UNFORGETTING by Roberto Lovato (HarperCollins). Roberto Lovato is an American journalist-historian, of Salvadoran descent. He's a serious man and a terrific writer, with emotions permitted to enter the narrative flow, not dominating it but never dodging aside, either. But his book is not a political rant, by any means, but a deeply personal memoir within a history of some depth. Stll, where this bloody awful history is concerned, that of El Salvador and its relations with the U.S. beginning in the most paranoid-self-righteous spasm of our American story—the middle of the last century—desperation will find space in it, and both rage and sorrow may be detected, not strident in the author or explicit in the text, but soon enough in the reader.

STORIES FROM SUFFRAGETTE CITY ed. M. J. Rose and Fiona Davis (Holt). Original short stories all set on October 23, 1915, the day of a great New York City march for women's suffrage, one of the first major public showings of the strength of that movement. So the book is a stunt, at a glance—but not done in haste, and respectful of its subject and of its readers. These are polished, finished stories by writers known for historical fiction, some of them novelists familiar to readers of this column (including, of all people, the thriller master Steve Berry, with, yes, a thriller). And a really joyful majority of the stories not just inspirational but actually inspiring—we're near to tears more than once.

DON'T LOOK FOR ME by Wendy Walker (St. Martin's). Walker is ever reliable both for plotting and giving characters “relatable” depth; but of her novels that the column has covered this is the most emotionally stirring. The dynamics within a loving but troubled family are central to both the problem and any possible solution of this compelling domestic/psychological suspense trip.

LOVE YOUR LIFE by Sophie Kinsella (Dial). Also ever reliable, of course. In this new one, the wit doesn't fail (or strain at all, either) and neither does the tenderness. The setting will be London, but the precarious romance takes its first unsteady steps in an Italian oceanside resort, enticingly made real for us to moon over. This is, it may be relied on, the Kinsella and the people we know and love: witty and self-aware, but emotionally open Brits.

HOUSE OF CORRECTION by Nicci French (Harper). Her (I know, really their) new stand-alone, soon to be seen on the trade paperback bestseller list. A big book, as always, and more than one kind of thriller, even though seamlessly integrated into one headlong narrative. It's all-out psychological suspense: the central figure is maybe the hardest-to-like Nikki French antiheroine yet (and you'll be rooting for her almost at once); but then it's also a smashing courtroom drama.