Sally Rooney writes for an audience that lacks faith in an institutional church, yet yearns for something to believe in. She writes for me and my friends.

Beyond all its virtuosity and shine, James Merrill's writing style always had a canny, wry and often mensch-like grasp of human nature.

Tola Rotimi Abraham is from Lagos, Nigeria. She writes this, her debut novel, with one foot placed in the intimate and communal confines of Lagos and the other inside her characters’ heads.

Alex Michaelides's new novel is a taut and diligently plotted detective story, entertaining as well as readable in a single sitting.

Emily Oster's new book wades through the data on questions relevant to many parents of school-age kids. But the book is less about the data itself and more about how to frame decisions on these topics and others in the most effective, logical and efficient way.

Jonathan Franzen remains among the select few novelists who can vie for a Pulitzer Prize and the top spot on best-seller lists every time out of the gate. His new novel might win him both.