Opinion

Required Reading

We Sinners

by Hannah Pylväinen (Henry Holt)

At first glance, the Rovaniemis seem like an average, Midwestern family. But the family inhabiting Pylväinen’s debut novel are Christian fundamentalists who have nine children and lead a largely unconventional life in which watching TV, drinking alcohol and dancing are taboo. When two of the kids reject the church, they also find themselves rejected by their family. Meanwhile, those who stick with their religion must struggle with rejecting popular culture and the outside world. The novel closely follows all 11 family members on their conflicted efforts to make peace with society and themselves.

Something Fierce

by Carmen Aguirre (Douglas & McIntyre)

Imagine you’re an 11-year-old girl enjoying a comfortably middle-class existence. Suddenly, your parents uproot you and your sister to a South America rife with repression and the resistance it spawns. This was Aguirre’s life. After fleeing Pinochet’s Chile when she was very young, her family settled in Canada, only to end up living in safehouses in Bolivia, Peru and Argentina, as she came of age craving boys, shoes — and peace.

One Last Thing Before I Go

by Jonathan Tropper (Dutton)

In his youth, Drew Silver was the drummer for a one-hit-wonder band, the Bent Daisies. Still getting meager royalty checks and playing in wedding bands, he’s now 44, divorced and estranged from his Princeton-bound daughter (although she does manage to let him know she’s pregnant), and his ex is getting remarried to a doctor who’s responsible, thoughtful and well-off. Add to this midlife crisis, Silver’s sudden need for surgery to repair his heart, and you’ve got a potential weeper. But when our hero eschews a hospital visit for an attempt to instead repair his relationship with his daughter, and fix his life, Trooper’s novel takes a comic twist.

Rock Bottom

by Sarah Andrews (Minotaur)

Call this adventure a cross between “CSI” and “Deliverance.” In Andrews’ newest mystery featuring forensic geologist Em Hansen, the newlywed rock lady and her husband, Fritz, take spots on a monthlong white-water rafting trip for 14 people through the Grand Canyon. When a last-minute addition, the disagreeable Wink Oberly, disappears and resurfaces downriver — as a corpse — investigators finger Fritz. And it’s up to Em to clear him.

The Kingmaker’s Daughter

by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone)

Forget Prince Harry’s nude pics for a minute: His 15th-century ancestors were way more shocking. And Gregory, author of best sellers such as “The Other Boleyn Girl,” always delivers the goods. Her latest novel wraps up her “cousins’ war” series of royal witches, philanderers and kingslayers with the story of King Richard III’s wife, Anne Neville, who went from the marital bed of one royal prince to that of another king-to-be during this long family feud.