From its first breath, the narrative is a visceral movement through the hiemal season, imbricating what is familiar and comforting “to honor the dark with festivals of light,” with an ominous, collective disquiet, as boys string garlands of bulbs on the houses of neighbors for pocket money, children skate and sled across frozen landscapes full of hidden treacheries, candlelight burns in frosted windows, and a fireplace roars with erotic charge.

The Devoted, Blair Hurley’s stunning literary debut, pushes the boundaries of the traditional coming-of-age novel, offering instead a haunting, provocative tale of self-discovery and transformation in the fallout of exploitation and devastating loss.

Driven by a fierce social consciousness and deep compassion, the novels of Carrie La Seur offer a complex and nuanced view into the social fabric of the West, specifically the more rural communities of southern Montana. With a piercing clarity and rich lyrical style reminiscent of Willa Cather, La Seur’s fiction probes issues of family, identity and belonging in a time of uncertainty and fear.

Fred Marchant’s powerful new collection Said Not Said, recently published by Graywolf Press, examines the necessities of life and survival in a world ravaged by war, violence, illness and political corruption.