Qing Yuan works in a morgue, cleaning bodies. He grew up in a cultured family before 1949, studying art and literature in university. Qing Yuan’s father owned a jewelry shop and got into trouble with the new government after he tried to hide a small amount of gold during the early days of nationalization. Qing Yuan was punished for his father’s capitalist ways and when Ruyan Meng’s novel opens in 1966, he’s been the morgue keeper of the title for sixteen years.

Ann YK Choi made a splash on the literary scene a decade ago with her debut novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety, a coming of age story of a young Korean-Canadian who grew up in her family’s convenience store in 1980s Toronto. This book was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards, among many accolades. With her new novel, All Things Under the Moon, Choi effortlessly switches genres from contemporary to historical fiction.

There’s something about old Hong Kong and Shanghai that lend themselves to ghost stories and mysteries. They share a similar history during World War II as well as traditions like the Tomb Sweeping and Hungry Ghost Festivals that honour the dead. The two cities are also known for stately old colonial homes, many of which still remain today. After Kristen Loesch lived in Hong Kong 15-20 years ago, she learned of Dragon Lodge, an abandoned old home on the Peak rumored to be haunted, and formed the story that would become her new novel, The Hong Kong Widow, an engaging ghost story that alternates between wartime Shanghai, 1950s Hong Kong, and  present-day US and Hong Kong. To add an extra touch to this chilling story, Hong Kong artist Jiksun Cheung’s illustrations are scattered throughout the story.

This new collection with an unbeatably eye-catching title opens with the eponymous novella.  “Courtesans Don’t Read Newspapers” takes more than a few (albeit short) chapters to get to the heart of the story: the red-light district in Kashi (also referred to as Varanasi or Banaras in the novella) is slated to be shut down to make way for new construction. This wasn’t the first time the city had tried to drive out women and girls.

For many middle and high school students across the United States, the book Farewell to Manzanar has been their introduction to one of the darkest times in American history. Jean Wakatsuki Houston’s memoir tells of her childhood years in what was called the Manzanar War Relocation Center but in reality was a concentration camp. From 1942 until just after the end of the war in 1945, more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent were held in Manzanar alone. It wasn’t the only concentration camp for first, second and third generation Japanese-Americans, but it is the most well-known because of Wakatsuki Houston’s book, first published a half-century ago.

It’s not every day one comes across a new novel about Jesus as a social activist, least of all one in translation from Malayalam. So Ministhy S’s recent translation of renowned Indian writer Benyamin’s 2007 novel, The Second Book of Prophets, is unexpected, to say the least. One need not know much about biblical stories or be religious—of any faith or none at all—to understand this story, although readers with some knowledge of the New Testament will be familiar with the characters and the plot. Yet as a novel, it’s engaging and even thrilling.