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From the commercially and critically successful Marie NDiaye, Three Strong Women moves from Senegal to France and back. The rich prose, translated by John Fletcher, links the lives of the three titular women — Norah, Fanta and Khady — as they navigate their struggles.

In Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace, Kate Summerscale reconstructs the everyday private life and very public shaming of Isabella Robinson, a wife sued for divorce over her scandalous diary entries in the early days of England's divorce court.

In her new book, Andrea Stuart explores the intersection of sugar, slavery, settlement, migration and survival in the Americas. Stuart's personal history was shaped by these forces — she is descended from a slave owner who had relations with an unknown slave.

Peter Spiegelman worked on Wall Street for 20 years before becoming a writer. In his new novel, Thick as Thieves, he brings that Wall Street experience to stories of capers, heists and double crosses.

Sara Gruen is following her bestselling Water for Elephants with a tale of a young American couple who travel to Scotland during the Second World War in search of the legendary Loch Ness Monster.

When 18th century Jewish peddler Jacob Cerf reappears in the 21st century, he finds he can read minds and will people to do his bidding — but he's also a common housefly. Rebecca Miller's Jacob's Folly traces Jacob's mission to get back at God.

Chris Morgan Jones' The Jackal's Share finesses the fundamentals of the spy novel with admirable economy. The clever premise has our detective investigating his own client in order to certify his sterling character. Naturally, complications arise.

Thor Hanson's new book looks at the evolutionary significance of feathers in birds. Hanson tells Fresh Air that he's amazed by birds' magnitude of feathers, how feathers grow and how they're the "most efficient insulation known."

Patrick Flanery's taut new novel, Fallen Land, delves into the housing crisis, creeping corporate surveillance and a "crisis of neighborliness" in American life. The backdrop: a half-built and crumbling subdivision outside of an unnamed American city.

Author Jesse Walker argues that believing in shadowy cabals and ominous secrets isn't just for people on the margins — it's as American as apple pie. He says that our nation's paranoia stretches back to the colonial era, and that some conspiracy theories are believed by a majority of Americans.