the imaginations of readers.

The writers featured include Maya Angelou • James Baldwin • Claire-Louise Bennett • Ray Bradbury • the Brontë sisters • Alexander Chee • Agatha Christie • Lucille Clifton • Roald Dahl • Don DeLillo • Charles Dickens • Emily Dickinson • Joan Didion • Ernest Hemingway • bell hooks • Victor Hugo • Zora Neale Hurston • Derek Jarman • John Keats • Jack Kerouac • Hanif Kureishi • Harper Lee • Doris Lessing • Deborah Levy • Hilary Mantel • Paule Marshall • Sylvia Plath • Thomas Pynchon • William Shakespeare • Zadie Smith • Muriel Spark • Mark Twain • Alice Walker • Edith Wharton • Virginia Woolf

Visit Katie da Cunha Lewin's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Killer in the House"

Coming soon from Thomas & Mercer: The Killer in the House by Lauren Reding.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this chilling domestic thriller debut, a young woman working as a housekeeper―for the subject of a trending true crime podcast―finds herself in a deadly mess when the truth catches up to the hype.

Renee Beale is done settling for dead-end jobs and living on her parents’ tree farm in rural Virginia. But just as her life starts to look up, personal tragedy knocks her back down. Desperate for an escape, her only prospect is working for a wealthy Richmond couple with a deadly backstory.

Ed Weatherup is a family man, successful, and the perfect employer―except for the fact that he may quite possibly be a murderer. He served five years for his wife’s death before the Innocent Blood podcast helped overturn his conviction. Now he’s back home with his second wife and blended family, vowing publicly to find the real killer.

With her past coming to collect, Renee has no choice but to become the Weatherups’ new housekeeper. Suddenly privy to their family secrets and furtive phone calls, she turns to the podcast to learn more about her mysterious employers. But the details don’t add up. And the closer Renee gets to the truth, the more sure she becomes that the killer will strike again.

Visit Lauren Reding's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Death or Victory"

New from LSU Press: Death or Victory: The Louisiana Native Guards and the Black Military’s Significance in the Civil War by A.J. Cade.

About the book, from the publisher:

A. J. Cade’s Death or Victory offers the first in-depth history of the Louisiana Native Guards, pioneering African American regiments within the Union army. Originating as a division of the New Orleans Home Guards in May 1861, the Native Guards consisted of free Black and Creole men who leveraged the city’s established military customs to gain entry into the Home Guards. Although not officially part of the Confederate forces, their involvement compelled the federal government to contemplate forming a similar regiment, setting the stage for their transition to the Union army the following year.

Cade’s research highlights the Native Guards’ crucial role as a testing ground for Black participation in the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln, the War Department, and the entire nation regarded these early regiments as an experiment in understanding the implications of Black service. The Native Guards exceeded expectations, engaging in significant battles and sieges. Their achievements paved the way for broader Black involvement in Louisiana and eventually throughout the Union army. Prominent figures such as Frederick Douglass cited the Native Guards as evidence of Black Americans’ entitlement to full citizenship and postwar freedom, an opinion later echoed by Lincoln. Cade’s work challenges existing Civil War narratives by shedding light on the overlooked contributions of the Louisiana Native Guards, rectifying misconceptions, and highlighting Black and Creole individuals who fought for their nation.

In addition to revising Civil War historiography, Cade’s study also contributes to a more nuanced understanding of race and class in nineteenth-century New Orleans. Cade shows how the Native Guards reflected the unique racial dynamics of the city, where free Black and Creole men of color had long enjoyed a degree of social and economic autonomy. These men were often educated, property owning, and deeply invested in the city’s civic life. Their service in the Native Guards was not just about fighting for the Union; it was also about asserting their rights as citizens and challenging the racial hierarchies that sought to deny them full participation in American society. By examining the motivations and experiences of these men, Cade provides a compelling portrait of a community that defied easy categorization and played a pivotal role in shaping the course of the Civil War.

Visit A. J. Cade's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The House of Hidden Letters"

Coming soon from Berkley: The House of Hidden Letters by Izzy Broom.

About the book, from the publisher:

A beautiful and escapist novel full of heart, for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and readers who love book club fiction.

For sale: Greek cottage. One euro.

Skye MacKinnon is desperate for an escape. When she wins a lottery to buy a run-down cottage on a Greek island for only one euro, Skye jumps at the chance to get out of England and start over. As she unlocks the tattered blue door of her whitewashed new cottage, the sun-kissed sea glinting in the bay outside her windows, Skye immediately feels like she’s found her true home.

Skye and the other lottery winners—the first residents in these houses since the 1940s—form a tight-knit group, finding in one another the strong relationships they’d been missing in their own lives. When Skye and local contractor Andreas find a set of mysterious letters, they begin to unravel the history of the prior residents, and the truth about life on Folegandros during World War II.

Sweeping, escapist, and full of heart, The House of Hidden Letters reminds us of the importance of human connection. Izzy Broom has written a poignant and hopeful novel for those who have found love and family in unexpected places.

Follow Isabelle Broom on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Programming Literature"

New from Oxford University Press: Programming Literature by Rebecca Roach.

About the book, from the publisher:

This is a book about the messy, archival worlds of literature and computing, and the myriad of relations that have existed between the two. Before J. M. Coetzee was a writer of Nobel-Prize winning novels, the South African was a programmer for one of the most significant Cold War supercomputer projects in Britain. Experimental British writer Christine Brooke-Rose worked at Bletchley Park with Alan Turing. When not opining about modernism, Canadian literary critic Hugh Kenner was a devoted computer hobbyist. Literary scholars have often not known what to make of these 'other careers': intimidating, irrelevant, outside of the scope of literary studies, surely? When they do make links, it is often via the frame of formal logic that has dominated discussions of both computer history and literary modernism.

This book starts from a different assumption: that, far from irrelevant, these material experiences were significant in the development of the literary projects of writers including Coetzee, Brooke-Rose, Kenner, William Gaddis, and Kamau Brathwaite. It contends that it is in the practice and the archive, rather than on the plane of abstraction, that we can best see this influence. Addressing literary scholars, media and computer historians, and digital theorists alike, Programming Literature productively reframes contemporary debates around artificial intelligence, the value of the humanities, and tech culture by emphasizing just how material these worlds have always been.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Darkening Song"

New from Saturday Books: Darkening Song by Delphine Seddon.

About the book, from the publisher:

For fans of DAISY JONES AND THE SIX, EUPHORIA, and LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE, DARKENING SONG is a fiercely feminist debut about two young women; one a recording artist failed by

the industry which made her an idol, and the other her ambitious manager, forced to make an impossible choice between friendship and power.

Eva is just 18 years old and interning at a record label when she discovers 16 year old Alora online. Never has she heard a voice like Alora’s and when it’s clear there isn’t anyone at the label interested in hearing this phenomenal talent, Eva takes matters into her own hands. On a whim, Eva offers Alora representation as her manager without knowing the first thing about artist management or what’s about to happen to both of them.

And it turns out Eva was right... Alora is swiftly catapulted into the spotlight of major superstardom, and as the two navigate the whirling vortex of fame—the parties, the money, the paparazzi, and power—they form a deep bond, becoming found family for one another.

But when Alora’s dark and mysterious past begins to infiltrate her present and Eva’s ambition and success blind her to the obvious signs that her client and, most importantly, her friend is in trouble, their lives unravel with disastrous consequences.

DARKENING SONG is a story about friendship and betrayal. It’s a love story, and a story about growing up in an industry which sometimes disregards the needs of young girls and women in favor of self-interest. But more than anything, it’s a story about redemption, and the ways that hopes and dreams can come true in ways we least expect.

Visit Delphine Seddon's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"American Peril"

Coming soon from the University of California Press: American Peril: The Violent History of Anti-Asian Racism by Scott Kurashige.

About the book, from the publisher:

This probing account shines a new light on the problem of anti-Asian violence and inspires us to build lasting solidarity.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, racist demagoguery fomented a campaign of terror against Asian Americans. But these attacks were part of a much longer pattern that made anti-Asian racism integral to the outbreak of white supremacist, misogynist, and colonial violence across 175 years of U.S. history. Written in the radical spirit of Howard Zinn, American Peril represents the culmination of thirty-five years of study and activism by award-winning scholar Scott Kurashige.

From the lynching of Asian immigrants during the exclusion era to the U.S. military's slaughter of Asian civilians, the book connects domestic and global events that have been erased from the official record. Going beyond victimhood, it traces the rise of Asian American community protest and activism in response to the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin and other overlooked tragedies. While many have worked to legislate and prosecute hate crimes, Kurashige argues that hope lies in grassroots activism for multiracial solidarity.

Visit Scott Kurashige's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Shifting Grounds of Race.

--Marshal Zeringue