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‘Fair Play’ by Louise Hegarty

Readers of both classic mysteries and literary fiction will enjoy this intermingling of the two in Louise Hegarty’s first novel, Fair Play, an utterly fresh approach to the standard whodunit that adds emotional heft to playful pastiche … Hegerty skillfully manipulates the genre, calling attention to the reader’s expectations and subverting familiar tropes in the service of nuanced storytelling. Fair Play is a thoroughly satisfying and thought-provoking read. Read more

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Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa

Ichikawa’s provocative debut chronicles a disabled woman’s sexual awakening. Shaka, a Japanese woman who lives with myotubular myopathy, a genetic disease whose symptoms include difficulty breathing and muscle weakness, is independently wealthy thanks to an inheritance from her parents. She spends her days taking online university courses and writing pornographic stories for money, which she sends to food banks and shelters for homeless young girls. Read more

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‘Mothers and Sons’ by Adam Haslett

This deeply satisfying novel is a revelation—a thoughtful, psychologically acute, beautifully written examination of intersecting lives. The characters come alive on the page, commanding readers’ attention. This novel is sure to receive accolades, and it richly deserves them. Read more

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‘State of Paradise’ by Laura van den Berg

With exquisite prose, smart lines on every page, a building sense of growing strangeness tinged with dread, and surprises all the way to the end, State of Paradise might be van den Berg’s best novel so far — and that’s saying a lot. A narrative that constantly feels like its dancing on the border between fiction and nonfiction despite all the weirdness it contains, this book is at once an adventure and a treat, a deep study of Florida’s psychogeography and a creepy story about ghosts, missing people, cults, and technology. Don’t miss it. Read more

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‘Bear’ by Julia Phillips

In the beautiful and haunting latest from Phillips (Disappearing Earth), two 20-something sisters contend with economic precarity and their mother’s terminal illness on present-day San Juan Island, Wash. Read more

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10 Writers Win 2024 Whiting Awards for Emerging Authors

Each writer will receive $50,000 to help support their craft — one of largest awards granted to new authors. A number of past Whiting winners have gone on to publish award-winning and bestselling works, including Hernan Diaz, Catherine Lacey, Colson Whitehead, Alice McDermott and Ocean Vuong. Read more

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