The beauty of Kirkus’ best books coverage is that we include fiction of every kind. Within the 100 titles celebrated here, you’ll find the best mysteries and thrillers, the best romance, the best science fiction and fantasy, the best books in translation, the best short stories and family sagas and historical novels. Here are a few I found particularly memorable.
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Knopf, Jan. 23) is one of those books that takes a big swing. Cyrus Shams is a 30ish Iranian American trying to make his life matter; he’s working on a project called The Book of Martyrs, traveling from Indiana to New York to meet a terminally ill artist who’s spending her final days in conversation with visitors to the Brooklyn Museum. “The novel is talky, ambitious, allusive, deeply meditative.…It succeeds so well on its own terms that even the novel’s occasional flaws…don’t mar the experience in any significant way,” according to our review.
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (Flatiron, April 9): In this historical fantasy, Bardugo introduces Luzia Cotado, a crypto-Jew in 16th-century Madrid who casts spells to help in her work as a scullion maid: She makes burned bread edible and repairs shattered goblets. When her talents come to the attention of powerful people, she’s thrust into a magical contest with life-and-death repercussions. Our starred review says “lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting sweep readers into a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric.”
Isabel and the Rogue by Liana De la Rosa (Berkley, June 4): In this strikingly contemporary Victorian romance, Isabel Luna is stuck in London spying for her homeland, Mexico, in its fight against the French invasion. Captain Sirius Dawson secretly works for the Home Office. When they meet in a room neither is supposed to be in, sparks fly. Our starred review says the book “has a rich combination of suspense and complex character development.”
All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead, May 14): For a while, it seemed like everyone was reading this book—at least everyone in my demographic. A woman sets off on a road trip from LA to NYC for work but winds up checking into a motel only miles from where she left her family and tries to figure out the rest of her life. “This tender, strange treatise on getting out from the ‘prefab structures’ of a conventional life is quintessentially July,” according to our review.
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud (Norton, May 14): Messud’s masterful novel is based on her own family’s story; it begins with a French Algerian couple uprooted by WWII and follows their children and grandchildren across decades and continents. Our starred review calls it “brilliant and heart-wrenching; Messud is one of contemporary literature’s best.”
God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer by Joseph Earl Thomas (Grand Central, June 18): This gripping stream-of-consciousness debut is narrated by Joseph Thomas, an Army veteran working as an ER technician at a Philadelphia hospital. At the end of a long shift, he’s waiting for a friend to bring him an Otis Spunkmeyer muffin and thinking about his life. “This is an astonishingly accomplished novel, often funny, often tragic.…Just stunning,” says our starred review. (Read our recent interview with the author.)
Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor.
