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When author Vaddey Ratner was just a child, the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and destroyed her aristocratic family. Her new novel, In the Shadow of the Banyan, draws on her terrible experiences — and the poetry and stories from her father that helped her survive.

Sky looking a little slatchy to you? Want another helping of slang-jang? The final volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English, a 50-year project to document English across the U.S., is a treasure trove of history and local color.

God and Science: Return of the Ti-Girls collects and expands the adventures of a supporting character from the Hernandez brothers' long-running comic book series Love and Rockets. NPR's Glen Weldon says it will confound superhero haters with its marriage of depth and goofy hero tropes.

An American candy heiress butts heads with a snooty French chocolatier in Laura Florand's romantic new novel The Chocolate Thief. They fight, he throws her out of his candy store — of course they're going to fall in love. Read on for a sweet treat to while away a summer afternoon.

Ken Perenyi made millions painting and selling more than 1,000 forgeries over 30 years. He's imitated the likes of Charles Bird King and James Buttersworth — and confesses it all in his new book, Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger.

In former television writer Maria Semple's second novel, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, 15-year-old Bee searches for her missing mother, an eccentric former architect. Semple mixes police and FBI reports, school documents and catty emails, all with commentary from Bee.

In Victoria Kneubuhl's mysteries, dashing detectives Ned and Mina explore the darker side of a sunny tourist paradise — Honolulu. In their debut, Murder Casts a Shadow, Ned and Mina set out to discover who killed a crooked museum curator, and get drawn into a deeper mystery about the death of Hawaii's last king.

The Psychopath Test is a fascinating look into the minds of the deranged, but author Carol Rifka Brunt says she read it not to understand the psychology of madness, but to prove she wasn't mad herself. When have you compared yourself to books or characters in them? Tell us in the comments.

Harold Fry is retired and sedentary — and in no way the sort of person who'd spontaneously decide to walk the length of England to visit a dying friend. Rachel Joyce's new novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, follows Fry as he does just that — and finds emotional awakening along the way.

In 2010, writer Don Winslow hit it big with his crime novel, Savages. Although he'd already written 12 novels, Savages was the book that really launched his career. It made it to the top of The New York Times best-sellers list. His new book, The Kings of Cool, is a prequel to Savages.