New Books for May

What's new in fiction and mystery for May? Here are a few titles:

Brooks, Geraldine. Caleb’s Crossing.

In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Geraldine Brooks creates a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure.

Haigh, Jennifer. Faith.

Estranged for years from her difficult and demanding relatives, Sheila McGann has remained close to her older brother Art, the popular, dynamic pastor of a large suburban parish. When Art finds himself at the center of the maelstrom, Sheila returns to Boston, ready to fight for him and his reputation. What she discovers is more complicated than she imagined.

O’Brien, Edna. Saints and Sinners: Stories.
With her inimitable gift for describing the workings of the heart and mind, Edna O'Brien introduces us to a vivid new cast of restless, searching people who-whether in the Irish countryside or London or New York-remind us of our own humanity. Included here are stories about family, class, the “Troubles,” and a librarian awaiting a great poet at a Dublin hotel.

Parker, Robert B. Sixkill.

Alas for fans, this is Spenser’s final outing, as Parker died last January. On location in Boston, bad-boy actor Jumbo Nelson is accused of the rape and murder of a young woman. From the start the case seems fishy, so the Boston PD calls on Spenser to investigate. The situation doesn't look good for Jumbo, whose appetites for food, booze, and sex are as outsized as his name. He was the studio's biggest star, but he's become their biggest liability.

Prose, Francine. My New American Life.

An Albanian living surreptitiously in New York City on an expiring tourist visa, twenty-six year old Lula hopes to make a better life for herself in America. When she lands a job as caretaker to Zach, a rebellious high school senior in suburban New Jersey, it seems that the security, comfort, and happiness of the American dream might finally be within reach.

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