Canticle: A Novel by Janet Rich Edwards (Spiegel & Grau). Reviewed by Terri Lewis. “Canticle revels in language, both in its prose and as part of the storyline. In early chapters, Aleys struggles to learn Latin, a subject forbidden to lay people and especially to women. She first awakens to love as she and a young boy translate the Song of Songs. Later, at the beguinage, the maistra (or leader) is translating Latin scripture into Dutch so the women can hear the holy text in their own language. This is also forbidden.”

If the Owl Calls: A Novel by Sharon White (Betty Books). Reviewed by Nicole Yurcaba. “As Hans works to unravel the dark mystery surrounding the dead body, he comes to remember his people’s connection to the natural world. Even as he does, the government, fearing an uprising of ‘Sami nationalism,’ is making an even greater push to remove the Sami from their native lands. As Hans uncovers more about his heritage, the case (and his view of it) grows more confusing. What emerges is a lyrical, philosophical exploration of the integrality of landscape to one’s identity and ethos.”

Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton by Martha Ackmann (St. Martin’s Press). Reviewed by Kitty Kelley. “Dolly Parton’s music — the songs she wrote and sang while accompanied by her dulcimer or autoharp or guitar — reverberates with life’s sadness, its joys and triumphs, a kind of magic that’s challenging for any biographer to convey. While readers might wish that Ackmann had given them a more inspiring story, they’ll always have Dolly’s music — as true and everlasting as the Great Smoky Mountains.”

Cursed Daughters: A Novel by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Doubleday). Reviewed by Marcie Geffner. “The person who benefits from all the strife is Mama G, a wolfish practitioner of a traditional West African belief system that involves everyday objects and potions she claims possess magical powers. Again and again, she promises the desperate women that, for a price, her smoky herbs, misshapen stones, bags of dirt, and other charms will bring the men they desire back to them. Their misplaced faith in these ‘cures’ depletes their finances and deprives them of their personal agency.”

Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research by Melanie D.G. Kaplan (Seal Press). Reviewed by Jay Hancock. “Labs hesitate to offer post-test beagles for adoption instead of euthanizing them because activists take the pups and put them in panhandling and outrage videos. Rescue ranches quietly cooperating with labs get accused of giving cover to moral criminals. But even unsentimental utilitarians want to minimize harm in the pursuit of good. What jumps out from Kaplan’s book and recent news in Washington is the scale of animal tests and the wantonness and uselessness of most of them.”

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