Sometimes, individuals and communities seek change. Other times, change is forced upon them, gradually or in what can seem like a sudden turn of events. Either way, the people affected must make choices about next steps, and about what their futures might look like–choices that can have lasting consequences. This smart, sweeping, and emotionally resonant novel explores how and why such choices are made within two fraught marriages, at a time when forces of transformation are at play in the larger community. 

Duet for One is a profound and multilayered meditation on love, loss, and grief, with a passion for music resonating throughout. With empathy and insight, the novel also explores the complicated relationships within one musically talented family.

As a former journalist, and as a citizen who is deeply concerned about the multiple threats facing the news media today, I was heartened and moved by Sunshine Girl, which can be seen as an extended tribute to the reporters and editors who devote long hours to shedding light on issues that would otherwise be overlooked, or actively hidden from view. With depth and feeling, the novel also explores the struggles of a family with close ties to the news business.

I’ve long been a fan of escapist entertainment, never more so than in these deeply troubling times. So I was delighted to learn about–and read–Last Night at the Disco, a rollicking and hilarious thrill trip helmed by anti-hero extraordinaire Lynda Boyle. Lynda’s core desire is to leave her New Jersey hometown behind for good and to escape once and for all to New York City. She imagines that, once there, she’ll assume a central place in the East Village poetry scene and party for as many nights as she’d like at her beloved celebrity-magnet disco, Studio 54. These dreams are exceeded only by the size of Lynda’s ego, which is in constant need of feeding.

Although this novel, told entirely from Lynda’s point of view, delivers much-needed escapism, its pleasures are far from simple thanks to its insider perspective on her constant, and often brilliant, scheming. To say that she’s a beauty with brains is a gross understatement. It would be more accurate to say that she’s a beauty with war-room-level strategizing powers, and she deploys these powers ruthlessly.

As we approach or make our way through middle age, many of us ask some difficult questions of ourselves: Are we truly living the life our earlier selves envisioned? What dreams, or great loves, did we abandon–or not even give a real chance? This perceptive, emotionally complex, and often-heartrending novel grapples with these questions and more, while also suggesting that new possibilities aren’t just for the young.

In the simplest sense, Rage is a Wolf portrays one young woman’s quest to make a difference in the world and to find meaning in her life, outside of the boundaries of high school. But much to this credit of this imaginative and inspiring novel, her quest is nothing but simple, and it leads to transformative discoveries about herself and the world.