The 18 Finalists for the 2015 Kirkus Prize

by Susan Barker

Effortlessly blends the past with the present, dark humor with profound sadness. A deeply human masterpiece. Full review >

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by Lucia Berlin ; edited by Stephen Emerson

A testament to a writer whose explorations of society’s rougher corners deserve wider attention. Full review >

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by Lauren Groff

An intricate plot, perfect title, and a harrowing look at the tie that binds. Full review >

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by Valeria Luiselli ; translated by Christina MacSweeney

A clever philosophical novel that, as the author puts it, has “less to do with lying than surpassing the truth.” Full review >

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by Jim Shepard

Ordinary people reveal dimensions that are extraordinarily cruel or kind. Full review >

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by Hanya Yanagihara

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel. Full review >

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by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This moving, potent testament might have been titled “Black Lives Matter.” Or: “An American Tragedy.” Full review >

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by John Ferling

A first-rate historian’s masterful touch conveys the profound changes to colonists’ “hearts and minds.” Full review >

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by Helen Macdonald

Whether you call this a personal story or nature writing, it’s poignant, thoughtful and moving—and likely to become a... Full review >

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by Adam Tooze

A lucid, first-rate history of the results of a war whose beginning a century ago we are busily commemorating. Full review >

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by Simon Winchester

Winchester’s passionate research—on sea and land—undergirds this superb analysis of a world wonder that we seem hellbent on... Full review >

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by Andrea Wulf

Humboldt was the Einstein of the 19th century but far more widely read, and Wulf successfully combines a biography with an... Full review >

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by Lauren Child ; illustrated by Lauren Child

How nice to see a familiar story made new with a family of color and a little brother as hero. Full review >

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by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Shane W. Evans

A much-needed picture book that will enlighten a new generation about battles won and a timely call to uphold these... Full review >

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by Pam Muñoz Ryan ; illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova

A grand narrative that examines the power of music to inspire beauty in a world overrun with fear and intolerance, it’s... Full review >

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