Biographical Fiction

The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons—the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy, red-cheeked young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the whole of Russian life, is social and spiritual striving, in what was both the golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.

Anthony Opoka and Florence Okori are coming of age in Uganda in the 1990s. Outstanding students, they believe in being good humans before they are kidnapped and forced into the fanatical Lord’s Resistance Army. In a legion of young recruits, no one gets closer than Anthony to powerful messianic warlord Joseph Kony and his darkest secrets. To stay sane as he spirals through chaos, Anthony clings to his childhood lessons about being a good human. Florence’s upbringing grounds her, too, helping her keep her dreams alive even as she’s pulled deeper into the insanity of Kony’s war.

In the vein of The Paris Wife and The Personal Librarian comes this debut novel, a magnificent work of “biographical fiction” that reimagines the turbulent and triumphant early years of Ella Fitzgerald, arguably the greatest singer of the twentieth century.

Christina Georgina Rossetti is the youngest of four siblings in a close-knit, creative Anglo-Italian family. A spirited child like her brother, Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in adolescence she struggles with being sickly and depressed. She emerges "a dove on a solitary branch," realizing her voice through writing, most exceptionally poetry.

From interdisciplinary writer and performer Jacob Wren comes Polyamorous Love Song, a novel of intertwined narratives concerning the relationship between artists and the world. Shot through with unexpected moments of sex and violence, listeners will become acquainted with a world that is at once the same and opposite from the one in which they live.

Growing up motherless in 1980's Miami Beach, Sienna and her little brother Siddhartha get by with their charismatic and capricious father, Jackson Jones. When a small windfall relocates them to a condemned mansion on the water, the siblings are forbidden traditional schooling and left to live off the land. As Jackson uses their new home to create a communal cult, the siblings are forced to raise themselves in a carefree, chaotic oasis. Living amidst the vagrant seekers who take up residence in Jackson's utopia, Sienna and Siddhartha strive to protect their unconventional family.

Intense and densely layered, Involuntary Bliss is the latest intriguing story from the award-winning young Canadian writer Devon Code. Situated in modern-day Montreal during a weekend in late August, two young men attempt to restore their friendship.

It’s 1927. Letty Hart’s father is long gone, but his old winery provides a meager wage and a legal livelihood for selling sacramental wine. But when that contract goes bust, Letty stumbles upon a desperate option: her father’s hidden cellar—and enough liquor to tempt Letty to bootleg the secret stash. In an underworld dominated by merciless men, Letty is building an empire.

A young, closeted TV newscaster tries to make his way during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Based on the true-life story of three-time Emmy award-winning anchorman and best-selling author turned actor, Mark Pettit.

In 1883, a young, newly married Mercy Reynolds begins a personal journal, filling it with thoughts of her young family. She records her opinions on women's suffrage, historic events, small town gossip and life in general, never imagining she will also be documenting incredible loss as well. Her writings remind us of how America's pioneers lived in a world now largely forgotten.

This is a story of an African orphan, Felix, who loses his parents as a very young boy. He embarks on a long journey searching for meaning in his life. On his journey he seeks to find answers and discover what there is to live for?

Yefim Shulman, husband, grandfather and war veteran, was beloved by his family and his coworkers. But in the days after his death, his widow Nina finds a letter to the KGB in his briefcase. Yefim had a lifelong secret, and his confession forces them to reassess the man they thought they knew and the country he had defended.

This book is a true-to-life collection of 30 short stories from physicist and electrical engineer Roman Litovsky chronicling his family’s harrowing emigration journey in 1989 from Ukraine to the United States during the height of the impending collapse of the USSR. It details his life in Kyiv, traveling throughout Europe to gain freedom from the oppressive Soviet regime, settling in the U.S., and his life after that with a great engineering career at a prominent U.S. electro-acoustic company.

Set in Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Bombay, India, Mr. Monroe's journey into authenticity results in a series of failed relationships that reveal the dark, enigmatic recesses of his complex personality and eventually land him in a hellhole prison in Bombay. His tragedy unfolds into an ending that no one, especially Monroe, could have possibly predicted or imagined.

Surviving the job happens one day, one shift, and one call at a time. Having each other's backs sets a team apart from a crew. The Bag takes you on that journey for just one shift.