Singer Distance

by Ethan Chatagnier

Singer Distance by Ethan Chatagnier is not a sci-fi novel, despite the presence of crop circles and the fact that scientists of Earth have been communicating with Mars for nearly a century. Instead, this is a novel about loneliness, choices, and love (of people, but mainly of math). When four MIT grad students believe that one of them has finally solved the most recent (yet three-decades-old) mathematical proof that beings on Mars carved into the red planet’s surface, they embark on an epic road trip to Arizona to carve their answer into the Earth. When Mars answers, one of the four—brilliant mathematician Crystal Singer—disappears, driven by her obsession to understand Mars’s latest proof. Her boyfriend struggles to understand her state of mind and the choices she made. This beautifully written debut novel is a love letter to science and exploration, and will change the way you look at the stars—and possibly those you love.

Pope Joan

by Donna Woolfolk Cross

The Christie Affair

by Nina de Gramont

I love to read novels about libraries, bookstores, or authors, especially if there’s a kernel of historical truth in there. Nina de Gramont’s new novel, The Christie Affair, imagines what really happened when Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days in 1926. After a massive manhunt across England, Christie reappeared in a hotel, claiming she didn’t remember what happened. The Christie Affair imagines that time from the point of view of her husband’s mistress. Why did his mistress, who didn’t love Archie, put in motion a plan that took years to see to fruition, to steal him away from Agatha? And what exactly happened to Agatha in those 11 days? Did she really not remember, or was she simply trying to reclaim her life? The best novels find a way to make every character sympathetic in some way, to help the reader understand why they made less than honorable choices, and I found myself alternately rooting for different characters throughout the book. The book left a deep impression on me, still echoing months later.

Daisy Darker

by Alice Feeney

Lessons in Chemistry

by Bonnie Garmus

Elizabeth Zott is my new hero. As a scientist in the 1960s, she has to contend with ingrained sexism not just in the world in general, but especially in the world of science, where her male colleagues routinely ask for her input yet never give her credit. Those same men relentlessly comment on her looks (yes, Zott rhymes with hot); then they fire her for being unmarried and pregnant. So, what does she do? She somehow stumbles into hosting a daytime cooking show on a local TV station. But she doesn’t pander to her audience of housewives. Oh, no. Instead, she teaches them science (using only the scientific words for, say, salt and vinegar, and explaining how different types of chemical bonds work in baking). And along the way, she ushers in a nationwide revolution of women standing up for themselves and their brains and their future. Throw in intense personal loss, a dog that understands and responds to hundreds of words (that dog deserves his own book, so I’m crossing my fingers for a sequel!), and a daughter who is beyond precocious, and you get a novel that is smart, funny, heartbreaking, maddening, and inspiring. And one that I just can’t stop thinking about. In fact, it’s my favorite novel from the past year.

The Midnight Library

by Matt Haig

The Anomaly

by Hervé Le Tellier

A World of Curiosities

by Louise Penny

The Maids

by Nita Prose

For fans of 2018’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, I give you The Maid by Nita Prose. Protagonist Molly Gray is also ... different. She’s exceedingly good at her job as a maid at the high-end Regency Grand Hotel, where her daily goal is to return each room to “a state of perfection.” But she sees the world as very black and white. To the reader, she’s clearly on the spectrum, although most of her co-workers just think she’s kind of weird. That outsider status makes her an easy target for being taken advantage of by so-called friends, as she gets sucked into a murder mystery at the hotel. But, as in Eleanor Oliphant, there is so much more to Molly than what co-workers and hotel guests see on the surface. And as Molly slowly reveals her back story, the reader is soon rooting for her story’s ending to be perfection.

A Gentleman in Moscow

by Amor Towles