"When was the last time you heard a Muslim woman speak for herself without a filter? In 2016, Mariam Khan read that David Cameron had linked the radicalization of Muslim men to the 'traditional submissiveness' of Muslim women. Mariam felt pretty sure she didn't know a single Muslim woman who would describe herself that way. Why was she hearing about Muslim women from people who were neither Muslim, nor female? Years later the state of the national...

While waiting to hear whether his newest play will be approved for production, playwright Rudian Stefa is called in for questioning by the Party Committee. A girl -- Linda B. -- has been found dead, with a signed copy of his latest book in her possession. He soon learns that Linda's family, considered suspect, was exiled to a small town far from the capital, and that she committed suicide. Under the influence of a paranoid regime, Rudian finds himself...

“[A] powerful, thought-provoking novel… not only important and timely, but deeply humanizing.” —Good Morning America
“Remarkable.” —The Washington Post
“Powerful. Dramatic. Insightful…. It’s not only a timely novel, but storytelling at its finest – a must-read.” —NPR
An NPR Books We Love selection for 2023
A...

"Will Kiehn is an 'ordinary man, ' seemingly destined for life as a humble farmer in the Midwest, when, having felt a call from God, he moves to the vast North China Plain in 1906. There he is surprised by love and weds a strong and determined fellow missionary, Katherine, who is also a dedicated nurse. Early in their marriage Will and Katherine find themselves witnesses to the crumbling of a more than two-thousand-year old dynasty, which plunges...

"A searing, deeply personal memoir of a tenacious Afghan girl who educated herself behind closed doors and fought her way to a new life. Sola Mahfouz was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1996. That same year, the Taliban took over her country for the first time. They banned television and photographs, presided over brutal public executions, and turned the clock backwards on women's rights, practically imprisoning women within their own homes and...

This book looks at the origins of the bubonic plague that ravaged the medieval world in the late 1340s and traces its march through Europe as it killed one third of the population.