Sometimes fiction is more than simply entertaining or moving; in the skillful hands of Rose Tremain (Trespass) it is utterly exquisite. She deftly exposes both the absurdity and the melancholy that are synonymous with the human experience. The American Lover is a dark, candid and unforgettable collection of short stories.

Unusual situations and even odder characters make for intriguing bedfellows in Tremain's book. The titular story follows the ruin of a once-famous and gorgeous woman who cannot get over a past beau likely not worth the dirt on her shoe. Another portrays an upper-crust young lady who chooses money and misery over her passionate love for a poor construction worker. An adult daughter finally breaks ties with her cruel mother, while in another story a loving couple finds the strength to escape from a freeloading child of their own. Finally, seizing on rumors of a dead writer's sexuality, Tremain brings Daphne du Maurier back to life as a closet lesbian. This impressive collection of stories steeped in heartache and longing will leave readers wondering in admiration how Tremain can effortlessly bring to life so many varied characters.

The recurring themes of disappointing relationships, thwarted love affairs and unfulfilled expectations are expressed without sentimentalism, and the book is far more realistic than maudlin. These stories will resonate with anyone who enjoys Tremain's atypical take on the mundane. Her fantastic writing makes this read the perfect companion. --Natalie Papailiou, author of blog MILF: Mother I'd Like to Friend

Ariana Franklin (aka Diana Norman), author of the acclaimed Mistress of the Art of Death series, died in 2011 before completing The Siege Winter. But her daughter Samantha Norman finished the novel, allowing readers to enjoy Franklin's exciting historical fiction once again.

The year is 1141. England is in the grip of a civil war, as Empress Matilda and King Stephen battle for the throne after the death of Henry I. The chaos means that lawless men roam unhindered, and Emma, a young girl from the fens, is kidnapped by a depraved monk, brutally raped and left for dead. Gwyl, a kindhearted mercenary archer, finds Emma and nurses her back to health, disguising her as a boy and renaming her Penda. Little do Gwyl and Penda know that their paths will soon cross with the Empress herself.

Meanwhile, Maud of Kenniford has been forced into marriage with a loutish, much older man, because her castle and lands are considered vital to Stephen's cause. Defying her husband, Maud makes a treaty with Matilda's forces, triggering events that will lead to a long winter's siege.

Although the subject matter is grim, the jocular attitude of several of the main characters makes The Siege Winter surprisingly amusing. Penda's feistiness, Gwyl's determination and Maud's intransigence are all likable qualities, and the vividly depicted historical setting will keep the reader simultaneously engaged but sad at the knowledge that Franklin won't be writing any more books. Fans of British history and historical fiction are sure to love the intrigue and scope of The Siege Winter. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm

Shannon Burke (Black Flies) sets Into the Savage Country at a pivotal moment in American history. In the late 1820s, American, Spanish and British trappers and adventurers are battling for supremacy in the western territories. These ragtag and fiercely loyal mountain men understand that their triumph or failure may affect the future for their respective nations.

Young William Wyeth, resolved to make his fortune in the West as a means to win the hand of the lovely widow Alene, sets out on a trapping expedition of breathtaking scope. The small brigade Wyeth joins is determined to trap in untouched Crow lands, but they are drawn into disputes between the Crow, Blackfoot and Gros Ventre tribes. With the British backing some tribes and the Spanish refusing southern passage, it will take all their wits to escape back to St. Louis, Mo., with their furs and their lives.

Told from Wyeth's point of view, Into the Savage Country pays homage to an often overlooked period in American history. There to witness the destruction of buffalo herds and the decimation of fur animals, Wyeth muses on the changes in both the burgeoning United States and himself. And as the months pass, Wyeth's bonds with his fellow brigade members cause him to rethink his ideas of friendship and bravery.

A quiet little novel, written in a spare style that belies the excitement between its covers, Into the Savage Country is a glimpse back to an almost forgotten lifestyle, and an era in which the wealth of a continent beckoned the adventurous. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm

The world of book publishing isn't known for its murderous intrigues--unless an author fails to submit a salable manuscript on time. After her most reliably lucrative women's fiction author turns in a pile of sludge, London editor Samantha Clair is seeing red. But when Sam's favorite client--Kit Lovell, a fashion biographer whose new book contains a slew of juicy secrets--goes missing along with his manuscript, Sam puts aside her red pen to hunt for clues. In her first novel, A Murder of Magpies, social historian Judith Flanders (The Invention of Murder) concocts a well-plotted whodunit with a side of whip-smart satire.

Flanders uses Sam, who describes herself as "a middle-aged, middlingly successful editor," to provide a sardonic insider's perspective on publishing: the endless meetings, the constant posturing by editors hungry to snap up the next bestseller, the complete impossibility of getting any reading done during the workday. As Kit's disappearance consumes her thoughts, Sam leaves her assistant to deal with the troublesome manuscript from their star client--and the sleight-of-hand solution to their problem will delight readers.

In her search for Kit, Sam gets a bit of help from her lawyer mother, Helena, and handsome police inspector Jake Field. The romance between Sam and Jake is not quite believable--chiefly because Sam refuses to admit to her feelings--but Jake provides a clear-headed, professional counterpoint to Sam's impulsive amateur sleuth. The solution to the mystery falls a bit flat, but Flanders's razor-sharp wit makes this a satisfying read. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

In 1932, a German scientist accidentally unleashes a worldwide quantum event, the Change, which randomly bestows superhuman abilities and agelessness on a few thousand humans. An alternate 20th century is defined by these changed people, or Übermenschen, as the Nazis come to call them.

The Violent Century follows two Übermenschen, Oblivion and Fogg, agents in Britain's top secret Retirement Bureau. Their story winds through covert operations in World War II, Vietnam, Soviet-controlled Afghanistan and beyond, skipping among these past events and a present-era interrogation with their boss, the Old Man.

Fogg, who can create and control fog, and Oblivion, who can erase objects from existence, befriend each other at a boot camp for British people who've been changed. Together they face off against terrifying Nazi Übermenschen on the Eastern Front and in the ruins of postwar Berlin, where a secret drives them apart for the next 60 years. Oblivion continues his clandestine service while Fogg slinks off into obscurity, until the Old Man reunites them for a fateful debriefing.

Lavie Tidhar (Osama) blends the gritty superhero realism of Watchmen and the Cold War espionage of John le Carré with a dash of noir into something truly special in The Violent Century. His universe is stunningly constructed, at once realistic and fantastic in all the right ways. Tidhar's staccato prose is succinct and evocative, though it could possibly be jarring to some readers. Speculative fiction and fantasy fans of all tastes would do well not to miss this engrossing story. --Tobias Mutter, freelance reviewer

Of course, it is possible to live without knowing every item in 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know About Math & the Arts. However, just dipping into this collection is likely to open up new perspectives for the reader on the beauties and underlying structures of our world.

No math education is necessary to understand many of these little two-to-three-page entries. The most mathematically demanding chapters require a basic grasp of algebra and geometry. John D. Barrow (Mathletics) is a Cambridge University mathematics professor and author of more than 19 books. He has a clear and pleasantly relaxed writing style that inspires confidence and curiosity.

There is no particular order to the entries, though many of them relate to each other. His definitions of "the arts" and "math" are generous, covering all kinds of beauty, patterns and designs alongside physics, engineering and technology. He discusses logical paradoxes, infinity in the forms of a wedding cake and a hotel, lace-up shoes and the identifying fractal structure of Jackson Pollock paintings. How does a dancer appear to pause midair in the middle of a grand jeté? What makes music appealing? Where should you stand to get the best view of one of those public statues on a tall pedestal? Why are qualities like beauty, truth or genius listable but not quantifiable? Not everyone will find all 100 topics fascinating, but anyone can find plenty of food for thought and wonder in the majority of them. --Sara Catterall

In a heart-searing memoir, journalist Mac McClelland (For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question) recounts her struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the love that inspired her to overcome it.

While covering the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010, McClelland witnessed a rape. Although her past was anything but uneventful--not only had she covered other major international stories but she and her ex-husband were among the hundreds of thousands displaced by Hurricane Katrina--her reaction to the stress of this particular incident was unusual.

The one bright spot in her assignment was meeting Nico, a gorgeous French soldier dispatched as a peacekeeper in Haiti during the crisis. Once back in the United States, though, McClelland found her symptoms--physical numbness, night terrors, uncontrollable crying--had followed her home. The diagnosis of PTSD shocked her, since she wasn't even the victim. However, as she began to suffer hallucinations, crippling depression and suicidal thoughts, McClelland knew she had to take her condition seriously.

As McClelland learned firsthand, societal views of PTSD still reflect a victim-blaming mentality, and the rejection and ridicule she faced is painful to read. Readers should rest assured that her romance with Nico balances out the more dire aspects of her story: "I wanted to feel myself in the world so I could feel the best thing the world had to offer, and that was Nico's love." This no-holds-barred account of wading through the agony and debilitation of severe trauma to find deep love on the other side will leave readers shaken but hopeful. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Perspective can be a challenging quality to maintain in the rapidly shifting sociopolitics of the Internet Age. How does one cultivate a habit of seeing issues from many sides? For critically acclaimed novelist Mohsin Hamid (The Reluctant Fundamentalist), the habit formed when trading one continent for the next. Living in Pakistan, the United States and England for significant periods of his life has afforded him a sharp perspective on an array of cultural forces. The short, crisp essays in Discontent and Its Civilizations are empathic yet critical reflections on family, nationalism, sex, economics, Islamophobia, literature, violence and other expressions of humanity.

In more personal essays, Hamid offers glimpses into his relationships and writing life. From a young age he has been attuned to the phenomenon of globalization. In the essay "Once Upon a Life" he describes how, at nine years old, he returned to Pakistan for the first time after spending his early boyhood in California, where he had forgotten Urdu for English. "It is a funny thing," he observes with the kind of wary wonderment threaded throughout the missives in this collection, "to lose your first language." To hear him tell it, the world is full of dazzling sights and lush experiences to those who seek them, but he never overlooks their consequences, either.

Affable and concise, Hamid also proves he is a journalist capable of distilling politically charged conflict into a compelling, measured form. Whether discussing Pakistani independence or the harrowing nature of U.S. drone strikes, Hamid pares his viewpoints to give readers not oversimplifications but, rather, perspective. --Dave Wheeler, publishing assistant, Shelf Awareness

In the introduction to his humbly powerful debut work, Chris Hoke says he is trying to "paint God" through a series of wanted posters. These posters share the vulnerable and human side of individuals written off by society--cast off to prisons, deportations or even locked Dumpsters. The character sketches also illustrate Hoke's own spiritual awakening.

Drawn to prayer early in life--but not in a way that was easy to define and pursue--Hoke tried formal college studies and informal conversations with church leaders, but it wasn't until he undertook a volunteer position with Tierra Nueva, a Christian ministry in Washington State, that he found the fulfillment he sought.

At Tierra Nueva, Hoke helped migrant workers navigate the legal system and served as chaplain in a men's correctional institution. He met with hardened criminals in Bible study groups and one-on-one prayer sessions, learning more about them than what was apparent from their tattoos and rap sheets. As that young man, dubbed "pastor" by his flock, grew in the role, he experienced amazing connections--both emotionally and mystically--that drive and devastate him.

Wanted is Chris Hoke's story of self-discovery as defined by the people he has encountered. It is a beacon of faith and hope, but it's also a compelling commentary on the U.S penal system and the callous disregard for the bodies and souls crushed by it. Hoke notes a parallel between his life and that of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of safe travels, but readers are likely to identify a parallel with another famous shepherd--and wanted man--in Christianity. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts

How did the Romans express fractions? Why do some shellfish turn red when cooked? Why have humans developed different blood types and is there an evolutionary advantage? Why does freshly fallen snow squeak and creak when you step on it? When will Mount Everest cease to be the tallest mountain on the planet? Why do we sometimes get a tune or refrain stuck in our heads, and play it over and over again, even though it's driving us crazy?

Amateur experts have spent years answering just these sorts of intriguing questions in the pages of the weekly U.K.-based popular science magazine New Scientist. Their Last Word q&a column prints readers' (usually somewhat offbeat) questions and invites other readers to answer. Readers, some scientists, some not, write in with their own explanations and anecdotes, or respond to other answers they found lacking. Know It All: 132 Head-Scratching Questions About the Science All Around Us follows, among others, Does Anything Eat Wasps? and Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? as another "best of" Last Word collection.

Know It All is an entertaining and intellectually stimulating read, probably most enjoyable in short bursts or opened to a random page. The book has two major conflicting downsides: the "authors" often lack any credentials beyond their own apparent scientific knowledge, and the answers occasionally become esoteric quagmires, making Know It All at once too rudimentary for some audiences and too advanced for others. Still, it should appeal to a middle ground of readers with general science interest. --Tobias Mutter, freelance reviewer

In Trisha Springstubb's (What Happened on Fox Street) poignant novel of leaving childhood, Flor's best friend moves away from Moonpenny Island, and she begins to see the world differently, and to open others' eyes, too.

Eleven-year-old Flor O'Dell and Sylvie Pinch are "each other's perfect friend." It doesn't matter that Sylvie's father is the wealthy mayor and Flor's father is the island's only police officer. But then Sylvie's family sends her to the mainland to a private school. Now, after all the summer people leave the island, Flor will be the only student in sixth grade. Worse yet, she'll have Mrs. Defoe, who doubles as the principal and wears only brown. Sylvie made Flor promise to look after her brother, who drives too fast and has now dropped out of school. Will Sylvie blame Flor? And Flor's mother goes to take care of Flor's sick grandmother and doesn't come back.

Finally a new girl arrives: Jasper, whose geologist father tells Flor, "Your island is a tectonic treasure trove." They help her see the island anew, and to fill the gaping hole that first Sylvie, then Flor's mother, burrowed inside Flor when they left.

Springstubb beautifully mines the possibilities of how experience changes a child's view of her surroundings. As Flor tries to keep her family together, she also reintroduces Mrs. Defoe to passages in Anne of Green Gables that inspire the teacher to wear yellow and pink. Readers come to realize that, whether or not Flor's mother returns home, Flor will be okay. "Maybe the real trick of seeing," she thinks, "is the kind that lets you see through someone else's eyes." --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness

Linda Booth Sweeney (The Systems Thinking Playbook), making her children's book debut, and Jana Christy (How to Hug) pay homage to the changing of seasons in this picture book tale of a warmhearted family and their cozy seaside home.

Laundry wafts on the line as a child and dog peer out of an upstairs window in a blue-roofed cape house. "When the wind blows..." reads the opening line in a hand-lettered purple that matches the home's exterior. "Windows rattle./ Doors creeaaak./ Chimes sing./ We peek," the text continues in white type that pops against cornflower blue skies. Grandma takes the boy and dog out to fly a yellow kite, while his mother, clad in a blue coat, pushes a baby in a red stroller. A lighthouse hints at a nearby body of water, and cows complete the pastoral scene. "Trees dance./ Spiders curl./ Mice shiver./ Leaves swirl." The beach grasses in Christy's multimedia art mimic the swirl of the leaves, where children can spy a spider's web and two mice taking refuge. The repetition of "When the wind blows..." gives the story its structure, and Christy adds a visual storyline. As the child loses hold of the kite and impatiently pursues it (his mother recovers the kite), Grandma waves at a sailor and a top hat blows off the groom departing the church. "Skies darken./ Thunder booms," driving everyone inside.

Sweeney pens rhyming couplets that softly mimic spring breezes, while Christy balances bird's eye-view perspectives with intimate portraits of this closely knit family. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness

First-time author Dev Petty's funny dialogue between a small unsatisfied frog and a bespectacled adult frog comes delightfully to life with Mike Boldt's minimalist illustrations.

"I want to be a cat," says the seated small frog's speech bubble, with "cat" in red all-capital letters. "You can't be a cat," answers the adult, standing in an authoritative position. "Why not?" asks the small frog from the opposite page, with only his head visible from the lower right-hand corner. "Because you're a frog," the reasonable adult replies. "I don't like being a Frog. It's too wet," says the small frog, waist-deep in a pond. This exchange repeats as the small frog cites other animals he'd prefer (a rabbit, a pig, an owl), and frog characteristics he dislikes (too slimy, too much bug eating). He even tells the adult frog he'd be okay eating garbage as a pig ("Everyone says that until they eat garbage. Sorry, you can't be a Pig," the adult responds). But a big furry creature enters the picture that helps the frog feel grateful to be who he is.

Color-coded speech balloons help guide youngest readers through the action, and a variety of compositions increase the humor (as when the older frog walks the younger one through a chart of owl attributes). Petty and Boldt provide just enough predictability to hook youngest readers, then deliver a delightful twist or two to create surprise and satisfaction--for both the green hero and the many fans he'll make with this book. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness