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BookPageDISCOVER YOUR NEXT GREAT BOOK JAN 2019

The spirited new novel from Lyndsay Faye ricochets from Prohibition-era Harlem to a dangerous Portland, Oregon

also inside Dani Shapiro’s DNA revelation & 10 books for New Year’s resolutions

1 New Year. New Stories.

M BookPage® JANUARY 2019 cover book reviews

Lyndsay Faye checks in to The Paragon Hotel 12 17 FICTION top pick: Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley features 23 NONFICTION New Year, New You 14 top pick: The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams Books for your best year yet 13

Dani Shapiro 16 28 YOUNG ADULT 13 Does DNA make a family? top pick: The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi Madhuri Vijay 19 An odyssey through northern India 13 31 CHILDREN’S

Appalachian ction 21 top pick: My Heart by Corinna Luyken Tales of the mountains 13 A.J. Jacobs 25 columns Meet the author of Thanks a Thousand 13 4 Whodunit Finance 26 5 Lifestyles 13 Money matters 5 Cooking Karen M. McManus 27 6 Audio A tiny town with deadly secrets 13 7 Cozies 8 Well Read

Middle grade adventures 30 9 Book Clubs Fantastical high jinks for young readers 13 10 Romance Lindsay Moore 31 11 The Hold List Meet the author-illustrator of Sea Bear 13

Cover credit Kaitlin Kall from the editor

In October, BookPage celebrated 30 years in publication—no small accomplishment given the changes experienced by both books and magazines in the digital age. While change can be difficult, it can also reinvigorate. I’m proud to introduce a big change for BookPage—a redesign of our print edition. By reader request, we’ve expanded our coverage of mystery, sci-fi/fantasy and young adult books. We’ve also introduced starred reviews to highlight our favorite recommended titles. Thanks to Ryan Darrow at Nashville Public Library for helping us utilize library resources to plan our redesign. I hope you enjoy the new BookPage. Share your thoughts with me at [email protected]. —Stephanie Koehler, editor

PUBLISHER ASSISTANT EDITOR PRODUCTION MANAGER EDITORIAL POLICY SUBSCRIPTIONS Michael A. Zibart Hilli Levin Penny Childress BookPage is a selection guide for new books. Our editors evaluate and Public libraries and bookstores can subscribe to BookPage ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITORIAL ASSISTANT OPERATIONS DIRECTOR select for review the best books published in a variety of categories. in quantities for their patrons. Subscription information Julia Steele Savanna Walker Elizabeth Grace Herbert BookPage is editorially independent; only books we highly recommend for libraries, bookstores and individuals is available at EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ADVERTISING OPERATIONS are featured. bookpage.com/subscriptions. BookPage is also available Stephanie Koehler Sukey Howard Sada Stipe ADVERTISING on Kindle or NOOK. DEPUTY EDITOR CHILDREN’S BOOKS MARKETING Cat Acree Allison Hammond Mary Claire Zibart To advertise in print, online or in our e-newsletters, visit BookPage.com or call 615.292.8926, ext. 37. All material © 2019 ProMotion, inc. ASSOCIATE EDITOR CONTRIBUTOR CONTROLLER Lily McLemore Roger Bishop Sharon Kozy BOOKPAGE · 2143 BELCOURT AVENUE · NASHVILLE, TN 37212 BOOKPAGE.COM 3 whodunit | bruce tierney

In James Bond movies, one of the many ways of ratcheting up the tension is to introduce a Bad Thing About to Happen in, say, five minutes’ time, and to regularly return to the flashing digital countdown amid the action to see how much time is left before the Bad Thing transpires. Author Taylor Adams updates this sus- pense-building device in his supercharged novel No Exit (William Morrow, $26.99, 352 pages, 9780062875655) with a dwindling cellphone battery peppering the high-tension text. The scene: a lonely snowbound rest area in rural Colorado, a place with little to no cellphone service, and a protagonist who has left her charger at home on what will prove to be the worst night of her life. At risk are a kidnapped child, albeit a rather resourceful one; a pair of innocent (or maybe not) bystanders; and the aforementioned protagonist, a college student named Darby Thorne, who was en route to her mother’s hospital bedside before her plans were in- terrupted by the freakish snowstorm and an even more freakish group of fellow strandees at the mountain shelter. Oh, and one last thing, and it really is the last thing—the twist ending is way cool.

Gytha Lodge’s suspenseful new psychological thriller, She Lies in Wait (Random House, $27, 368 pages, 9781984817358), tells the story of a ruinous outing and its aftermath decades later. Thirty- odd years ago, six friends went camping. Only five came home, and there was never a trace of the missing girl, Aurora Jackson. Top Pick Her friends, a wide-ranging volunteer search party and even po- James Lee Burke is one of a small hand- lice with cadaver dogs turned up nothing—until now, when a ful of elite suspense writers whose work young girl on a family holiday discovers a detached finger beneath transcends the genre, making the leap into a hollow tree within steps of the friends’ original campsite. Police capital-L Literature. You don’t have to get Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens knew Aurora peripherally past the opening paragraph of The New from his high school days, but he decided to stay on the investi- Iberia Blues (Simon & Schuster, $27.99, gation—a decision his assistant, Detective Inspector Juliette Han- 464 pages, 9781501176876) to see his son, will come to question as the investigation proceeds. This isn’t mastery of the craft: “Desmond Cormier’s the only secret that comes to light: One of the campers, an Olym- success story was an improbable one, pic star in later life, displayed a morbid fascination with young even among the many self-congratulatory women; another of the group, now a well-regarded politician, was rags-to-riches tales we tell ourselves in the caught by Aurora in flagrante delicto with another boy, and more importantly, he had placed a large ongoing saga of our green republic, one supply of Dexedrine in the hollow of that tree. I am just scratching the surface of the secrets here. that is forever changing yet forever the There are plenty more to unearth for yourselves. same, a saga that also includes the graves of Shiloh and cinders from aboriginal In any gathering of mystery writers, Tim Dorsey would be the res- villages.” First-person narrator Dave Robi- ident jester, providing more laughs per page than virtually anyone cheaux is on hand and in fine fettle. Fans else. His amiably psychopathic protagonist, Serge Storms, is a have watched Robicheaux age in real time, modern-day Don Quixote, tilting at the windmills of politics, age- battling his demons, losing one wife, then ism, sexism and any other –ism that happens to catch his fancy. another and another, raising the refugee In his latest adventure, No Sunscreen for the Dead (William Mor- girl he rescued from a submerged airplane row, $26.99, 336 pages, 9780062795885), Storms invades a Florida when she was a small child and skating retirement community in the wake of a very public sex scandal fea- close to the edge (and sometimes over the turing a 68-year-old retiree and her much younger boy toy. There edge) of the law. This time out, he will in- are two reasons behind Storms’ invasion, one being that he is per- vestigate the ritual slaying of a young black versely fascinated by this salacious news item, the other being that woman, nailed to a cross and left to the he wants to find an interesting place to live out his golden years. vagaries of the rising tide. There is a film He has all the necessary gear for that, including plaid shorts and company in town, and Robicheaux cannot knee-length black socks. And the white belt, without which the shake the notion that they are somehow ensemble, well, c’est incomplète. As the plot develops, Storms gets at the epicenter of this homicide, and as conscripted into the investigation of some big-dollar swindling in he gets closer to proving his thesis, the the old folks’ community, and high jinks ensue. And because it is Dorsey chronicling said high body count piles up. It is a long book, but jinks, be prepared for mirth—lots and lots of mirth. I read it slowly, pausing from time to time to digest the first-rate prose, the atmo- Longtime mystery reviewer Bruce Tierney lives outside Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he bicycles spheric bayou setting and the complex through the rice paddies daily. He recently tallied up the countries he has visited in his years of travel, interactions of people I feel I have known and was surprised to count exactly 50. He hopes to put 51 and 52 to bed before year’s end. for 30-plus years. 4 lifestyles susannah felts sybil pratt cooking Top Pick Top Pick Finnish sisters Saara and Laura Let’s Eat France! (Artisan, $50, 432 Huhta share the wealth of their pages, 9781579658762) by François- successful indie clothing pat- Régis Gaudry and friends is a big— tern brand, Named, in Breaking as in, six pounds big—boisterously the Pattern: A Modern Way to beautiful, ingeniously designed and Sew (Quadrille, $35, 192 pages, illustrated book that answers every 9781787131835). The nifty thing question you have about French about their designs is the focus cuisine and all the questions you on extreme adaptability: They didn’t know you needed answers are “designed to offer as many to. There’s no table of contents, no options for personal customi- chapters, no categories. Every turn zation as possible,” the sisters of the page invites you to delight in write. They have included pat- an eclectic, serendipitous survey of terns for 10 different garments— France’s edible heritage. You’ll wan- from bags and blouses to classy cocktail dresses and jumpsuits—and der from an exploration of the crunchy cornichon pickle and a consider- claim that “it’s possible to sew at least 50 different variations of the ation of the great gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, to a recipe projects,” should you wish to experiment. These garments are built for an amazing Sardine Pâté, a family-friendly Pot-au-Feu (that’s beef on Scandinavian design—clean lines, minimalist elegance—and they stew, to you), a classic cherry-studded Clafoutis and 372 more remark- range from drapey styles to more tailored looks. In the back of the book, able French dishes, plus maps, charts and anecdotes. As a flâneur in the you’ll find six full-size pattern sheets, which are arranged from easiest fertile fields of French gastronomy, you’ll learn about wines, hand-craft- to most challenging. ed liqueurs, cheeses, foie gras, oysters, breads, cakes, galettes, famous chefs and hors d’oeuvres. C’est merveilleux! A new friend recently gave me a small pilea plant from one of the “babies” her plant produced. This If “real” cooking is on your agenda for the new has quickly become my most beloved house- year, there’s a fresh cookbook about an old plant—one with a story behind it. That’s the kind technique that’s a must. Searing Inspiration: of joy that Caro Langton and Rose Ray, the authors Fast, Adaptable Entrées and Fresh Pan Sauces of Root, Nurture, Grow: The Essential Guide to (Norton, $29.95, 234 pages, 9780393292411) by Propagating and Sharing Houseplants (Qua- Susan Volland is your ticket to getting fabulous, drille, $24.99, 208 pages, 9781787132184), want four-star meals on the table in a flash. Using a more people to experience. If you’ve got a good skillet and the skills you’ll develop under Vol- knife and scissors, some old containers, potting land’s savvy tutelage, making Rib Steaks with mix and a few other simple items, you can turn Whiskey Béarnaise, a classic Sole Meunière or one houseplant into as many as you like. Langton Tamarind-Glazed Chicken will be a breeze. The and Ray (find them on Instagram at @studio.roco) cover different types ingredients may vary, but the technique—sear, deglaze, embellish—is the of cuttings for a number of common plants, and they also discuss di- same. You sear ingredients in a hot, oiled skillet and remove; deglaze with vision, grafting and other in-depth aspects of propagation. Even if you wine or another liquid; add the flavor-boosting aromatics you’ve chosen stick to plunking stems into jars of water and watching roots form, you’ll and prepped; re-add the seared ingredients and you’re a dinner diva. enjoy having this pretty guide at your side. Doug Crowell and chef Ryan Angulo, co-own- Readers of Martha Stewart Living will recog- ers of two revered neighborhood restaurants nize the concept of The Martha Manual: How in the restaurant-rich borough of Brooklyn, to Do (Almost) Everything (HMH, $35, 400 believe that the most important ingredients pages, 9781328927323): quick, no-nonsense in any dish are kindness and salt. Their de- instructions for home-related tasks. Here, but cookbook, appropriately titled Kindness Martha Stewart’s how-tos are organized by & Salt: Recipes for the Care and Feeding of themes like “Organize,” “Clean,” “Craft” and Your Friends and Neighbors (Grand Central “Create.” But I find this guide fascinating to Life & Style, $34, 288 pages, 9781455539987), flip through at random to learn things like shows you how to salt early and generously how to sew an apron, how to hang a tire swing, to bring out the best in over 100 recipes, from how to play lawn games, how to fix and maintain showerheads and how Mushroom & Goat Cheese Scramble, Pommes Frites and Seared Scallops to build a fire. On the whole, the slant of this content may seem a bit gen- to desserts and cocktails. Though you can’t sprinkle kindness on pasta or dered, but it’s safe to say all humans could amp up their home skills with popovers, you can serve this superbly satisfying bistro food (Duck Meat- the help of this book. Light illustrations, bullet points and brisk copy— loaf, Narragansett Mussels, Banana Foster Profiteroles) with warm, cor- dip in, dip out, done—are the name of the game here. dial confidence.

Susannah Felts is a Nashville-based writer and co-founder of The Porch, a literary arts Sybil Pratt has been eating, cooking and pondering food for many years. organization. She enjoys anything paper-related and, increasingly, plant-related. She lives in New York City. 5 sukey howard audio Top Pick Resolve to Six Four, Hideo Yokoyama’s U.S. debut, was a hit thriller. Sev- enteen (Macmillan Audio, 12.5 Listen hours), Yokoyama’s latest book, engagingly performed by Tom Lawrence, is not a thriller, but it is an extraordinarily gripping news- More! room drama. It’s also an intensely personal look at a man who must deal with the ethical predica- “A tale of spies and treason, conspiracy and ments of journalism as well as counterintelligence... A lively political thriller.” his inner demons and perceived inadequacies. In 2003, as he’s attempt- —Kirkus Reviews ing to climb a treacherous rock face, Kazumasa Yuuki, the protagonist Read by Scott Brick and narrator, relives his days following the story of a catastrophic airline crash many years prior that killed almost all of the passengers. In 1985, Yuuki is a veteran reporter for the provincial newspaper in the prefec- ture where the plane went down, and he is made desk chief for the story. Determined to get as much information to the public and to the victims’ families as he can, he becomes embroiled in vicious office politics and i%B[[MJOH
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‡Kirkus, starred review Lovely is not a word usually associated Read by P. J. Ochlan and with Stephen King. But Elevation (Simon & Laurie Catherine Winkel Schuster Audio, 3 hours), his latest novella, which he narrates, is lovely. It is not a hor- ror tale meant to provoke screaming—in- stead, it’s a beguiling parable with lessons our uncivil society would do well to learn. Scott Carey, a resident of Castle Rock, is los- 5IF
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"6%*0 has been BookPage’s audio reviewer for over 30 years. 6 cozies heather seggel Top Pick Jarrett Creek, Texas, exemplifies small- town living. Neighbors look out for one an- other, or so you’d think. When a beloved lo- cal baking wizard, Loretta Singletary, turns up missing, police Chief Samuel Craddock realizes he missed several changes in his friend’s appearance that may have been clues. A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary (Seventh Street, $15.95, 272 pages, 9781633884908) is an old-fashioned story with a modern problem at its center. Terry Shames’ latest book finds the town divided over church involvement in a goat rodeo when Loretta goes missing. The discovery that she was considering online matchmaking services is mildly scandalous, and Craddock must explore the world of online dating in order to begin the investigation. The tension ratchets up when a body is found and linked back to the same dating sites, and the search for Loretta intensifies. The resolution to this tale is a bit offbeat, but the setting is lush and absorbing, and the tension builds perfectly along the way.

Bryant & May: Hall of Mirrors (Bantam, $27, 432 pages, 9781101887097) is Christopher Fowler’s 16th tale of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, and this time we’re off to London in the swinging ’60s. Even in their youth, detectives Bryant and May had a hab- it of doing things their own way, and a simple as- signment—keep a man alive for a weekend and get him to court to testify on Monday morning—takes several hard left turns. There’s slapstick come- dy and swift wordplay (the duo’s word games are briefly upstaged by Bryant dangling upside down from a trellis during a window escape) as well as food for thought. Stand- out moments include exchanges between hippies in love with the idea of freedom and the elders who fought in World War II but don’t see their own definition of “freedom” in loose morals and patchouli fumes. If this is your first outing with Bryant and May, you’ll want to read them all.

It seems that Major Sir Robert and Lady Lucy Kurland need only drop in on a new city for a death to occur. Thankfully they’ve become so adept at sleuthing they can almost schedule it alongside their travel itinerary. In Death Comes to Bath (Kensington, $26, 304 pages, 9781496702128), the sixth in Catherine Lloyd’s series, Robert has had a medical setback, so the pair, along with Lucy’s sister, travels to “take the waters” in England’s famed Roman baths. After be- friending an older gentleman, the pair is dismayed when he drowns, and foul play is apparent. Lloyd balances period history (Robert was injured in the Battle of Waterloo), a tense romantic subplot and some extravagant vacation shopping while respecting the grave nature of the crime. Class divisions—and the way money can help one surmount them—make for a rich suspect pool. It may be cruel to hope Robert and Lucy keep visiting new cities, given what tends to happen, but watching this duo in action is a joy.

Heather Seggel is a longtime bookseller, reviewer and occasional library technician in Ukiah, California. 7 well read | robert weibezahl Curl Up with The Banished Immortal National Book Award-winning novelist and poet Ha Jin explores the life and work of one of his homeland’s greatest THRILLING READS writers—the eighth-century Chinese poet Li Bai.

American readers’ Western bias that Bai had no strong feelings of has left the Chinese poet Li Bai attachment to any one place, and “An expertly less well-known here than in his his rootlessness is central to much native land, where he is consid- of his poetry. turned thriller.” ered a foundational writer. The “As a constant traveler, his es- —USA Today Banished Immortal: A Life of Li sence would exist in his endless Bai (Pantheon, $28, 320 pages, wanderings and in his yearning “Bohjalian twists the 9781524747411), a new biography for a higher order of existence,” Jin tension tight and keeps of the poet by au- writes. “He was to the surprises startling.” thor Ha Jin (Waiting, roam through the The Boat Rocker), is central land as a —The Wall Street Journal a worthy corrective miraculous figure A Washington Post and an engaging in- of sorts, as people troduction to the po- later fondly nick- Best Thriller of the Year et’s life and work. named him the Considering that Banished Immor- Bai (also known as tal.” Li Po) lived from Yet Bai had an 700-762 B.C., a sur- earthy side—he prising amount is drank freely, mar- known about his ried numerous “[A ] marvel: life, although much times and fa- utterly unnerving of that informa- thered children. ... dripping tion is shrouded He was a lover of with suspense in inconsistencies, women, but while myths and ques- he was the quint- throughout.” tions with answers that are forever essential romantic poet, he did not —Entertainment Weekly lost to time. Jin does an admira- seem to love any real woman with ble job sorting the wheat from the the level of passion that appears in chaff. He asserts that there are three his poems. versions of Bai: the actual man, the As Jin traces Bai’s lifelong jour- self-created image and the legend ney, he provides a healthy sam- shaped by history and culture. pling of poems, which are med- There is little information avail- itative and philosophical, often able about Bai’s childhood, but sensual, sometimes rapturous. Jin “Sensational.... it is believed that his father was acknowledges that the perfection Psychological Han Chinese while his mother was of the poems is frequently lost in revelations that from an ethnic minority tribe. This translation (the original Chinese mixed parentage, Jin feels, allowed versions are also provided), but pierce the heart.” Bai room for self-invention. Bai’s readers will still see why Bai’s po- —The Wall Street Journal father was a successful merchant ems have spoken for centuries to in China’s western frontier, and other poets (Ezra Pound’s loose “The suspense is he hoped his son would secure an translation of “The River-Mer- relentless and the influential government position. chant’s Wife: A Letter” is one of the payoff is spectacular.” Bai had other ideas, however, and modernist’s most famous poems) he spent much of his life travel- and readers alike. —Lee Child ing as a kind of minstrel, seeking The Banished Immortal is an Daoist enlightenment and com- affectionate and thoughtful por- posing poems, about a thousand trait of a complicated man and a New in Paperback and eBook of which survive today. Jin tells us master poet. Read excerpts and more at VINTAGEReadingGroupCenter.com ANCHOR Robert Weibezahl is a publishing industry veteran, playwright, novelist and occasional poet who has been a contributor to BookPage for more than 20 years. 8 book clubs | julie hale BOOK CLUB READS Top Pick Set in the not-too-distant future, The FOR WINTER Power (Back Bay, $16.99, 400 pages, 9780316547604) is a chilling sci-fi novel expertly executed by award-winning British author Naomi Alderman. In Alder- man’s alternate world, women have re- ThThe Gown cently gained the ability to release waves by Jennifer Robson of electricity through their fingertips— “A“A moving storstoryy about the power of and the jolts can kill. Their lethal facility femalefemale friendshipfriendsh and renewal in the grants them physical supremacy over faceface of adversitadversity.y Perfect for fans of men, altering the fabric of society. The ! novel focuses on a few central characters, e CCrownrown ” including Margot, a politician who learns — LAUREN WILWILLIG,L New York Times through her young daughter that she, bestsellingbestselling authoauthorr too, has the power; Allie, an orphan who falls in with a circle of nuns and begins touting a new religion; and Tunde, a would-be journalist whose video of a woman unleashing electricity goes viral. Alderman’s The Alice Network convincing and disturbing vision of the future has been compared to The Handmaid’s Tale. Selected as a best book of 2017 by NPR and the by Kate Quinnuinn New York Times, this hypnotic novel offers futuristic thrills even as it e Alice Network is thehe New York explores important questions of gender and identity. Times bestseller that bookok clubs areare raving about. Look for KKateate Quinn’s No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin next historical novel ee Huntress, Mariner, $14.99, 240 pages, 9781328507976 on sale inn FebruarFebruary!y! This delightful volume brings together the late, beloved author’s crisply composed meditations on aging, cats and the craft of writing.

Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee On the Same Page Penguin, $16, 384 pages, 9780735221970 The future looks bright for Lucia Bok—until she is beset by a recurring by N. D. Gaallanlla d mental illness. The resulting turmoil upends her and her family’s lives as ““WithWith a satiristsatirist’s’ eye and a pitch- they struggle with important questions about tradition and marriage. pperfecterfect ear for tthe social nuances Love and Ruin by Paula McLain ooff small-town llife,i this is Pride and Ballantine, $17, 432 pages, 9781101967393 PPrejudicerejudice for ththe Bumble generation.” In this exhilarating novel, McLain delivers an unforgettable portrait — GERALDINE BROOKS,B Pulitzer Prize- of pioneering reporter Martha Gellhorn, who holds her own against a winningwinning author oof March formidable husband—literary titan Ernest Hemingway.

Tangerine by Christine Mangan Ecco, $16.99, 336 pages, 9780062686695 The Accidental Further It’s 1956 in Morocco, and a twisted friendship between two women is about to explode. Exotic and suspenseful, Mangan’s bestselling debut Adventureses of the novel is a true page-turner. 100-Year-OOld MaMann by Jonass Jonassononasson e hysterical, clever, and unforgettableunforgettable sequel to Jonas Jonasson’s internationalinternational bestseller e Hundred-Year-OldYear-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the WindowWindow andand DisappeareDisappeared.d.

 @Morrow_PB  @bookclubgirl A BookPage reviewer since 2003, Julie Hale selects the best new paperback releases  William Morrow  Book Club Girl for book clubs every month. 9 christie ridgway romance Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale! Top Pick Brace for adventure when reading Amanda “A poignant reminder that Bouchet’s Nightchaser (Sourcebooks Casa- blanca, $7.99, 416 pages, 9781492667131), there is no limit to what the first in a new sci-fi romance series. Captain Tess Bailey is on the run, having stolen a valuable, dangerous serum from a women can do.” conformist galactic government that bru- tally insists on order and restraint. Finding New York Times temporary refuge after a particularly close –JULIA LONDON, bestselling author call, the captain meets cocky and charm- ing Shade Ganavan, who says he can pro- vide much-needed repairs to her ship and perhaps some personal diversion, as Tess is weary of always watching over her shoulder. But danger is headed their way—will Shade prove to be ally or foe? This is pure, engrossing entertainment as Bouchet deftly builds a galactic world that desperately needs rebel champions like Tess and her crew. Charac- ters’ backgrounds and motivations are slowly revealed throughout what is otherwise a fast-paced, action-packed story. There’s mystery, tension and more than enough romance to grab the heart.

Jayne Ann Krentz offers a smooth blend of ro- mance and suspense in Untouchable (Berkley, $27, 320 pages, 9780399585296). Cold case inves- tigator Jack Lancaster is making strides in over- coming his horrifying nightmares with the help of Winter Meadows, a hypnotist and meditation guide. He might not know exactly what lies be- neath her positive attitude and bright smile, but he’s intrigued enough to take their business rela- tionship in a different direction. But when Win- ter’s life is threatened, Jack becomes worried that someone from his past might have tried to hurt him through her. In or- der to protect Winter, he must hunt down the man who tried to burn him alive many years ago. Some satisfyingly creepy villains, the atmo- spheric Pacific Northwest setting and a splash of potent sexual chemis- try between the two leads let the reader know they’re in the hands of a master storyteller.

First loves find another chance in The Duke I Once Knew (St. Martin’s, $7.99, 336 pages, “This sweeping, stirring tale of one of 9781250174376) by Olivia Drake. The youngest WWII’s courageous and enigmatic Gunner daughter of landed gentry, Abigail Linton devoted her early life to caring for her invalid mother. Now Girls will take your breath away.” her parents are gone, and at nearly 30, Abby opts to take a governess position on a neighboring estate. —KRISTIN HARMEL, Internationally bestselling author of Caring for the absent duke’s younger sister will give The Room on Rue Amélie her a new and independent life, so she ignores her worries that she’ll encounter the lord of the manor, “Deftly weaving together past and present, Maxwell Bryce. Max was Abby’s first love, but she hasn’t seen him in 15 years. Then, unexpectedly, the duke returns and is Kelly tells a fresh, heartfelt story of astonished when he meets the newest member of his household. Learn- sisterhood and sacrifice.” ing to trust one another is the essence of all good romances, and that’s what Abby and Max must do, or else lose out on an opportunity for lasting —MICHELLE GABLE, New York Times bestselling author of A Paris Apartment love in this sweet and tender tale.

GalleryBooks Christie Ridgway is a lifelong romance reader and a published romance SimonandSchuster.com novelist of over 60 books. 10 the hold list: books to warm you from inside out

Each month, BookPage editors share special reading lists—our personal favorites, old and new. If your primary tactic for surviving the winter is to drag a big blanket into a cozy chair and hibernate with the most inspiring books you can nd, then these ve reads, selected in partnership with Vintage Books, are for you.

The Stars Lab Girl Magic Hours Swimming in Nobody’s Fool Are Fire By Hope Jahren By Tom Bissell the Sink By Richard Russo By Anita Shreve Laugh, cry and fall madly Take a break from wintry By Lynne Cox Pulitzer Prize-winning Shreve’s novel draws in love with the world binge-watching with In a straightforward, author Russo knows a inspiration from Maine’s around you while reading this updated edition of candid style, Cox shares a little something about the history and follows a paleobiologist Jahren’s celebrated cultural critic comeback tale that’ll have human heart, and hope young woman as she bestselling memoir, an Bissell’s 2012 collection you flipping the pages like blooms like your most comes into her own after entertaining, spirited of essays on the act of you’re reading a thriller stubborn houseplant a devastating fire in 1947. look into the world creating. The 18 passion- instead of an inspiring in this folksy, poignant The disaster destroys of plant researchers. ate essays are an aerobic sports memoir. Legendary tale set in the blue-collar over a quarter of a Whether she’s sharing dance between highbrow open-water swimmer town of North Bath, New million acres and ushers the challenges of being and lowbrow, exploring Cox has a unique ability York. Centering on down- in a new life for Grace a female scientist or the our culture through its to acclimatize to extreme on-his-luck, 60-year-old Holland, whose husband unique relationship she creations, whether it’s a cold (jealous, much?), Donald “Sully” Sullivan goes missing during has with her lab partner, sitcom, a documentary which has allowed her to (his knee is bad, he drinks the fire. Now effectively Jahren displays an on the Iraq War, the cult swim the Bering Strait, a little too much), it’s a a widow with children effervescent, clear-eyed classic film The Room, among other frigid perfect balance of little to raise by herself, delight in her subjects, David Foster Wallace’s In- waters. But after the tragedies and dark comic Grace begins to build and never more so than finite Jest or a movie made deaths of her parents, relief. Once you’ve gotten something new from in her insights into the in Bissell’s hometown Cox was diagnosed with well acquainted with the the ashes. As she slowly natural world. Even in northern Michigan. broken heart syndrome, town’s wonderful charac- realizes how stifling if science and nature There’s so much to enjoy which seemed to mark ters—as well as you might her marriage was, she books aren’t your cuppa, here, but it’s a particular the end of her swimming any neighbor in a small tentatively opens herself Jahren’s descriptive pleasure to read his glee- life. But behold the power town—you can pick up up to a new life and new writing style makes this ful takedown of how-to of mindfulness and Everybody’s Fool, which love. Shreve captures the an enjoyable reading books, especially those positivity, because Cox returns to Sully’s world, joy of self-discovery in experience for just that will (supposedly) tell learns to swim again— 10 years later, for another this stunning novel. about anyone. you how to write. beginning in her sink. old-fashioned tale.

in partnership with Vintage Books

Since 1954, Vintage Books has published contemporary fiction and nonfiction trade paperbacks as a division of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. 11 cover story | lyndsay faye © ANNA TY A Jazz Age sanctuary Lyndsay Faye draws from Hemingway and the racial history of the Pacific Northwest for The Paragon Hotel

The year is 1921, the start of Prohibition. Ma- rights to people of color, and didn’t correct fia runaway Alice “Nobody” James has escaped this error until 1959. For black people, Or- trouble in Harlem by traveling cross-country egon was hell with only a few havens. One by train while bleeding from a bullet wound. of these was Portland’s Golden West Hotel, Max, a black porter, intervenes and checks upon which the Paragon Hotel is based. the white Alice into the Paragon Hotel in Port- Along with exploring present-day social land, Oregon. The hotel is an exclusively Afri- and cultural upheavals through a historical can-American sanctuary in a segregated city lens, The Paragon Hotel also allowed Faye under siege by the Ku Klux Klan. There, Alice to re-create the spoken language of 1921, meets a host of compatriots who soon become both in Harlem and Portland. Faye proud- like family as they bond together to search for ly admits to having a passion for historical one of their own, a biracial boy they fear may accuracy. have fallen into the hands of the Klan. “Slang is very, very much a part of my With her sixth novel, stage actress-turned- research process,” she says. “If you’re just novelist Faye, known for her Edgar-nominated looking through the boilerplate slang of Jane Eyre spoof Jane Steele, offers a surprising the 1920s, you’re going to be finding a lot historical mystery that address- of words that didn’t really es America’s sexism, racism and “That’s why this is a come into vogue until 1925, anti-immigrant white power love letter. It’s very -6, -7. That was really the movements. much not just a height of the flapper era, and “I always write about some- I was not interested in those Putnam, $26, 432 pages, 9780735210752 thing that’s pissing me off right quest for identity but words; I was only interested in Audio, eBook available now,” Faye says by phone from a quest to actually how you spoke in 1921.” Mystery her New York home. “I find par- love that identity.” Lacking a lexicon embed- allels to what was happening a ded in the arts and music of To voice the Portland perspective, Faye cre- very long time ago, because I don’t think any- the pre-flapper era, Faye struggled until she ated Blossom Fontaine, the Paragon’s residen- body would be particularly interested if I just stumbled upon an unlikely helping hand tial club chanteuse, whose sultry, outgoing stood on a soapbox and said, ‘Racism is bad.’ from someone who also knew how to sling the stage personality belies the inner turmoil and But if I can set stories in other time periods, it’s slang. “I was at a loss for quite some time,” she discomfort she and many of her friends feel sort of like Shakespeare setting Macbeth out says, “until I attended a writer’s residency for a about America’s history of racism and sexism. of town: ‘Don’t get confused, this is not about month down in Key West, Florida. There is tons “In the case of Blossom, whose life has you—this is those Scottish guys!’” of stuff from Hemingway down there for obvi- been defined by what society says, the ques- Alice’s escape to Portland allows Faye to write ous reasons, and I found a huge volume with tion of who she is has been so important her about a piece of history that she has long hoped all of his [World War I] war correspondence.” whole life that when she meets Nobody, who to ponder in fiction. Born in San Jose, Califor- She explains that a large percentage of the has been taking advantage of hiding in plain nia, Faye moved with her family to Longview, slang in The Paragon Hotel comes straight out sight, it’s such an asset to her,” Faye says. “No- Washington, a small town close to Portland, of Hemingway’s 1918 letters. body lived in such a dangerous environment when she was 6 and remained there for 12 Faye also credits her own years on stage with that she didn’t spend a lot of time really sitting years. The move from her racially diverse San giving her the ear to recognize slang and use down and defining herself. Blossom, on the Jose birthplace to the pre- it effectively in her fiction. “I’ve other hand, has been so assertive and deter- dominantly white Longview never taken a creative writing mined about who she is and so locked into a revealed to Faye a dark sec- class,” she says. “I was trained system. You’ve got two women who are com- tion of American history—the as an actor and worked as a ing at it from completely different directions. Pacific Northwest’s deeply professional stage actor for 10 That’s why this is a love letter. It’s very much racist roots. The original Or- years, and I was also trained as not just a quest for identity but a quest to actu- egon settlers envisioned a a singer, and there’s a real lilt in ally love that identity.” utopia free from crime, pov- the ’20s stuff. I think that the Will we see a sequel to The Paragon Hotel? erty—and any nonwhite per- rhythm of it is almost as im- “I would love to say yes, but I never really sons. Prior to statehood, any portant as some of the words. know. So far, this is a standalone, but I wouldn’t blacks who refused to leave Even where they’re talking rule it out,” Faye replies. “However, at the mo- the territory were sentenced about very serious things, ment, what I’m working on is turning Hamlet to flogging every six months. there’s this glib overtone to into a modern-day crime novel. The working In 1870, Oregon refused to where they’re even replacing title? The King of Infinite Space. I’m very excit- ratify the 15th Amendment, words with almost nonsense ed about it.” which guaranteed voting words. It’s fascinating.” —Jay MacDonald 12 Meet Doris, who writes down the memories of her eventful life as she pages through her decades-old address book. But the most profound moment of her life is still to come...

“Written with love, told with joy. Very easy to enjoy.”

—FREDRIK BACKMAN, author of A Man Called Ove

“In a reader’s lifetime, there are a few books that will be companions forever. For me, The Red Address Book is one of them. It will comfort you, and remind you of all the moments when you grabbed life with both hands.”

—NINA GEORGE, author of The Little Paris Bookshop

Enter to win copies of The Red Address Book for you and a friend, plus a writing kit to help you keep in touch with loved ones. Visit bookpage.com/contests to enter!

No purchase necessary. Entries must be received by January 31, 2019 at 11:59 PM ET. One grand-prize winner will receive two copies of THE RED ADDRESS BOOK and a writing kit, including notecards, a journal, and more.

“The Red Address Book is my way of saying listen, listen to the people around you. They will take you on an adventure.” —SOFIA LUNDBERG feature | resolutions adapting to life’s trials. GOOD ADVICE: When beset with negative emo- tions, observe your own feelings and then try to trace them back to their roots. You might realize You’ve got goals, that a bad experience in your past or a subcon- and we’ve got scious insecurity is influencing your behavior. How to Hold a Grudge: From Resent- the books to ment to Contentment—the Power of help you Grudges to Transform Your Life By Sophie Hannah achieve them. Scribner, $20, 272 pages, 9781982111427 RESOLUTION: Embrace your negative side. Tackle your FRESH TAKE: Novelist Sophie Hannah believes that nursing one’s grudges can lead to greater resolutions with self-knowledge, personal growth and healthier boundaries. these 10 books. GOOD ADVICE: By using Hannah’s hilarious grudge-grading system, you can channel your an- gry feelings into a deeper understanding of your own values and set necessary boundaries. The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing By Albert-László Barabási Emotions at Work Little, Brown, $29, 320 pages, 9780316505499 By Liz Fosslien & Mollie West Duffy RESOLUTION: Work better, not harder, to reach your goals. Portfolio, $27, 304 pages, 9780525533832 FRESH TAKE: If life were a fair fight, talent plus work ethic is all you’d RESOLUTION: Feel great about your work. need to succeed—but we’ve all been passed over for opportunities we’re FRESH TAKE: Two former tech workers offer a fresh, funny approach to qualified for. With this data-driven book, Albert-László Barabási explores handling workplace relationships. By leaning on emotional intelligence, the universal forces that affect our likelihood of success or failure. you, too, can navigate the pitfalls of modern office life. GOOD ADVICE: The differences among top contenders in any category GOOD ADVICE: Establish context and trust with colleagues by using are so tiny that they’re essentially immeasurable—which means wine con- “richer communication” channels like voice chat before relying on writ- noisseurs only know so much, and a nice Pinot can come at any price. ten, and often misinterpreted, methods like email and instant messages. Love for Imperfect Things: How to Accept Yourself in a World Striving for Perfection Life Admin: How I Learned to Do Less, Do Better, and Live More By Haemin Sunim By Elizabeth Emens Penguin, $24, 272 pages, 9780143132288 RESOLUTION: Practice self-love (beyond just buying bath bombs). HMH, $26, 288 pages, 9780544557239 FRESH TAKE: In this gentle, kindhearted guide to inner peace, the Zen RESOLUTION: Overcome invisible labor. Buddhist teacher Haemin Sunim argues that if one begins with self-ac- FRESH TAKE: From disputing bills to planning a vacation, Elizabeth ceptance, one will have greater empathy for others and an easier time Emens introduces readers to the concept of admin, our sometimes

14 onerous daily to-do list. Through relatable anecdotes, she breaks down FRESH TAKE: Going without alcohol may sound like an extreme lifestyle the types of admin in our lives and offers advice on balancing tasks and change and, frankly, a really dull one. But Ruby Warrington is here to relationships. tell you, nonjudgmentally, that cutting out alcohol doesn’t mean you’ll GOOD ADVICE: Talk with your partner about how to divvy up household become boring, and it can lead to a happier life, filled with better sleep, duties before moving in together or getting married. health and relationships. GOOD ADVICE: If you’re worried about all the fun you’ll miss out on Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and while sober, remind yourself of the phenomenon known as “euphoric Flourishing as We Age recall,” in which an experience is misremembered in a far more positive By Mary Pipher light than the reality. That epic bachelor party five years ago? It perhaps wasn’t as epic as you remember—but the hangover you’re forgetting no Bloomsbury, $27, 272 pages, 9781632869609 doubt was. RESOLUTION: Chart the course for the next phase of your life. FRESH TAKE: Women face many challenges as they age: misogyny, age- Craftfulness: Mend Yourself by Making Things ism and physical changes. Yet psychologist Mary Pipher shows that most By Rosemary Davidson & Arzu Tahsin older women are more content than their younger selves. Pipher offers warm, empathetic guidelines for navigating aging and for recognizing its Harper Wave, $23.99, 208 pages, 9780062883544 unexpected gifts. RESOLUTION: Pick up a creative hobby. GOOD ADVICE: Every life stage is filled with pain and difficulties. The FRESH TAKE: Rosemary Davidson and Arzu Tahsin have crafted (sorry) challenges and changes presented by aging are different, but they also a well-researched guide to the meditative, restorative and mood-lifting present new ways to learn about yourself and cultivate empathy. effects of working with your hands on a craft or creative pursuit. Filled with advice on how to let go of the pressure of Pinterest perfection, how The Monkey Is the Messenger: Meditation and What to make time for crafting in your busy schedule and even a couple of Your Busy Mind Is Trying to Tell You quick beginner projects to get you started, this book is as warm as the By Ralph De La Rosa scarf you’ll be knitting. GOOD ADVICE: For too long, we’ve all been focused on the finished Shambhala, $16.95, 288 pages, 9781611805840 product of our artistic pursuits, which can often lead us to abandon less RESOLUTION: Finally get into mindfulness and meditation. than perfect-looking projects. But there’s joy to be found in the process FRESH TAKE: Everyone knows we should be meditating, but what if of making and mending, regardless of our perceived abilities. your thoughts just won’t shut up? Ralph De La Rosa draws on Buddhism, neuroscience and psychology to posit that instead of growing increas- If You Ask Me: Essential Advice from Eleanor Roosevelt ingly frustrated with these intrusive thoughts, we should accept them as Edited by Mary Jo Binker a part of ourselves and use them as a tool to understand ourselves better. GOOD ADVICE: Try not to allow circumstances to dictate your emotions. Atria, $25, 272 pages, 9781501179792 Instead, accept circumstances and view them as an opportunity for RESOLUTION: Sail through life with presidential aplomb. growth and learning. FRESH TAKE: In 1941, the outspoken first lady Eleanor Roosevelt started an advice column. For 20 years, she doled out clever, pithy advice on Sober Curious: The Blissful Sleep, Greater Focus, love, etiquette and issues like gender and race equality. These lovely col- Limitless Presence, and Deep Connection Awaiting umns, collected and annotated by Mary Jo Binker, provide sound advice Us All on the Other Side of Alcohol as well as a look into the life and thinking of a legendary first lady. GOOD ADVICE: By Ruby Warrington Roosevelt was adamant about gender equality in her personal life, writing that she thinks “people are happier in marriage HarperOne, $27.99, 240 pages, 9780062869036 when neither is the boss” and that all relationships are best built on RESOLUTION: Be more mindful of your alcohol intake. “unselfishness and flexibility.”

15 interview | dani shapiro Far from the tree © MICHAEL MAREN A DNA revelation transforms family and identity

Dani Shapiro has been thinking about se- made sense of the experience without writ- crets all of her life, exploring the theme re- ing through it. “Thank God it’s my 10th book. peatedly in five novels and four memoirs. But I had a toolbox. I had a set of skills and craft, it wasn’t until a few years ago that she unwit- both as a writer and someone who teaches tingly uncovered the biggest secret of all: Her writing, to be able to shape it and under- beloved, late father wasn’t her biological father. stand that it needed to be shaped. I recog- “I needed every single brain cell to focus on nized that it was an astounding story, and I this discovery and to try to understand what it wanted to do it justice.” meant,” she says, speaking from her home in Shapiro contacted and eventually met the Connecticut countryside. her donor father, Ben, and Growing up as an only child in 1960s and his family, whose names ’70s New Jersey, Shapiro couldn’t help feeling and identifying details have partially like an outsider as the pale, blue-eyed, been changed to preserve blond-haired daughter of her darker, Jewish their privacy. As a medical parents. In fact, a family friend and Holocaust student, Ben had donated survivor was so startled by her unlikely features his sperm at the Farris Insti- that she peered into her eyes and announced, tute in Philadelphia, which “We could have used you in the ghetto, little was operated by Edmond blondie. You could have gotten us bread from Farris, a renegade scientist the Nazis.” The dramatic proclamation made a who was practicing medi- searing imprint on Shapiro. cine without a license. Far- When Shapiro was 23, her father died from ris mixed Ben’s semen with injuries he suffered in a devastating car crash, that of Shapiro’s father—not a tragedy she chronicled in her 1998 memoir, an uncommon practice at Knopf, $24.95, 272 pages Slow Motion. Years later, when Shapiro’s hus- the time. Ben went on with 9781524732714 band decided to order a DNA kit, he asked his life, forgetting about the Audio, eBook available her if she wanted one as well. She gamely procedure, never imagining Memoir agreed, and gave it little thought until sever- a future in which his role al months later, when the kit’s shocking re- could be identified. does have some ideas. She characterizes her sults showed that she was only half Jewish. As strange as this story is, Shapiro explains mother as “not entirely mentally well” and “ca- Furthermore, she wasn’t biologically related that it’s not that uncommon. “There’s no an- pable of bending reality to her will.” She con- to her half-sister, her father’s onymity anymore,” she says. cludes, “I think she decided from the moment child from a previous marriage. “All my life I had “These stories are happening. that she was pregnant that I was my father’s An offhand remark made de- known there was They’re just tumbling out. Be- child and that was that. I believe she would cades earlier by Shapiro’s now- cause of DNA testing, many have passed a polygraph.” As for her father, deceased mother provided a a secret. What I people are having to reimagine to whom she dedicates the book, Shapiro be- clue to the puzzle: She told hadn’t known: the family to some degree. . . . One of lieves that he may have thought he was her bi- Shapiro that she had been con- secret was me.” the beautiful things about this ological father during his wife’s pregnancy but ceived in Philadelphia. whole story is that ultimately it’s thinks he undoubtedly realized the truth over With astonishing speed, Shapiro and her about people being kind to each other. Doing the years. husband unraveled the mystery. Her parents the right thing by each other. Ben and I have a “I don’t think he cared,” she says. “I know had traveled to Philadelphia for artificial in- relationship for which there is no playbook. He he loved me, but I think that was part of the semination; an anonymous sperm donor was doesn’t feel like he’s my father. I don’t imagine knowledge that he carried around.” Shapiro’s biological father. The DNA results that I feel to him like I’m his daughter. And yet So far, she hasn’t uncovered any additional and some internet sleuthing allowed Shapiro we do share a very powerful bond.” half-siblings besides the children of Ben and and her husband to track down the identity of The question that haunts Shapiro is how his wife. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if there her father, a now-retired physician who spe- much her parents knew. “To me, the story is are a few out there,” she admits. cialized in, of all things, medical ethics. not about what happened,” she says. “The Might Inheritance help turn some up? “All my life I had known there was a secret. much richer part is about what’s underneath “I think a lot of people, when they hear the What I hadn’t known: the secret was me,” Sha- all that—the lies, what did my parents go story, will immediately go order a DNA kit,” piro writes in her mesmerizing account of that through, what they know, our shared lives to- Shapiro acknowledges. Noting that unlike her, revelation and its aftermath, Inheritance: A gether, what was the truth of that? Everything most people make “fairly benign discoveries” Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love. thrumming underneath was what I wanted to with such kits, but the author cautions, “It’s “You can’t make this stuff up; I could never really be the heart and soul of the story.” powerful stuff. You have to decide whether write this in a novel.” Shapiro says. She also Shapiro recognizes that she’ll never have you’re open to the potential of a big surprise.” explains that there was no way she could’ve definitive answers to these questions, but she —Alice Cary 16 reviews | fiction

★Top Pick: Late in the Day death means that she can no lon- ger find a reason to make art. She By Tessa Hadley after, Alex and Chris- locks the door to her studio and Harper, $26.99, 288 pages, 9780062476692 tine did the same. The grows quietly resentful of her hus- Audio, eBook available two couples remained band and best friend. On the oth- Literary Fiction active in each oth- er hand, Lydia finds new strength, er’s lives, socializing, deciding to be more involved in The 30-year bond between two couples is traveling together and the business of the gallery and her irrevocably broken when one of the friends eventually working to- departed husband’s family trust. abruptly dies in Tessa Hadley’s Late in the Day. gether when Christine As in Hadley’s earlier novels This well-drawn and absorbing character study began to show her art (The Past and Clever Girl), sexual bears all the hallmarks of Hadley’s best work: in Zachary’s gallery. desire proves an overwhelming It’s perceptive, intelligent and written with Even their daughters force that shapes decisions and astonishing emotional depth. became good friends. actions, but Late in the Day is also Serious but artistic Christine and dreamy, But Zachary’s sud- about the remaking of an artist sensuous Lydia have been friends since school. den death from a massive heart attack disturbs and the emergence of self, even in middle age. During college, Lydia nursed an unrequited the equilibrium. At first, the remaining three A master of interpersonal dynamics, Had- crush on their married French teacher, Alex- are committed to providing comfort and solace ley captures the complexity of loss, grief and andr, and Christine began a romance with his for each other. Lydia moves in with Alex and friendship with a clarity of vision that brings the friend Zachary. Over the years, the relation- Christine, and Alex goes to Glasgow to bring natural and material worlds into sharp focus. ships slowly shifted, and the women reallo- Lydia and Zachary’s daughter home from —Lauren Bufferd cated their affections without any apparent college. But without Zachary to stabilize the bitterness or jealousies. Lydia and Zachary quartet, old grievances rise up and unhealed Visit BookPage.com to read a Q&A with eventually married and had a daughter; shortly wounds are opened. For Christine, Zachary’s + Tessa Hadley.

she types her final pages for Jenny. fiction. In retellings of the lives and doings of The Red Address Book With love and humor, Doris’ stories prove grand, almost mythological figures who shaped that the good old days are often filled with a this country, the real and fantastical commin- By Sofia lot of regret, pain and heartache. But what the gle, overlap, become inseparable. It is this fun- Lundberg heart chooses to remember is our persever- damental inseparability that makes Jerome HMH ance through the most impossible of challeng- Charyn’s novel about the life and times of Theo- $25, 304 pages es. Just when Lundberg has led you to believe dore Roosevelt so much fun to read. 9781328473011 that Doris has said all there is to say, Jenny With its dimestore-comic cover design, The eBook available delivers an ending that even Doris could have Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King is Debut Fiction never imagined. presented as a kind of pulp pastiche of the Like a cozy conversation with your grandma, 26th president’s thoroughly inimitable life. The Many of us The Red Address Book warms your heart and book, which begins with Roosevelt’s childhood think of the past soul. and follows him to the cusp of his presidency, as the “good old —Chika Gujarathi leans hard on the real (and in many cases, likely days,” and for inflated) events of the man’s life. But it is also 96-year-old Do- ★The Perilous Adventures of a surprisingly poignant assessment of smaller, ris Alm, there is the Cowboy King more universally human moments. almost a centu- Two-thirds of the novel is set during the early ry’s worth of good days to keep track of. Feel- By Jerome and middle years of Roosevelt’s life—the years ing that her end is near, Doris decides to revisit Charyn he fought in the sewer-dirty wars of New York the names in her address book and unload her Liveright City politics. Here, Charyn does his most im- memories of each person on paper, with the $26.95, 320 pages pressive scene-setting work, placing the reader hope that they are passed down to her only liv- 9781631493874 in the heart of late 19th-century Manhattan. ing family, her grandniece Jenny, who has loved eBook available The sense of place and the fundamentally ugly and admired Doris all her life. Historical Fiction nature of big-city politics are consistent and So begins Sofia Lundberg’s The Red Address convincing. By focusing on this part of Roo- Book, with a very fragile Doris recalling a life In so much of sevelt’s life, rather than his Rough Rider days with people long dead. We start in 1928 Stock- American his- or his time as president, the bulk of the book holm, when Doris is only 10 years old, and move tory—or in so works very well, and makes for a much more ki- on to her days as a model in Paris in the 1930s, much of Amer- netic and less well-worn story. then to New York City, where she hopes to re- ica’s interpreta- Charyn has a gift for the unexpected, both lin- unite with the love of her life. She later heads tion of its own guistically and narratively: A snake wraps itself to England, where she is rescued off a sinking history—there around a boy’s arm “like a living bandage,” and ship, and finally returns to Stockholm, where is an air of pulp President McKinley has “the soft, sunken heart 17 reviews | fiction of a chocolate éclair.” The most emotionally res- involved in an unpleasant incident that she Because the heroine is the one who owns the onant relationship in the book is between Roos- can’t quite remember. story.” evelt and Josephine, his pet mountain lion. From the novel’s early pages, Jewell includes Susan Conley’s Elsey Come Home is a quiet, Deftly, Charyn interweaves what is real and excerpts from police interviews conducted at contemplative portrait of a woman searching invented about Roosevelt’s life, and the result is the Bristol police station. The reader knows for herself in the midst of the mundane. at once surprising and very entertaining. someone has been murdered but not their iden- —Carla Jean Whitley —Omar El Akkad tity. Little by little, Jewell sprinkles clues about the pasts of each of her characters, and these ★The Far Field Watching You hidden connections to the victim may turn out to be motives to commit murder. But only near By Madhuri By Lisa Jewell the end does one suspect emerge as the killer— Vijay Atria and a shocking final revelation completely takes Grove $26, 336 pages the reader by surprise. $27, 448 pages 9781501190070 Jewell’s latest will be quickly devoured by 9780802128409 Audio, eBook readers of Gillian Flynn, A.J. Finn and Ruth Audio, eBook available available Ware. Thriller —Deborah Donovan Debut Fiction Lisa Jewell’s domestic thrill- Elsey Come Home An unexpect- ers regular- ed friendship be- ly show up on By Susan tween a traveling bestseller lists, Conley Muslim garment and her latest, Knopf seller from a re- Watching You, $25.95, 256 pages mote Himalayan should be no ex- 9780525520986 village and the aloof wife of a wealthy Hindu ception. The mysterious murder at its center Audio, eBook businessman from the southern Indian city of available unfolds gradually, as piece by piece the past Bangalore forms the basis of The Far Field, the and present relationships between her intrigu- Literary Fiction dazzling debut novel from Madhuri Vijay. ing cast of characters begin to fit together. The salesman, Bashir Ahmed, is warm and Tom Fitzwilliam is the new headmaster of the Elsey once had charismatic, and his unlikely friend is the vola- Melville Academy in Bristol, England, and he’s a strong sense of tile mother of Shalini, a privileged young wom- called Superhead by the local newspaper due self. She was an an and the first-person narrator of the novel. to his many postings to failing schools and his artist, an Ameri- After her mother’s death, Shalini, listless and reputation for quickly turning them around. can expat in Ire- troubled, goes off in search of Ahmed to find Tom lives with his wife, Nicola, in an upscale land whose paintings drew acclaim. But she’s closure. At first it seems like an odd, reckless de- neighborhood. Nicola is an enigmatic, unhappy now lost in marriage, motherhood and alcohol. cision, to travel to the troubled northern end of woman with a troubled past. Their only child, Elsey moved from Ireland to China to settle in the country—to Jammu and then Kashmir—in 14-year-old Freddie, believes he has Asperger’s. with Lukas, the Danish DJ she met at a rave. Two search of someone whom she only barely re- He hopes to work for MI5 one day and spends children later, Elsey knows who is supposed to members from childhood and about whom she all his free time spying on the neighbors from take precedence in her life—and it’s no longer has only scant information. his upstairs window, documenting what he sees herself. When Lukas suggests Elsey participate In Jammu, Shalini lodges with a Muslim with his camera and keeping a logbook of the in a weeklong yoga retreat in the mountains, family that has been shattered by the loss of a neighborhood comings and goings. Elsey sees it as an ultimatum. If she doesn’t take son at the hands of the Indian Army. She then One of Freddie’s voyeuristic targets is Joey this time away, their marriage will unravel. So tracks down Ahmed’s family, who take her to Mullen, a young woman who lives two doors she accepts. their remote Indian village and treat her as one down from the Fitzwilliams. Joey is newly mar- The retreat is a challenge. Elsey struggles to of their own. However, Shalini is in the midst ried and drifting from job to job. She and her be vulnerable during the regular Talking Circles, of a fractured landscape, and nothing is what husband live with Joey’s older brother, Jack, a and her mind is constantly focused on drink- it seems. Hindus and Muslims are at logger- physician, and his wife, Rebecca, a “strait-laced ing—or not drinking. Elsey thinks, “I had two heads, and the army appears responsible for systems analyst.” Rebecca is pregnant, but she’s small girls. I would stop drinking. I know this is a series of disappearances. Foreign militants apparently not overjoyed about becoming a what Lukas thought. But drinking doesn’t work have been infiltrating the area, increasing ten- mother. Joey is completely smitten with Tom like that, and my need for it was stronger than I sions. Shalini’s longing for connection and love Fitzwilliam and begins planning how to meet realized.” within this tumultuous setting only exacer- him “accidentally,” which is all documented by Throughout the retreat, Elsey reflects on her bates her problems. Freddie’s watchful eyes. sense of self and the people around her. They The story is told in chapters alternating be- Sixteen-year-old Jenna, a student at the Acad- become touchstones of sorts, pointing Elsey tween the present (Shalini’s cross-country trek emy, and her mother live nearby, and they’re back to herself. One of the women, Mei, is in search of Ahmed) and the past (her youth and also subjects of Freddie’s surveillance. Jenna’s also wrestling with a marriage that isn’t what relationship with her parents, especially her mother, who increasingly shows signs of para- she’d hoped. “I want to be the heroine of my difficult mother), and only as the story unfolds noia, seems to believe she saw the Fitzwilliam story. And you, too, Elsey. You, too, be the her- do the reasons for her journey start to become family on holiday years ago, and that they were oine,” Mei says. “Not the victim. Understand? apparent. Through it all, Vijay’s prose is exqui- 18 q&a | madhuri vijay

Journey into an eye-opening India with an absorbing debut novel

Bangalore-born author Madhuri Vijay covers a lot of ground in The Far Field: politics, corruption, mental illness and coming of age, not to mention India’s vast landscape. The story is narrated by Shalini, a young woman who hopes to find closure after her mother’s death by tracking down a charismatic figure from her youth, Bashir Ahmed‚ a traveling salesman and one of the few people with whom her erratic mother seemed to connect. © MANVI RAO

I found The Far Field fascinating. What was the novel’s journey? and realizing that—and more importantly, allowing her to realize it—was Thank you for saying that. I suspect most novelists think of their first an important turning point in the novel. novels as a culmination, in one way or another, of their entire lives up I felt bad for Amina, Bashir Ahmed’s daughter-in-law. It seemed like The Far Field to that point, and I certainly agree. feels to me like the in- she couldn’t catch a break. What inspired her character? evitable result of all the books I read as a child, all the places I traveled, I truly had no idea that Amina would walk around the corner until she the influence of teachers and mentors and friends, my social and family did. The second she was on the page, though, she breathed life and fun circumstances, the news I watched and, of course, a substantial portion into everything around her, and I knew she would be a vital character. of luck. But I know that is an unhelpfully vague answer, so I’ll try to be Amina is a funny, capable, generous, gregarious person who manages to specific: In 2010, I wrote a short story about a mother and a daughter surround herself with selfish, bitter recluses, and that doesn’t turn out and a Kashmiri man. It was a maudlin story—abysmal, really—but I grew well for her. But she freely offers to Shalini what nobody else in the novel interested in writing a novel about Kashmir. It took a few does: genuine, uncomplicated friendship. It was import- years of false starts before I arrived at anything resembling ant to me that someone offer her that, even if she proves a draft, and several subsequent years of work with my ex- “If there is any in the end unable to reciprocate. traordinary (and extraordinarily patient) editors at Grove backlash to my to bring the novel to its current form. The novel is particularly unflinching in its depiction of the Indian army and its corruption. Do you fear a back- The novel tackles many different themes: mental illness, book, it would lash? the Kashmir conflict, army corruption, sexism. Did you be foolish of have these things in mind when you first came up with I started writing the novel roughly six years ago, and In- the plot, or did they evolve in the writing? me to be totally dia, as a country, has changed since then. There’s no way to escape noticing the proliferation of chest-beating, na- All I told myself when I began the novel was that I wouldn’t surprised.” tionalist politicians; the lynchings of Muslims and Dalits; try to control any part of it, so those themes emerged nat- the attacks (sometimes fatal) on writers who challenge the urally as part of the writing. I didn’t come up with the plot status quo. If there is any backlash to my book, it would be foolish of me beforehand either. I just put Shalini on the train to Jammu. The rest of to be totally surprised. it . . . was a surprise to me. Insofar as there was a plot, I vaguely knew Shalini would return to Bangalore at the end of the novel, so I kept writ- As Ben Fountain has said, it’s hard to believe you’re a first-time novel- ing until she did. ist. The prose is really strong, and the plot keeps turning until the last page. Not an easy feat. How did you develop as a writer? Where did the character of Bashir Ahmed come from? Thank you. I wish I had a more original answer, but like so many writers, All through my childhood, a succession of different Kashmiri salesmen I spent the major part of my childhood inside books. I read everything I visited our neighborhood to sell clothes and carpets. Some visited sever- could get my hands on, from P.G. Wodehouse to R.L. Stine to Jane Aus- al times, others only once. None of them was remotely like Bashir Ahmed ten to a very steamy biography of Marilyn Monroe that was lying about in terms of personality, but the pattern of their visits was certainly the our house for some reason. My two years in graduate school were also model for his. invaluable, because there I was forced, for the first time, to articulate to Shalini seems very conflicted. Her intentions are good, but she makes other people what I valued and admired in fiction and what disgusted bad choices along the way. How did you craft her personality? me. Above all, I’m lucky to have found friends and readers far smarter Shalini’s voice and character were, without question, my biggest chal- than I am. If there is any fluidity or economy to my prose, it’s the direct lenges in writing the book. She seemed so closed-off and remote, even result of their refusal to be satisfied with bullshit. to me, which often made her frustrating to write. What helped in the end You attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop after attending Lawrence was understanding that the novel could function in some way as a criti- University. Was it always your intention to study fiction in the U.S.? cism of Shalini and of people like her: intelligent, educated people with It couldn’t have been further from my intention, actually. At Lawrence, the means to travel, who nonetheless remain willfully oblivious to the I majored in Psychology as well as in English, and I was all set to be an injustices around them, as well as their part in those injustices. This is academic; I even had an acceptance in hand to a graduate program in not to say that I think of her as some cold tool of social instruction. I have social psychology at Northwestern. How I ended up in Iowa will, I think, a lot of affection for Shalini, actually, and a lot of sympathy. She is the be forever a matter of some astonishment to me, but I’m very glad I did. way she is because of a number of factors, her mother being the most influential. Shalini’s mother casts a long, dubious shadow over her life, —Jeff Vasishta 1919 reviews | fiction site—florid and descriptive at times, spare and through to make her wedding gown? Of course from the perspective of Chinonso’s chi, a pro- pared back at others. The story keeps twisting not. Nor does Heather. But Ann does the British tector from the spirit realm who weaves in Igbo unexpectedly until the end, keeping emotions thing: stiffens her upper lip and soldiers on. mythology and guides the narrative through fraught, questions percolating. It’s a scintillat- The Gown is an inspiring story about strength, both mortal and metaphysical dimensions, re- ing novel from a truly gifted writer. resilience and creativity. sulting in a unique and unforgettable reading —Jeff Vasishta —Arlene McKanic experience. Written in lambent prose and ambitious in The Gown ★An Orchestra of Minorities scope, An Orchestra of Minorities is no fairy tale, but rather a tragic masterpiece. By Jennifer By Chigozie —Stephenie Harrison Robson Obioma William Morrow Little, Brown Talk to Me $26.99, 400 pages $28, 464 pages 9780062884275 9780316412391 By John Audio, eBook Audio, eBook Kenney available available Putnam Historical Fiction World Fiction $26, 320 pages 9780735214378 England after After making eBook available World War II was an international Satirical Fiction a grim place, splash with his and the winter 2015 debut, The It’s a phenom- of 1947 was one Fishermen, and enon that has of the nastiest receiving a nom- become all too Britain had seen, which is saying something. ination for the familiar in the The major cities, especially London, had been Man Booker prize, Chigozie Obioma returns age of YouTube: bombed to smithereens by Hitler’s Luftwaffe. with an engrossing new epic. In An Orches- An embarrassing There was still rationing of fuel to heat tiny tra of Minorities, Obioma blends the folklore video of a celeb- rooms, and even soap and potatoes were scarce. of his country’s Igbo people with the narrative rity goes viral, obliterating a reputation with The one bright spot was the upcoming wedding framework of Homer’s Greek classic The Odys- the speed and thoroughgoing devastation of an of the heiress presumptive to the throne, Prin- sey to produce a multicultural fable that her- F5 tornado. In Talk to Me, his sly second nov- cess Elizabeth. Then, as now, the royals gave alds a new master of magical realism. el, John Kenney (author of Truth in Advertising, good value in troubled times. Set in southeastern Nigeria, An Orchestra of which won the Thurber Prize for American Hu- Jennifer Robson’s latest novel focuses on Minorities tells the story of Chinonso, a lone- mor in 2014) dives into the muck of one such three women, with a few men and glimpses of ly and humble poultry farmer who makes the scandal, exploring its human toll while raising royalty on the side. Ann Hughes is an embroi- mistake of falling in love with the wrong wom- troubling questions about what it means to pro- derer at the salon of Norman Hartnell, couturier an, one who enjoys a much more privileged duce and consume news today. to the royal ladies and designer of the princess’s socioeconomic status and background than The anchor of a highly rated network news wedding gown. Ann considers herself a plain himself. Unnerved by her family’s strenuous show for two decades, Ted Grayson looks like girl that no one would notice. Her roommate objections to their match, Chinonso sells all he’s on top of his game. But when his ire at a and friend Miriam Dassin, another embroider- his worldly possessions and travels overseas in young immigrant woman leads to a meltdown er, is a French émigré who arrived in London order to secure an education, prove his worth that’s captured on video, he’s launched on a with a recommendation from Christian Dior in and gain their approval to marry. Alas, misfor- downward spiral that threatens his career and hand. She’s also a Jew and a Holocaust survivor, tune plagues Chinonso as soon as he departs causes him to question everything he thought something she reveals but sparingly; this was a from Nigeria, and the fate that once drew the he knew about being a journalist. Compound- time and place when anti-Semitism was casual two lovers together now seems determined to ing Ted’s crisis is an impending divorce and the even after the Nazis had been routed. keep them apart and break Chinonso’s spirit in fact that his daughter, Franny, works as a report- Both women live to great old age, and when the process. er at the bottom-feeding website scheisse.com, Ann finally dies, she leaves a box of embroi- After enduring much hardship and many run by a young German billionaire whose mot- dered flowers to her Canadian granddaughter, years away in Cyprus, Chinonso returns home to is “NO RULES. JUST CLICKS,” and who’s only Heather. Heather has no idea why she’s received to discover that the only woman he has ever too happy to capitalize on Ted’s sudden fall. the box, or that Ann worked for Norman Hart- loved is perhaps even further out of reach than Kenney takes the reader inside the mael- nell and helped put together the royal wed- before, and he may also have lost the man that strom of the 24/7 news cycle, as an increasing- ding ensemble. Ann never spoke of her life in he once was during his time away. ly bewildered Ted watches his world collapse England or her friendship with Miriam, now a It’s a special writer who can take the familiar around him, helpless to counteract the forces world-famous artist—why? tropes found within An Orchestra of Minorities fueling his destruction. In Ted, Kenney has cre- Robson, bestselling author of Somewhere in and infuse them with new life, transforming ated a sympathetic and fully realized protago- France, makes the reader eager to find out Ann’s them into something exciting and unexpected. nist who’s haunted by the price he’s paid for a secret. Ultimately, it’s one of those things you Happily, Obioma is exactly such an author. Not success that now seems hollow, by the decay of see coming, and yet you hope you’re mistak- only does the Nigerian backdrop add depth and his marriage to a woman he still loves and by en. Did Queen Elizabeth know what Ann went interest to the tale, but the story itself is told an estrangement from his daughter that’s deep 20 spotlight | appalachian fiction enough to allow her to become complicit in his downfall. The mountains are calling For all the fast-paced and knowing entertain- Certain places have a tremendous power to influence people, informing ment it provides, Talk to Me may also serve as a useful antidote to rushed judgment when the their choices and inspiring their lives, past and present. For the lead next celebrity scandal erupts. characters in two remarkable novels from Jess Montgomery —Harvey Freedenberg and Mesha Maren, the Appalachian The Dreamers Mountains hold sway. In Montgomery’s The Widows (Mino- In Maren’s debut novel, Sugar By Karen taur, $26.99, 336 pages, 9781250184528), Run (Algonquin, $26.95, 320 pages, Thompson the coal mining industry of Rossville, Ohio, 9781616206215), characters looking for a Walker in 1925 serves as the ominous backdrop to fresh start are also drawn to the Appala- Random House the lives of Lily Ross and Marvena Whit- chian Mountains, specifically a tiny village $27, 320 pages comb. The story opens in rural West Virginia, where 9780812994162 with a catastrophic min- fracking and drug running Audio, eBook ing explosion of methane have all but replaced coal available gas that kills Marvena’s mining and moonshining. Speculative husband, John, which The novel follows two eras is soon followed by the in the life of Jodi McCarty, Fiction death of Lily’s husband, with the bulk of the story set For genre Sheriff Daniel Ross, at in 2007 as she tries to accli- geeks such as the hands of an escaped mate to freedom after 18 years myself, one of inmate. in prison for manslaughter. the most ex- While Marvena fights Guilt-ridden over the death of citing developments in 21st-century fiction to unionize mine workers her former lover, Paula Dulett, is the embrace of sci-fi, fantasy and horror by for safer conditions Jodi is compelled to seek out so-called “literary” authors. Karen Thomp- and better wages, Lily and then look after Paula’s son Walker epitomized this elevating trend in assumes the mantle of younger brother, Ricky, now her first genre-bending debut novel, The Age acting sheriff in order to grown but mentally handi- of Miracles (2012). Walker takes on the horror track down and appre- capped as a result of a beating genre with The Dreamers, the tale of an inex- hend her husband’s he took at the hands of his plicable sleeping sickness that consumes an killer. Unaware that abusive father. entire college town, beginning with a freshman Daniel has been killed, Along the way, Jodi meets dorm. Marvena goes to his Miranda Matheson, the Soon after the first student is stricken, sev- house to ask his help young mother of three chil- eral of her classmates also fall prey to the in finding her missing dren, who has left her country plague, including a young woman whose so- 16-year-old daughter, music-star husband and his cial awkwardness takes on fatal significance, Eula. Lily promises to drug-addicted lifestyle. Jodi, and another who has just had sex for the first help in Marvena’s search, perhaps yearning for what time and is now pregnant. The development of oblivious to the fact that she once had with Paula and new life in her womb becomes a crucial theme Marvena sought out Dan- a chance at a do-over, brings throughout the novel, an affirmation of vital- iel’s assistance because of Miranda and her boys home ity in stark contrast to the mother’s dreadful their prior relationship. with her. But Jodi’s hopes for slumber. Standing in their re- a fresh start are almost im- As the disease spreads beyond campus, spective ways is the coal mediately dashed when she panic rises. The panorama of these afflictions company and its Pinker- learns that the West Virginia exposes a range of memorable characters. ton detectives, thugs hired as enforcers to property her grandmother left to her has There are no heroes. In fact, the foolishness keep the coal miners in line, even as local been snatched up by a Florida investor. of “heroism” is diagnosed with devastating politicians and law enforcement officials As Jodi struggles to find a job and resorts impact. There are many different ways that look the other way. to the drug trade just to make ends meet, Walker’s victims succumb to the mysterious Inspired by the real lives of Ohio’s first Miranda once again falls for her former sleep, while others attempt to cope with their female sheriff, Maude Collins, and com- husband. loved ones’ collapse. Worst of all, some sleep- munity organizer Mary Harris “Mother” An accomplished short story writer, ers come out of their uncanny dream state Jones, The Widows is told in alternating Maren makes her debut count with emo- permanently unhinged. In every case, a basic chapters from the two women’s points of tionally charged prose and a sense of the principle of human nature unfolds: A person view. This is the first book published by yearning we all have for home. realizes their truest self when confronted with author Sharon Short under the pseudonym —G. Robert Frazier a crisis of mortality. Jess Montgomery, and her writing is brisk, The Dreamers does more than satisfy both yet it lingers long enough to indulge read- + Visit BookPage.com to read a Behind the horror geek and the literary nerd. With clin- ers with beautiful prose along the way. the Book feature from Jess Montgomery. 21 reviews | fiction ical precision and psychological depth, Walker quite the undertaking. Altogether, Unmar- rists to the desire for quick fixes to complicated delivers a vivid embodiment of our ongoing na- riageable is light and entertaining. Meddling problems. tional anxiety. mothers, conniving sisters, arrogant men and If acidic satire helps you fend off life’s chal- —Michael Alec Rose a marriage-minded society provide plenty of lenges, then put Hark in your quiver. fodder, and in the end, class clashes and soci- —Michael Magras Unmarriageable etal expectations transcend the ages as well as geography. The Au Pair By Soniah —Melissa Brown Kamal By Emma Rous Ballantine Hark Berkley $27, 352 pages $16, 384 pages 9781524799717 By Sam Lipsyte 9780440000457 eBook available Simon & Schuster eBook available $27, 304 pages Popular Fiction 9781501146060 Debut Fiction Audio, eBook If marriage is available Emma Rous’ the prize, you’d debut novel, The better be skilled Satirical Fiction Au Pair, is a de- in the art of lightfully paced “grabbing it,” it What’s a guru gothic tale about being an eligible to do when he a family’s snarled bachelor. loses control of secrets and what In her Pride and Prejudice adaptation, So- his own inspi- happens when niah Kamal transports Jane Austen’s nar- rational move- you start pulling at their strings. rative to early-2000s Pakistan, imbuing the ment? Seraphine is staying at Summerbourne, her often-reimagined story with a fresh lexicon. This question family’s manor on the Norfolk coast, mourning Unmarriageable proves the timelessness of drives Hark, Sam Lipsyte’s trenchant satire the death of her father and reminiscing about Austen and how her centuries-old plotline finds about the quest for meaning and the extremes her childhood. While rifling through old family a home in many cultures. to which some people will go to achieve it. photo albums, she is shocked to stumble across The Binat family has fallen far, deceived out If ever there lived an accidental messiah, it’s a chilling image. In it, her mother holds a baby, of their fortunes by Mr. Binat’s own brother, and Hark Morner. His original goal—in one of Lip- and Seraphine’s older brother and father stand have been making due with reduced circum- syte’s many sly commentaries—was to be a smiling in the picture. The photograph is pic- stances for more than a decade. To Mrs. Binat’s stand-up comic. He wasn’t all that good, but a ture-perfect: a family posing proudly with their chagrin, her two oldest daughters must work, club owner booked him to perform his act on newborn. But Seraphine is a twin, and hours af- finding employment as teachers at the local “the pitfalls of office life” at corporate gather- ter she and her twin brother, Danny, were born, school. All five Binat girls—Jena, Alys, Mari, Qit- ings. Hark quickly began to take his own words her mother tragically threw herself from the ty and Lady—await their (mother’s) longed-for seriously. He had found his calling. cliffs behind their luxurious home. fate of a good marriage. Hark calls his method “mental archery,” or “a The mourning daughter begins a hunt for Though her prose lacks Austen’s sardonic few tricks, or tips, to help people focus,” which clues as to what happened on that dreadful day bite and subtlety, Kamal paints endearing rela- include everything from yoga and New Age and why only one baby is in the photograph. Her tionships between Jena and Alys, and between speak to literal bows and arrows. It’s not long search leads her to Laura, the family’s former au Alys and her best friend, Sherry Looclus. Due before he attracts adherents, who are feverishly pair, who mysteriously left Summerbourne the to the lack of well-developed chemistry, love devoted to Hark’s vision. Among them are Fraz same day Seraphine and Danny were born and matches between Alys and Valentine Darsee, Penzig, an unhappily married father of twins their mother died. Then messages—at first sub- and Jena and Fahad “Bungles” Bingla, unfor- who is “rich in nutrients, solid from the gym,” tle and then explicit—are sent to stop Seraphine tunately fall flat, but the real spark to Kamal’s yet perpetually feeling “on the verge of the from digging any deeper. Her brothers begin to writing comes whenever Mrs. Binat opens her verge of death”; Kate Rumpler, a young heiress worry for her sanity and then her safety, as odd mouth. The mother’s hysterics over appearanc- who funds the nascent Harkist institute; and events start to unfold throughout her search for es and the father’s frequent retreat to his gar- Teal Baker-Cassini, former Fulbright scholar the truth. den (plants can’t talk, after all) provide much and erstwhile embezzler, who now handles the Told in interweaving narratives of Seraphine’s of the comic relief. Kamal skewers Pakistani group’s marketing. present and Laura’s past, The Au Pair is a thrill- society over their obsessions and hypocrisies Give the world a popular movement, and ing tale that plays on local folklore, hidden fam- much in the same way Austen did hers. Alys, mercenaries are sure to follow. That’s what hap- ily histories and the small decisions that alter told at one point by the condescending Beena pens here, as social media tycoons and others the trajectories of many lives. With vivid charac- dey Bagh that it must be hard for her mother try to monetize Hark’s movement, leaving the ters, a magical setting and a tightly knitted plot, to have two 30-year-old daughters unmarried, former comic to wonder what sort of joke he The Au Pair is a splendid read that will be best retorts that it “seems to be even harder on ab- has unleashed on the world. enjoyed with a book club or a buddy, as you’ll be solute strangers.” Oddly enough for a novel about the power of itching to digest the tale’s twists with someone As an admirer of Austen’s work, I appreciate focus, Hark sometimes strays from its central else, especially when you reach the jaw-drop- how others want to emulate her. It is a truth story. But Lipsyte lands plenty of jabs at his tar- ping climax. universally acknowledged, however, that it is gets, from internet trolls and conspiracy theo- —Jessica Bates 22 reviews | nonfiction

★Top Pick: to move forward with the disease. “Life can and does go on after an appalling The Unwinding of the Miracle diagnosis, even an incurable one,” she writes. She never sugarcoats, however. By Julie Yip-Williams Yip-Williams She purposefully aims “to depict the Random House, $27, 336 pages, 9780525511359 underwent dark side of cancer and debunk the Audio, eBook available surgery that overly sweet, pink-ribbon facade of Memoir restored partial positivity and fanciful hope and rah- sight. She later rah-rah nonsense spewed by cancer Julie Yip-Williams always sensed that she graduated from patients and others, which I have come was living on borrowed time. After she was Harvard Law to absolutely loathe.” She plans her born blind with cataracts in 1976 in Vietnam, School, traveled death carefully, just as she planned her her grandmother ordered her parents to take the world alone, life, teaching her children not to be her to an herbalist to procure poison that married, had afraid, that death is part of life. In the would end Yip-Williams’ life. Thankfully, the two daughters last chapter she writes, “I have lived herbalist refused. Yip-Williams went on to live and worked at a even as I am dying, and therein lies a an extraordinary life until she died of colon prestigious New York City law firm, only to be certain beauty and wonder.” cancer at age 42 on March 19, 2018. Her book, diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in 2013. Her Full of love, humor, insight and tragedy, her The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of exquisite, honest memoir about living with book resonates with wisdom. As her husband Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After, and dying of cancer is equal parts practical and so aptly notes, “For the little girl born blind, is equally exceptional. philosophical. she saw more clearly than any of us.” After immigrating to America as a child, Yip-Williams writes unflinchingly of learning —Alice Cary

★ ambitions in the process of creating the En- Hollywood’s Eve Diderot and the Art of cyclopédie. But during the last third of his life, Thinking Freely Diderot produced an astonishing range of work. By Lili Anolik Scribner His unedited books of essays, the last cache of $26, 288 pages By Andrew S. which was made public only in 1948, greatly 9781501125799 Curran surpassed what he published in his lifetime. Audio, eBook Other Press Wesleyan University professor Andrew S. Cur- available $28.95, 528 pages ran details the life of this extraordinary man— 9781590516706 who played the role of philosopher, playwright Biography eBook available and novelist, among others—in his absorbing Philosophy Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely. In his When Joan mid-30s, before he began work on what was Didion’s iconic The ambitious to become his best-known achievement, Did- novel Play It as effort to publish erot was imprisoned for heretical writings and It Lays came out the world’s most branded as one of the most dangerous evan- in 1970, it was comprehensive gelists of freethinking and atheism in France. widely hailed encyclopedia Upon his release from prison, he promised to as the ultimate was completed never again personally publish heretical works. Los Angeles story. But Didion’s friend Eve Bab- in the late 18th He kept that promise, but his work on the Ency- itz didn’t see it that way: Didion was from Sac- century with the Encyclopédie, which clocked in clopédie allowed him to challenge conventional ramento via New York; Babitz was the real LA at 35 volumes. Its creators sought, in the midst thinking in other ways. Curran notes Diderot’s woman. So she wrote her own book. of severe censorship by the French government once-close relationship with Jean-Jacques Rous- Her book of lightly fictionalized autobi- and much controversy, not only to educate but seau and their dramatic break, as well as Did- ographical sketches published in 1974, Eve’s also to raise questions about the established or- erot’s contact with Voltaire, who both admired Hollywood, didn’t get the notice that Didion’s ders of knowledge, including the monarchy, the and distrusted him. The most surprising of his work did, but it was fresh, witty and buzzy. institution of slavery and religious belief. The admirers was Catherine the Great, who gave him More books followed—some great, some not. Encyclopédie is now considered the supreme substantial financial support and hosted him in But then Babitz became a drug addict. And af- achievement of the French Enlightenment. It St. Petersburg, although she was not interested ter she got clean, she suffered a life-changing was an instant bestseller and was influential in bringing Diderot’s democratic ideal to Russia. accident. The books stopped coming. throughout Europe and beyond. In this extremely well-written biography, Babitz is still very much alive at 75 and is en- Denis Diderot was the lead editor and con- Curran vividly portrays Diderot as a brilliant joying being rediscovered, thanks largely to Lili tributor of the encyclopedia project from 1745 man filled with contradictions and passions Anolik’s 2014 Vanity Fair article about her. Ano- to 1772. However, he considered the project to who acted as a central figure in the advance- lik has now written a smart, fast-paced medita- be the most thankless chore of his life. He ne- ment of intellectual freedom. tion on Babitz in Hollywood’s Eve. Unsurpris- glected his family, his health and his literary —Roger Bishop ingly, Babitz remains a complicated subject. 23 reviews | nonfiction

Here’s a fractional list of Babitz’s lovers, back cities to contained suburbs, Allen dismantles adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall.) Here, in the day: Jim Morrison, Steve Martin, Jackson the conditional terms of a lie that has been Borman’s deep background knowledge serves Browne, Ahmet Ertegun, Annie Leibovitz, War- peddled for decades. The American dream says her—and the reader—well. The pages and years ren Zevon—and so on. She appears nude in a that the road to success is built upon meritoc- fly by, and one has the feeling of stepping into photo with Duchamp, playing chess. Igor Stra- racy, but black millennials soon discovered an engaging historical lecture by a master of the vinsky was her godfather. For a while, her best that education alone couldn’t fully shatter subject. friend was the guy who inspired BZ in Play It as institutional racism and systemic discrimina- The study follows a chronological approach, It Lays. tion. Allen shares the experience of Michael, a and Borman shines a light on some lesser- But Anolik argues that Babitz’s va-va-voom former college athlete with a crippling amount known characters as well as the major players. looks and sexual adventurism belied brains of undergraduate student debt. Like many of We also see more of how those in Henry’s inner and talent. All those men weren’t exploiting her; his peers, Michael did everything “right.” But circle of advisers, aristocrats and servants inter- she was exploiting them for writing fodder, like Michael lost his athletic scholarship due to acted with one another. Throughout, Borman Proust and his duchesses. injury before graduation. He was determined uses events to peel back layers of Henry’s char- Anolik’s own writing is jazzy and insightful, to finish his education, despite the mounting acter, arguing that his relationships with men and her quest to find Babitz—both physically debt. Although he doesn’t consider his experi- “show him to be capable of fierce, but seldom and psychologically—is an integral part of the ence “a sob story,” it’s in line with the stories of abiding loyalty; of raising men only to destroy book. Anolik notes that many of Babitz’s con- many black Americans who followed the rules them later.” temporaries misread her as a 1960s Carrie Brad- put in place by white America. For readers curious about royal history or fas- shaw, yet Anolik sees her as ruthless, unencum- In this insightful book, the idea of the Amer- cinated by the styles of leaders in our own time, bered, unapologetic. In other words, an artist. ican dream is proven to be a fairy tale at best, Henry VIII: And the Men Who Made Him makes —Anne Bartlett and a nightmare at worst. for a compelling read. And it will hopefully tide —Vanessa Willoughby committed Tudor fans over until Mantel’s The It Was All a Dream Mirror and the Light, the final book in her trilo- By Reniqua Henry VIII: And the Men Who gy about Cromwell, comes out—whenever that may be. Allen Made Him —Deborah Hopkinson Nation By Tracy $28, 368 pages Fault Lines 9781568585864 Borman eBook available Atlantic Monthly By Kevin M. $30, 320 pages Kruse & Social Science 9780802128430 Julian E. eBook available With the elec- Zelizer tion of President History Norton Obama in 2009, $28.95, 400 pages many young Henry VIII is 9780393088663 black men and most often re- eBook available women saw membered as History hope in the the king with promise of the six wives. But in When Amer- American dream—the belief that hard work her fascinating icans woke up and unrelenting persistence guaranteed a new biography, on November 7, seat at the table. But as the years passed, the Henry VIII: And the Men Who Made Him, Tracy 2016, it seemed envisioned path of upward mobility proved Borman argues that as a monarch and as a man, as if we were not impassable. And yet, the reality of the lives Henry is best understood by examining his re- one country, but two. There were the red states of black millennials in a post-Obama nation lationships with the men who surrounded him. and the blue states; the pro-Trumps and the isn’t a portrait of total despair. For Reniqua Throughout his life, Henry was at the center anti-Trumps; the Republicans and the Dem- Allen, Eisner Fellow at the Nation Institute, the of a tumultuous group at court, from advisers ocrats. In the aftermath of President Donald demystifying of the American dream rep- like Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell to Trump’s election, it seems to some that we are resents a chance to abandon the expectations scholar Thomas More and the powerful dukes no longer a united nation, but the uneasy yok- of white America and forge a new path. It Was of Buckingham and Norfolk. Borman writes, ing of enemy camps. However, in Fault Lines: All a Dream: A New Generation Confronts the “It was these men who shaped Henry into the A History of the United States Since 1974, Broken Promise to Black America is a por- man—and the monster—that he would be- Princeton professors Kevin M. Kruse and Julian trait of young black people grappling with the come.” E. Zelizer demonstrate that the current crisis is enduring legacy of white supremacy. Combin- Borman, who serves as curator of Britain’s nothing new. Instead, it is the result of fissures ing nuanced reporting with the intimacies of Historic Royal Palaces, has a long familiarity that have been deepening for decades. personal experience, Allen showcases the lives with the Tudors. She has written a book about In the 1950s, there was an expectation that of black millennials, which are rarely portrayed their private lives as well as a biography of middle-class white men would be the dominant with accuracy in mainstream media. Cromwell. (A confession: I can no longer imag- breadwinners, women would be relegated to Gathering the stories of more than 75 black ine him as anyone other than Mark Rylance, the home, and people of color would continue Americans living everywhere from sprawling thanks to his masterful portrayal in the BBC’s to be treated as second-class citizens. Howev- 24 reviews | nonfiction er, as underrepresented groups demanded and Cuba Libre! brutality. Castro’s career as a rebel against Ba- fought for equal rights and opportunities, cracks tista began a year later, with a failed attack on in the status quo began to emerge—sometimes By Tony an army barrack. After his release from prison, explosively. Like volcanic eruptions along a Perrottet Castro retreated to Mexico to plan further re- fault line, the Watts riots in LA, the Stonewall Blue Rider sistance. There he met and enlisted the Argen- riots in New York City and the Kent State shoot- $28, 384 pages tinean doctor Ernesto “Che” Guevara. With a ings were symptoms of a deeper schism. Aided 9780735218161 band of 82 men, Castro returned to Cuba by sea by advances in technology such as the internet eBook available in late 1956. A disastrous landing led to most of and cable news, along with a growing distrust History his troops being captured or killed. The few sur- of politicians in the wake of Watergate and sub- vivors took refuge in the rugged Sierra Maestra sequent scandals, the cracks deepened, and Only the hoar- range and trained their eyes on distant Havana. American opposition hardened into enmity. iest among us Perrottet relies on contemporary newspaper President Trump may very well be an accelerant remember when accounts and journals to depict the perilous of this process, but he is also a product of it. the Cuban revo- living conditions in the mountains, explain the Fault Lines started as a series of lectures by lution was chic essential roles of female leaders and illustrate Kruse and Zelizer offered at Princeton. Judging and Fidel Castro Castro’s genius in public relations. The victories from the resulting book, the class was no doubt was feted as a against Batista grew slowly but inexorably and a wonderful introduction to a critical era in our modern-day Robin Hood. In his fast-paced and were, for the most part, chronicled sympathet- history. Even for those who lived through these highly entertaining book Cuba Libre!, Tony Per- ically by the American media. Finally, Castro events, Fault Lines gives brilliant context to rottet spotlights the bright hopes that propelled made his triumphant entry into Havana on Jan- help us understand how Americans have be- the revolution and the herculean effort that en- uary 8, 1959. His honeymoon with the U.S. last- come so fragmented and rigid in our beliefs. abled a ragtag band to defeat a dictator’s army ed only a few months, until it became clear that Perhaps, with understanding, we can begin to of 40,000 in just over two years. he really did intend to reform the Cuban econ- soften our divisions and heal. President Fulgencio Batista began a reign in omy at the expense of those who had drained it. —Deborah Mason 1952 that was remarkable for its corruption and —Edward Morris meet A.J. JACOBS

Describe your book in one sentence. What are you most grateful for today?

Who has most inuenced your work?

In Thanks a Thousand (Simon & Schuster / TED, $16.99, 160 pages, What’s a simple way for people to share gratitude? 9781501119927), A.J. Jacobs embarks on a transformative journey to thank everyone involved in producing his morning cup of coffee. From baristas and marketers Most awesome moment of your journey? to farmers and steelworkers, his globe-trotting encounters deepen his love of coffee and his appre- ciation for the healing powers of gratitude and compassion.

Words to live by?

Who was most surprised by your quest to give thanks?

25 feature | finance Let’s make money moves Taking an honest look at your financial situation can provoke a panoply of unpleasant emotions, and let’s be honest—finances are boring. Understanding the complex, jargon-filled American financial system can be dicult, but these three new books work to dispel the mysteries and put you on a course to a more stable, realistic financial future.

Personal finance can be a fraught subject for anyone, but if you came freelance work saw her turning 60 with a rapidly dwindling number in of age during the 2008 economic meltdown, it can be downright terrify- her bank account and rapidly rising panic. She was broke, and she was ing. Instead of facing it head-on, many young Americans don’t talk about ashamed. Looking around, she realized that her private shame was some- what’s going on in their bank accounts, and as a result, they don’t know thing many older, former professionals were quietly carrying with them the first thing about personal finance. Pundits are fond of telling the un- as well. But no one was talking about it, and no one knew what to do. der-35 crowd that they need to stop buying their precious avocado toast In 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal: Your Guide to a Better if they ever want to buy a house, but in Bad with Money: The Imper- Life (Simon & Schuster, $26, 272 pages, 9781501196805), White offers fect Art of Getting Your Financial Sh*t Together (Atria, $16, 304 pages, advice, exercises and tips for the millions of Americans in their 50s and 9781501176333), 30-year-old 60s who have unexpectedly comedian, author and finan- found themselves struggling cial podcast host Gaby Dunn to stay afloat. But perhaps makes it clear that the finan- most importantly, she pro- cial hurdles and morphing vides hope and empow- job market faced by her fel- erment. Throughout this low millennials are far more book, White includes quotes difficult to navigate than the and stories from boomers ones faced by their parents. who are figuring out their Silently struggling with next step, bringing home your finances while feeling the powerful and important guilty and ashamed about message: You are not alone. your lack of know-how This is a deeply empathetic, won’t get you anywhere, and informative and accessible Dunn advises that letting go book from a woman who of those feelings is the first understands—because she’s step toward a brighter, more been there. bountiful bank statement. She lays out the basics of how finances work Perhaps an antidote to financial frustration is to understand, funda- with good humor and friendly prose, clarifying the perplexing and cryp- mentally, how we arrived at our current financial landscape and where tic language of taxes, 401Ks and investing while offering advice on how our world economy can go from here. Renowned English economist and to create a budget, choose a credit card, find an insurance plan and man- social science expert Paul Collier takes a broad view of our economic age young America’s kryptonite: student loan debt. Dunn admits that she climate in The Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties (Harp- used to be terrible with money, but she learned a lot through her various er, $29.99, 256 pages, 9780062748652) and asks the big questions: How money missteps, and she wants to share that hard-earned wisdom with did we get here, and what do we do now? Collier lays bare the inherited the financially clueless out there. Anyone overwhelmed by the murky, flaws of Western society’s corrupted capitalism and how it has failed us. flawed system of finances in America will find an honest, helpful guide As the gap between the rich and the poor grows wider, other divisions in Dunn. become more pronounced, and contempt blossoms. In such an envi- Elizabeth White represents a different demographic of the financially ronment, something must change—and soon. Collier eschews political unmoored. She has worked at the World Bank, holds an MBA from Har- partisanship, instead presenting practical, deeply researched arguments vard and started her own company with her mother. After eight years and for ethics-based capitalism to heal a deeply fissured society. Bringing the dissolution of that company, she re-entered the job market at age 47, morality and ethics back into the economic and public-policy discourse certain that her stellar resume would land her a job fairly quickly. But years is the only solution. went by with no steady source of income. Short, unfulfilling job stints and —Lily McLemore

financial statements

From Gaby Dunn, author of Bad money. Income does not neces- the inside to be mirrored in your From Paul Collier, author of The with Money: “Even when some- sarily equal wealth.” living space. Lord knows, you Future of Capitalism: “Talented one seems successful, don’t make don’t need another thing to feel young people need to be brought assumptions about how much From Elizabeth White, author of bad about. So start somewhere, face-to-face with the social im- that person is making. It may be a 55, Underemployed, and Faking and do something—anything. plications of their career choices: lot; it may not be. You don’t know Normal: “The last thing you need Clear the surfaces in the room how are mega-incomes actually their expenses or history with is for the upheaval that you feel on where you spend the most time.” being generated?”

26 interview | karen m. mcmanus T e cutest towns alwa s a e h y h v LITCHFIELD © KAITLYN the darkest secrets A twisted YA thriller from the author of One of Us Is Lying

Until recently, Karen M. McManus was essen- the ripple effect that darkness can cause,” Mc- tially working two full-time jobs—as a market- Manus says. So she conjured up a very quaint ing professional and a writer—and all the while, New England town with a creepy, Halloween- raising her young son after her husband’s pass- themed amusement park that was once the ing. “I was just really burnt out and sleeping for setting of an actual murder—and yet the about five hours a night, so something had to townsfolk still treat it like a charming tourist give,” McManus says in a call from her home in attraction. The twins eventually discover the Cambridge, Massachusetts. secrets that everyone is trying to keep and the Fortunately, her first book, One of Us Is Lying, bodies they want to stay buried. became a New York Times bestseller. “It just felt Prior to leaning fully into her new life as a like the time was right to go ahead and take that novelist, McManus had planned on pursuing leap to writing full time,” McManus says. “It’s a a career in journalism. She graduated with a big move, but so far, it’s working out.” master’s degree from Northeastern Univer- But the success of her first book distinctly sity’s prestigious journalism program before altered McManus’ writing process for her new realizing, “I wasn’t really interested in writing standalone novel, Two Can Keep a Secret. She news stories, but it did start percolating in my was still working full brain that what I really time and writing, but “Thrillers give teens a wanted to be doing was Delacorte, $19.99, 336 pages, 9781524714727 now she also had a safe space to making up stories.” Audio, eBook available, ages 14 and up chorus of outsider But a lesson learned is YA Thriller voices—her editor, experience and never lost. “My journalism agent and readers— process the world background has been very nically her third book. “I’m really happy it wasn’t all echoing in her helpful in constructing my first idea,” she admits humbly, “because I head with each new that we’re living in right mysteries in general be- don’t think I had the skills when I first started page she composed. now, which is full of cause it taught me to look taking writing seriously to write a complicated “I had to learn how to conflict and fear. for the holes in the story,” plot like that.” shut all that out and McManus says. “That is The wait was worth it, as E! Network has since just get back to the But life is all about so important when you’re picked up the rights to One of Us Is Lying for a story that I wanted to balance, right?” trying to write this airtight TV series, and book two in the series is slated for tell,” she says. plot that makes sense at the release next year. With Two Can Keep a Secret, McManus has end.” She has become very good at spotting the And while McManus’ stories certainly do fall created a layered, twisty tale that enraptures plot holes in her own works—even writing and in the darker side of the YA thriller category, the reader from the very beginning with a big then shelving two previous “practice novels.” they are mixed with lighter elements, humor, mystery: What’s happening to the girls of Echo The first practice novel was what she loving- and strong relationships and friendships. Ridge? ly calls a “terrible dystopian knockoff” inspired “Thrillers give teens a safe space to experi- Though Echo Ridge may seem like an idyllic by Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series, ence and process the world that we’re living in place to call home, Ellery and her twin broth- which reignited in her the desire to write again right now, which is full of conflict and fear,” Mc- er, Ezra, see it differently. After their mother is after her husband’s death. And though she did Manus says. “But life is all about balance, right? forced into court-mandated rehab, Ellery and notice an improvement in her narrative-craft- So I like to try to weave through my narrative Ezra are shipped off ing skills with her second practice nov- the message that even though it’s sort of inev- across the country to el, both had fundamental plot prob- itable to grapple with pain and loss, there’s also live with their grand- lems that McManus claims could not room for growth, hope and optimism.” mother in the tiny be fixed. She has, however, been able to Therein lies McManus’ goal as a creator of town where, 17 years return to her earlier books to mine them stories for teen readers, to share this truth: “The ago, their aunt went for characters. “There are all these little unthinkable can happen to anybody, but it missing, and five parts of life that you pluck from yourself doesn’t have to be insurmountable.” years ago, the home- and weave into each of your characters,” McManus believes writing has helped restore coming queen was McManus says, “and they ultimately be- balance in her life and has reminded her that killed. come their own people. But they have “your story’s not over, there’s more to tell here.” “I’m fascinated by those little sparks of their creator in- And if she can help lead readers back to their places that look per- side.” own sense of balance, then she believes that fect on the surface but With those first two practice novels every word—practice or otherwise—was well have this darkness un- under her belt, McManus’ first pub- worth it. derneath, and about lished novel, One of Us Is Lying, is tech- —Justin Barisich 27 reviews | young adult

★ challenges the notion that Top Pick: The Gilded Wolves historical fantasy novels By Roshani Chokshi (even those with a European Kore—with envy. setting) must be populated Wednesday Books, $18.99, 400 pages But Séverin has a by mostly white characters. 9781250144546, audio, eBook available plan to claim his She balances four points of Ages 13 and up right, and a crew of view, although the lack of Historical Fantasy various talents who any significant entry into In bestselling author Roshani Chokshi’s The live with him at his the psyche of two major Gilded Wolves, a crew of young people in an glamorous hotel will characters is awkward, alternate version of belle epoque Paris use help him pull it off. especially in light of their their wits and daring to restore their leader to They plot to steal an significance to the plot. his rightful place. ancient artifact that The glittering and lavish In this world, some have “Forging” power— will help Séverin 1890s setting is the perfect creative and metamorphic power over matter buy his way back complement to the marvel- or minds—which is made possible through into the good graces ous possibilities of Forging, fragments of the Tower of Babel. These broken of the Order, but and the chemistry between pieces are scattered across the world and the artifact and its Chokshi’s romantic pairs is safeguarded by the mysterious Order of Babel, owner turn out to realistic yet slightly off- which is organized in national factions and be more than they script from what readers then further divided into Houses. bargained for. may expect. In this delicious first entry in a Séverin Montagnet-Alarie is the heir to With a diverse ensemble—characters are new series from a veteran YA author, readers France’s House Vanth, but he was denied his multiracial, from different cultural and religious will find sumptuous visuals, deep characters Order inheritance years ago and now watches backgrounds, have differing sexualities, and and a maddening eleventh-hour twist. the two remaining French Houses—Nyx and one character is non-neurotypical—Chokshi —Annie Metcalf

The Field Guide to the North trait of what it’s like to feel like a fish out of wa- gia, Essie has had the odds against her from American Teenager ter—not only for his protagonist but also for a the start. And with a formerly enslaved moth- richly developed cast of supporting characters er who’s become bitter and is subsequently By Ben whose Breakfast Club-style stereotypes fall not much for nurturing, Essie’s pretty much Philippe away to reveal teens who are just trying to find on her own, and her dreams seem impossibly Balzer + Bray their places in the world. Philippe’s buoyant out of reach. Even as she gathers some people $18.99, 384 pages prose and Norris’ snark allow some of the sto- into her corner—like Ma Clara, her mother’s 9780062824110 ry’s heavier themes (broken families, depres- housekeeper who cares for her, and Binah, the Audio, eBook sion, race) to feel light, poignant and approach- best (and only) friend she’s ever had—making available able. And with this undercurrent of messy something of herself still seems like a long shot. Ages 13 and up reality, characters are affected by these issues Essie spends most of her days working as Fiction instead of defined by them. a maid at a boardinghouse, until a wealthy For contemporary YA fans, this witty look at black woman known as Dorcas Vashon shows Following his what we learn about ourselves by observing up and makes her the offer of a lifetime: She parents’ divorce others will be a fantastic back-to-school read. will provide Essie with a classical education and his mother’s —Sarah Weber and a fine wardrobe, and then she will spir- decision to take it her away to Washington, D.C., where Essie a job at the Uni- Inventing Victoria will meet and mingle with the upper echelons versity of Texas, of black society. It’s everything Essie has ever black Canadian teen Norris moves to perpetu- By Tonya dreamed of. But the road to her new life is not ally muggy, burnt sienna-colored Austin, Texas. Bolden entirely smooth, and she’ll have to decide how Leaving behind his ambivalent father and his Bloomsbury much of her former self she’s willing to part only friend in Montreal, Norris is catapulted $17.99, 272 pages with. As her dreams begin to become her real- into a typical American public school midway 9781681198071 ity, she decides to gift herself with a new name through his junior year, and he finds himself eBook available to suit her new identity, one that embodies all Ages 13 and up hiding behind sarcasm and surface-level, ste- the grace and tenacity she hopes to exhibit: reotypical perceptions of everyone he meets. Historical Fiction Victoria. But on prom night, Norris messes up big time, Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author and he realizes it might be time to drop the pro- Born two de- Tonya Bolden (Maritcha, Crossing Ebenezer tective mask and embrace his new life. cades after the Creek) has penned an atmospheric and fresh Debut author Ben Philippe’s The Field Guide Civil War in historical novel with Inventing Victoria. Her to the North American Teenager mirrors his segregated Sa- prose is rich in period detail, evoking both the own experience and paints an authentic por- vannah, Geor- barren loneliness of Essie’s childhood and the 28 reviews | young adult luxurious fortune that her generous benefac- mining rubble, draglines, polluted runoff and she gets to the wolf, the more determined she tor offers. Bolden has created a sweeping and the pristine beauty of the southern Appala- is to break the spell that binds him to his ani- exhilarating story of a teen girl filled with hope chian wilderness. mal form. and perseverance. Readers can expect a satisfying and uplifting Based on the Norwegian folk tale “East of the Told from the perspective of a young woman ending despite the overall grimness of Russell’s Sun, West of the Moon,” this lyrical and roman- of color in a time period rarely seen in histori- well-told teen drama. tic fantasy offers plenty for both YA lovers and cal fiction for young adults, Inventing Victoria —Lori K. Joyce fairy-tale connoisseurs to appreciate. is a truly unique and necessary addition to the —Hilli Levin genre. Echo North —Hannah Lamb ★The Wicked King By Joanna A Sky for Us Alone Ruth Meyer By Holly Black Page Street Little, Brown By Kristin $17.99, 400 pages $19.99, 336 pages Russell 9781624147159 9780316310352 Audio, eBook Katherine Tegen eBook available available $17.99, 336 pages Ages 14 and up Ages 14 and up 9780062697028 Fantasy eBook available Fantasy Ages 13 and up An enchant- Fiction ing story about a High stakes book-loving girl and heartbreak People hear who’s shunned are at the cen- about America’s by gossipy vil- ter of award- opioid crisis on lagers and the winning author the news, but evil stepmother who forces her to leave home Holly Black’s author Kristin may seem more than a little familiar to even The Wicked King, the second book in the Folk Russell brings the most casual Disney fan, but author Joanna of the Air series and the luscious sequel to her readers up close and personal to this prob- Ruth Meyer (Beneath the Haunting Sea) loving- New York Times bestseller The Cruel Prince. lem in her debut novel, A Sky for Us Alone. ly builds upon recognizable tropes from classic When The Wicked King opens, it’s been five Cultural richness and material poverty collide fairy tales while still making her latest YA novel, months since 17-year-old human Jude planted in Russell’s fictional Appalachian setting of Echo North, feel fresh and original. Faerie Prince Cardan on the Elfhame throne. Strickland County. This is much more than a When she was a child, Echo Alkaev was Now, she’s struggling to maintain her behind- simple cautionary tale of how opioids can dev- mauled by a white wolf in the woods, leaving the-scenes power, and it doesn’t help that Car- astate a community. Instead, Russell has creat- her with a face covered in scars. Ostracized by dan is trying to undermine their deal or that ed a living, breathing tapestry of Appalachian her cruel peers, her only sources of compan- her twin sister’s marriage to the duplicitous life that is filled with voices both ancient and ionship are her doting father and older broth- Locke comes with its own set of challenges. On youthful. er, who treasure her intellect and the “echo” of top of all that, Jude’s stepfather is strategizing When 18-year-old Harlowe Compton discov- her dead mother’s love and beauty that they behind her back. ers his older brother Nate’s body on their front see within her. But Echo’s small happiness is But when the Queen of the Undersea threat- porch, he vows to figure out who shot him. shattered with the arrival of her father’s new ens the Faerie kingdom and Cardan’s rule, Jude Nate served as the rock of their family, and his wife, who mocks Echo in private and plunges must spy and scheme to protect her family and brutal death has devastating consequences for the family into debt. When Echo’s father sets her hold on the throne. But Jude can’t foresee the Comptons. While Harlowe grieves over the off to sell his rare books, he becomes lost in the everything, and someone is out to betray her. loss, he also watches his family disintegrate. wintry woods. Echo finds him unconscious in Despite growing up in a Faerie world, Jude is Harlowe’s mother deals with her physical and the snow with the very white wolf who attacked not one of them. And there’s only so much pow- mental pain by slipping back into opioid use, her so many years ago. To save her father’s life, er a mortal girl can wield when fighting mon- and his father, unable to cope with both his she strikes a curious bargain: She will live alone sters. wife’s addiction and his son’s death, simply dis- with the wolf for one full year, and she cannot Fans of The Cruel Prince have been clamoring appears. tell her family where she’s going or have any for this book, and they will not be disappoint- However, Harlowe finds an unexpected contact with them. ed. Black ratchets up the action with even more bright spot in his life when a new girl named Meyer takes a hard left turn into the fan- sinister settings, wicked villains, surprising plot Tennessee Moore moves to town, and despite tastical as Echo joins the talking wolf in his twists and her haunting, melodic prose. Cardan their overwhelming family issues, the two teens house under the mountain, a beautiful but and Jude’s infatuation with one another is se- find true friendship, support and love. dangerous estate guarded by the North Wind ductively tense as they continue to fight their The coal-mining industry and its Mafia-like and filled with old magic and enchantment. As feelings. And Jude’s ability to steamroll her ene- bosses—the powerful and conniving Prater Echo learns how to care for the cantankerous mies with violence and wit offers a particularly family—serve as the backdrop for the action old house, including its charmed library and feminist high. and mystery in A Sky for Us Alone. All life in shifting rooms, she makes friends in unex- The Wicked King is intense and entertaining Strickland County is viewed through coal’s in- pected new worlds and takes ownership over storytelling at its finest. fluence. Vivid contrasts abound between the her life’s direction. And of course, the closer —Kimberly Giarratano 29 feature | middle grade adventure Illustrated tales of nonstop fun Playful illustrations make super stories even better, and these three action-packed novels for young readers are chock full of them.

Fans of Lincoln Peirce’s Big Nate series In the second adventure of his Mac B., Kid Family dynamics are decidedly tricky for Hap- will adore the author and cartoonist’s Max & Spy series, Caldecott Medal-winning author py Conklin Jr., a 10-year-old who has to shave the Midknights (Crown, $13.99, 288 pages, Mac Barnett recounts his supposed youthful three times a day after being experimented on 9781101931080, ages 8 to 12), a superb hybrid adventures in 1989 as an espionage agent in by his inventor father. In 2018’s How to Sell Your of chapter book and graphic novel that’s packed Mac B., Kid Spy: The Impossible Crime (Or- Family to Aliens, Hap battled his authoritarian with nonstop adventure, dragons, wizards and chard, $12.99, 160 pages, 9781338143683, ages grandma, and in How to Properly Dispose of flying rats. The daring, wise-cracking Max (who 7 to 10). One moment, young Mac B. is playing Planet Earth (Bloomsbury, $13.99, 192 pages, discovers she’s actually a girl) is stuck in the Mid- mini golf in Castro Valley, California, and the 9781681196596, ages 8 to 12), he longs to be dle Ages, longing to become a knight but acting next the queen of England is summoning him lab partners with Nevada Everly, the new girl in as an apprentice to bumbling Uncle Budrick, via pay phone to help her protect the crown jew- his science class. Hap manages to befriend her, a troubadour who’s anything but tuneful. This els. Three hundred years ago, Colonel Thomas but he also opens up a black hole that threat- down-on-their luck pair courts catastrophe Blood stole them, and the queen believes one of ens to swallow his school—and the solar sys- when they enter the Kingdom of Byjovia, where his heirs will try to steal them again on the anni- tem. In this rollicking sci-fi adventure by New the evil King Gastley carts Uncle Budrick off to versary of this real-life 17th-century crime. The Yorker cartoonist Paul Noth, Hap and his super- be his jester. While Max and her merry band of action never stops in this light-hearted adven- powered sisters endure extraordinary exploits misfits bear a noticeable resemblance to Char- ture that’s fueled by Barnett’s jaunty narration, reminiscent of Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” with lie Brown and his buddies (Charles Schulz is jokes galore and Mike Lowery’s entertaining, appearances by Genghis Khan, magical lizards one of Peirce’s inspirations), these characters full-color cartoon illustrations. The plot may be and a gigantic robot. There’s never a dull mo- have a modern Wimpy Kid vibe. preposterous, but it’s hard not to enjoy the ride. ment in this outlandish romp. —Alice Cary

Excerpt from Max & the Midknights, copyright © 2019 by Lincoln Illustration from Mac B., Kid Spy: The Impossible Crime © 2018 Illustration from How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth © 2019 Peirce. Reprinted with permission from Crown Books for Young Readers. by Mike Lowery. Reprinted with permission from Scholastic. by Paul Noth. Reprinted with permission from Bloomsbury Children’s. 30 reviews | children’s

★Top Pick: My Heart abilities of tle heart shape on each spread. children— Some are more pronounced than By Corinna Luyken and the mo- others, like the heart that forms Dial, $17.99, 32 pages, 9780735227934 ments when in the shadow cast by a long and eBook available their hearts daunting slide outdoors at twi- are closed light, or the heart shapes formed Ages 4 to 8 (like a fence) in the pattern of a wrought iron Picture Book or open (like fence. In author and illustrator Corinna Luyken’s the flowers A heart can be “closed . . . / or atmospheric new picture book, My Heart, in a dazzling open up wide,” and a young girl young readers see a series of diverse children bouquet). surrounded by luminescent yel- whose innermost feelings are manifested via Luyken jux- lows, with her arms spread wide clever metaphors and softly rendered mono- taposes the in joy, proclaims, “I get to decide.” type illustrations. “My heart is a window,” one muted grays This is the foundation of Luyken’s small child says as they stare through a window of pencil sensitive story, and it’s an empow- lit with vivid yellow sunlight. “Some days it is with lemony ering notion: Whether their hearts tiny,” says another child, wondering at a small yellows that are closed or open, broken or full, and delicate flower in the grass. seem to shine from the pages in her simple, children have autonomy over their own interior In spare and pleasing rhyming text, Luyken uncluttered compositions. If you linger over the lives. explores the fears, joys and emotional vulner- artwork, you’ll see that Luyken includes a sub- —Julie Danielson

+ Subscribe to our children’s and YA newsletter for more reviews, interviews and features: bookpage.com/generationread meet LINDSAY MOORE How would you describe the book?

What books did you enjoy as a child?

Who has been the biggest inuence In author and illustrator Lindsay Moore’s debut picture book, Sea on your work? Bear (Greenwillow, $17.99, 48 pages, 9780062791283, ages 4 to What one thing would you like to learn to do? 8), a mother polar bear navigates a warming arctic landscape as she hunts and raises her young cubs. Moore’s background in marine biol- ogy and scientific illustration make this story equally beautiful and informative. She lives in Bowling Green, Ohio, with her family.

Who was your childhood hero? What message would you like to send to young readers?

3131 Volume 17

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