10 writers respond.
fiction
The ghosts and the not-yet-dead
Jesmyn Ward’s novel is a descent into hell on earth. I couldn't put it down.
Anjali Sachdeva is wise, insightful, and just getting started
In Sachdeva's debut story collection, magical realism meets a keen eye for character.
The talented Tara Isabella Burton
In Burton's debut novel, Louise and Lavinia represent the possibility that compulsive self-disclosure is a form of self-concealment.
A writer’s careful, surprising attention
J. D. Daniels writes beautiful letters to no one. They aren't for everyone.
The coming-of-age novel comes of age
If old age is another country, three novelists are exploring not just the peaks and valleys but also the rough places in between.
Is Jamie Quatro’s novel really about marital infidelity?
Maybe Fire Sermon is more fundamentally a parable about religion.
A life worth living, but for how long?
In their new novels, Dara Horn and Chloe Benjamin play with themes of mortality and free will.
Marilynne Robinson's beautiful, cranky nonfiction
Robinson's essays are sometimes tedious. Yet they provide glimpses of the capacious faith undergirding her novels.
We asked some of our favorite novelists and poets to tell us about three recent works of fiction that speak to them in a deep way.