God Shot

Written by Chelsea Bleker, this story of a young girl growing up in thrall to a magnetic preacher has been compared to the work of Annie Proulx. The area of the Central Valley where fourteen-year-old Lacey May and her alcoholic mother live was once an agricultural paradise. Now due to a drought, it’s an environmental disaster. In their desperation, residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern for guidance. He promises, through secret “assignments,” to bring the rain everybody is praying for.

Redhead by the Side of the Road

Written by Anne Tyler this is a story of Micah Mortimer, who is a creature of habit. The superintendent of a Baltimore apartment building, he’s content to lead a circumscribed life. But one day his routines are blown apart. His woman friend (he refuses to call anyone in her late thirties a “girlfriend”) tells him she’s facing eviction, and a teenager shows up claiming to be his son.

How Much of These Hills is Gold

Written by C Pam Zhang, this debut novel is set against the twilight of the American gold rush. Two orphaned children of immigrants are on the run in an unforgiving landscape – trying not just to survive but to find a home. Along the way, they encounter giant buffalo bones, tiger paw prints, and the specters of a ravaged landscape. The author explores race in an expanding country, and the highly topical question of where and whether immigrants are allowed to belong.