Rahna Reiko Rizzuto’s intensely emotional novel, which follows a mother and her twin daughters over 30 years, starts out with a bang. The author will appear at Elliott Bay Book Co. on May 17.

Shadow Child Rahna Reiko Rizzuto. Grand Central, $26 (352p) ISBN 978-1-5387-1145-3. Rizzuto’s quasi-thriller turned weighty multigenerational saga follows three women facing debilitating illness ...