Namwali Serpell’s THE FURROWS received a stunning review from The Atlantic. Reviewer Tope Folarin writes: “[A] knotty, prismatic sophomore novel…[that] traverses many genres and points of view…Serpell is just such a scholar. And this ability to embrace different genres and forms of communication is evident in her fiction as well, especially in her debut, THE OLD DRIFT. In that capacious novel, she flits from historical fiction to contemporary fiction to science fiction. By comparison, THE FURROWS is a more concise affair, both in its narrative scope and its page count. Yet it is a robust tale, especially in its treatment of Wayne, who dies but never really seems dead…Serpell code-switches with ease, an ultimately crucial skill in a story that abounds with fluctuating realities. The book swerves from a realistic chronicle that bears all the markers of a grief tale to one that seems infused with magic, from standard-English dialogue to a pitch-perfect rendering of African American Vernacular English. Serpell also references and builds upon pop culture’s alternate-reality obsession, and the narrative vertigo that these stories induce in us. When I began reading the novel, I knew that Wayne had drowned in the ocean—but the power of Serpell’s storytelling was such that as the narrative progressed, I stopped being so sure.” THE FURROWS was also featured on The New Yorker’s list of “The Best Books of 2022 So Far,” alongside praise from their previous review for the novel: “Serpell’s second novel batters against the fixities of language like a moth at a windowpane…[T]hough the novel’s story lines turn and twist, the precision of Serpell’s language remains under exquisite control—while reminding us on every page that every story is necessarily an act of falsification.” Hogarth published the novel on September 27, 2022.

Judas 62, the second book in the Box 88 series by Charles Cumming, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. They praise the book as a “tour de force of tradecraft and suspense,” adding: “Cumming does a superb job creating portraits of people, eras, and places. This powerful spy thriller should win the talented author new fans.” Mysterious Bookshop will publish the book on December 6, 2022.

De’Shawn Charles Winslow’s sophomore novel DECENT PEOPLE received a glowing review from Publishers Weekly. They write: “There are a trove of surprises along the way to the [novel’s] well-earned resolution, and Winslow entrances readers with strong characters, impeccable prose, and brisk pacing. As a character-driven mystery, it delivers the goods.” Bloomsbury Publishing will publish the novel on January 17, 2023.

A new review in the Los Angeles Review of Books calls Peter C. Baker's PLANES a “propulsive,” “powerful,” "post–post-9/11 novel… with its own canny intelligence, [that] seems to know something that no one else does.” Knopf published the book on May 31, 2022.

The Seattle Times reviewed Namwali Serpell’s stellar novel, THE FURROWS. Reviewer Hamilton Cain writes: “[THE FURROWS is] a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma…Serpell blurs the delicate line between dreams and our waking lives. THE FURROWS is an English major’s dream date: Serpell taps influences across genres, from Virginia Woolf to Dashiell Hammett to Toni Morrison. Above all, the novel’s a valentine to cinema, and particularly to the oeuvre of Alfred Hitchcock; Serpell scatters Easter eggs throughout, allusions to THE LADY VANISHES, THE BIRDS, and most prominently, VERTIGO, with its feedback loops of eros and death. She delivers on the daring promise of her prizewinning debut, THE OLD DRIFT, while teasing out a jazzier, more intimate register, casting a spell that probes the fluid, disorienting flow of grief.” Hogarth published the book on September 27, 2022.

DARK EARTH by Rebecca Stott received a glowing praise from The New York Times. Alida Becker writes: “Historical fiction thrives in the empty spaces scholars have yet to fill. And thanks to poetic license, sometimes magical realism can also lurk in the shadows…[DARK EARTH is] an engaging mix of real adventure and elusive possibility.” Random House published the novel on July 19, 2022.

LISTEN, WORLD! by Allison Gilbert and Julia Scheeres received stellar reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook. Publishers Weekly raves: “[T]he authors paint a vivid picture of the challenges Elsie Robinson faced…The account is enlivened with copious excerpts from Robinson’s column and her memoir, all of which bring home her firebrand style. This entertaining account delivers.” Booklist praises the book as “[a] fascinating topic and solid biography that should please women’s history fans,” while Datebook writes: “Deeply researched, LISTEN, WORLD! includes passages from Robinson’s columns, books and letters, among other sources. Robinson was also an illustrator, and LISTEN, WORLD! includes a selection of her editorial cartoons, as well as photographs. The book’s prose is clear and engaging, with vivid descriptions…Over the course of this biography, readers come to recognize Robinson’s shockingly contemporary voice, and the authors highlight Robinson’s progressive views on the social issues of her time…A reminder to readers that though it’s now a century later, some things never change.” Seal Press will publish LISTEN, WORLD! on September 27, 2022.

Carlene Bauer’s stellar novel GIRLS THEY WRITE SONGS ABOUT was reviewed in The New Yorker’s Briefly Noted. They write: “This prickly-coy novel centers on two women who move to New York in the nineteen-nineties to become writers—or, as one of them, the narrator, puts it, ‘to be seen as an overpoweringly singular instance of late-twentieth-century womanhood.’ Bauer is a crackerjack chronicler of the slide into humility which follows ravenous early adulthood, when ‘we felt that we owed the books we’d read proof that we were as open and free as they had commanded us to be.’” Farrar, Straus and Giroux published the novel on June 21, 2022.

NPR/WBUR’s Here & Now recommend Kim Kelly’s FIGHT LIKE HELL as a “Memorable Summer Read,” praising the book’s success in “portraying the people she profiles as being otherwise ordinary, average workers who had enough courage in their convictions and spoke up when it mattered.” Meanwhile, 48 Hills declares it an “approachably written…tome well worth reading” whose “biggest triumph is in its wide-sweeping, sharply-accurate definition of what makes a worker,” spotlighting the voices of queer, disabled, BIPOC, female, and other marginalized voices in American labor history. One Signal Publishers published FIGHT LIKE HELL on April 26, 2022.

Ahead of its fall publication, DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS received a positive review from Publishers Weekly. They call the book “spellbinding sequel to CHILD OF LIGHT,” adding: “Brooks weaves a fast-paced tale full of twists and turns while keeping the backstory clear and the worldbuilding concise enough that those new to Auris’s story will have just as much fun as returning readers. This is sure to delight Brooks’s fans.” Del Rey will publish the book on October 11, 2022.