Roz Milner

Unfolding like a thriller, People Collide is as much about marriage and what draws people together (and apart) as it is about gender or art.

A tightrope walk of a novel, Catherine Lacey’s Biography of X deftly weaves speculative fiction and fact into a story about love and abuse, a relationship turned sour and the lengths one will go to for their art.

Cecilia Gentili writes of being dirt-poor, a dysfunctional relationship with her parents, and sexual abuse. At times one wonders how she managed to escape with her life. But it’s not a downer of a book—Faltas is funny, and tells its story with charm and grace.

In a series of stories mostly set in modern-day South Korea, Bora Chung writes of heads coming up out of toilets, robots that fall in love and unexpected pregnancies. Her stories read like parables, where decisions made for business’s sake have long and supernatural repercussions.

Sarah L. Taggart’s remarkable debut plays with being a psychological thriller, working in elements of a love story. Never patronizing or judgmental, what sets Pacifique apart is how Taggart writes about mental health.