A KIND OF MIRRACULAS PARADISE is a unique work of nonfiction about mental illness. When Sandra Allen was studying for her MFA in writing, her Uncle Bob, a hermit she barely knew, mailed her the story of his life as a paranoid schizophrenic. The single-spaced manuscript was typed in all caps with run-on sentences and…

I’m a sucker for love stories with damaged people, and this novel checks all my boxes: it’s fun, but serious and smart. Alex and Poppy’s adventures are hilarious, their dialogue is a riot, but they’re both quietly terrified—of love, of happiness, of losing each other. Poppy has always felt alone: in small town Ohio, in…