At long last, it’s that time again: As spring gives way to summer, readers can transition from huddling under blankets to sprawling out in parks, novels in hand. Here’s to lazy, sun-drenched afternoons spent lost in stories, and to lapping up novellas in one sitting.
Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
Out July 30. I was immediately taken with protagonist Mei Brown, a Chinese American who, following the death of her father, makes the eyebrow-raising decision to drop out of Dartmouth and return to her Oakland hometown to work as a limo driver. She just seems so real — awkward with hints of fake-it-til-you-make-it vibes that had me picturing myself in the same driver’s seat — and her grandfather, a weed-smoking weirdo, feels like an utterly new type of character. It’s her grandfather who links Mei with clients on the fringe, first sex workers but then the charming and mysterious Henry who, Mei soon discovers, is part of a network helping transport Uyghur Muslim refugees from China to safety — and who, on this particular trip across the country, is smuggling an 11-year-old girl whose family was disappeared. It’s an illuminating update of the classic American road trip story, equal parts uplifting and heartbreaking, and always mindful of the journey’s underlying danger. — A.R.
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