NYT Books

Jon Kalman Stefansson’s novel “Heaven and Hell” recounts a 19th-century fishing trip and its aftermath.

Joseph O’Connor’s novel “The Ghosts of Rome” explores a World War II resistance network based in the Vatican.

Call her Ruth, or Baby, or Sunday: A San Francisco sex worker’s carefully compartmentalized life starts to unravel in Brittany Newell’s vivid “Soft Core.”

In “The Age of Choice,” Sophia Rosenfeld questions whether choosing — what to buy, whom to vote for — is actually worth it.

In Anne Tyler’s new novel, a socially inept mother faces hurdles in her personal, professional and family lives.

A new biography of Charles W. Chesnutt, by Tess Chakkalakal, explains the friendships and tensions he had with his white literary contemporaries.

In “Memorial Days,” Geraldine Brooks retreats to an island off Australia hoping to pick up the pieces after the sudden death of her husband.

“Something Rotten,” Andrew Lipstein’s latest examination of male self-delusion, finds a Brooklyn journalist falling under the sway of a Svengali.

Allegra Goodman’s novel “Isola” tells the story of a 16th-century Frenchwoman’s extraordinary fight for survival.

In Julie Iromuanya’s novel “A Season of Light,” a Nigerian American family in Florida experiences aftershocks from their father’s trauma during the Biafran War.