Melvina liufau biography books

The Best New Books Publishing in February 2023

Continental Reckoning:The American West in the Age of Expansion (History of the American West)
by Elliott West University of Nebraska Press, 02/01/2023

 

In the 1840s, by which time the United States had expanded to the Pacific, what would become the West was home to numerous vibrant Native cultures and...more

History, Current Affairs and Religion

Meru (The Alloy Era)
by S.B. Divya 47North, 02/01/2023

 

For five centuries, human life has been restricted to Earth, while posthuman descendants called alloys freely explore the galaxy. But when the ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
A Hacker's Mind:How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend them Back
by Bruce Schneier W.W. Norton & Company, 02/07/2023

 

A hack is any means of subverting a system's rules in unintended ways. The tax code isn't computer code, but a series of complex formulas. It has ...more
Critics' Consensus:
History, Current Affairs and Religion
A Killing of Innocents:A Novel (Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Novels, 19)
by Deborah Crombie William Morrow, 02/07/2023

 

On a rainy November evening, trainee doctor Sasha Johnson hurries through the evening crowd in London's historic Russell Square. Out of the darkness, ...more

Mysteries

A Minor Revolution:How Prioritizing Kids Benefits Us All
by Adam Benforado Crown, 02/07/2023

 

At the dawn of the twentieth century, a bright new age for children appeared on the horizon, with progress on ending child labor, providing public ...more
Critics' Consensus:
History, Current Affairs and Religion
Abyss
by Pilar Quintana World Editions, 02/07/2023

 

Claudia is an impressionable eight-year-old girl, trying to understand the world through the eyes of the adults around her. But her hardworking father...more
B.F.F.:A Memoir of Friendship Lost and Found
by Christie Tate Avid Reader Press, 02/07/2023

 

After more than a decade of dead-end dates and dysfunctional relationships, Christie Tate has reclaimed her voice and settled down. Her days of ...more
Big Swiss:A Novel
by Jen Beagin Scribner, 02/07/2023

 

Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house, built in 1737, is unrenovated, uninsulated, and full ...more
Cold People
by Tom Rob Smith Scribner, 02/07/2023

 

The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, ...more
Daughters of Oduma
by Moses Ose Utomi Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 02/07/2023

 

Eat. Dance. Fight.

This is the life of the girls who compete in the Isle's elite, all-female fighting sport of Bowing. But it isn't really Dirt's ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Eastbound
by Maylis De Kerangal Archipelago Books, 02/07/2023

 

Eastboundis both an adventure story and a duet of two vibrant inner worlds.

In mysterious, winding sentences gorgeously translated by Jessica ...more
How Big Things Get Done:The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between
by Bent Flyvbjerg Crown, 02/07/2023

 

These are wonderful stories. But most of the time big visions turn into nightmares. Remember Boston's "Big Dig"? Almost every sizeable city in the ...more

Advice

I Know Who You Are:How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever
by Barbara Rae-Venter Ballantine Books, 02/07/2023

 

For twelve years the Golden State Killer terrorized California, stalking victims and killing without remorse. Then he simply disappeared, for the next...more
Critics' Consensus:
True Crime
 Debut Author
Looking for Jane:A Novel
by Heather Marshall Atria Books, 02/07/2023

 

2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient. ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Literary Fiction
 Debut Author
Maureen:A Harold Fry Novel
by Rachel Joyce Dial Press, 02/07/2023

 

Only she can finish the journey her husband started.

Maureen and Harold Fry have settled into a quiet life, but when an unexpected message from the...more
My Nemesis
by Charmaine Craig Grove Press, 02/07/2023

 

Tessa is a successful writer who develops a friendship, first by correspondence and then in person, with Charlie, a ruggedly handsome philosopher and ...more
Saying It Loud:1966 - The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement
by Mark Whitaker Simon & Schuster, 02/07/2023

 

In gripping, novelistic detail, Saying It Loudtells the story of how the Black Power phenomenon began to challenge the traditional civil rights ...more
Critics' Consensus:
History, Current Affairs and Religion
Someone Else's Shoes:A Novel
by Jojo Moyes Pamela Dorman Books, 02/07/2023

 

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else's shoes?

Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her ...more
Stone Blind:A Novel
by Natalie Haynes Harper, 02/07/2023

 

They will fear you and flee you and call you a monster.

The only mortal in a family of gods, Medusa is the youngest of the Gorgon sisters. Unlike ...more
The Critic's Daughter:A Memoir
by Priscilla Gilman W.W. Norton & Company, 02/07/2023

 

Growing up on the Upper West Side of New York City in the 1970s, in an apartment filled with dazzling literary and artistic characters, Priscilla ...more
The Hotel Nantucket
by Elin Hilderbrand Back Bay Books, 02/07/2023

 

Fresh off a bad breakup with a longtime boyfriend, Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a second act. When she's named the new ...more

Romance

The House Guest:A Novel
by Hank Phillippi Ryan Forge Books, 02/07/2023

 

After every divorce, one spouse gets all the friends. What does the other one get? If they're smart, they get the benefits. Alyssa Macallan is ...more

Thrillers

The Spite House:A Novel
by Johnny Compton Tor Nightfire, 02/07/2023

 

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's...more
Critics' Consensus:
Thrillers
 Debut Author
The Wise Hours:A Journey into the Wild and Secret World of Owls
by Miriam Darlington Tin House Books, 02/07/2023

 

Owls have existed for over sixty million years, and in the relatively short time we have shared the planet with these majestic birds they have ignited...more
Critics' Consensus:
Science, Health and the Environment
Western Lane:A Novel
by Chetna Maroo Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 02/07/2023

 

Eleven-year-old Gopi has been playing squash since she was old enough to hold a racket. When her mother dies, her father enlists her in a quietly ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Literary Fiction
 Debut Author
When Trying to Return Home:Stories
by Jennifer Maritza McCauley Counterpoint Press, 02/07/2023

 

Profoundly moving and powerful, the stories in When Trying to Return Homedig deeply into the question of belonging. A young woman is torn between ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Short Stories
 Debut Author
Love Me Fierce In Danger:The Life of James Ellroy
by Steven Powell Bloomsbury Publishing, 02/09/2023

 

Love Me Fierce In Dangeris the story of James Ellroy, one of the most provocative and singular figures in American literature. The so-called "Demon ...more

Biography/Memoir

A Darker Wilderness:Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars
by Erin Sharkey Milkweed Editions, 02/14/2023

 

What are the politics of nature? Who owns it, where is it, what role does it play in our lives? Does it need to be tamed? Are we ourselves natural? In...more
Always the Almost
by Edward Underhill Wednesday Books, 02/14/2023

 

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Miles Jacobson has two New Year's resolutions: 1) win back his ex-boyfriend (and star of the football team) Shane McIntyre,...more
Critics' Consensus:
Literary Fiction
 Debut Author
Black Wolf:A Novel
by Kathleen Kent Mulholland, 02/14/2023

 

It is 1990 when Melvina Donleavy arrives in Soviet Belarus on her first undercover mission with the CIA, alongside three fellow agents—none of ...more
Bloody Martini:Felonious Monk Mysteries #2
by William Kotzwinkle Blackstone Publishing, 02/14/2023

 

Coalville is on fire—from below. The old mines are burning, and everyone has poison gas in their brain. Maybe that's why the town is so corrupt....more
Gone Like Yesterday:A Novel
by Janelle M. Williams Tiny Reparations, 02/14/2023

 

Gone Like Yesterdayfollows two Black women—Zahra, a listless college prep coach, and Sammie, a teenage girl and budding activist soon off to ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Literary Fiction
 Debut Author
Iron Curtain:A Love Story
by Vesna Goldsworthy W.W. Norton & Company, 02/14/2023

 

Milena Urbanska is a red princess living in a Soviet satellite state in the 1980s. She enjoys limitless luxury and limited freedom; the end of the ...more
Lying Beside You:Cyrus Haven Series #3
by Michael Robotham Scribner, 02/14/2023

 

If I could tell you one thing about my brother, it would be this. Two days after his nineteenth birthday, he killed our parents and twin sisters ...more
My Flawless Life
by Yvonne Woon Katherine Tegan Books, 02/14/2023

 

At the most elite private school in Washington, DC., whenever anyone has a problem that they need to go away, they hire Hana Yang Lerner.

Hana is a...more
On the Savage Side:A Novel
by Tiffany McDaniel Knopf, 02/14/2023

 

Arcade and Daffodil are twins born one minute apart. With their fiery red hair and thirst for escape, they form an unbreakable bond nurtured by their ...more
Shielded:How the Police Became Untouchable
by Joanna Schwartz Viking, 02/14/2023

 

In recent years, the high-profile murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others have brought much-needed attention to the pervasiveness ...more
Critics' Consensus:
History, Current Affairs and Religion
Stone Cold Fox
by Rachel Koller Croft Berkley Books, 02/14/2023

 

Like any enterprising woman, Bea knows what she's worth and is determined to get all she deserves—it just so happens that what she deserves is ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Thrillers
 Debut Author
The Cliff's Edge:A Novel (Bess Crawford Mysteries, 13)
by Charles Todd William Morrow, 02/14/2023

 

Restless and uncertain of her future in the wake of World War I, former battlefield nurse Bess Crawford agrees to travel to Yorkshire to help a friend...more

Thrillers

The Declassification Engine:What History Reveals About America's Top Secrets
by Matthew Connelly Pantheon Books, 02/14/2023

 

Before World War II, transparent government was a proud tradition in the United States. In all but the most serious of circumstances, classification, ...more
Critics' Consensus:
History, Current Affairs and Religion
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride:A Novel
by Roshani Chokshi William Morrow, 02/14/2023

 

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
 Debut Author
The Sun Walks Down:A Novel
by Fiona McFarlane Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 02/14/2023

 

In September 1883, a small town in the South Australian outback huddles under strange, vivid sunsets. Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Historical Fiction
World Running Down
by Al Hess Angry Robot, 02/14/2023

 

Valentine Weis is a salvager in the future wastelands of Utah. Wrestling with body dysphoria, he dreams of earning enough money to afford citizenship ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
 Debut Author
Arch-Conspirator
by Veronica Roth Tor Books, 02/21/2023

 

Outside the last city on Earth, the planet is a wasteland. Without the Archive, where the genes of the dead are stored, humanity will end.

Passing ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Don't Know Tough
by Eli Cranor Soho Crime, 02/21/2023

 

In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes...more
Critics' Consensus:
Mysteries
 Debut Author
Empty Theatre:A Novel: or The Lives of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Sisi of Austria (Queen of Hungary), Cousins, in Their Pursuit of Connection and Beauty...
by Jac Jemc MCD, 02/21/2023

 

History knows them as King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Elizabeth of Austria, icons of the late nineteenth century who died young and left behind ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Historical Fiction
French Braid:A novel
by Anne Tyler Vintage, 02/21/2023

 

The Garretts take their first and last family vacation in the summer of 1959. They hardly ever leave home, but in some ways they have never been ...more
I Am Still With You:A Reckoning with Silence, Inheritance, and History
by Emmanuel Iduma Algonquin Books, 02/21/2023

 

In inimitable, rhythmic prose, the author and winner of the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize Emmanuel Iduma tells the story of his return to Nigeria...more
Last Chance Dance
by Lakita Wilson Viking Books for Younger Readers, 02/21/2023

 

Leila is crushed when Dev, her boyfriend of four years, breaks up with her right before graduation. Just when she's thinking she wasted her entire ...more
Last On His Feet:Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century
by Youssef Daoudi Liveright/W.W. Norton, 02/21/2023

 

On the morning of July 4, 1910, thousands of boxing fans stormed a newly built stadium in Reno, Nevada, to witness an epic showdown. Jack Johnson, the...more
Oscar Wars:A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears
by Michael Schulman Harper, 02/21/2023

 

America does not have royalty. It has the Academy Awards. For nine decades, perfectly coiffed starlets, debonair leading men, and producers with gold ...more
Critics' Consensus:
History, Current Affairs and Religion
Scorched Grace:A Sister Holiday Mystery
by Margot Douaihy Gillian Flynn Books/Zando, 02/21/2023

 

When Saint Sebastian's School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding New Orleans ...more
Tell Me Good Things:On Love, Death, and Marriage
by James Runcie Bloomsbury Publishing, 02/21/2023

 

In early 2020, as the world sunk into the pandemic, James Runcie and his wife Marilyn Imrie were going through a different, far more personal tragedy....more
Tenacious Beasts:Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think about Animals
by Christopher J. Preston MIT Press, 02/21/2023

 

The news about wildlife is dire—more than 900 species have been wiped off the planet since industrialization. Against this bleak backdrop, ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Science, Health and the Environment
The Education of Kendrick Perkins:A Memoir
by Kendrick Perkins St. Martin's Press, 02/21/2023

 

Abandoned by his father, then orphaned after the murder of his mother, Perk was raised by his grandparents in a small Texas town. He left their home ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Biography/Memoir
 Debut Author
The Hard Parts:A Memoir of Courage and Triumph
by Oksana Masters Scribner, 02/21/2023

 

Oksana Masters was born in Ukraine—in the shadow of Chernobyl—seemingly with the world against her. She was born with one kidney, a ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Biography/Memoir
 Debut Author
The Houseboat:A Novel
by Dane Bahr Counterpoint Press, 02/21/2023

 

James Sallis meets Mindhunterin this stylish and atmospheric noir, a midcentury heartland gothic with abounding twists and a feverish conclusion.

...more

Thrillers

Thrillers

The Red Balcony:A Novel
by Jonathan Wilson Schocken Books, 02/21/2023

 

It's 1933, and Ivor Castle, Oxford-educated and Jewish, arrives in Palestine to take up a position as assistant to the defense counsel in the trial of...more
The Sum of Us:How Racism Hurts Everyone (Adapted for Young Readers)
by Heather McGhee Delacorte Press, 02/21/2023

 

The future canbe prosperous for everyone, but only if we address the problems of racial and economic inequality.

McGhee believes that all people, ...more
Critics' Consensus:
History, Current Affairs and Religion
The Woman with the Cure
by Lynn Cullen Berkley Books, 02/21/2023

 

She gave up everything — and changed the world.

In 1940s and '50s America, polio is as dreaded as the atomic bomb. No one's life is ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Historical Fiction
The World Itself:Consciousness and the Everything of Physics
by Ulf Danielsson Bellevue Literary Press, 02/21/2023

 

Can we ever truly comprehend the universe before we fully understand consciousness and the wonders, and limits, of the mind? Ulf Danielsson, an ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Science, Health and the Environment
 Debut Author
The Writing Retreat:A Novel
by Julia Bartz Emily Bestler Books (Atria), 02/21/2023

 

Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-...more
Critics' Consensus:
Thrillers
 Debut Author
We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I:A Palestinian Memoir
by Raja Shehadeh Other Press, 02/21/2023

 

Aziz Shehadeh was many things: lawyer, activist, and political detainee, he was also the father of bestselling author and activist Raja. In this new ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
A First Time for Everything
by Dan Santat First Second, 02/28/2023

 

Dan's always been a good kid. The kind of kid who listens to his teachers, helps his mom with grocery shopping, and stays out of trouble. But being a ...more
All the Knowledge in the World:The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopedia
by Simon Garfield William Morrow, 02/28/2023

 

The encyclopedia once shaped our understanding of the world. Created by thousands of scholars and the most obsessive of editors, a good set conveyed a...more
Critics' Consensus:
History, Current Affairs and Religion
An Autobiography of Skin:A Novel
by Lakiesha Carr Pantheon Books, 02/28/2023

 

Heat. Fire. Rain so blue. The blackness. The color of our hue.

A middle-aged woman feeds slots at a secret, back-room parlor. A new mother descends...more
Critics' Consensus:
Literary Fiction
 Debut Author
Black Candle Women:A Novel
by Diane Marie Brown Graydon House, 02/28/2023

 

Generations of Montrose women—Augusta, Victoria, Willow—have lived together in their quaint two-story bungalow in California for ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Literary Fiction
 Debut Author
Blood Money:The Story of Life, Death, and Profit Inside America's Blood Industry
by Kathleen McLaughlin Atria Books, 02/28/2023

 

Journalist Kathleen McLaughlin knew she'd found a treatment that worked on her rare autoimmune disorder. She had no idea it had been drawn from the ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Science, Health and the Environment
 Debut Author
Empireland:How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain
by Sathnam Sanghera Pantheon Books, 02/28/2023

 

Empire—whether British or otherwise—informs nearly everything we do. From common thought to our daily routines; from the foundations of ...more
Critics' Consensus:
History, Current Affairs and Religion
Enchantment:Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
by Katherine May Riverhead Books, 02/28/2023

 

Many of us feel trapped in a grind of constant change: rolling news cycles, the chatter of social media, our families split along partisan lines. We ...more

Biography/Memoir

Go as a River:A Novel
by Shelley Read Spiegel & Grau, 02/28/2023

 

Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family's peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado—the sole surviving ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Literary Fiction
 Debut Author
Homestead:A Novel
by Melinda Moustakis Flatiron Books, 02/28/2023

 

Anchorage, 1956. When Marie and Lawrence first lock eyes at the Moose Lodge, they are immediately drawn together. But when they decide to marry, days ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Historical Fiction
 Debut Author
Liliana's Invincible Summer:A Sister's Search for Justice
by Cristina Rivera Garza Hogarth Books, 02/28/2023

 

I seek justice, I finally said. I seek justice for my sister... . Sometimes it takes twenty-nine years to say it out loud, to say it out loud on a ...more
She Is a Haunting
by Trang Thanh Tran Bloomsbury YA, 02/28/2023

 

When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the...more
Critics' Consensus:
Literary Fiction
 Debut Author
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi:A Novel
by Shannon Chakraborty Harper Voyager, 02/28/2023

 

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean's most notorious pirates, she's survived ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
The Magician's Daughter
by H. G. Parry Redhook, 02/28/2023

 

Off the coast of Ireland sits a legendary island hidden by magic. A place of ruins and ancient trees, sea salt air, and fairy lore, Hy-Brasil is the ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
The Wicked Bargain
by Gabe Cole Novoa Random House Books for Younger Readers, 02/28/2023

 

On Mar León de la Rosa's sixteenth birthday, el Diablo comes calling. Mar is a transmasculine nonbinary teen pirate hiding a magical ability to ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
The Woman Who Climbed Trees:A Novel
by Smriti Ravindra HarperVia, 02/28/2023

 

"Is this a ghost story?" Meena asked the barber's wife who told the tale. "I don't want to hear scary stories one night before I marry."

"Not all ...
more
Critics' Consensus:
Literary Fiction
 Debut Author
Thomas Mann:New Selected Stories
by Thomas Mann Liveright/W.W. Norton, 02/28/2023

 

A towering figure in the pantheon of twentieth-century literature, Thomas Mann has often been perceived as a dry and forbidding writer―"the ...more
We Are Electric:Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds
by Ms. Sally Adee Hachette Books, 02/28/2023

 

You may be familiar with the idea of our body's biome: the bacterial fauna that populate our gut and can so profoundly affect our health. In We Are ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Science, Health and the Environment
 Debut Author
Zig-Zag Boy:A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood
by Tanya Frank W.W. Norton & Company, 02/28/2023

 

One night in 2009, Tanya Frank finds her nineteen-year-old son, Zach―gentle and full of promise―in the grip of what the psychiatrists ...more
Critics' Consensus:
Biography/Memoir
 Debut Author