Fiction Reviews

Addie, an American missionary in China in the latter part of the 19th century, leaves her husband and children and the confines of a restrictive enclave to venture into the more remote parts of the country with a widowed missionary with whom she has become enamored. A hard worker in the construction trade, a devoted husband and father and a man of strong moral principles, he wants to parlay his earnings into stock market investments. (Aug.) Review by Staff The Shape of Bones, Penguin Press, Daniel Galera, Alison Entrekin, 25 (240p) ISBN 978-1-59420-548-4 A strikingly potent coming-of-age story set mostly on the streets of Esplanada, a rapidly changing area in northeast Brazil in the early 1990s, Galera's novel moves seamlessly between past and present to deliver a moving portrait of a man haunted by the ghosts of his youth and a senseless tragedy that would change the course of his life. Honey meets Chavez, a young "coyote" or human trafficker, who claims to know the whereabouts of her mother, and offers to pay him to guide her to Marianne. [...]begins a parched journey through the desert heat and into the stories of Chavez, his friend Juan, and those desperate to immigrate. (July) Web Exclusive by Staff In on the Great Joke, Coach House Books, Laura Broadbent, 17.95 (64p) ISBN 978-1-55245-336-0 Broadbent's wry, delightful collection is a high-wire act of humor and hybridized poetry forms.