Kate Milliken’s debut novel, “Kept Animals,” follows the tangled lives of a ranch hand, an equestrienne and a movie star’s daughter in a relationship as fraught as the landscape.
“How to Pronounce Knife,” a debut story collection by Souvankham Thammavongsa, features dislocated characters forced to reinvent their lives in unnamed North American cities.
Slices of young adult life, from Monica Hesse (“They Went Left”), Ismée Williams (“This Train Is Being Held”), George M. Johnson (“All Boys Aren’t Blue”) and Meredith Tate (“The Last Confession of Autumn Casterly”).
“I used to read on the tour bus to keep from missing my family,” says the country music star. “Now I read at night. I live way out and it gets real quiet.”