Elayne Clift

Anyone seeking respite from serious matters, or excitements of their own, would do well to grab a copy of British writer CJ Wray’s novel, The Excitements. 

“Kristen Loesch has written a masterly, unique, gripping novel.”

Debut novels are often overlooked by avid readers because of the wealth of works by well-known authors. This one should not be.

Anyone familiar with legal analyst Dahlia Lithwick’s prolific writings at Slate.com or in numerous prestigious publications will find her book, Lady Justice, compelling, disturbing, urgent

C. J. Carey’s novel, Widowland, couldn’t be more chilling—or dystopian—given the frightening political landscape confronting women in America and elsewhere.

“a carefully crafted work of fiction that makes good writing seem easy.”

Isabel Allende is a wonderful storyteller. Her distinct voice and her vivid imagination have delighted readers for many years now.

Hidden women abound in all sectors of society, nearly all cultures, and throughout history, threatening powerful, dominant men who fear losing their power and prestige.

Louis-Philippe Dalembert’s story of immigrants attempting to escape their home countries for better lives shines harrowing light on the experience of multitudes of people fleeing war, famine, droug

If one were to draw a Venn diagram to help explain Robert Plumb’s well-intentioned but flawed book about five significant women in American Civil War history, its overlapping circles would include

In this extraordinary debut novel, Meng Jin writes about numerous themes ranging from family relations, platonic and romantic love, the pain and pleasure of memory, and escaping one’s past in order

In just 170 pages Isabel Allende manages to write a humorous memoir, an homage to her family, all of whom seem to have walked off the pages of her delicious novels, and a feminist plea for women’s

It’s 2008, Barack Obama has been elected president. Ruth Tuttle and her husband Xavier are excited about what lies ahead for them.

“If Carlos Manuel Alvarez’s debut novel The Fallen is any indicator, he is a Cuban writer to watch.”

Americans have always been enraptured royal followers.

Julia Alvarez is a good storyteller, as anyone who has read her most well-known novels, In the Time of the Butterflies, and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, knows.

“An estimated 30 million people died under Stalin’s regime of terror. These nine women show us how they avoided being among them. Their voices inspire us all . . .”

“Heather Morris reminds us about the human side of the Holocaust and helps us remember with her fine storytelling.”

“Lebanese-British journalist Zahra Hankir has gifted us with these women’s experiences and their voices.”

Calcutta-born Neel Mukherjee, whose prior work has been both shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and cited as a New York Times 2018 Notable Book listing, is often compared to V. S.

“The power of this well-written novel grows as the story moves forward both historically and fictionally.

Readers familiar with Man Booker Prize winners will quickly realize why Dorthe Nors’ novel, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal was a 2017 finalist for the international prize.

The first thing to say about Jennifer Fink is that she is intelligent, clever, and sometimes funny.

Katja Petrowskaja has indeed, as her publicist claims, written an “inventive and unique literary debut” as she travels to various countries in search of her family’s dramatic 20th century history.

Joan Marie Johnson’s new book Funding Feminism offers an important and accessible (if occasionally redundant) contribution to both academic and lay audiences interested in women’s history

Vaddey Ratner’s second novel about the horrors of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia and the price survivors pay is the story of Teera, a now-American woman who returns to her native country for the fi

". . . a gripping historical novel . . ."

If every journalist wrote like Patrick Kingsley, more people would likely be reading the critical nonfiction books of our time.

With this enticing debut novel Imbolo Mbue demonstrates that she knows her stuff as a storyteller, a native Cameroonian, and a New Yorker.

Meredith Tax is to be commended for her thorough and well-documented book about the history and politics of a region of the world most people know very little about.

“quickly read but not easily forgotten. It’s a lovely story . . .”

“It is this kind of insight . . . that makes [Traister’s] important work a significant addition to the literature of sociology and women’s studies.”

“[S]he wrote, ‘I do not desire ecstatic, disembodied sainthood . . . I would be human, and American, and a woman.’”

Editor Meredith Maran’s latest book, which follows her previous collection, Why We Write, gathers together the thoughts of Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others)

"This story of . . . struggle . . . is both brave and original."

“riveting, finely wrought . . . not . . . easily forgotten . . .”

“a richly imagined, well-written story full of historical realities and peopled with unique characters . . .”

In this enticing historical novel about the French designer Coco Chanel, Edith Piaf meets Maria Duenas’s heroine in the well-received and compelling 2014 novel, The Time In Between.

Nazila Fathi is a woman of courage. She is also a very good writer.

“. . . there is something sad rather than enlightening about this ‘not-quite-memoir’ from a much loved, observant, feisty but fatigued writer.”

“Even though sex sells, the respectable HarperCollins should have known better than to go with this cash cow.”

“. . . offers the makings of a roadmap for a journey we will all be better off for taking.”

“Like our protagonist, we hope to soar to new heights, to conquer our fears, to land where we belong.

“despite everything, our sympathies remain clearly and profoundly with Blanca, regardless of her culminating acts.

“Yoani Sanchez is a remarkable woman.”

What is the place of place in our lives? More specifically, what is the place of place in our romantic lives?