We Ride Upon Sticks

Though the 1989 Massachusetts high school field hockey season hasn’t started in earnest, the Danvers Falcons are concerned. The team can’t seem to win a game at summer training camp, which makes their goal of reaching the state finals in a few months seem less than realistic. But their luck starts to turn around after members of the squad begin signing their names in what might be a magical notebook. The bizarre premise of Quan Barry’s novel evolves into a fresh story as she explores the team’s desperation to win and their growing experimentation with witchcraft.

The Mirror & the Light

The highly anticipated final installment of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy captures 16th-century English lawyer Thomas Cromwell’s final years before he meets a brutal end. Picking up after Anne Boleyn’s execution, The Mirror & The Light concludes the acclaimed series, which has sold millions of copies and made Mantel the first woman to win the Booker Prize twice. Like the two novels that came before it, this one promises to take an unflinching look at the relationship between power, wealth and politics.

The Night Watchman

The latest from National Book Award winner Louise Erdrich again delves into her Chippewa heritage, but this time takes inspiration from her grandfather’s work as a night watchman in the 1950s. The novel follows the titular character as he works to protect his tribe against the new Congress “emancipation” bill, which threatens their rights to their land. Though it is set decades ago, the story resonates today as Erdrich dissects a native community forced to deal with the ramifications of the government’s actions.