Hester

Christopher Bigsby, C. W. E. Bigsby. Penguin Books, $15 (208pp) ISBN 978-0-14-023811-2

British scholar Bigsby takes as the subject of his first novel the early life of Hester Prynne in this ``prequel'' to The Scarlet Letter. (Sept.)

Featured Fiction Reviews

Erin Somers

Somers (Stay Up with Hugo Best) offers a wry and ingenious tale of marital infidelity. Cora and Eliot live in the Hudson Valley with their two small children. Having moved there Continue reading »

Megha Majumdar

Majumdar (A Burning) spins a luminous story of a family facing climate catastrophe and food scarcity in near-future Kolkata. It revolves around a mother known only as Ma, who Continue reading »

Anna North

The discovery of a woman’s body in an English bog kicks off the piercing latest from North (Outlawed). It’s 2018 and American forensic scientist Dr. Agnes Linstrom is tasked Continue reading »

Souvankham Thammavongsa

Thammavongsa, author of the Giller-winning story collection How to Pronounce Knife, crafts a stunning portrait of a solitary woman. Ning, a “family of one” at 42, lives in a Continue reading »