Francis-Sharma, Lauren. Casualties of Truth. Atlantic Monthly. Feb. 2025. ISBN 9780802163783. 272p. $27. LITERARY FICTION

Prudence Wright has created a successful life in Washington, DC, years after her traumatic time in South Africa, where she attended the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee as a law student. When someone from her past reappears, though, that life is threatened. From the author of Book of the Little Axe, nominated for the Huston/Wright Legacy Award.

Ivey, Eowyn. Black Woods, Blue Sky. Random. Feb. 2025. ISBN 9780593231029. 320p. $29. LITERARY FICTION

Bestselling Ivey, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Snow Child, reimagines “Beauty and the Beast.” After scarred, reclusive Arthur Neilsen rescues Emaleen from the woods one day, her mom Birdie falls for him and his remote home in the mountains, but Arthur’s secret and the dangerous Alaskan wilderness threaten their new idyllic life.

Peters, Amanda. Waiting for the Long Night Moon: Stories. Catapult. Feb. 2025. ISBN 9781646222599. NAp. $27. LITERARY FICTION

Peters debuted with the bestselling novel The Berry Pickers, which won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize. A writer of Mi’kmaq and settler ancestry, she continues to explore Indigenous experiences in this collection of short stories that portray grief, joy, trauma, and resilience.

Smith, Ali. Gliff. Pantheon. Feb. 2025. ISBN 9780593701560. 272p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

The book’s title comes from a Scottish word meaning a shock or a faint glimpse, which is appropriate for award-winning Smith’s (Companion Piece) genre-bending near-future novel, expected to be the first in a duology. The story explores the search for meaning and the importance of humanity in an uncertain future, where algorithms and data predict, dominate, and divide.