Maureen Corrigan

Mohsin Hamid's surreal new novel centers on a white man who awakens one morning to find that his skin has turned brown. The Last White Man only seriously strains credulity at its very end.

Gabrielle Zevin's beautifully written novel Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow tells the story of two childhood friends who become legendary names in the world of video game design.

We've all heard stories about what an ordeal air travel is this summer: soaring ticket prices, overbooked and canceled flights. These suspenseful "airplane books" can help transport you.

Jean Thompson's novel follows an insecure young woman as she's drawn into a clique of poets. The Poet's House is a story about the corrosive power of shame and the primal fear of sounding stupid.

Ottessa Moshfegh's Lapvona follows the life of Marek, a 13-year-old peasant boy who lives in a cruel world of sadism and stink, cannibalism and self-flagellation.

In David Santos Donaldson's debut novel, a young gay Black man gets some supernatural relationship advice from the Black lover of a famous white British writer, both of them long dead.

Lindsey Fitzharris' new book tells the true story of Harold Gillies, a British surgeon whose team worked to reconstruct the faces of some of the 280,000 men who suffered facial trauma during WWI.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan has been diving into lighter literary novels and mysteries, searching for books suited for the beginning of summer. Here are some of her picks.

Hernan Diaz's novel is constantly pulling a fast one on the reader. It opens with the saga of a Wall Street tycoon, but soon another narrative comes to upend the truth of everything that came before.

In this droll, emotionally wrenching and profound memoir, novelist Brian Morton attempts to see his mother as a whole person — not just in relation to him, or, God forbid, as an eccentric "character."

Mandel's latest work is an ingeniously constructed, deeply absorbing novel that summons up three fully realized worlds in three distinct time periods — including the 25th century.

Scottish author Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize for his debut novel, Shuggie Bain, in 2020. His latest work is a suspense story wrapped around a novel of acute psychological observation.

Hamilton was the most award-winning YA author in American literary history, and the first Black author to win a Newbery Medal. A new collection showcases five of her most haunting novels.

In Julie Otsuka's novel, a rag-tag group of regulars is disrupted when a crack appears at the bottom of the community pool. The Swimmers explores how mundane routines shape our days.

Julia May Jonas' debut novel centers around a women's lit professor whose feminist credentials are jeopardized because of her husband's bad behavior — and by her own relationship with a colleague.

Tessa Hadley's sharp new novel centers on a middle-aged wife and mother who falls for a much younger musician. Free Love is a domestic novel that's as eclectic and alive as the times it captures.

Hanya Yanagihara's much anticipated 700-page novel is a deliberately difficult work, made of up dazzling moments that tend lose their luster when pressed together.

Set in the claustrophobic world of academia, Mark Prins' debut novel is saturated with references to Classical mythology and, like the best thrillers, is ingenious in its sinister simplicity.

Tabitha Lasley spent six months in Aberdeen, Scotland, interviewing men who work on offshore oil rigs. Along the way, she had an all-consuming affair with one of the very first men she interviewed.

Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan says 2021 was a spectacular year for literary fiction. As such, her annual Best Books list is exclusively composed of novels and short story collections.