Cosby does Thomas Harris!! And proves that the serial killer novel is back with his cleverly plotted and socially relevant take on the hunt for a monstrous killer. It’s a lovely and spare portrayal of coming to terms with the truth of our lives, our specific oneness.

Levy makes a metaphor of twinhood and doppelgangers to illustrate our alternate lives, she recycles phrases throughout the book in a kind of prayer of repetition, and she leaves us with absences, and gifts, and mirrors. The novel delves into questions about identity, what we owe and to whom, and whether our paths are ever really chosen, or laid down for us by circumstance. One day she glimpses her doppelganger at a market in Athens, and so begins a shadowy trip through Europe as she sees her double everywhere she goes. Lost and searching, she dyes her hair blue and sets off traveling.

The novel is about Elsa, a celebrated pianist, who is facing a career turning point: she just walked off stage mid-performance in Vienna at the height of her fame. It conjures the text in its grace, color, and abstractness, the writing just as light on the surface, complex in its meaning. I was struck by many things about this novel, starting off with the cover, which is so textured and timeless it only made me confused as to why we don’t get to see covers this compelling more often. –Emily Temple, managing editorĭeborah Levy wrapped up her “Living Autobiography” series ( The Cost of Living, Things I Don’t Want to Know, Real Estate) and is writing hazy, surreal works of fiction again. This is an unsettling fever dream of a book that I will be thinking about for a long time. Much of the book is concerned with Laura’s immediate experiences of the landscape, which creates a lulling effect, but as in the wilderness, one cannot let themselves become unwary the beautiful descriptions are soon punctuated by a sharp sense of menace as Laura’s reality begins to deteriorate. Why? Slowly, we discover that she is on the run from a terrible marriage, her absence intended as a punishment-and perhaps not only for her husband. In this mesmerizing novel, a woman moves to a cabin in the woods, on a mountain at the edge of a town filled with people who regard her with increasing suspicion. Kathryn Bromwich, At the Edge of the Woods In case you need a little help curating your stack, here are a few of the novels coming out this summer that the Literary Hub staff has read and loved so far.

Summer reading promises discovery, adventure, and pleasure-though whether it actually delivers all of that depends on what you choose (and how much time by the pool you have). However many years it’s been since you signed up for the summer reading contest at your local children’s library (just me?), summer reading still has a special sort of feeling.

The miss nelson collection