Rachel Beanland is an MFA candidate in creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University. She holds bachelor's degrees in art history and journalism from the University of South Carolina and lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and three children.
Hocus Pocus (2026) Brinda Charry "Magicians rely on misdirection to pull off their illusions, but Brinda Charry's got plenty of tricks up her own sleeve. In her second novel, Hocus Pocus, Charry blends her deep knowledge of literature with meticulous historical research to conjure 1816 Boston, where a young magician from India, by way of London, is causing quite the stir at the New Boston Museum. Unsure who he is and forced to hide the parts of himself he knows the best, Samuel Thomas must navigate a new world where no one's intentions are ever what they seem. As Samuel's fate gets tied up, inextricably, with that of the museum and its mercurial director, one thing becomes clear: a book this good is the real magic trick."
Men Like Us (2026) Carson Markland "Carson Markland's debut novel, Men Like Us, is on its surface a book about the Kennedys. But more than anything, it's about big, messy families and what happens when too many siblings are vying for their parents' love and approval; it's about ambition and the trade-offs that come with that ambition; and it's about grief and regret and the loyalty we feel toward the people we grew up with. In prose that reads like a prayer, Markland tenderly portrays the relationship between two brothers, and the sacrifices they make for each other. The fact that we know how the story ends does nothing to lessen the impact of the quiet moments when these two men dream of what could be. I loved this book."
Children of the Wild (2026) Kevin Powers "Kevin Powers's Children of the Wild is a heart-wrenching epic that takes readers from southwest Virginia to the battlefields of France to the alpine wilderness of the Bighorn Mountains and back again. Vast in its scope and intimate in its detail, Powers's newest novel tells a breathtaking story of three young people, coming together and coming of age in the early twentieth century. Children of the Wild is about friendship and love and figuring out what we believe in or if we believe in anything at all. Powers is great at writing war stories, but he's even better at writing stories about what war does to us while we're trying - with everything we've got - to hold onto our humanity. I inhaled this book."
Florenzer (2025) Phil Melanson "It's hard to say what I loved more-the luminous prose, the spectacularly layered research, or the tenderness with which Melanson approaches young Leonardo's sexual and artistic awakening. Readers who love Italy or Renaissance art will revel in all the lush details that bring 1400s Florence to life, but one needn't be an Italophile for this breathtaking piece of historical fiction to leave you utterly transfixed."
The Fisherman's Gift (2025) Julia R Kelly "As searing as a winter wind. With perfect pacing and vivid prose, Kelly shows us not just what was but what could have been, and therein lies this book's real gift."
The Lion Women of Tehran (2024) Marjan Kamali "Marjan Kamali is at it again, this time bringing us a story of friendship and love set against the tumult and terror of the Iranian Revolution. The Lion Women of Tehran is a novel about two girls, who grow up wanting very different things but are united by their affection for each other and their shared desire for a more egalitarian Iran. Kamali is a gifted storyteller at the height of her powers, who manages to connect the country's complicated history with its present and sing the praises of Iranian women who, even today, are fighting for the most basic of freedoms. If you liked The Stationery Shop, you'll love The Lion Women of Tehran."
The Painter's Daughters (2024) Emily Howes "In the tradition of Maggie O'Farrell and Tracy Chevalier, Emily Howes brings us the story of Thomas Gainsborough's two daughters, Molly and Margaret, whom she imagines were equal parts muse and millstone for the famed eighteenth-century portrait painter. Howes' thorough research and exquisite prose brings both girls to life, but it is the author's deep understanding of mental illness and how it affects families that sets the novel apart. Emily Howes is a true talent, and I did not want this book to end."
The River, The Town (2023) Farah Ali "The River, The Town shimmers like a clear, blue stream. Farah Ali's debut novel, which is set in a small town in Pakistan against the backdrop of a debilitating drought, will force you to rethink everything you ever thought you needed. Ali is a talent, and where she shines is in her ability to blend the catastrophic with the everyday. This is a book you'll want to read, but it's one you need to read, too."
The Refugee Ocean (2023) Pauls Toutonghi "Two musicians. Two countries. Two conflicts. Two time periods. Pauls Toutonghi's breathtaking new novel, The Refugee Ocean, presents two narratives that are equally engrossing yet so far removed from one another that one of the book's central questions becomes how exactly Toutonghi will ever manage to weave the two storylines together. When he eventually does, it is more like he has brought together a pair of crash cymbals. The sound is so loud and so clear and so powerful it reverberates in your ears long after you've turned the last page."
Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm (2022) Laura Warrell "Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is a sultry and subversive debut. Laura Warrell's prose sparkles, but it's what she's got to say about sex and love and being a woman that will take your breath away. This book is a love song, and Warrell knows how to hold all the right notes."
The Shore (2022) Katie Runde "The Shore was a joy to read. I loved the Dunnes from page one, and Katie Runde has so much to say about love and grief and growing up and the way we sometimes manage to learn who we are when we're in the midst of losing the person we love most."
Nine Shiny Objects (2020) Brian Castleberry "When, in 1947, a Navy pilot reports that he’s seen nine shiny objects flying over the Cascade Mountains, he sets off a chain reaction that affects nine characters, whose lives intersect in remarkable ways over the course of the following four decades. What Castleberry has written is not a novel about UFOs or cults or rock-and-roll but rather a literary saga that dauntlessly explores what it takes to believe."
