Today in Bookish and Literary History, January 14

 1832 Metzengerstein: A Tale in Imitation of the German by Edgar Allen Poe - US ⭐⭐ (My Review)

1893 Desiree’s Baby by Kate Chopin - US ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Desiree's Baby BY Kate Chopin is about the daughter of Monsieur and Madame Valmondé, who are wealthy French Creoles in antebellum Louisiana. Abandoned as a baby, Desiree was found by Monsieur Valmondé lying in the shadow of a stone pillar near the Valmondé gateway. She is courted by the son of another wealthy, well-known and respected French Creole family, Armand. They marry and have a child. People who see the baby have the sense it is different. Eventually they realize that the baby's skin is the same color as a quadroon (one-quarter African)—the baby has African ancestry. At the time of the story, this would have been considered a problem for a person believed to be white.

1963 The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - US

"Funny, intense, enormously human" (Cosmopolitan), The Bell Jar is a poignant exploration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche and remains an extraordinary accomplishment from one of the country's most luminous talents.

2020 The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez - US

A mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever.

• FINALIST FOR THE LOCUS AWARD

2020 Cleanness by Garth Greenwell - US

Cleanness revisits and expands the world of Garth Greenwell’s beloved debut, What Belongs to You, declared “an instant classic” by The New York Times Book Review. In exacting, elegant prose, he transcribes the strange dialects of desire, cementing his stature as one of our most vital living writers.

• Longlisted for the Prix Sade 2021
• Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize
• Longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize

2020 We Wish You Luck by Caroline Zancan - US

An exhilarating novel about a group of students who take revenge on a wunderkind professor after she destroys one of their own-- a story of collective drive to create, sabotage, and ultimately, to love.

2020 Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance by Zora Neale Hurston - US

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston’s “lost” Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives. These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satiric humor, as well as more serious tales reflective of the cultural currents of Hurston’s world. All are timeless classics that enrich our understanding and appreciation of this exceptional writer’s voice and her contributions to America’s literary traditions.

2020 Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener - US

Unsparing and incisive, Uncanny Valley is a cautionary tale, and a revelatory interrogation of a world reckoning with consequences its unwitting designers are only beginning to understand.

2020 Little Gods by Meng Jin - US

Combining the emotional resonance of Home Fire with the ambition and innovation of Asymmetry, a lyrical and thought-provoking debut novel that explores the complex web of grief, memory, time, physics, history, and selfhood in the immigrant experience, and the complicated bond between daughters and mothers.

• LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/OPEN BOOK AWARD

2025 Confessions by Catherine Airey - UK

A “dazzling puzzle box of a novel” (Oprah Daily) following three generations of women as decades of secrets spill out of the attic of one family’s mysterious old home in rural Ireland—a propulsive, page-turning story about the power of choice.

• Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

2025 Isaac's Song by Daniel Black - US

Poignant, sweeping and luminously told, Isaac's Song is a return to the beloved characters of Don’t Cry for Me and a high-water mark in the career of an award-winning author.

2025 The Kennedy Girl by Julia Bryan Thomas - US

The Kennedy Girl is an immersive and heart-pounding story perfect for history buffs and armchair travelers alike, with glimpses into both the propulsive Cold War era of espionage and the inner-workings of the most prestigious Parisian fashion houses.

2025 My Darling Boy by John Dufresne - US

A brilliant and gut-wrenching novel about a father and son from a “master” (Lee Martin) of the tragi-comic.

2025 Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between by L. M. Elliott - US

As a presidency unravels and the fight for women’s rights intensifies, a teen girl’s future will be determined by her willingness to seek the truth, in this stunning work of historical fiction perfect for fans of Monica Hesse and Malinda Lo.

2025 Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney - UK

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

2025 Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix - US

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (NPR).

2025 Old School by Gordon Korman - CAN

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Unteachables comes a hilarious story about a boy who is homeschooled in his grandmother’s retirement community…until he is forced to go to public school.

2025 A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay - Scotland/China

I wasn't smashing the patriarchy; I was killing it. Literally.

2025 The Forger's Requiem by Bradford Morrow - US

A gripping literary thriller that brings readers inside the world of expert forgery, rivalrous fury, and generations of dark family secrets, with Mary Shelley’s voice and life woven throughout

2025 Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor - US/Nigeria

A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it.

2025 We Lived on the Horizon by Erika Swyler - US

A complex, imaginative, and unforgettable novel, We Lived on the Horizon grapples with concepts as varied as the human desire for utopia, body horror, and what the future holds for humanity and machine alike.

2025 Ace, Marvel, Spy by Jenni L Walsh - US

Jenni L. Walsh’s Ace, Marvel, Spy brilliantly showcases the life of Alice Marble, a real-life tennis sensation known for her extraordinary talent and indomitable spirit. This fast-paced and action-packed historical novel spans multiple international settings and is enhanced by discussion questions that prompt readers to reflect on Alice’s challenges and triumphs, making it an ideal choice for book clubs.

2025 Good Girl by Aria Aber - German

In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, nineteen-year-old Nila at last finds her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist.

• Shortlisted For The Women’s Prize For Fiction
• Shortlisted for New Adult Book Prize
• Longlisted For The Center For Fiction First Novel Prize