Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (Harper Perennial, 2001): I just finished Bel Canto recently, even though it’s old. It’s evocative and original and suspenseful and funny, but more than anything the language is so rich, it’s perfect to languish in around a pool on a hot summer day.
Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025): If you didn’t get to it when it came out last year, summer feels like a perfect time to pick up this debut about a church community brought to its knees when the pastor’s son reveals himself to be someone the congregation never would have expected.
Hard Times by Jeff Boyd (Flatiron Books, March 17): After one of his students is shot, a burnt-out Chicago public school teacher finds himself at odds with his brother-in-law cop, but family tensions are just the beginning of the mystery this book seeks to uncover.
Xochitl Gonzalez’s most recent book is Last Night in Brooklyn (Flatiron Books, April 21).
