Simon Van Booy’s debut novel, Everything Beautiful Began After, follows three characters: Rebecca, a gifted artist; George, a drunken intellectual; and Henry, an accomplished archaeologist, as they find love, friendship, and forgiveness.

Siri Hustvedt is a scholar of many trades, and has written about psychoanalysis, neuroscience, philosophy, art, and literature. She’s the author of nine books of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry, including the international best-selling novel, What I Loved, about the friendship between an artist and art historian.