A range of genres to explore make up this month’s list, curated by downtown Providence’s independent bookstore.
If you’re new to young adult fantasy, Cassandra Clare is the perfect gateway author. Her thrilling new saga, The Last King of Faerie: A Shadowhunters Novel takes readers into a world where dark magic hides beneath the modern realm. When student Drusilla Blackthorn is kidnapped by Prince Ash Morgenstern, estranged friends Kit and Ty must unite for a high-stakes quest. The blend of romance and danger will keep you hooked.
Holly Black returns to Faerie with A Conspiracy of Charming Monsters: Illustrated Tales from Elfhame, a collection of six illustrated stories from her fantasy worlds. The tales feature a reluctant king confronting an abduction, an exiled redcap, a mortal’s sacrifice, and an ambitious sprite. Readers will also find two previously unpublished stories exploring Madoc’s exile and High King Cardan’s desires.
An ancient enemy threatens the Fae territories in Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Splintered Harmony. Confined to a mountain lake for millennia, Koschei the Deathless is gathering allies determined to seize the human lands. Facing this growing danger, the Night Court must overcome internal divisions and rebuild old alliances. Its survival rests on repairing fractured relationships before Koschei’s influence spreads further.
Alix E. Harrow’s The Everlasting takes place centuries after the celebrated knight Una Everlasting helped shape the Dominion. Historian Owen Mallory, captivated by her story, is sent back in time, caught alongside Una in a repeating cycle of events, challenging the history he was sent to preserve. The novel blends romance and adventure with questions about who shapes a nation’s heroes – and at what cost.
Haruki Murakami explores his complicated relationship with his father in Abandoning a Cat: A Personal Story, an autobiographical essay. Childhood memories lead to reflections on family, estrangement, and the lasting effects of World War Two on Japanese life. Readers familiar with Murakami’s fiction will find a more intimate perspective here, as he considers the experiences that shaped his father and the distance that grew between them.
Olga Ravn’s The Wax Child, narrated by a wax doll created by Christenze Kruckow, is an unsettling horror story about brutality and power, nature and witchcraft, set in the fragile communities of premodern Europe. Based on a series of real witchcraft trials in Northern Jutland in the seventeenth century, this novel is full of lush storytelling and rich imagination, with quotes from original sources such as letters, court documents, and Scandinavian spellbooks.
For over 20 years, Symposium Books has been downtown Providence’s go-to for books, vinyl, fun merch, and conversation. Named after the ancient Greek dialog by Plato, the elegant storefront has built a solid reputation for its stellar selection of new, used, and bargain books across various genres – including independent presses, academic publishers, and art publishers. Shelves are filled with a diverse range of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, which promote differing voices and perspectives. “Symposium Books is known for fostering a welcoming environment for book lovers in a cozy space,” says Scott McCullough, who co-owns the business with wife, Anne Marie Keohane. “Also, check out our highly-curated vinyl section. Plus keep an eye out for our author events, book clubs, silent book clubs, music nights, and other events.” 240 Westminster Street, Providence. SymposiumBooks.com
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