Slainte! A polyamorous gothic love story set in a crumbling Scottish castle, Savage Blooms is for readers who like their sex kinky and their relationships complicated. ... Read full Story
Gilbert King’s Bone Valley transcends the true crime genre, laying bare injustice and exploring the humanity of a victim, a killer and a husband wrongfully accused of murder. ... Read full Story
A constantly expanding story that never loses its warm human core, King Sorrow is a must-read for horror fans and a welcome return for Joe Hill. ... Read full Story
Equal parts disturbing and moving, The Works of Vermin explores a fantasy city infested by magical pests—including an enormous, poisonous centipede. ... Read full Story
Extremely smart, carefully plotted and well-researched, Atlas of Unknowable Things is an academic horror novel crossed with a conspiracy thriller. ... Read full Story
After fleeing an abusive marriage with her child, Betsy Cornwell transformed a historic knitting factory on the rugged coast of Ireland into a residency for writer-mothers like herself. ... Read full Story
Till We Meet Again is a riveting, skillfully crafted account of one life in World War I that provides insight into the human cost of war. ... Read full Story
The Perfect Tuba is Sam Quinones’ joyful celebration of the titular horn and a moving paean to the communities that form around it. ... Read full Story
In Melinda Taub’s fresh spin on Jane Austen’s Mary Bennet, the scholarly lady manages a Frankensteinian experiment gone awry—and falls in love with Georgiana Darcy in the process. ... Read full Story
Matisse at War is a thoroughly researched and impeccably presented portrait of one of history’s great artists and those closest to him. ... Read full Story
With wit and relish, Eleanor Johnson’s urgent Scream With Me tracks six classic horror films alongside the rise of second-wave feminism. ... Read full Story
In Quan Barry’s The Unveiling, a group of Antarctic castaways hide terrible secrets, and even the ice itself has ghastly history buried within it. ... Read full Story
Jade Chang’s What a Time To Be Alive casts a keen eye on the frenzy of social media and the disingenuous and addictive world of influencers and the influenced. ... Read full Story
“When Malika Andrews sat down to chat with ESSENCE, she was seated in her car. There was no rush in her voice, just an ease that showed how thoughtful and open she was to the experience. That balance of composure and candor is exactly what’s made her one of the most respected names in sports journalism.” — Diona Ballard, Essence, 7 Aug. 2025
Did you know?
The Latin verb candēre, meaning “to shine or glow,” has illuminated the English lexicon for centuries. It’s given us familiar words such as candle, candid, and candidate, as well as less common terms like candela (a unit of luminous intensity) and candescent (“glowing or dazzling from or as if from great heat”). Candor, another candēre descendant, arrived in English in the 14th century. Its earliest uses referred to brightness or unstained purity and innocence; today, you’re most likely to encounter candor as a word for unquestionably honest expression.