A YOUNG MAGE BECOMES a pawn in a high-stakes conflict, and must team up with a past enemy to save her family. Engaging high fantasy. SOLID B

MAGES BY ASSEMBLY (BIRTHRIGHT BOOK 3)
Terah Edun
2019

A CROATIAN WRITER’S BLEAK childhood rushes back in a flood of recovered memories. Taut psychological thriller weaves in the fall of Yugoslavia and the casual cruelties of village life. B PLUS

DARK MOTHER EARTH
Amazon Crossing
2020

A POET’S SEARINGLY BEAUTIFUL memoir of a childhood as an undocumented immigrant, and of a family separated by the US/Mexico border. Heartbreaking, simple, elegant prose. A MINUS

CHILDREN OF THE LAND
Harper
2020

DEATH IN A SCOTTISH CASTLE inspires a young socialite to turn sleuth. Charming 1920s cozy with a vividly drawn protagonist. B PLUS

MURDER BY MIDNIGHT (A MISS ALICE MURDER MYSTERY BOOK 1)
Blythe Baker
2020

SHIMMERING LIKE A HOLLYWOOD SUNSET, Eve Babitz’s essays capture both the glamour and the grit of the late 20th century. B PLUS

I USED TO BE CHARMING
NYRB Classics
2019

A ZANY TREASURE HUNT brings together a reclusive researcher and a troubled heir, as well as a crew of Boston eccentrics and a very helpful ghost. Lovely, expansive novel with a heart of gold. B PLUS

TUESDAY MOONEY TALKS TO GHOSTS
Mariner Books
2019

TENSE UK THRILLER centers on a woman haunted by the childhood abduction of a friend. Grim and evocative. SOLID B

DEAR LAURA
Independently published
2019

HARVESTING HISTORY FROM THE THAMES: a thoroughly delightful account of the riverside archaeology Londoners call “mudlarking”. B PLUS

MUDLARK
Liveright
2019

BANISHED FROM THEIR NATIVE ISLAND with an hour’s notice, the people of Diego Garcia try to make new lives in Mauritius. Sparse, impassioned novel sheds light on this historic injustice. B PLUS

SILENCE OF THE CHAGOS
Restless Books
2019

A FASCINATING LOOK AT NORTH KOREA’S autocrat Kim Jong Un shines brightest in its interviews with the leader’s former friends and refugees from his regime. B PLUS

THE GREAT SUCCESSOR
PublicAffairs
2019