Small Town & Rural Fiction

Reviewed by: 

“This book belongs on the shelf until the next library book sale.”

Reviewed by: 

“Richard Russo once again brings to life a world of closely connected, interdependent-in-spite-of-themselves characters who feel remarkably familiar and gut-bustingly real.”

Reviewed by: 

“Farris Smith is in top form at the layered story’s breathtaking climax, masterfully guiding disparate variables from a slow burn to an incendiary ending with suspenseful detail, multi-sens

Reviewed by: 

“A book about how history repeats itself . . .”

Reviewed by: 

“Characters discover that the pain of growth is worth embracing rather than escaping . . .”

Reviewed by: 

“Melinda Moustakis’ arrestingly vivid and richly realized new novel Homestead depicts the interior lives of two Alaskan homesteaders in the 1950s so convincingly that it often read

Reviewed by: 

“The significance of the dreams and the meaningful role they play in the plot is well done as is the blending of Cree mythology. . . . .

Reviewed by: 

“paints the conflicts and stories that define the ordinary and memorable, finely etched with myriad details, that altogether reflect back on the readers’ essential humanity.”

Reviewed by: 

“With its language and momentum, the book propels a reader to the last page.”

Reviewed by: 

“Watching Lew solve her cases, while still fly fishing on the side, adds up to a solid and relaxing traditional mystery with plenty of Northwoods flavor.”

Reviewed by: 

“readers visiting Beartown for the third time will not be upset that they get to spend a little more time with its residents.”

Reviewed by: 

Foster . . . is a rare, beautiful, multi-faceted, shimmering, gem of a work—a gift.”

Reviewed by: 

In echoing Dickens, Barbara Kingsolver has written a social justice novel all her own, one only she could write, for our time and for the ages.

Reviewed by: 

“Reading Light Skin Gone to Waste will remain with us as a multilayered experience and an exquisite example of the art of contemporary American short fiction.”

Reviewed by: 

“Wade’s pitch-perfect, personality-driven dialogue sings in the voice of life, and his ability to meld existential thought, situational metaphor, and cinematic setting is a full-bodied expe

Reviewed by: 

Debut author Bobby Finger wields crisp, bright language in succinct, ample prose to reveal secrets deliberately hidden from the norms of social order. . . .

Reviewed by: 

Veterinarin Marigold "Goldie" McKenzie leaves Los Angeles after spending ten years sharing a home and practice with her fiancé, Brandon Burrows, the man she once thought she would marry, but they h

Reviewed by: 

What happens when a marriage of 29 years is on the rocks? Michelle and Max Turnbull, parents to three wonderful daughters, have been happy for the first 25 years they've been together.

Reviewed by: 

Always the First to Die is a story evolving around the making of a slasher movie that should itself be made into a film.”

Reviewed by: 

“Fallout combines murder, mystery, mobsters, crypto scams, and the snappy dialogue so characteristic of the Parker novels that came before.”

Reviewed by: 

Family and home: They’re the grounding of this novel and of humanity.”

Reviewed by: 

“Pankaj Mishra’s new novel is no less stimulating and insightful than anything else he has written, although there’s no tightly hewn plot here—and the drama that matters is internal.”

Reviewed by: 

“a story ‘ripped from the headlines,’ more times than we wish to admit.”

Reviewed by: 

Wylie Lark is holed up in Iowa at a secluded farm so she can work uninterrupted while penning her fourth true-crime book.

Pages