NYT Books

Our columnist on the books that wowed her this year.

In “Cape Fever,” a young maid finds herself dealing with ghosts from the past and a manipulative employer.

An award-winning poet and writer of fiction, she moonlighted as a competitive horsewoman and owned a horse farm outside Columbia, S.C.

In “The Sea Captain’s Wife,” Tilar J. Mazzeo tells the thrilling story of Mary Ann Patten, the first female captain of a merchant clipper ship.

James Marshall’s “George and Martha” books are witty and complex in their depictions of transformative friendship.

Here are the books our columnist loved the most this year.

The notebooks of Albert Camus, the French philosopher and novelist, have been collected in a single volume for the first time.

Our columnist picks the year’s outstanding books.

In her 40s, the self-described New Jersey housewife started building a women’s fiction empire, churning out dozens of popular books.

This season’s bounty includes volumes on far-out artists, unusual cats and enviable gardens.