The Ministry of Time

by Kaliane Bradley

What happens when an author crushes on a real-life 19th-century polar explorer's photograph? The resulting obsession developed into The Ministry of Time, a book for anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to talk to someone who lived long ago. The protagonist works for a government program that has time-traveled a sampling of humans from different years of the past to 21st-century Britain. She's assigned to live with and monitor Commander Graham Gore, kidnapped from an arctic expedition in 1847 (think Mr. Darcy plopped into the modern age). This was such a fun read and I enjoyed the thought experiment of how people from different eras would react to the peculiarities of our time period.

The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painting, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity

by Nicholas Day

Husbands

by Holly Gramazio

One Hundred Shadows

by Hwang Jungeun, translated by Jung Yewon

The Manicurist’s Daughter: A Memoir

by Susan Lieu

Part family saga, part mystery, The Manicurist's Daughter grips you right from the beginning and doesn't let go. Local author Susan Lieu was determined to publish this memoir when she was thirty-eight, the same age her mother was when she mysteriously died from plastic surgery gone wrong. Lieu's tenacious mother had been the rock that held their extended Vietnamese family together. With no understanding of the circumstances and a family who refused to discuss what happened, Lieu's search for healing over the years led her from a cult to spirit channelling to a one-woman show about her mother. This absorbing and propulsive memoir is a must-read! 

A Woman in the Polar Night

by Christiane Ritter

Night Owls

by A.R. Vishnu

Help Wanted

by Adelle Waldman

The Hidden Life of Trees: A Graphic Adaptation

by Peter Wohlleben, Fred Bernard, and Benjamin Flao

The Wildcat Behind Glass

by Alki Zei, translated by Karen Emmerich

If you're an adult who doesn't usually read middle-grade books, I highly recommend you give this one a try! Set in 1936, and originally published in Greek in 1963, this beautifully written book has just been re-released in a newly translated edition. Seven-year-old Melia and her older sister Myrto love the stories their grown-up cousin Niko tells them about the adventures of the stuffed wildcat displayed in their family's sitting room. When the girls' carefree summer is disrupted by a new authoritarian regime, suddenly there are secrets to keep and the adults are acting strangely. Even the wildcat is part of the intrigue. Will the new political landscape drive the family apart? The Wildcat Behind Glass poignantly captures a place in time through a child's eyes.