The narrator repeatedly insults his readers of 2050 and wishes he were instead addressing readers of 2025, when somewhat fewer were boneheads. He looks back to early nineteenth-century Indiana where two utopian experiments were launched in the village of New Harmony. He then recounts the adventures of a another attempt to recreate utopian ideals during the turn of the twentieth century--a new "Boatload of Knowledge" on the banks of the Wabash. Though the novel chastens utopian ideals, its narrator doesn't give up on them altogether.

Jess Freeman, a facial plastic surgeon, refashions the identities of others while knowing little of his own. Who are his biological parents, and could they explain his sudden trances when drifts off into visionary worlds, both radiant and nightmarish? Whenever one of these occurs during a delicate surgery, he is given a reality check by his nurse--quick bops on the head. The novel is a satirical exploration of human identity. Jess has a group of friends, both female and male intimates, who have a strong sense of group loyalty that sustains them through a series of remarkable calamities.

Six hapless geniuses travel to the mythical isle of Aphrodite with utopian notions as to how the tortured island might be rescued. A string of felicitous successes is heartening--rescuing the famed sea turtles and mouflon, solving the problem of desertifcation, even harmonizing the factions of Turkish and Green Cypriots, who rarely send a complimentary bottle of wine to their adversaries' tables. Only alert readers will sense that there is a counterplot to dismantle their best designs.

It’s 1969. Women are fighting for equality. Rosalee, an insecure sculptor, and Fran, a best-selling novelist, have their issues. Will their bitter envy of each other and long-held secrets destroy their tenuous friendship? Or will Jill, Rosalee’s granddaughter, and the story behind her emerald necklace bind them together?

"Everything Here Belongs to You succeeds beautifully at telling an intimate and deeply felt story of a troubled connection between two young women, set against a larger narrative of ideological conflict." -IndieReader (4.8 Starred Review) As Parul grows older, she becomes increasingly unhappy and resentful with her lot in life. Mohini struggles with their relationship as well, never sure whether to treat Parul as a sister or a servant. When Parul has a passionate, secret affair with Rahim, a radical Muslim, the careful order the Sens have maintained is thrown into chaos.

Nominated for The National Book Award, Alle C. Hall’s literary fiction debut, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back is a-girl-and-her-backpack story with a #MeToo influence: Carlie is not merely traveling. A child sexual abuse survivor, as a teen she steals ten thousand dollars and runs away to Asia. There, the Lonely Planet path of hookups, heat, alcohol, and drugs takes on a terrifying reality. Landing in Tokyo in the late 1980s, Carlie falls in with an international crew of tai chi-practicing backpackers.