BookPage May 2016 by BookPage

AMERICA’S BOOK REVIEW

MAY 2016

DISCOVER YOUR NEXT GREAT BOOK

Our Top Picks FICTION

Sleeping Giants pg 17

NONFICTION

Valiant Ambition pg 22

BOOK CLUBS

A Spool of Blue Thread pg 11

WHODUNIT

Fall of Man in Wilmslow pg 8

CHILDREN’S

As Brave As You pg 29

ROMANCE

Only Beloved pg 10

TEEN

The Lie Tree pg 27

Chris

CLEAVE

Inspired by family stories, the bestselling author of Little Bee captures the emotional turmoil of Londoners facing the early years of World War II 1

Love

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contents

MAY 2016

columns 04 04 05 06 08 09 10 11

Lifestyles Well Read Library Reads Audio Whodunit Cooking Romance Book Clubs

Cover photo by James Emmett

book reviews 17 FICTION

Joe Gould’s Teeth by Jill Lepore Pit Bull by Bronwen Dickey

t o p p i c k : Sleeping Giants

by Sylvain Neuvel

The Mathews Men by William Geroux

The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett

Family travel Curtis Sittenfeld Richard Russo Historical fiction Bronwen Dickey John Corey Whaley Mother’s Day

Elizabeth by John Guy

The Fireman by Joe Hill Left in the Wind by Ed Gray The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay

27 TEEN

t o p p i c k : The Lie Tree

Solemn by Kalisha Buckhanon

by Frances Hardinge

The Assistants by Camille Perri

Saving Montgomery Sole by Mariko Tamaki

Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett

Silence Is Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher

The Mother by Yvvette Edwards Heat and Light by Jennifer Haigh

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

LaRose by Louise Erdrich The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

meet the author

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

14 Karen Alpert

Zero K by Don DeLillo

by Nathaniel Philbrick You May Also Like by Tom Vanderbilt For the Glory by Duncan Hamilton Old Age by Michael Kinsley Paper by Mark Kurlansky The Statesman and the Storyteller by Mark Zwonitzer Bonjour Kale by Kristen Beddard

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

CHILDREN’S BOOKS Allison Hammond

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

There Is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith A Magical Winter by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick Trouble the Water by Frances O’Roark Dowell It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas

EDITORIAL POLICY

Julia Steele

Lily McLemore

Roger Bishop

EDITOR

ASSISTANT EDITOR

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Hilli Levin

Penny Childress

Sada Stipe

MANAGING EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

EDITORIAL INTERN

Trisha Ping

Sukey Howard

Leah Bruce

CONTROLLER Sharon Kozy

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COLOR ME, DRAW ME

978-1-4547-0910-7 $14.95 • Paperback

The Most Important Thing by Avi

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Lynn L. Green

Animal Kingdom

Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

CONTRIBUTOR

New York Times Bestseller!

by Jason Reynolds

BookPage is a selection guide for Elizabeth Herbert new books. Our editors evaluate and select for review the best books MARKETING published in a variety of categories. Mary Claire Only books we highly recommend Zibart are featured. BookPage is editorially independent and never accepts ADVERTISING payment for editorial coverage. OPERATIONS

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Finding Wild by Megan Wagner Lloyd

A M E R I C A’ S B O O K R E V I E W

Michael A. Zibart

A COLORING BOOK ADVENTURE

t o p p i c k : As Brave as You

t o p p i c k : Valiant Ambition

31 Lisa Brown

Wild Savannah

29 CHILDREN’S

22 NONFICTION

PUBLISHER

Millie Marotta

Bestselling British author Chris Cleave makes his first foray into historical fiction with Everyone Brave Is Forgiven.

features 14 15 16 21 25 26 31

on the cover

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columns

LIFESTYLES

WELL READ

B Y S U S A N N A H F E LT S

BY ROBERT WEIBEZAHL

For DIY-minded moms

Mark Twain on tour

“Kids, go play outside!” This weary cry is familiar to parents everywhere, perhaps even more so in our sedentary era of technology overload. Here to rally the troops is Hattie Garlick, a mother and writer whose Born to Be Wild (Bloomsbury, $22, 256 pages, ISBN 9781472915337) is a joyful compendium of all the ways families can explore and play in the natural world together, even if they live in the heart of the city. Garlick’s intro sets a chilled-out, wry tone that most moms will adore (“[T]his book is not telling you what to

heartshaped pockets. Comfortable meets fashionably eye-catching—a welcome combination—in Ziegler’s designs, and her bold prints play harmoniously with one another. Sew Happy includes visual step-by-step instructions and begins with a rundown of sewing basics—the tools you need, instructions for patternmaking, cutting and seaming—but this isn’t a novice’s primer. If mom is a savvy sewer who loves playful design, then she’ll have a blast with this book.

do. It would not dare.”), and her suggestions for investigating and creating in nature are easily executable with a few household items and tools, making each one either low-cost or free. As she notes, you don’t really need her to tell you how to roll down a hill, but her helpful how-tos for seasonally organized projects like a Jam-Jar Fairy Garden, Moss Collage or Blossom Crown provide welcome inspiration. Garlick’s writing throughout is funny and infectious.

TOP PICK IN LIFESTYLES

I would wager that more books have been written about Mark Twain than any American except Lincoln. Richard Zacks adds to that estimable pile with Chasing the Last Laugh (Doubleday, $30, 464 pages, ISBN 9780385536448), an impeccably researched and thoroughly engaging account of a less celebrated chapter in Twain’s life. In 1895, faced with a mountain of debt, the famous writer reluctantly embarked on a ’round-the-world lecture/ comedy tour. He would later recount his adventures in Following the Equator. Zacks begins the story two years earlier with the famous novelist and humorist on the brink of financial ruin. Twain had lost huge sums in two failed endeavors: the creation of a publishing house to publish his own works and others, including the hugely successful memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, and a large investment in one of two automated linotype machines being developed to revolutionize printing (he backed the wrong horse). Twain’s wife, Livy, was heiress to a coal-mining fortune and had poured a significant amount of her own money into these failed enterprises. They could no longer afford their spacious Hartford, Connecticut, home, and were staving off multiple legal actions while living a somewhat itinerant life (although Zacks points out that even at his most impecunious, Twain stayed at the nicest hotels). While he had spent a lot of time on stage entertaining the public with his signature yarns, Twain had planned to spend his later years basking in the glow of his readers’ adoration from a sedentary perch. But Livy insisted that all debts be honorably paid, and the fastest and most assured way to make money was to hit the road. So Twain, accompanied by his wife

THE STITCH SITCH A bounty of bright, bold prints and sewing patterns, Sew Happy (DK, $14.95, 144 pages, ISBN 9781465451248) compiles stylish designs from Karin Ziegler, the creative force behind the popular German lifestyle and fashion brand Blutsgeschwister. Ziegler fancies polka dots, plaid, hounds tooth, stripes, florals, geometrics and plenty of color: There’s nothing understated about her fun, exuberant clothes. But the designs in this guide are for everyday-wear pieces, from jersey dresses and a fleece poncho to a reversible hoodie and jogging pants with

Mothers of the world, it’s time to ramble freely with open eyes, ears and minds. Keri Smith, creator of the bestselling Wreck This Journal, is back with a new book that grew out of an encounter with an annotated copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and a mysterious, covert organization that “holds a belief in the intrinsic power of wandering as a way to transcend the problems of modern society, access a higher plane of consciousness, and participate in direct experiences of everyday life.” The Wander Society (Penguin, $20, 208 pages, ISBN 9780143108368) follows Smith’s attempt to gather Wander Society ephemera and articulate its tenets, thereby marking a trail for others to follow—er, wander. An artful assemblage of images and text introduces readers to a lineage of famous wanderers, and then instructs them in a “detective hunt of sorts.” Curious and bewitching, this book serves as an antidote to modern consumer culture and a gateway drug to the poetry of Whitman, the “Bard of Democracy” himself.

and one of their three daughters, set off around the world. He traveled by train, steamship and all manner of local transport and entertained sold-out English-speaking audiences across the Western U.S., Australia, New Zealand, India and Africa (alighting, basically, wherever the British had an imperial outpost). Zacks suggests that Twain was most taken by India, and nearly a quarter of the narrative is set on the subcontinent. “Twain’s fascination with India was no literary pose,” he writes, “his uncharacteristically gushing observations spill off the pages of his private notebooks and into letters. . . . He never outgrew a sort of child’s delight in encountering the exotic.” The otherwise triumphant trip was, regrettably, tainted by the death of daughter Susy, who had stayed behind in the States. Zacks, who has also written books on Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and Captain Kidd, is an accomplished guide When his wife through insisted that Twain’s travel their debts escapades. While the be honorably book is paid, Twain in hit the road to steeped painstakmake money. ing detail about the family’s financial difficulties, as well as their personal affections and aversions, the author does an impressive job of synthesizing a lot of material into a highly readable narrative. (Zacks, tongue planted firmly in cheek, points out that the archives of the Mark Twain Project at Berkeley is only missing what Twain ate for breakfast on September 28, 1873.) Although his financial records are less complete, it is generally agreed that the lecture tour allowed Twain to pay off his debts. He died in 1910 with an estate of $471,136—the equivalent of about $15 million today.

Selected from nominations made by library staff across the country, here are the 10 books that librarians can’t wait to share with readers in May.

From the New York Times bestselling author of

BRITT-MARIE WAS HERE by Fredrik Backman

An electrifying and addictive new tale of deceit and obsession…

Atria, $26, ISBN 9781501142536

The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with the story of an uptight, persnickety woman who surprises everyone by opening up to the big, messy world.

THE FIREMAN by Joe Hill

Morrow, $28.99, ISBN 9780062200631 When a worldwide plague causes the infected to burst into flames, it’s up to a mysterious figure known as the Fireman to battle the pandemonium. Read our review on page 17.

EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN by Chris Cleave

Simon & Schuster, $26.99, ISBN 9781501124372 During the first years of World War II, a young schoolteacher finds that she has more courage and passion within her than she imagined. Read our interview on page 12.

SWEETBITTER by Stephanie Danler

Knopf, $25, ISBN 9781101875940 Tess, a 22-year-old bent on escaping small-town life, lands a job at an elite Manhattan restaurant and gets a taste of the enchanting highs and many lows of city life.

I LET YOU GO by Clare Mackintosh

Berkley, $26, ISBN 9781101987490 In an attempt to escape the memories of the son she lost, Jenna Gray moves to a remote cottage, but the past haunts her. Read our review on page 20.

SMOKE by Dan Vyleta

Doubleday, $27.95, ISBN 9780385540162 In 1900s England, smoke pours from the bodies of the sinful lower class, while aristocrats remain smokeless. However, three students at an elite school learn an explosive truth.

Read it May 17!

REDEMPTION ROAD by John Hart

Thomas Dunne, $27.99, ISBN 9780312380366 When a man finally gets out of prison for a heinous crime he didn’t commit, he will have to fend off a boy bent on revenge and another bogus murder charge. Read our review on page 8.

CITY OF THE LOST by Kelley Armstrong

Minotaur, $25.99, ISBN 9781250092144 A homicide detective who killed a man during college takes up residence in a strange, isolated town made specifically for people who need to disappear. Read our review on page 8.

Both available now!

WILDE LAKE by Laura Lippman

Morrow, $26.99, ISBN 9780062083456 A small-town state’s attorney is forced to reflect on the subjectivity of memory and truth during her first murder trial. Read our review on page 8.

SWEET LAMB OF HEAVEN by Lydia Millet

Norton, $25.95, ISBN 9780393285543 A young mother takes shelter from her disturbed husband in a rundown motel, but there’s something a bit off about the other guests in this tense psychological thriller. LibraryReads is a recommendation program that highlights librarians’ favorite books published this month. For more information, visit libraryreads.org.

“A high-intensity thriller, a psychological puzzle that will keep readers on their toes.” —BookPage on The Good Girl

www.MIRABooks.com • www.MaryKubica.com

5 16_088_BookPage_DontYouCry.indd 1

2016-03-17 4:28 PM

CAPTIVATING

Listening! Read by Scott

Shepherd

“John Hart is a master storyteller.” —HarlanCoben, #1 NewYorkTimesbestsellingauthor

Read by George

columns The fabric of history Audiophiles appreciate the entertainment value of listening to all kinds of good books but, every once in a while, an important, sweeping history makes us realize how much we can learn and how immediate and fascinating a wellread audio presentation can make complex, impressively researched ideas. Honestly, I’m not sure I

Newbern

“With The Sport of Kings, C. E. Morgan has delivered a masterpiece.” —PhilippMeyer,authorofTheSon

Read by HOLTER

GRAHAM

An exciting and eye-opening look at the Revolutionary War through the lives of its leaders

Read by Gretchen

Mol

“Leary’s unique voice and perspective make this the novel you won’t be able to put down this summer. ” –– AnnHood,authorof TheKnittingCircle

could have read every page of Sven Beckert’s brilliant Empire of Cotton: A Global History (HighBridge Audio, $44.99, 20 hours, ISBN 9781622316328), which was named one of the 10 best books of 2015 by the New York Times. But with Jim Frangione’s engaging narration, I didn’t want to miss a minute. Starting in Bronze-Age China and India, Beckert weaves thousands of years of cotton’s history into an intricate panorama of globalization; interconnected economic, social and political systems; and the technological innovations that became the impetus for the Industrial Revolution. With compassion for the misery of those who were forced into the cotton trade, he makes us reconsider the ways in which “cotton capitalism” rests on violence, slavery, the expropriation of land and colonialism.

A DIVA’S DESTINY Read by Kathleen

McInerney

“Kathleen McInerney’s smooth voice hooks the listener from the start.” –– AudioFile on BeachTown

Listen to excerpts on www.UnabridgedAccess.com

AUDIO BY SUKEY HOWARD

In the opening scene of Alexander Chee’s lush historical novel, The Queen of the Night (Blackstone Audio, $44.95, 19 hours, ISBN 9781504701587), read by Lisa Flanagan, it’s 1882, and Lilliet Berne, a famed soprano whose rare, fragile voice has made her the toast of the Paris opera scene, walks into a ball at the Luxembourg Palace. She’s approached by a handsome stranger who has written a novel that’s to be the basis for a new opera in which she

will star. All divas yearn to create a new role, but here’s the rub—it’s the story of Lilliet’s life, a story she’s hidden from the world, save from four people. As she seeks her betrayer, we are treated to a grand operatic epic, from her Minnesota childhood, her escape to Europe as part of a traveling circus, her flight from the circus to the streets of Paris, then to a ritzy brothel, and finally to her emergence as a great singer and courtesan, with all the requisite reversals of fortune, melodrama and gorgeous costumes, gorgeously described.

TOP PICK IN AUDIO He called them his “Swans,” and they, the Kenneth-coifed and couture-clothed crème de la crème of New York society, called him their “True Heart.” These well-to-do women brought the charmingly catty, openly gay and overtly campy Truman Capote into their intimate inner circle. Though they were all beautiful and rich, Capote’s favorite was Babe Paley, the exquisite, kind, perfect wife of the larger-than-life, demandingly self-centered founder of CBS. Paley and Capote seemed like soulmates, spending endless hours together, sharing confidences, she revealing all and expecting her secrets to remain secret. In her extraordinary new novel, The Swans of Fifth Avenue (Random House Audio, $45, 13 hours, ISBN 9781101922750), perfectly narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Paul Boehmer, Melanie Benjamin has channeled Capote and, even more expertly, Paley, taking us inside her exquisite homes, into her love for Capote and into his ultimate betrayal of her and her classy clique.

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columns

WHODUNIT BY BRUCE TIERNEY

Loose threads unravel half-truths and lies If you think of Laura Lippman’s Wilde Lake (Morrow, $26.99, 368 pages, ISBN 9780062083456) as a reimagined and much darker To Kill a Mockingbird, you wouldn’t be far off. Lippman drew inspiration from Harper Lee’s masterpiece as

ther in the same role years before. She scarcely has time to settle into her new office before a murder case comes across her desk: A drifter is accused in the brutal beating death of a middle-aged woman. It should be an open-and-shut case,

she considered how events of one era would play out decades later— and how attitudes toward sex and rape would change from 1980 to 2015. The novel centers on Luisa (Lu) Brant, who was a shoe-in for the position of state’s attorney, thanks to the long tenure of her fa-

but as the investigation progresses, it harkens back to another killing from 30-some years before that involved members of Lu’s family. Chapters alternate between 1980 and the present day, and the suspense ratchets up progressively as Lu discovers that truth is not nec-

A STOLEN BOY A HAUNTED SOLDIER A CORNERED CON WOMAN…

WAYS OF SERVING TIME Events of the past also exert unexpected influence over characters in John Hart’s Redemption Road (Thomas Dunne, $27.99, 432 pages, ISBN 9780312380366). Adrian Wall is freshly out of prison after serving 13 years for a murder he did not commit—but for some reason, he wouldn’t take the stand to defend himself. Elizabeth Black is an iconoclastic cop who was one of a handful of people to believe Wall innocent, although she harbors the secret of another killing. Gideon Strange was only an infant when his mother was purportedly murdered by Wall, and now he’s a teenager bent on avenging the death of the mom he never knew. It should come as no surprise that directly after Wall is released from prison, another murder occurs that is shockingly similar in style to the one that got him incarcerated. Naturally, the police make a beeline for Wall, and once again, one of the few people in his corner is Elizabeth. The denouement and climax are certainly cinematic, albeit somewhat unlikely, but if you’re a fan of poetic justice, you’ll find it in spades.

A PLACE FOR DISAPPEARING

“Deception Island offers smoldering chemistry, cunning twists, and a whole lot of heart.” —New York Times bestselling author HEATHER GR AHAM

Preorder your copy in print or ebook today!

www.HQNBooks.com www.BrynnKelly.com

essarily a commodity to be sought out and not always something we’ll be happy about when we find it.

Kelley Armstrong’s City of the Lost (Minotaur, $25.99, 416 pages, ISBN 9781250092144) posits an interesting scenario: a town specifically created as the ultimate off-the-grid destination to escape an abusive partner, go on the lam or drop off the face of the earth. Located deep in the Yukon, Rockton is a village of misfits that one must apply to join and then be accepted by the town council. Residents commit to a minimum of two years and a maximum of five, pay a hefty entrance fee and agree to live without access to mail, cell phones, Internet or any other means of communication with the outside world. It is tailor-made for Diana Berry, who cannot seem to summon up the strength to stay

away from her cruel ex-husband, and her friend Casey Duncan, a cop with her own desire for escape. The town council has its own reasons for accepting Casey, however: There have been murders, pretty grisly ones at that, and the police force has proven well out of its depth at solving them. Someone with Casey’s expertise would be able to provide a new perspective and, with luck, bring a killer to justice. This is a taut, well-plotted and thoroughly different sort of thriller.

TOP PICK IN MYSTERY Hot on the heels of Philip Kerr’s The Other Side of Silence, reviewed in last month’s column, comes another tale of espionage and the witch hunts of homosexuals in 1950s Great Britain. In David Lagercrantz’s gripping novel Fall of Man in Wilmslow (Knopf, $26.95, 368 pages, ISBN 9781101946695), the death of real-life mathematician Alan Turing in the sleepy English town of Wilmslow is widely written off as a suicide (death by poisoned apple, seriously). His conviction for “gross indecency” (the codeword for “homosexuality”) spelled the end of his life as he knew it, with the loss of his security clearance and the censure or outright condemnation of his peers. Yet for Detective Constable Leonard Corell, there is an element of irrational government secrecy around Turing, and this piques his curiosity. Corell’s hunch begins to gain some traction, at least in his own mind, when evidence leads him to one of the more closely guarded secrets of World War II, the decryption of the hitherto uncrackable Nazi encryption code known as the Enigma. But if ever there were a time when curiosity could get you killed, it would be at the onset of the Cold War, and nowhere was paranoia more prevalent than in 1950s England. This is a fascinating, lightly fictionalized look at a pivotal character in the world of Cold War espionage.

COOKING BY SYBIL PRATT

Family traditions Alexandra Stratou’s Cooking with Loula (Artisan, $29.95, 240 pages, ISBN 9781579656683) is a charmingly intimate cookbook. Loula was Stratou’s family cook, responsible for the treasured tastes of her childhood that still conjure up her sense of family and belonging. Loula’s recipes, enhanced by Stratou’s great aunt, represent real Greek home cooking: healthy, homey, traditional and seasoned here with Stratou’s stories and sentiments. Like all families, the Stratous have their favorite reci-

pes. For everyday, there’s Spiced Meatballs in Tomato Sauce, Stuffed Zucchini and Oven-Baked Sea Bass, and then Sunday specials like Green Beans with Shrimp and a wonderfully cheesy Onion Tart. Other favorites include the small plates that cover their tables in the summer, like a tomato-centric Greek Salad and Octopus Marinated in Vinegar. It’s all rounded out with the dishes that mark annual traditions, like New Year’s Cake, Easter Butter Cookies, Oven- Roasted Lamb for Holy Saturday and Chestnut Pavlova for Christmas lunch. By inviting you into her past, Stratou urges you to consider the cherished foods from your own memories.

FUN WITH FANNY Were spunk, sass and a general delight in the joy of cooking deciding factors in Rachael Ray’s “Great American Cookbook Competition”? We’re not sure, but Fanny Slater, who won the competition (along with a trip to Cancun, a book contract and an appearance on Ray’s TV show) exemplifies all of the above, and her debut cookbook, Orange, Lavender & Figs (Atria, $18, 256 pages, ISBN 9781476796307), sparkles. A self-

taught cook, Slater’s recipes are an inviting, doable combo of sophistication and innovation, with “Fanfare Tips” on presentation and pairings and “Flippidy-Doo” ideas for morphing leftovers into creative new dishes. You can start your day with a brunch-y Banana Bacon Bread Pudding, then move on to an unusual Boozy Fig Chili with Cinnamon and Orange. Want more? Go for the Dilled Meyer Lemon Crab Cake Sliders, Scallop Piccata with Caramelized Fennel, Agave-Glazed Carrots with Caraway and, of course, an ample sample of Orange, Lavender and Fig Jam. Join the Fanny fans!

TOP PICK IN COOKBOOKS Cherries, berries, peaches, pears, melons, figs—it’s spring, and Mother Nature is starting to strut her sweet stuff. To make the most of what’s in season, every season, we now have Yossy Arefi’s Sweeter off the Vine (Ten Speed, $24, 256 pages, ISBN 9781607748588), a beautifully illustrated fantasia of the finest fruit desserts. Each season has its special offerings, and Arefi celebrates them with recipes that range from the superbly simple, like Small Batch Apricot Jam, Coconut Cream Fool with Raspberries and Watermelon Granita with Chile and Lime, to the more complex. It’s here that Arefi’s top- banana expertise bears the most fruit. With detailed instructions and inviting header notes, she shows us how to make tart Rhubarb Semifreddo, Pistachio Pound Cake with Strawberries in Lavender Sugar, Wine-Roasted Figs with Whipped Honeyed Ricotta and elegant, fall-hued Jeweled Pavlova with Cranberry Curd. Whatever fruit you fancy, it’s all peachy keen.

Visit BookClubbish.com/MothersDay to learn more!

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Come Home to Love, Laughter and Happily-Ever-After An irresistible new love story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fool’s Gold series.

columns A rich girl finds love in a nofrills bar in One Night Charmer (HQN, $7.99, 480 pages, ISBN 9780373789658) by Maisey Yates, part of her Copper Ridge series. After walking away from family strife, Sierra West needs work, and she finds it at Copper Ridge, a local Oregon dive bar owned by Ace Thompson. He might be the preacher’s son, but bad luck in love has given the gruff man a hard edge. He hires Sierra but finds himself unable to stop flirting and

DARK LOVE

Available in print and ebook.

www.HQNBooks.com www.SusanMallery.com

B Y C H R I S T I E R I D G WAY

Second-chance cowboy

playfully sparring with his new server. They keep their attraction at bay with banter, but that doesn’t last long. Pretenses come down, clothes come off and Sierra and Ace’s best intentions are burned away in shared passion. Will a one-night stand lead to a lasting romance? It doesn’t seem likely for distrustful Ace and independent Sierra. But they can’t go their separate ways, so perhaps trying to walk together isn’t such a terrible idea. This is a satisfying small-town read with emotional oomph—and it’s great fun to watch a curmudgeonly cowboy get his comeuppance and find sweetness in a second chance.

Pick up your copy today!

ROMANCE

Amanda Quick’s ’Til Death Do Us Part (Berkley, $27, 352 pages, ISBN 9780399174469) takes readers to Victorian London for a tale of romantic suspense. Calista Langley’s private introduction agency for lonely socialites arouses the suspicions of reclusive crime novelist Trent Hastings when he discovers his sister is using the service. Worried that Calista may be fleecing his sister, he decides to investigate. After their meeting, Trent becomes entangled in the frightening events

threatening Calista’s life, and the signs point toward a stalker. Who is sending her memento mori carved with her initials? Why has Calista’s now-married ex-suitor begun calling again? And are either of these people involved in recent London murders? Both Calista and Trent enjoy the other as a sleuthing partner, but they grow closer romantically as the mystery evolves. Still, they are both wary, and it will take risking their lives for them to determine whether they are ready to risk love. Atmospheric and sometimes downright creepy, this is a dark romp of a read with clever dialogue and appealing protagonists.

TOP PICK IN ROMANCE Mary Balogh’s final book in her Survivors’ Club series, Only Beloved (Signet, $7.99, 400 pages, ISBN 9780451477781), begins quietly but builds with emotional intensity. The long-widowed Duke of Stanbrook considers remarriage an antidote to loneliness, and when he approaches spinster Dora Debbins about a union based on pleasant companionship—he believes they are beyond youthful passions—she agrees. Marrying the kind and handsome aristocrat offers Dora a new lease on life that she didn’t expect at 39. They seem well suited for each other, and their shared life satisfies them— both in and out of bedroom, to their surprise and delight. But when a threat shadows their golden days, they begin to see that their partnership is more precious than expected. This is a story of two people coming to recognize love’s blossoming, and the results strike a deep chord. Balogh has written an engrossing and lovely end to her beloved series.

BOOK CLUBS BY JULIE HALE

Scout comes home Harper Lee’s second published novel, Go Set a Watchman (Harper Perennial, $15.99, 288 pages, ISBN 9780062409867), is available in paperback this month after igniting considerable c ontroversy—and record-setting sales—when it was released in hardcover last year. The recently discovered novel offers an unsettling portrait of the Finch family, whom readers first met in Lee’s classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. Written in the mid-1950s and simmering with the racial and political

tensions of that time, Go Set a Watchman portrays Jean Louise Finch (aka Scout) as a 26-year-old who has come back to Maycomb, Alabama, from New York City to visit her father, Atticus. The return home proves to be a melancholy affair, as Jean Louise makes troubling discoveries about her family, community and the people she loves the most. As the past floods into the present, and Jean Louise looks back on her childhood, she finds herself questioning the truths and beliefs that provided the foundation for her life. Reading groups will find much to discuss in Lee’s story of a young woman struggling to make sense of a world in flux.

BEHIND THE LENS A mesmerizing blend of image and text, Sally Mann’s memoir, Hold Still (Back Bay, $18.99, 496 pages, ISBN 9780316247757), is in a class by itself. In this luminous, forthright narrative, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, the acclaimed photographer shares the story of her Southern childhood, tracks her evolution as an artist and looks back on her experiences as a wife and mother of three. From the dramatic accident that almost killed her young son,

Emmett, to the uproar caused by the photographs of her children in the book Immediate Family (1992), Mann provides insights into her personal life and her aesthetic, which are tightly intertwined. Punctuating Mann’s fluid narration are her own arresting images— photographs of her homestead in Virginia, family portraits old and new and scenes of the South. As precisely composed as one of her photos, this intimate memoir is a must-read for Mann’s many fans and a work that’s sure to inspire up-and-coming creatives, no matter the medium. Filled with quotes, notes, letters and other ephemera, it’s a fascinating scrapbook from the life of an elusive artist.

TOP PICK FOR BOOK CLUBS Beloved author Anne Tyler offers another poignant, true-tolife domestic drama in A Spool of Blue Thread (Ballantine, $16, 384 pages, ISBN 9780553394399). Spanning seven decades, this richly detailed novel tells the story of the Whitshank family, whose center is 72-year-old Abby. Married to Red, with whom she has raised four children, Abby looks back on the early days of her romance with him in the late 1950s, before they moved into their Baltimore home, a large, rambling house that seems to take on a life of its own as the novel unfolds. In this compelling family epic, readers will find many of the qualities they’ve come to treasure in Tyler’s work—a sense of compassion, a flair for comedy and an unforgettable cast of characters that includes college-dropout Denny, the Whitshanks’ directionless son. Tyler’s 20th novel is the work of a writer at the height of her powers.

Fresh Book Club Picks for Spring

All the Single Ladies by Dorothea Benton Frank

“All the Single Ladies is vintage Dorothea Benton Frank—a funny, poignant read.” —Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies and The Husband’s Secret

The Secrets of Flight

by Maggie Leffler

“Toggles between the parallel worlds of a teenage girl in the present day facing issues of adolescence, divorce and loss and an elderly woman looking back upon her remarkable younger years as a pilot in the Second World War. A must read!” —Pam Jenoff, international bestselling author

Girl in the Moonlight

by Charles Dubow The author of Indiscretion thrills readers with a scorching tale of love, passion, and obsession, about one man’s all-consuming desire for a beautiful, bewitching, and beguiling woman.

Wilde Lake

by Laura Lippman “Laura Lippman is one of my favorite writers. I cannot focus on anything else when I am reading one of her books.” —Mindy Kaling

@Morrow_PB

@bookclubgirl

William Morrow

Book Club Girl

cover story

CHRIS CLEAVE

Relationships tested in a world at war

he biggest emotional challenge Chris Cleave faced in writing his scintillating fourth novel, Everyone Brave Is Forgiven, was the duty he felt to honor the memory of his grandparents.

Their experiences in the grim opening years of World War II, when Britain’s defeat by Germany was a distinct possibility, helped to inspire the book. “I didn’t feel a need to accurately portray their lives,” Cleave says during a call to the home in suburban London that he shares with his Paris-born wife, a chef turned nutritionist, and their three children, ages 6, 9 and 12. “In fact, I carefully didn’t. But I did feel the need to do justice to their memory. More than anything I felt my mother reading over my shoulder when I was writing this one. I felt a familial duty to deliver something my family would find beautiful. And they’re a tough crowd.” Powered by crackling dialogue among his characters, Cleave’s novel is beautiful, though in a darkling sort of way. The story opens with teenage socialite Mary North fleeing her Swiss finishing school as soon as war is declared and signing on to be, she hopes, a British spy. Instead she’s assigned to be a teacher, replacing male instructors sent off to war. While her mother and her best friend,

EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN

By Chris Cleave

Simon & Schuster, $26.99, 432 pages ISBN 9781501124372, audio, eBook available

HISTORICAL FICTION

Hilda, think teaching is beneath her social station, Mary discovers she actually likes it. She develops a special bond with a black American child named Zachary Lee, whose father performs in a minstrel show, a popular form of entertainment in London at that time. “I think 80 percent of London’s children were evacuated at the start of the war,” Cleave explains. “I was looking at all these evacuation photos, children getting onto trains in their duffel coats, looking very cute, and being taken to a place of safety in the countryside. Then I was looking at a lot of photos of street scenes of London in the 1930s, and there were a lot of black and mixed-race children in the East End. But the evacuation photos were almost universally of white kids. I became curious about where that was coming from.” Readers of Cleave’s 2009 bestseller, Little Bee, know him to be a keen observer of political and social divides. Amid the devastating German Blitz, Mary falls for Tom Shaw, a middle-class school administrator, but she is also attracted to his more sophisticated apartment-mate, Alistair Heath, who enlists to fight in France, suffers from what we now call PTSD and later nearly starves to death during the siege of Malta. Mary’s dalliances put her at odds with her friend Hilda. As the novel progresses, Cleave’s portrayal of the ins and outs of these socially and psychologically complex relationships is gripping. “I was very interested in competitive friendships. These are very young people—Hilda and Mary are 18 when the book starts—and they’re jostling for position. In a world of socialites, where the competition was all about who you were going to marry, I felt it might take a long time before their competition was transcended by the competition against the greater

evil. By that, I don’t mean Germany. I mean that the enemy is the terror and the danger itself. I didn’t want to write a novel where my characters have great solidarity to begin with and then stoically face down the enemy threat. I wanted the threat to exacerbate the tensions that existed in the friendships and within the society they inhabit. I’m very interested in the fracture lines—between Hilda and Mary, between white and black, between high class and working class, between town and country. For me, the story lies in those tensions. I think In his first there are two historical novel, wars we have to win. One the author of of them is Little Bee offers against the a heartbreaking enemy, yes, look at the early but the other one is against years of WWII. the tendency of our own society to divide, to polarize, to fracture.” Cleave says the technical challenge in writing Everyone Brave Is Forgiven was getting the period details right. In his writing room, which he describes as “monastic,” he has a large aluminum suitcase to remind him that he needs to get out and do his research. “I have a rule for myself that I must physically visit the places I’m talking about. I sort of immerse myself in the worlds of the characters.” So he read novels by Evelyn Waugh, Dorothy L. Sayers and others that his characters would have been reading at the time. He listened to the music and radio shows his characters would have heard. “I tried to learn what they would have done on a Friday night in wartime.” He

INTERVIEW BY ALDEN MUDGE

collected census data and bomb damage maps. He researched in libraries instead of on Google. And he lost 22 pounds eating London war rations from that period. “It was quite dramatic and not that much fun. One of the things I noticed was how much our eating behavior has changed since then. The things that were rationed were sugar, lard, butter, margarine and bacon, which are things I don’t eat at all. The biggest thing I discovered was not how hungry I felt, but how I didn’t want to eat that stuff,” he wryly notes. In those early, difficult days of World War II, Cleave’s characters, both at home and on the battlefield, confront not just privation but shocking and unexpected losses, something Cleave brilliantly conveys to his readers. “It was one of those things where I just woke up in the middle of the night and worked it out. I had particular points in mind where the characters died. Then I went back and just arbitrarily killed them 25 pages earlier. It was brutal. I gave myself huge problems because they had died at very inconvenient moments. But that’s war—horrible, brutal, arbitrary. Death comes unexpectedly. I just cut them off midsentence. It was a real nightmare to fix the book.” Despite the self-inflicted challenges of writing the novel, Cleave

says writing historical fiction was liberating. “You have to raise your game. The penny dropped when I went to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform. I’m a big fan. Given that Shakespeare can conjure these brilliant, bloodthirsty tragedies, I wondered why so many history plays, why so many Henrys, Edwards and Richards? And I realized that because he’s talking about this platform of our shared history, because we know the great currents behind the play and we know the ending, what we are curious about is character. So by writing historical fiction, he gets to go straight to the heart of character. That’s what I loved about it. . . . I discovered with historical fiction that I can go straight in there and open with strong dialogue and do the thing that I love most of all, which is character and dialogue and letting the development of the characters inform the progress of the novel.” Writing about war, Cleave says, surprisingly freed him “from having to have bad guys. I’ve discovered—it took me years to work this out—that bad guys make for terrible dialogue. Something that was really good about writing a wartime book is that the enemy is evil itself. There’s no need to have a bad character in order to create the tension in the story. And that means that you have dialogue between people for whom dialogue is a realistic possibility.” And the dialogue in Everyone Brave Is Forgiven is excellent— sharp and witty. “A novel for me is a fight to give the characters more space to talk in. I like to win space for my characters to talk in a way that advances their character rather than the plot. If I’m doing my job well as a storyteller, then I can keep the story going where it needs to go and still give my characters space to breathe and be themselves.” Asked if writing this novel was different from writing his previous books, Cleave says, “For the first time I felt that writing the book was its own reward. I was really loving the process of writing it, and I was learning a lot about myself. I didn’t mind what happened as long as I was happy to show it to my mum.”

PAPERBACK PICKS FROM THE Perennial Garden

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“An outstandingly clever and twisty tale that’s been perfectly engineered to make heads spin.” — JANET MASLIN, New York Times

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meet KAREN ALPERT

the title of your new book? Q: What’s

Q: Describe the book in one sentence.

are the top three reasons you’re proud to call yourself a Q: What “mediocre parent”?

ot counting Hershey’s syrup straight from the bottle, what’s Q: Nyour favorite mom treat?

long is too long for food to be on the floor? Q: How

Q: It’s Mother’s Day! What gift do you really want from your little a-holes? Q: What’s your best advice for new parents?

I WANT MY EPIDURAL BACK After 15 years of working for ad agencies, Karen Alpert started her toughest job ever: being a mom. She chronicles her hilarious adventures as an imperfect parent on the popular blog Baby Sideburns and is the author of the bestseller I Heart My Little A-Holes. In her new book, I Want My Epidural Back (Morrow, $19.99, 320 pages, ISBN 9780062427083), Alpert reassures readers that even mediocre parents can raise totally awesome kids.

features

FAMILY TRAVEL B Y LY N N G R E E N

Hitting the rowdy road

adies and gentlemen, start your engines! With summer fast approaching, it’s time to make plans for that great American tradition: the family road trip. Three new books will help you plan your itinerary for an unforgettable adventure.

What better place to spend a family vacation than one of our grand and glorious national parks? This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park System, a centennial that’s being celebrated with several new books, including Lonely Planet’s National Parks of America ($29.99, 328 pages, ISBN 9781760340643). From Acadia to Zion, this beautifully illustrated volume includes a multipage section on each of the 59 national parks, with “toolbox” tips on the best time to go, where to stay and what to see and do. Stunning photographs— from molten lava in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to Giant Sequoia trees in Kings Canyon—offer readers a before-you-go glimpse of the scenic wonders they’ll encounter. This is an excellent introduction to our priceless park system and might be best used as a first step in deciding which parks grab the imaginations of the young travelers in your family.

PLACES THAT MATTER If your goal is planning a trip that’s educational as well as fun, consider the destinations in 50 Great American Places (Simon & Schuster, $16, 320 pages, ISBN 9781451682038) by Brent D. Glass, director emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. This well-written and carefully curated guide to our country’s “Essential Historic Sites” includes fascinating historical

details about tried-and-true stops such as Boston’s Freedom Trail and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. But Glass also ventures further afield with unexpected choices like Willa Cather’s childhood home near Red Cloud, Nebraska, where the author soaked up impressions of the prairie that would color her acclaimed novels. In the book’s foreword, historian David McCullough recalls how early visits to historic sites influenced his career choice (“the experience opened my mind and imagination to history as nothing yet had”) and later provided lasting memories for his own children.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT Music may soothe the savage beast, but nothing silences a car full of restless kids (and weary adults) like something good to eat. Great American Eating Experiences (National Geographic, $24.95, 288 pages, ISBN 9781426216398) aims to acquaint readers with “delicious fare originating from across the 50 states, in small towns and city neighborhoods where tradition, creativity, and inspiration have created foods found nowhere else.” Organized by region and state, this colorful and mouthwatering guide catalogs the best local delicacies in each area and where to find them, with entries on such specialties as whoopie pie in Maine and the Juicy Lucy burger in Minnesota. You’ll also find pointers to food festivals, soda fountains, diners and more.

CURTIS SITTENFELD

Bestselling ‘Prep’ author puts a modern spin on the ultimate classic

eimagine a book as beloved and timeless as Pride and Prejudice? Inconceivable! Curtis Sittenfeld is probably one of the few modern authors self-assured—and talented—enough to try.

And she succeeds, wonderfully. In Eligible, Liz Bennet is a New York City magazine editor on the verge of turning 40. She’s in a deadend relationship, but she doesn’t know it yet. When her father suffers a health scare, Liz and her beautiful older sister, Jane, decamp to the family home in Cincinnati for the summer to help care for him. None of the five Bennet daughters is married—to their mother’s shame—and only Liz and Jane have actual jobs. Kitty and Lydia spend their days at the local CrossFit, and Mary is a perpetual college student. When Liz is introduced to the handsome but arrogant Fitzwilliam Darcy, a Cincinnati neurosurgeon, she is immediately put off by his arrogance. But Darcy’s friend Chip Bingley, a recent star of a “Bachelor”-like reality TV show, falls for Jane. Liz and Darcy keep crossing paths (literally—they jog the same route), and their hatehate relationship slowly transforms into something else. Eligible sparkles with Austen-

ELIGIBLE

By Curtis Sittenfeld

Random House, $28, 512 pages ISBN 9781400068326, audio, eBook available

POPULAR FICTION

esque wit and intelligence and is a pure pleasure to read. How did Sittenfeld, the author of four previous novels, including the bestsellers Prep and American Wife, decide to remake a bona fide classic? She was recruited as part of The Austen Project, in which bestselling authors retell Austen stories in a modern way. “When someone offers to pay you to spend a few years in the world of Pride and Prejudice, it’s very hard to say no,” Sittenfeld says during a call to her home in St. Louis. Sittenfeld is quick to point out that the project is not meant to improve upon the original. “I definitely see this as an act of homage and admiration, and it’s not like I thought, well, Pride and Prejudice has gotten stale and it falls to me to make it relevant,” she says. “I think Pride and Prejudice is perfect. I understand different people will have different reactions to Eligible, and I’m OK with that.” Making Austen-era characters seem modern took some planning on Sittenfeld’s part. “I tried to think about how the characters act in Pride and Prejudice, and how they spend their time, and to find present-day equivalents,” she explains. “The characters arose out of that. If you were to describe the characters in Pride and Prejudice, you’d probably use the same or similar adjectives to describe their counterparts in Eligible. I wanted them to be recognizable as themselves but also wanted to make it feel fresh.” The first modern twist is positioning Bingley as a reality TV star. “Pride and Prejudice starts with this bachelor arriving in town. In the present day in a medium-sized Midwestern city, if a new eligible man arrived, how would everyone know he was single?” Sittenfeld says. “The reality show seems like a

plausible explanation.” Secondly, Liz and Jane are independent professionals, twice as old as the original characters. And Liz (gasp) has a sex life. “Some readers may not like that she’s sexually active,” Sittenfeld says. “She’s 38, and it’s 2013 in the book, so that seems fairly realistic to me. In no way do I consider her to be trashy; it isn’t meant to be a comment on the fact that people’s morals have fallen. “I have enormous affection for all my characters in “When someone general and offers to pay in Eligible specifically,” you to spend a few years in the she says. “I actually world of Pride think the and Prejudice, way I can be most it’s very hard generous to say no.” to them is just by liking them. If I as a writer am condescending to my own characters, it makes them unappealing to the reader and doesn’t make them three-dimensional.” Though she’s a Cincinnati native, Sittenfeld hasn’t lived in her hometown for years and had never set a novel there before. “I did have to do research,” she says. “It was fun. I was home with my own family. I was visiting my parents for Christmas and literally walking around with my cell phone trying to decide what apartment building Darcy would live in.” Her brother, P.G. Sittenfeld, a city councilman, kept close tabs on how she wrote about the city. “My brother is Mr. Cincinnati,” she says with a laugh. “He’s a little

INTERVIEW BY AMY SCRIBNER

protective of the city and wanted to be sure I depicted the city in a flattering way.” The busy mother of two children, ages 5 and 7, Sittenfeld has become fiercely mindful of her writing time. “Because I’m lucky to have flexibility in my schedule, that actually means I need to be more careful. In theory, I could have lunch with friends every day. In practice, it means I would never finish a book.” As a mom, Sittenfeld says she has a whole new respect for reading as a source of pleasure as well as food for thought. “After I became a parent, I developed a greater appreciation for a book or TV show or movie that is light or fun but still smart,” she says. “Maybe I’m tired at the end of the day and I have half an hour before bed to devote to pure entertainment, so I want something that doesn’t make me feel incredibly depressed. I feel like Eligible is supposed to be that thing for people. There are very few books that are engrossing and smart but not depressing. It was a fun challenge to write a fun, fizzy, but still intelligent book.” “My other books—I’m proud of them, but I don’t know if ‘fun’ is the first word I would use to describe any of them,” she says. “I feel like this is fun. It’s good to learn to be fun at 40—it’s never too late!”

—myrtle beach online

New York Times Bestselling Author

mary alice monroe

A Lowcountry

Wedding Nothing could be more enchanting than a summer wedding—or two!— in Charleston’s fabled lowcountry.

Return to a literary touchstone

ore than 20 years after exploring the highspirited hijinks of the small community of North Bath, New York, in the bestseller Nobody’s Fool (1993), Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo revisits the town and his now-iconic characters. Everybody’s Fool takes place over two very eventful days in the lives of North Bath’s residents. Donald “Sully” Sullivan is staring down some bad health news and wondering how to break it to the important people in his life. But in the background, the intrigue and drama of small-town life—romantic affairs, financial struggles, gossip—rumble on. Russo’s comic ability and his nimbleness in laying bare the human heart have never been more powerful. What made you want to revisit the character of Sully Sullivan? My pal Howard Frank Mosher, to whom Everybody’s Fool is dedicated, has been after me to write another Sully novel for over a decade, and I finally gave in. But the book’s real genesis was a great story somebody told me several years ago about a local cop. In his wife’s car he found a garage door remote that didn’t open their garage, and he leapt to the conclusion that she must be having an affair. The guy actually went around town

EVERYBODY’S FOOL

Visit MaryAliceMonroe.com/Contest

By Richard Russo

SimonandSchuster.com

Knopf, $27.95, 496 pages ISBN 9780307270641, audio, eBook available

LITERARY FICTION

RICHARD RUSSO INTERVIEW BY HARVEY FREEDENBERG

with the remote, hoping to find out whose garage it would open. Thinking to myself, “Who would do such a thing?” I remembered officer Raymer, Sully’s old nemesis from Nobody’s Fool. And I was off to the races. Much of your fiction is set in struggling upstate New York towns not unlike your hometown of Gloversville. What is it about this territory that has so captured your imagination as a writer? In the end, it’s more the people than the setting. As a young man I left Gloversville determined to find my destiny in some finer place. I loved the University of Arizona and my life in Tucson, loved the idea of living the life of the mind among people who shared my newfound values. But summers I returned home to work road construction with my father, and gradually it came to me that, while I was attracted to my new friends and my new life out West, the people I loved most—my grandparents, my father and his pals, my cousins, some old friends—were all in the place I’d left behind. The larger world was ignoring these folks, the lives they led, their struggles to find dignity in hard work and family, their kindness and modesty.

“There is warmth and beauty found on every page.”

features

there’s always that little voice that whispers to you that this time you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, and you’ve located the very story that will show you who’s boss (not you). This novel is nearly 500 pages. Did you have any concerns about writing a longer book in an age when readers’ attention spans are supposed to be shrinking to the size of tweets? I suspect it’s true that people’s attention spans are shrinking . . . but people still love to dream deeply. Throughout the ages, art has always demanded that we slow down, and the faster our lives go, the more we seem to appreciate the reprieve that art—good writing, good paintings, good films, good photographs—offers. Do tweets offer real, lasting satisfaction to anyone? Does Instagram?

Are there any writers who serve as your literary role models? Like many readers, I was deeply saddened to lose Kent Haruf last year. He was not only a great writer, but also a great man. He After writing a memoir, Elsewhere, went about his work with great seriousness and modesty, caring how did it feel to return to novnot one iota about fame or fortune, el-length fiction? Returning to novel-writing was ex- but only the work, always the work. I’ve never known a kinder man or a hilarating. Unfettered by facts, my more honest one. imagination could once again slip its leash. That said, the new book What’s your next project? offers up a very large canvas with Next up is a collection of short a lot of characters, all of whom fiction, and after that a selection of wanted their say. Trying to fit all essays about imagination, destiny of their stories and backstories and the writing life. My daughinto that two-day time frame just ter Kate and I are also hoping to about drove me crazy. The scary collaborate on a screenplay based thing about writing novels is that on the last few years of Shirley they’re all different. What worked Jackson’s life, when she was writing last time, won’t this time, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

reviews

FICTION

T PI OP CK

THE FIREMAN By Joe Hill

SLEEPING GIANTS

A universe-shaking puzzle

Morrow $28.99, 768 pages ISBN 9780062200631 Audio, eBook available THRILLER

REVIEW BY BECKY OHLSEN

An inventive tale inventively told, Sleeping Giants is designed for people who like to take things apart and put them back together. Its jigsaw-puzzle narrative style works as a mirror for the project at the story’s center: the gathering and assembly of the scattered pieces of a huge and mysterious robot. But the real appeal of the book—the debut novel of Sylvain Neuvel, a Canadian linguist and software engineer—is the way in which putting together the robot tears apart the lives of the people involved. The book, like its namesake, is an elegant blend of technology and biology. Sleeping Giants has been compared to The Martian and World War Z, but the story has more in common with the 2013 robot film Pacific Rim. The novel begins when a little girl riding her bicycle falls By Sylvain Neuvel into a pit and lands on what turns out to be an enormous metal hand. Del Rey, $26, 320 pages Years later, that same little girl—Rose Franklin—is a scientist workISBN 9781101886694, audio, eBook available ing on a top-secret project involving the study of that hand and the as-yet-theoretical body it belongs to. DEBUT FICTION We don’t spend much time with Rose, though. The story is told through transcribed interviews and journal entries, memos and the occasional news report. The interviews are conducted by a shadowy figure who seems to be orchestrating multinational backroom deals; he’s powerful enough to throw his weight around with the president’s closest advisors, but we don’t know much else about him, or even whether he’s bluffing. Most of the interviews are with two pilots responsible for finding the huge robot’s missing body parts, and then later, for figuring out how to drive it. The lead pilot is the feisty, unruly Kara Resnick, who, as seen through snippets, becomes the emotional heart of the book. There are also interviews with high-level government officials, techs and linguists, disillusioned soldiers and rogue scientists, not to mention oblique conversations about the world the robot came from originally. Put together, these puzzle pieces form a story about the way in which individual agendas can drive international decisions, for good or ill. Sleeping Giants is the first in a series called the Themis Files, which Visit BookPage.com for a makes the book itself just a piece of a much larger puzzle—one readers Q&A with Sylvain Neuvel. will surely enjoy solving.

THE VERSIONS OF US By Laura Barnett

HMH $26, 416 pages ISBN 9780544634244 Audio, eBook available POPULAR FICTION

Each day is filled with hundreds of tiny choices: Will you take this route to work, or that one? Stop for coffee, or continue directly to the office? Speak to the stranger in front of you in line, or keep to yourself? Most of these decisions

seem insignificant. But you never know when a moment will change the course of your life. In The Versions of Us, a #1 bestseller in the U.K., debut novelist Laura Barnett explores the paths that branch from a central moment in Eva Edelstein’s and Jim Taylor’s lives. The pair meet in 1950s Cambridge, when a dog runs in front of Eva’s bicycle. Jim steps in to help, and their next moves will determine the rest of their lives. At the time of their meeting, Eva is an aspiring writer involved with an actor, David, who is considered the prize among the university’s theater crowd. Jim is the son of a renowned, deceased painter, and a talented artist himself, but he’s set

on pursuing a career as an attorney. Barnett follows Eva and Jim over decades and through three versions of what could be. In the first, they fall in love; in the second, they say hello and continue on; in the third, Eva feels a connection to Jim but opts to stay with David. On each of these paths, their lives will again intersect. Barnett masterfully pulls the reader through these alternating tales. Each option is compelling and believable. Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned here: Regardless of the paths we choose, the people who are meant to be in our lives will find their way there. —CARLA JEAN WHITLEY

Draco Incendia Trychophyton— also known as Dragonscale—is a deadly spore that causes people to spontaneously combust. Theories on its origin range from the melting ice caps to biological weaponry to a simple evolutionary turn. Elaborate —beautiful, even—black and gold tattoo-like markings identify those who are infected. Because there is often no warning before a person ignites and there is no cure, paranoia and hysteria spread like, well, wildfire. Eventually, cities burn and civil order dissolves, with ruthless and sinister Quarantine Patrols and Cremation Crews driving the infected into hiding. The titular character of Joe Hill’s fourth novel (following, most recently, NOS4A2), John Rookwood, is not an actual fireman, but a mysterious, charismatic Englishman. He wears a firefighter’s uniform because it not only hides his markings, but also allows him to be in the open without arousing suspicion. The heart of the book, though, is Harper Grayson, an elementary school nurse with compassion, gumption and an affinity for Mary Poppins. Harper is infected, frightened, alone and pregnant when John leads her to an underground community of infected folk who show her that it is possible to live in harmony with the spore. Soon, though, it becomes clear that safety does not always lie in numbers and that there is as much to fear inside the camp as outside. With plenty of pop-culture references and playfully meta moments (like when characters discuss what they would do if they were in a movie or book), The Fireman is a bona fide, post-apocalyptic page-turner that’s equal parts touching and pulse-pounding,

reviews Must-Have Beach Reads

surprising and awe-inducing. The icing on the metaphorical cake? Easter eggs referencing his father Stephen King’s works—ranging from Hill’s use of “shine” as a verb of the supernatural variety to one character murderously swinging a shovel “like a croquet mallet”— pepper the book, delighting this fan of both writers.

For a Summer of Romance & Suspense

FICTION THE MIRROR THIEF By Martin Seay

Melville House $27.95, 592 pages ISBN 9781612195148 eBook available DEBUT FICTION

—J O E L L E H E R R

No one can accuse Martin Seay of lacking ambition. His first novel, The Mirror Thief, is a 600-page By Ed Gray thrill ride across three centuries Pegasus and two continents. But this is $25.95, 352 pages hardly a punishment for readers. ISBN 9781681771267 eBook available It’s a workout, but of the intellectual kind: part crime thriller and part DEBUT FICTION meditation on poetry, with unexpected plot twists and references to famous figures as diverse as the French dramatist Antonin Artaud One of the great mysteries of and Jay Leno. the early years of North America’s The action moves back and forth settlement by Europeans is the among three different parts of the lost Roanoke colony. In 1587, 118 world and three distinct eras. In people, including children, settled 2003, on the eve of the second Gulf there but later disappeared without War, Curtis Stone, a 40-year-old Afa trace. Just a few cryptic clues rican-American ex-Marine, arrives remained that hinted at their posin Las Vegas from his Philadelphia sible fate. What drove them from home. A club owner named Datheir settlement? Illness? Native mon has hired Curtis to search for attack? Internal strife? gambler Stanley Glass, ostensibly Essayist and founding editor of to collect on a marker. Curtis has Gray’s Sporting Journal Ed Gray trouble locating the elusive Stanley, dreams up a few possible answers but he finds one of Stanley’s treain his first novel, Left in the Wind: sured possessions: a slender volThe Roanoke Journal of Emme ume of poems, “The Mirror Thief,” Merrimoth. Gray chooses Emme, written in 1958 by a proto-beatnik an actual Roanoke colonist, as the named Adrian Welles. narrator for his tale. Through her Cut to 1958, when Stanley, a eyes, we experience the new colo16-year-old card sharp fresh off nists’ distress as they make the difthe train from Staten Island, shows ficult crossing from England, their up in Malibu, California, in hope struggle to establish a new home in of meeting Welles. Stanley, who the wilderness of North Carolina, adores Welles’ poems, wants to the dramas and jealousies between talk about “The Mirror Thief” and families and the disintegration of a its mysterious subject: a 16th- community. century alchemist named CrivaIs Gray correct in his explano. The novel’s wildly ambitious nation of Roanoke’s demise? It’s third segment takes us to Venice impossible to say, but his idea in 1592, where a sultan has sent is as good as any. Part historical the murderous Crivano to “locate novel, part detective story, Left in craftsmen adept at fashioning the the Wind is filled with fascinating flawless mirrors for which every details of colonial settlement life civilized land celebrates the isle and Native-American culture. It’s of Murano, and return with those a gripping story that readers will craftsmen to the Ottoman court.” have trouble putting down. The Mirror Thief is overstuffed — M A R I A N N E P E T E R S with incident and period detail,

LEFT IN THE WIND

DEEP UNDER Everafter Platinum First in all-new series from a bestselling author.

SILENT FALL Hyde Street Press “A thrilling read with many twists and turns.”—The Road to Romance

WENDY DARLING Sparkpress “An exciting new perspective on Neverland.” —Shelf Awareness

DEATH ON THE RIVERIA Poisoned Pen Press A classic British crime novel.

MURDER IN E MINOR Open Road Media The iconic sleuth is now back in print.

RED TIDE Diversion Publishing “A thriller of the highest order . . .”—Booklist

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3/16/16 11:09 AM

FICTION but it’s still an impressive feat of imagination. Much of this book, Seay seems to be saying, is like one’s reflection in a mirror: What you see in front of you isn’t the whole story.

coming-of-age story not only offers readers a young girl’s experience of seeking her place in the world, but also illustrates the struggle of life in the rural South. —HALEY HERFURTH

—MICHAEL MAGRAS

SOLEMN By Kalisha Buckhanon

St. Martin’s $25.99, 304 pages ISBN 9781250091598 eBook available

THE ASSISTANTS By Camille Perri

Putnam $25, 288 pages ISBN 9780399172540 Audio, eBook available DEBUT FICTION

POPULAR FICTION

In the small township of Bledsoe, Mississippi, sits Singer’s Trailer Park, a collection of trailers, campers and sometimes tents. Inside Singer’s lives a clever young girl named Solemn Redvine, whose family prefers to keep their distance from their neighbors—with the exception of Solemn’s father, whose occasional wanderings lead Solemn to believe the infant child of a couple down the way may be her half-sibling. When Solemn witnesses a shocking event late one night in Singer’s, she struggles to reclaim the sense of innocence she felt before and find her balance. As more changes happen to Solemn’s family dynamic and within the community, she wonders who she will become as her life develops among such turmoil. She longs to leave Singer’s, where she feels trapped by her connection to a crime she saw and can’t forget. When Solemn’s father’s latest mistake leads to her removal from her parents’ custody, Solemn gets the escape she has been looking for, albeit under less-than-perfect circumstances. But she finds herself facing the same questions about her identity. There might not be an easy way to grow up. Kalisha Buckhanon has presented realistic portraits of modern African-American life in her previous novels, Upstate and Conception. With Solemn, she has created an emotional and expressive novel about family, obligation and community. This twisting, expressive

First, we had The Devil Wears Prada, written by a former assistant at Vogue. Now comes The Assistants, a novel by Camille Perri, a former assistant to Esquire’s editor-in-chief, which similarly shines a light on the underpaid gatekeepers to the one percent. The difference in this book is that our heroine gets ahead by illicit means. This isn’t exactly the stuff fluffy romances are made of—it owes more to Robin Hood, or maybe Bonnie and Clyde, if Bonnie left Clyde in the car and distributed her spoils among her friends. In The Assistants, 30-year-old Tina Fontana works for fictional titan Robert Barlow. Robert is capitalism personified: He’s cutthroat in the boardroom, but generous at home. He drops businessmen who cross him, but loves his wife. He manipulates the media, but oozes Southern charm in real life. Tina dedicates herself to him, masters his schedule and earns his trust. But Tina also owes thousands in student loans, and she realizes that no matter how hard she works, earning $50K a year in Manhattan will never let her get out from under it. Her friends, almost exclusively assistants, are in the same boat. They attended expensive colleges only to land in a job market that has them running errands and cutting cocktail limes for the rich and famous. As they watch their bosses spend massive amounts on expensive meals, jewelry and liquor, it’s no wonder they’re tempted to reach for the money that literally passes

through their fingers. Perri, who has also worked as a books editor for Cosmopolitan, has an assured voice and grounds her story and characters well. The Assistants is an economic fable, a story of class warfare dressed up as chick lit. We have the familiar heroine, the love interest, a quirky band of 20-something girlfriends and a New York City setting complete with cheap apartments and expensive cocktails. But the real story is Tina’s search for justice and compensation for her hard work—a timely theme in a world where so many expensive college educations yield underpaid menial jobs and years of unpaid internships. Powerful people of the world, take notice: The assistants will have their revenge. —C A R R I E R O L LWA G E N

IMAGINE ME GONE By Adam Haslett

Little, Brown $26, 368 pages ISBN 9780316261357 Audio, eBook available LITERARY FICTION

expert its portrayal—minimizes what Haslett, a previous Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, has achieved with his third work of fiction. At its core, this is a pensive examination of the very human struggle to connect and find peace—with others and with ourselves—and the nature of time and how it passes. Haslett’s keen eye for and rigorous examination of the intricate messiness of family dynamics calls to mind Jonathan Franzen’s 21st-century masterpiece on intergenerational dysfunction, The Corrections, although Haslett’s approach, while at times playful, is ultimately more tender and sympathetic. Imagine Me Gone is immensely personal and private, yet feels universal and ultimately essential in its scope. In its pages, Haslett has laid bare the agonies and ecstasies of the human condition and the familial ties that bind. The end result is a book that you do not read so much as feel, deeply and intensely in the very marrow of your bones. —STEPHENIE HARRISON

THE MOTHER By Yvvette Edwards

When Margaret’s fiancé is hospitalized for depression in the 1960s, she is shaken but ultimately unwilling to abandon the man she loves. Imagine Me Gone traces the aftershock of Margaret’s fateful choice as John’s condition ripples out over the subsequent decades, affecting not only their life together but the lives of their three children. Although depression and anxiety are foes that many authors have explored in the pages of literature, it is hard to think of a novel that presents as nuanced and intimate a portrait of these diseases as Adam Haslett’s Imagine Me Gone. Told from the perspectives of each of the five members of the family, the novel offers a shockingly raw portrayal of how mental illness afflicts individuals as well as families, sometimes tearing them apart but also binding them closer. But to simply label this as a book about depression—however

Amistad $21.99, 256 pages ISBN 9780062440778 Audio, eBook available POPULAR FICTION

In English author Yvvette Edwards’ second novel, following her acclaimed debut, A Cupboard Full of Coats (2012), she delves into the timely issue of violence against and between young black men—both its possible causes, and its heartrending effects on the families involved. The Mother opens in London, as Marcia Williams prepares to attend the first day of the trial of the young man accused of stabbing to death her bright and loving 16-year-old son, Ryan. We learn that Ryan was returning to the Sports Ground to retrieve his football shoes after practice; that a jogger saw a young man run

reviews toward Ryan and stab him four times; and that the accused, Tyson Manley, claims to have been with his girlfriend at the time of the murder. Edwards leads the reader through the jury selection, the opening statements and the evidence presented by both the prosecution and defense in complete detail. But in the process of laying out these basic facts, Edwards perceptively explores a wide realm of issues, uncovering layer by layer the complicated answers to the questions that have hounded Marcia since her son’s death. How could someone so young kill another person so brutally? Why does Tyson show no remorse? Why would his girlfriend lie for someone who has shown no respect for her? Edwards writes with compassion for her characters and with intuitive understanding of the effects of loss on a family, as well as the underlying causes that can lead to senseless crimes such as this one. The Mother is highly recommended for readers who enjoy current issue-related fiction by authors such as Jodi Picoult and Jacquelyn Mitchard. —DEBORAH DONOVAN

FICTION is offering them a golden ticket out of poverty. Never mind the past ravages mining has brought to their community. In Heat and Light, Jennifer Haigh reminds us of our short memories when it comes to choosing between our environment and our wallet. Heat and Light is a searing novel that shows all sides of the fracking debate: the charismatic Texas businessman who sees natural gas as the future, the organic dairy farmers who see their livelihood threatened by pollution, the zealous environmentalist trying to organize opposition. Haigh previously wrote about the 1940s heyday of real-life Bakerton in Baker Towers, and she returns in top form. Her writing is clear-eyed and nonjudgmental. A low-grade dread pervades every page of the book—the instability and uncertainty of a bad economy and limited choices. Haigh’s characters are deeply sympathetic; they are good people looking for a way forward. She delves into each of their lives, unfolding their flaws and histories for examination. Heat and Light is as thought-provoking as it gets, brilliantly written and resonant. —AMY SCRIBNER

HEAT AND LIGHT By Jennifer Haigh Ecco $26.99, 448 pages ISBN 9780061763298 Audio, eBook available LITERARY FICTION

LAROSE By Louise Erdrich Harper $27.99, 384 pages ISBN 9780062277022 Audio, eBook available LITERARY FICTION

The dying town of Bakerton, Pennsylvania, was fueled by the coal industry for generations, but now its only hope is natural gas. Bakerton sits atop an enormous deposit, which can only be accessed by fracking: violent drilling that leaves the surrounding ground poisoned. The families with properties on the Marcellus Shale don’t know what fracking entails. They just know that a mysterious Texas company with the vaguely sinister name Dark Elephant Energy

he bequeaths the young LaRose to the Ravich family. While LaRose’s adoption does bring relief to the grief-stricken Raviches, complications inevitably arise. LaRose’s presence can only do so much to soothe Nola, his new mother, who is struggling with thoughts of suicide. Meanwhile, Landreaux is pursued by a vengeful townsman who begins digging around for information, suspecting a cover-up on the day of the accident. A National Book Award-winning author and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Erdrich is a master of the literary form. Throughout the present-day narrative, Erdrich weaves the ancestral legacy of LaRose’s namesake. The seamless blending of the ancient and the modern is a familiar technique in Erdrich’s storytelling. In the contemporary passages, Erdrich’s prose is terse, almost staccato, but when she dips into the ancestral interludes, her voice is at its strongest and richest. Describing an ancestor’s tuberculosis, she writes, “Finally, in its own ecstasy to live, the being seized her. It sank hot iron knives into her bones. It kept snipping her lungs into elaborate paper valentines.” Through complex, dynamic characters and resonant human conflict, Erdrich gives readers the space to ponder atonement, the emotional bonds of family and the ways in which tradition can both orient and obscure our sense of right and wrong. —J E S S I C A P E A R S O N

THE CURIOUS CHARMS OF ARTHUR PEPPER By Phaedra Patrick

From the very first page of her new novel, LaRose, Louise Erdrich heaves readers into the tumultuous world of two families shackled together by grief: the Ironses and the Raviches. While stalking a buck along the border of his property, Landreaux Iron, a decent yet complicated family man, accidentally shoots and kills his best friend’s 5-year-old son. Tormented, Landreaux turns to an ancient Ojibwe tradition: “Our son will be your son now,” Landreaux says as

MIRA $24.99, 336 pages ISBN 9780778319337 Audio, eBook available DEBUT FICTION

Arthur Pepper. The curious charms mentioned in the title are not attributes of Arthur Pepper, a rather ordinary pensioner from Yorkshire. They are actual charms found on a bracelet that belonged to his late wife, Miriam. Arthur’s investigations show them to be mementos of specific times, people and places in her life. It seems that the outwardly contented wife and mother that Arthur knew was a very different person before they met and married. As Arthur uncovers Miriam’s past, the charms of Arthur himself become more evident. Amazingly old-fashioned, he seems not to have come of age in the 1960s but the 1950s or earlier; this made the reviewer think, ‘Come on, this chap is younger than Mick Jagger.’ But this is part of the book’s sweetness. A virgin when he married, Arthur has never been with another woman; even chastely kissing an old friend of Miriam’s makes him feel vaguely adulterous. He dutifully waters his fern, whom he has named Frederica. He treats even the weirdest people he meets on his quest with kindness and frets that his stodginess squashed something adventurous in his wife. Arthur’s charms, in this charmless age, are curious indeed. Charming, too, is Patrick’s straightforward and unadorned style. Because of this, when Arthur’s grief overwhelms him like the tiger who almost eats him at one point—you have to read the book—it pierces the heart. You root for him every step of the way. —ARLENE McKANIC

I LET YOU GO By Clare Mackintosh

Berkley $26, 384 pages ISBN 9781101987490 Audio, eBook available DEBUT FICTION

How well can you know a person, even a person you’ve loved and lived with for decades? This is the question posed by Phaedra Patrick’s gentle, funny and wistful first novel, The Curious Charms of

The “women with secrets” trend in publishing (Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train) shows no signs of easing with the release of I Let You

FICTION Go, a gripping debut thriller set in England. A brief prologue sets the stage: A mother and son are headed home after school on a rainy afternoon. Suddenly, a “car comes from nowhere.” The child is hit and killed, and the car takes off. This terrible tragedy is investigated by middle-aged police detective Ray and his idealistic, rookie partner, Kate. Ray’s marriage is not what it used to be, especially since his teenage son, Tom, has grown sullen and distant. Then there’s Jenna Gray. Haunted by the accident and lamenting the loss of a son she loved “with an intensity that seemed impossible,” she runs away to an isolated coastal town. Her story alternates with Ray and Kate’s as they investigate and begin blurring the lines between the personal and the professional. Author Clare Mackintosh also introduces one more dastardly character who will bring everyone together—that is, if he doesn’t kill someone first. A former law enforcement officer, Mackintosh was inspired to write I Let You Go by a similar real-life case, as well as the loss of her own son, and her experience lends her characters’ actions and feelings a visceral realism. Jenna’s grief is genuine and well-wrought, while the peril she eventually faces is convincing. Ray and Kate, meanwhile, are an engaging, authentic duo. I Let You Go is undeniably a page-turner. —T O M D E I G N A N

ZERO K By Don DeLillo

Scribner $27, 288 pages ISBN 9781501135392 Audio, eBook available LITERARY FICTION

Don DeLillo’s novels are not for the faint of heart. Though not especially complex in style—he writes with a spare, arid lyricism—they have continually challenged readers with a dark worldview tied to the here and now. DeLillo is about

to turn 80, so it might not be surprising that his new novel, Zero K, centers on death. Ever the visionary though, he has taken the subject in an unusual direction: the world of Cryonic suspension, where the dying are frozen, to be resurrected in the future when medicine has caught up to their maladies. The novel is narrated not by one of the dying (except in the sense that we are all dying), but by Jeffrey, the 30-something son of billionaire Ross, whose second wife, Artis, is close to death. The three travel to a remote desert facility in a former Soviet republic where her “Convergence” will take place. Unsurprisingly, the state-of-the-art compound is an odd, futuristic place, isolated and conducive to meditative rumination, inspiring Jeff to all manner of thoughts about life and death (the first half of the novel, perhaps consciously, is reminiscent of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain). As Artis approaches her final hours, Ross decides that he will expedite his own death in order to be with her. His procedure will take place in an area called Zero K, shorthand for absolute zero on the Kelvin scale. Zero K is about death, and the ageless question of whether we should have control over our own mortality, but it is equally about life and the complications that unite to make each of us who we are. Jeff is a highly flawed individual, struggling with OCD and obsessed with words, forever battling feelings of paternal abandonment and the inability to form lasting relationships. When he does enter a tentative romance with a woman, a single mother with a teenage son she adopted as an orphan from Ukraine, the novel seems to go in a new direction. But it circles back to the Convergence in its final pages, striving for a measure of optimism and hope amid a narrative of inevitability and despair. Ever uncompromising in his assessments, DeLillo has written another uneasy dissection of how we live and all we struggle to overcome. Still, one can’t help but notice that if spelled out with a cardinal number, the book’s title becomes “OK.” —ROBERT WEIBEZAHL

spotlight

HISTORICAL FICTION BY LAUREN BUFFERD

Hidden turns of Jewish history

hat would you do if you discovered a lost masterpiece that revealed the artist’s extreme prejudice? Or survived a war only to find yourself participating in political violence? Ethical dilemmas and twists and turns of Jewish history are at the core of two new novels by Lauren Belfer and Stewart O’Nan. Belfer’s sprawling novel And After the Fire (Harper, $26.99, 464 pages, ISBN 9780062428516) spans two continents and several centuries and concerns a fictional music manuscript. It opens as an American soldier in Weimar grabs some sheet music to take home as a souvenir. After his death decades later, his niece, Susanna Kessler, discovers a cryptic note and what appears to be an unknown Bach cantata: one with lyrics influenced by an anti-Semitic sermon. Susanna must weigh the pros and cons of publicizing a work whose contents, by any standard, are offensive. Her epic search for the manuscript’s original owners leads her from New York’s rare book libraries to present-day Germany. She also encounters two historians who vie for the manuscript—as well as her romantic attentions. Susanna’s journey is interspersed with the history of the manuscript itself. Originally a gift from Bach’s son Wilhelm Friedrich to his most talented pupil, Sara Itzig Levy, the cantata remained in the Levy family’s hands over many turbulent decades. Though the manuscript is a fiction, Levy is not: The daughter of a prominent Jewish banker, she was the aunt of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn and at the forefront of salon culture during the Enlightenment. And After the Fire is sprinkled with other real-life historical

figures, and Belfer is adept at revealing the complex politics and sentiments, including the religious biases, of 18th-century Europe. The important questions Belfer poses regarding the ethical complexities of art are engrossing, though her characters never come fully to life. Stewart O’Nan’s gripping City of Secrets (Viking, $22, 208 pages, ISBN 9780670785964) is also a moral thriller, but on a much different scale. It is tightly focused in time and place; the action takes place over the winter of 1946 and follows a handful of post-World War II refugees fighting for the creation of Israel against both Arab attack and Britain’s mandates. Recalling the novels of Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad, City of Secrets has a taut, noirlike flavor. Like O’Nan’s earlier novels, it features a displaced hero who, despite everything, still believes his life has purpose. City of Secrets follows Brand, a Latvian whose mechanical skills allowed him to survive the death camps, though he lost everything else. Brand slipped easily into Jerusalem, his new identity and job provided by the Jewish underground. Spending his days as a taxi driver taking tourists to religious sites, he remains loyal to the members of his Haganah cell, accepting missions that grow ever more dangerous under the cell’s elusive leader, Asher. By the time Brand realizes what’s at stake, it is almost too late. These compelling stories use history as a lens to examine issues that are still with us today.

reviews

NONFICTION

T PI OP CK

FOR THE GLORY By Duncan Hamilton

VALIANT AMBITION

Penguin Press $28, 400 pages ISBN 9781594206207 Audio, eBook available

From victor to turncoat

BIOGRAPHY

REVIEW BY ANNE BARTLETT

The state of play in the American Revolution, late 1777: One famous general has lost every significant battle he’s been in, often because he couldn’t curb his aggressive instincts. Another famous general has won several major victories, including one that will prove to be the most pivotal of the war. The initially unsuccessful general was George Washington; the winner was Benedict Arnold. We know how it turned out—in the coming years, Washington became First in the Hearts of His Countrymen and Arnold became First Traitor. But how on earth did it happen? Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the bestsellers In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower, tackles this fascinating reversal of fortune in Valiant Ambition, an engrossing narrative of the war’s most difficult years. By Nathaniel Philbrick In Philbrick’s view, both men were indeed valiant and ambitious, but Viking, $30, 448 pages their fundamental characters were diametrically opposed. Washington ISBN 9780525426783, audio, eBook available had a true moral compass, a long horizon and the capacity to learn from his mistakes. Arnold was impetuous, greedy and consumed with self-reHISTORY gard. When Congress mistreated Arnold, he became enraged, started smuggling contraband and ultimately sold out to the British. The British unwittingly helped both men to their fates. The dysfunction of the infant American government was nothing compared to the internecine warfare of the British generals, who spent much of their energy scheming against each other. General William Howe beat Washington in every pitched battle they fought, but his hatred for his compatriot General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne exceeded his desire to win what he probably considered a pointless colonial dust-up. Perhaps Philbrick’s least favorite character is the British spy Major John André, the ruthless charmer whose careless misstep led to Arnold’s downfall and Andre’s own execution. Philbrick argues that the quarrelsome, divided Americans needed Arnold’s perfidy as much as they did Washington’s greatness to unify their new nation. He pushes aside the patriotic myth to unveil the war’s messy reality—and it’s still a rousing adventure.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE By Tom Vanderbilt Knopf $26.95, 320 pages ISBN 9780307958242 Audio, eBook available SOCIAL SCIENCE

In the wise words of Winnie-thePooh, “[A]lthough eating honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.” Tom Vanderbilt does know what this precious moment is called—today it’s known as “liking” —and the bestselling author of

Traffic breaks it down for us in an intensive investigation of what we like, why we like it and why sometimes it’s so hard to decide. Drawing on voluminous research into the ways we like, and dislike, everything from art to music, Vanderbilt tries to pin down our preferences, something we think we know about ourselves but really don’t. We may be quick to hit the “Like” button on Facebook, but what that means turns out to be both subjective and situational. In You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice, Vanderbilt talks to the geniuses behind algorithm-based curation systems like Pandora, the food-science folks responsible for military rations and art historians who can predict your preferences in paintings. You’ll find

yourself thinking that surely you wouldn’t be manipulated by cues like the color of your cola (clear doesn’t taste as good as caramel color to most folks), but as Vanderbilt’s evidence stacks up, you realize there are many unconscious social, environmental and cognitive reasons for your choices. You’ll also find that Pooh was right. One of the mysteries Vanderbilt unpacks is the phenomenon of satiety, and how it changes the taste of food. There are reasons the anticipation of a good meal is so exciting and the first few bites taste so good. Vanderbilt delivers the explanations with ample documentation and enough humorous asides to make his book deliciously palatable the whole way through.

Maybe they made the wrong movie. Or, at least, perhaps there should have been a sequel to Chariots of Fire, the 1981 historical drama that became an international hit and won four Academy Awards. That’s because, as British author Duncan Hamilton writes in For the Glory, Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell’s life was really just beginning when he won a gold medal in the 400 meters at the 1924 Summer Olympics after missing out on the 100-meter event by famously refusing to race on Sunday in accordance with his Christian beliefs. As Hamilton depicts in this vivid and heartfelt narrative, Liddell went on to make a far more lasting mark in life than his athletic triumphs. A year after his Olympic glory in Paris, he began serving as a teacher and missionary in a remote region of China, where he was born the son of missionary parents. It was a difficult life in an environment already hostile to outsiders, and it became progressively more difficult as war clouds threatened. Ultimately, Liddell and other Westerners were sent to a Japanese work camp, where he died at age 43 from a brain tumor in 1945. Hamilton’s passion for his subject shows through on every page as he recounts life in the camp, where Liddell worked tirelessly, gave up his meager rations and counseled despondent fellow internees. He also could be cajoled into the occasional footrace, never being beaten until near the end of his life. Through it all, Liddell held to his beliefs and inspired countless others to follow in his footsteps. Hamilton makes it clear: His race became theirs, and the human race was the better for it.

—SHEILA M. TRASK

—KEITH HERRELL

NONFICTION OLD AGE By Michael Kinsley Tim Duggan $18, 160 pages ISBN 9781101903766 Audio, eBook available AGING

proposal from someone who understands, and has communicated here with candor and characteristic wit, the daunting challenge facing his contemporaries as they contemplate life’s final act. —HARVEY FREEDENBERG

PAPER By Mark Kurlansky

In 1993, then-42-year-old Michael Kinsley was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Now, through the lens of that experience, the former editor of The New Republic, serving as a “scout from my generation,” offers his 79 million fellow baby boomers a clear-eyed glimpse of the decline that may lie ahead, while urging them to take stock of what they’ll leave behind when life’s clock inevitably runs out. Despite the bad fortune of its early onset, Kinsley’s Parkinson’s has been relatively mild. It wasn’t until 2002 that he publicly disclosed his disease, seven years after he left his position as co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire.” He underwent a deep-brain stimulation procedure in 2006 that has slowed the advance of his symptoms. But as he reveals in his wry account of a recent battery of cognitive tests, his decline, however measured, is perceptible. Citing the estimated 28 million baby boomers who are expected to develop Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder, Kinsley points to the “tsunami of dementia” about to afflict this cohort. For a generation that will be remembered for its ambition and competitiveness, he argues, this slowly dawning, frightening knowledge is likely to spark a round of “competitive cognition,” where “whoever dies with more of their marbles” is considered the ultimate victor in the game of life. Kinsley concludes Old Age: A Beginner’s Guide with a plea to his fellow boomers to make a grand gesture that would be the moral equivalent of the Greatest Generation’s triumph over Hitler: a self-imposed tax on the massive transfer of wealth they’re currently enjoying to help whittle down America’s mountain of debt. It’s a bold, if not entirely realistic,

Norton $27.95, 416 pages ISBN 9780393239614 eBook available HISTORY

Material historian Mark Kurlansky tells the history of the world through things. In his bestselling books Cod and Salt, he focuses on a particular commodity and explores how it has shaped our global society. Readers will find his latest offering, Paper: Paging Through History, an engaging and informative journey through the history of paper, printing and writing. Kurlansky focuses on an idea he calls “the technological fallacy.” This is the commonly held belief that new technologies change the world. For example, hasn’t our world changed impressively since the birth of the Internet? But Kurlansky asks us to think differently: It is not so much that new technologies change society, he argues, but that social evolution drives technological innovation. Technologies develop to support social change. This was as true for ancient Sumeria, Kurlansky proposes, as it is for us. Writing, as we know it, developed in Sumeria as characters called cuneiform that were pressed into clay tablets that denoted trade in commodities. As trade grew, society developed a need to record it. But clay tablets were heavy, and not easily portable, so from that need emerged the invention of papyrus, a lightweight writing material made using the reeds that grew by the river Nile. Following the trail of his subject throughout history, Kurlansky begins with Han China, when

paper as we know it was most likely invented. After six centuries, during which paper was exclusively an Asian phenomenon, Islamic cultures switched from papyrus to parchment to support developments in mathematics. European paper-making lagged far behind until the Italian Renaissance in the 1500s. Following his topic across time and cultures, Kurlansky leads us into the 21st century and current debates about the end of printing. Capacious and elegant, Kurlansky’s Paper is an essential history of the stuff books are made from. —CATHERINE HOLLIS

THE STATESMAN AND THE STORYTELLER By Mark Zwonitzer Algonquin $35, 608 pages ISBN 9781565129894 Audio, eBook available BIOGRAPHY

John Hay and Samuel Clemens were both rising writers when they met in the late 1860s. Hay, a poet, was one of two private secretaries to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Clemens, under the pen name Mark Twain, was known for his short stories and comic lectures. Both had grown up in small towns on the Mississippi River, and they admired each other’s work. Although never close friends (Hay’s wife disapproved of Clemens), in the late 1890s, the changing role of the U.S. in the world brought them back toward each other, on opposing sides. In his absorbing The Statesman and the Storyteller, Mark Zwonitzer weaves their personal and public stories together as he explores the different responses of two very public figures to the complicated events of their time. Hay was a Republican in the original party sense: a strong believer in capitalism, wary of a shift of money to the working class and immigrants. Clemens considered himself a small-d democrat who was skeptical about government power

and was an advocate for fairness in social, political and commercial matters. What continued to bind them were “unbreakable threads of affection and common experience” based on “a gut understanding of just how hard the other was running from desolate beginnings, and an admiration for how far the other man had traveled.” During the period covered in the book, Clemens is deeply in debt and undertakes a world lecture tour to help right his financial ship, while Hay serves in the McKinley administration as ambassador to Great Britain. The supporting cast includes Clemens’ beloved wife, Livy, so important to her husband’s career that no manuscript ever left their home “without her signing off on every word and phrasing”; Hay’s best friend, Henry Adams, who knew all the influential political figures of the day; and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, a major booster of America’s drive to become an

nal The natio bestseller— h revised wit t! ten n co W E N

THE

J OY OF LESS

B Y F R A N C I N E J AY, @missminimalist # j oyof l e s s

reviews imperial power. This book is so well written I did not want it to end. With exhaustive research and superlative descriptive skills, Zwonitzer is able to capture mood and tone, bringing his prolific and often-profiled subjects to life and leading the reader to consistently feel present in the moment. —ROGER BISHOP

NONFICTION ured into her later success, creating an all-kale menu to help bring the message to the masses. Read closer, though, and you’ll see how many times Beddard was ready to give up, but managed to do one small thing to nudge the project along; her persistence is inspiring. Bonjour Kale reminds us not only to eat our greens but also to follow our dreams. —HEATHER SEGGEL

BONJOUR KALE By Kristen Beddard

Sourcebooks $15.99, 352 pages ISBN 9781492630043 eBook available MEMOIR

Kristen Beddard moved to Paris as a “trailing spouse,” relocating for her new husband’s job but sure she’d find work of her own soon enough. Her joy gave way to homesickness that cried out for comfort food, but zut alors! The French, they did not, how do you say, have any kale. Or rather, they thought they did, perkily handing over savoy cabbages at every market and farm stand Beddard visited. Undaunted, she continued her quest for leafy greens, a calling that’s documented with charming style in Bonjour Kale. Beddard’s tales of growing up with a health-foodie mother (and the inclusion of some of her nourishing recipes) make it clear the author was not an entitled monster demanding smoothies from her new neighbors. Once she learned that kale had become a “lost and forgotten” vegetable in France, it was a short leap to realizing that the American focus on kale as a “superfood” wouldn’t fly with the French, who found such ideas ridiculous. Still, Beddard’s efforts persisted, and her dogged outreach led her to better fluency in the language and new friendships. This is a sweet story, and the included recipes follow a nice arc, from Entry-Level Vegetable Soup, a simple, low-cost belly-warmer, to recipes created by a chef who fig-

JOE GOULD’S TEETH By Jill Lepore

Knopf $24.95, 256 pages ISBN 9781101947586 eBook available LITERARY HISTORY

of the past only reveal her own reflection? At once researching Gould and thinking alongside him about questions that hang behind every historian’s work, Lepore offers a book that is exciting and unsettling. Unlike her past work—think The Secret History of Wonder Woman—Lepore herself is very much a character in this book, and the hunt for the truth about Gould takes on a sort of Edgar Allan Poe-like atmosphere of dread and anticipation. At times haunting and even hallucinatory, this book is Lepore’s most vulnerable and thought-provoking work yet. — K E L LY B L E W E T T

PIT BULL By Bronwen Dickey

Joe Gould—mysterious madman, darling of the modern poets and, perhaps, a genius—began writing a book in the late 1920s. Or rather, several books. His writing, he believed, would turn the field of history on its head. Rather than stories of great men, Gould had a vision of capturing the everyday speech of people on the streets of New York. And so, pencil in hand, he went out to listen. He scrawled overheard bits in composition notebooks, and the notebooks came to dominate his small apartment, or so it was said. But the towers of notebooks are missing. Jill Lepore, at once detective and historian, decides to find them. What readers will find in Joe Gould’s Teeth is a story of archival research of epic proportions. Lepore puts farflung snippets of the past together to tell a story about Gould and his writings that no one has yet heard—a story that takes readers into the heart of Harlem, into the classrooms of Harvard and down the long corridors of mental hospitals. What is at stake, though, is more than “What happened to Gould?” There’s also the question of history itself. What should history—and biography—be? Can a historian see anything accurately, or in the end, will her portraits

Knopf $26.95, 352 pages ISBN 9780307961761 Audio, eBook available PETS

only led to an increase in this cruel sport but also gave the activity additional street cred. Dickey, a contributing editor at the Oxford American, repeatedly draws parallels between treatment of poor and disenfranchised humans and their dogs, and it’s damning testimony. Animal advocates take pets away from owners they’ve deemed “unfit” when what the owners really need is access to services that many others take for granted. Breed-specific legislation has yet to lead to a decrease in dog bites, but it’s still widely supported. If you’re bitten by a poodle it’s unlikely to be news, but a pit bull “attack” still sells papers in much the same way shark attacks do (one paper called pits “sharks on paws”). As one observer tells Dickey, “As long as there are different classes of people, there will be different classes of dogs.” With Dickey’s thorough reporting on a provocative topic, Pit Bull shows how the human need for something to blame can put innocent victims in the crosshairs. —HEATHER SEGGEL

Pit bulls used to be beloved family pets, movie stars and even war heroes. But over time, the dogs that had been America’s darlings developed a bad reputation. If you think that’s as it should be because pit bulls are bred to fight, or because their jaws exert more pressure than other dogs, or because they have aggressive temperaments, think again. Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon traces the breed’s current pariah status to some shameful and familiar sources. Author Bronwen Dickey looks at pits throughout history. Their eagerness to learn made them ideal for acting roles, and they were brave companions to Civil War regiments. There’s no statistical support for the notion that pits harm more people than any other breed of dog, and they don’t actually have magical vise-grip jaws (a “fact” not supported by any real evidence). Media hysteria and scapegoating of the urban poor combined to make the pit bull an easy target. In fact, overblown reporting on the dog-fighting phenomenon not

THE MATHEWS MEN By William Geroux Viking $28, 400 pages ISBN 9780525428152 Audio, eBook available HISTORY

The genesis of journalist William Geroux’s new book about U.S. Navy Merchant Marine sailors and their families in World War II is almost as fascinating as the book itself. Geroux first came upon the idea 25 years ago, while covering a forum in which men shared memories of watching merchant ships—targets of German U-boat attacks—explode off the coast of Virginia. Intrigued, the reporter began to research Mathews County, Virginia, which sent one of the largest concentrations of civilian merchant mariners into treacherous Atlantic waters during the war. The result

is The Mathews Men, a gripping, nearly lost story of World War II (“Hurry,” the author was told, while gathering names of possible interviewees) and a moving portrayal of family and community. Geroux brings a reporter’s keen eye for detail and natural flair for storytelling to his account, which was informed by interviews with surviving members of the Hodges family, which sent seven sons to the Merchant Marine. We meet Captain Jesse Hodges and his wife, Henny, who somehow managed to bear 14 children and run a 60-acre farm while Jesse was absent for long stretches at sea. After Pearl Harbor, conducting “unrestricted submarine warfare” meant that Japanese shipping was a major target for U.S. submarines in the Pacific. Likewise, American merchant ships carrying critical war supplies were fair game for German U-boat captains in the Atlantic. Geroux brings readers onto ships and into lifeboats to experience U-boat attacks and harrowing survival stories. In his appendix, he lists the 43 ships sunk or damaged by the Germans. Along with the participants, readers experience both the terror at sea and the agonizing tension of families who waited for loved ones to return. The 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor will occur in December, a reminder that the last survivors of the Greatest Generation will not be with us much longer. Thankfully, Geroux’s dedication and curiosity came in time to bring readers the story of the courageous seamen from Mathews County. —DEBORAH HOPKINSON

ELIZABETH By John Guy

Viking $35, 512 pages ISBN 9780670786022 eBook available BIOGRAPHY

We can’t get enough of the Tudors. Despite the centuries that have passed, the clan that began

with Henry VII and ended with Elizabeth I continues to command legions of loyal subjects, from BBC watchers and biography buffs to fans of historical fiction. Those whose fealty lies with Elizabeth I (1533–1603) should procure John Guy’s new book anon. The first substantial narrative to deeply explore the latter decades of her reign, Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years zooms in on a critical period in Tudor history, providing a fascinating close-up of an aging queen taking her final turn upon the world stage. During this crucial, conclusive epoch in Elizabeth’s 44year rule, many of her most trusted advisors died, and she faced a protracted war with Spain. She also reckoned uneasily with her own mortality, as her physical charms and health both waned. In researching the book, Guy had access to a trove of largely unexplored archival material, and his narrative corrects a number of inaccuracies circulated by the queen’s previous chroniclers. The conception of Elizabeth as accessible and merciful—as “Good Queen Bess”—is one such fiction Guy deflates, noting that she lived in splendor while plague and a poor economy crippled her country, a state of affairs that aroused in her subjects resentment rather than adoration. Toward the end, Guy writes, to her people, Elizabeth was “a distant image or just a name.” In her majesty’s orbit during these years were dashing, impetuous adventurers Walter Raleigh and Robert Devereux, who sought their fortunes at sea and in war. Their romanctic exploits during a time of political instability, when the question of Elizabeth’s successor was unresolved, make the book a bit of a nail-biter. Guy, winner of the Whitbread Award for Queen of Scots (2005), has produced a book in which Elizabeth’s royal presence is palpable. Tudorists, take heed: This fresh consideration of the queen—a woman by turns valiant and vulnerable, jealous and generous, unapproachable and compassionate—at the finis of her rule is a rousingly good read. —J U L I E H A L E

q&a

BRONWEN DICKEY BY HEATHER SEGGEL

The pit bull panic

ssayist and journalist Bronwen Dickey investigates how one of America’s most popular dog breeds became one of its most maligned in her illuminating and thoroughly researched Pit Bull.

NONFICTION

What was your goal in writing this book? I hope the book will be a case study in critical thinking, especially when it comes to stereotypes. During the seven years I spent doing research on pit bulls, I met thousands of people who had strong beliefs about the dogs, but when I asked them what their views were based on, many didn’t really know. They were just repeating things they heard from friends or had read on the Internet. After tracing the most common claims about pit bulls back to their original sources, I found that the vast majority of these “facts” were based on nothing but air. How would you describe the qualities that made pit bulls “American icons” and popular family pets in earlier eras? By far, the qualities most associated with pit bulls in the 19th and early 20th centuries were courage, tenacity and loyalty. Because they originated as fighting dogs, they were seen as the type of dogs who can fall down nine times and get up 10. In reality, though, some were like that and many were not, but the symbolism overtook the flesh-and-bone animals. Pit bulls also fit nicely into the bootstrapping vision of the American dream that writers like Horatio Alger made famous. Contrary to popular belief, however, the dogs were not universally adored, even back then. There were always a number of folks who looked down their noses at pit bulls and considered them “savage.” That had more to do with disliking their owners than anything else. I perhaps foolishly didn’t expect a story about pit bulls to be so tied to class and race. Had you made the connection before you started writing, or did it surprise you? I began to see some disturbing patterns in the way people talked about pit bulls fairly early on, specifically after I began volunteering with a nonprofit that provides free veterinary resources to people living in poverty. Most of the families I met were incredibly warm and welcoming to me, and most owned dogs they described as pit bulls, whom they loved very much. Yet people who had never been to these communities insisted that pit bulls were only owned by “thugs” who kept the dogs to be “macho,” and that urban dogfighting was “everywhere.” Once again, that simply was not true in my home state of North Carolina or any of the other places I visited, but comments about “those people” and their “vicious animals” abound. Terrible reporting about pit bulls has been nearly impossible to debunk. Do you see any signs that the tide is turning in public opinion? Without a doubt. I traveled through 15 states doing interviews for the book, and one of the biggest surprises was not how many people harbored negative feelings about pit bulls, but how few. Overwhelmingly, the people I encountered (even perfect strangers I chatted up at restaurants and whatnot) were looking for any reason not to be afraid. They were sick of the sensational fearmongering. Even the ones who were wary of pit bulls because of what they had read in the media were open to changing their minds. The idea that “people hate pit Visit BookPage.com to read more bulls” is simply not true. of our Q&A with Bronwen Dickey.

teen

JOHN COREY WHALEY

Reaching out is all it takes

hether on a book tour or in the pages of a novel, John Corey Whaley’s métier is building connections. So when he had a “complete anxiety breakdown” during the tour for his second young-adult novel, Noggin (2014), Whaley knew it was time to write about a subject that he’d wanted to address for a long time: mental illness and his own experience with chronic anxiety.

“I have the opportunity in my writing to explore this thing about myself that I ignored for a decade, to understand my own anxiety more and help people understand it,” says 32-year-old Whaley (who goes by Corey) in a call to his Southern California home. “It’s also about just being ready to tell my readers this isn’t something to be ashamed of, it’s something you can figure out a way to survive with.” In Whaley’s third novel, Highly Illogical Behavior, 16-year-old Solomon’s world is bounded by the walls of his house. He’s agoraphobic and has been living indoors since middle school, when his anxiety and panic attacks culminated in his submerging himself in a fountain in front of his school. Sol doesn’t see his current reality—taking classes online, limiting his exposure to stressors,

HIGHLY ILLOGICAL BEHAVIOR

By John Corey Whaley

Dial, $17.99, 256 pages ISBN 9780525428183, audio, eBook available Ages 14 and up

FICTION

relying on his supportive and kind parents—as anything negative or even unusual. After all, he reasons, “All he was doing was living instead of dying. Some people get cancer. Some people get crazy. Nobody tries to take the chemo away.” If you’re Lisa Praytor, though, you try to leverage Sol’s life into material for your college essay. Lisa desperately wants to escape Upland, California, and she views Sol as her ticket out: cure him, write an essay about it, get into college, get out of town. She knows it’s an unethical plan at best, so she doesn’t share the details with her boyfriend, Clark, right away. What could go wrong, anyway? Of course things go wrong, but in a way that’s nuanced and affecting. For one thing, Sol is aware that he’s not like his peers, but he also accepts himself in a way that’s refreshing and appealing. He’s initially skeptical about Lisa and Clark but is open to beginning a friendship. And he’s kind to and respectful of his grandma and parents, who offer him unstinting support and frank conversations. “There are lots of bad parents in YA, so it’s important for me to show that there are good parents that exist,” says Whaley, who considers himself lucky for his own parental lot. “Any writer is still going from those original sources of pain or inspiration or even love.” Whaley’s debut novel, Where Things Come Back, was a 2012 Printz Award winner, and Time magazine named it one of the Best YA Books of All Time. His second book, Noggin, was a National Book Award finalist, and he’s the first YA author named to the National Book

Foundation’s “5 Under 35” list. Despite his success, Whaley isn’t quite accustomed to his life as an author. “It’s so strange and surreal, still,” he says. “My third book’s about to come out, but it still feels like it’s 10 years ago: I’m just out of college in Louisiana, and I’m going to be a school“This isn’t teacher for something to five years. Half be ashamed of, my brain is it’s something still back there you can figure because it’s all happened so out a way to fast. It’s oversurvive with.” whelming.” Although Whaley says he “hated being a teacher,” those five years of teaching sixth- through 12th-graders gave him as much confidence for touring as it did fodder for writing. He immensely enjoys visiting bookstores, industry conventions and schools, where “I get to do my favorite part of being a teacher— talking [to students] about their lives, stories, the world, with no expectations attached. . . . It’s very powerful and meaningful to get to interact with teenagers. Their stories are the way I still try to understand the world.” That translates nicely to Highly Illogical Behavior: Sol, Lisa and Clark spend lots of time sitting and talking or playing games, but connections grow, issues are gradually faced, and ultimately, motivations

INTERVIEW BY LINDA M. CASTELLITTO

and deeper feelings are revealed, from Lisa’s need for escape (and its parallels to Sol’s situation) to what it means—and what it takes—to love someone. These revelations are sometimes explosive, sometimes much quieter, but their discussions always feel true and real, whether it’s some dawning comprehension or the details of a particular “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode. Whaley, a “Star Trek” fan since childhood, notes, “Art inspires art, and things like pop culture references or board games can seem silly on the surface, but they’re things people find solace in, and comfort and connection.” That’s just one of the many ways that Whaley creates connections—sometimes straightforward, sometimes complex, always worthwhile—in Highly Illogical Behavior. And as we learn from Lisa, Clark and Sol, reaching out is all it takes. “We’re all so much alike,” Whaley says. “You can forget that when you start growing up, but [many teenagers] have so much more clarity of thought than a lot of adults I know, if you just have a conversation with them.”

reviews T PI OP CK

TEEN

THE LIE TREE

Bearer of dangerous fruit REVIEW BY JILL RATZAN

It’s the middle of the 19th century. Darwin’s On the Origin of Species has shaken up the scientific world, new photographic technology has led to creepy death photography, and fossil hunting is all the rage. Faith Sunderly and her family have just moved to the British island of Vale so that her father, the disgraced scientist Reverend Sunderly, can participate in a local dig. When her father is found dead after a mysterious nighttime adventure, Faith—who far prefers science to society drama and babysitting her needy brother, Howard—isn’t convinced that her father’s death was an accident or a suicide. She thinks that someone on the island is guilty of murder. While investigating, Faith comes upon a plant that her father may have died to protect: a Lie Tree that, when fed lies, grows a fruit that reveals secrets to those who eat it. Soon, rumors of vengeful ghosts and hidden treasure begin to circulate on the island. Are these lies, spread By Frances Hardinge by Faith in pursuit of justice for her father—a questionable means to a Amulet, $17.95, 384 pages worthwhile end? Who killed Faith’s father—and why? Author Frances ISBN 9781419718953, eBook available Hardinge gives readers enough clues to solve these mysteries, but like Ages 13 and up the Lie Tree itself, they’re well hidden. HISTORICAL FANTASY Part historical fiction, part mystery, part gender study and part reflection on the tangled relationship between science and religion, The Lie Tree is a must-read for any teen who loved Jacqueline Kelly’s The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.

SAVING MONTGOMERY SOLE By Mariko Tamaki Roaring Brook $17.99, 240 pages ISBN 9781626722712 Audio, eBook available Ages 12 and up FICTION

Like any unconventional person in a small town, Montgomery has worked hard to find her tribe, those equally quirky people who help keep her strong. Monty has her two moms, of course. And she has her best friends, Thomas and Naoki, who join Monty in forming the Jefferson High Mystery Club. They don’t read whodunits; they explore the mysteries of the universe, from ESP to levitation. So even though the occasional jerks might make fun of Monty for her frumpy clothes, her lesbian moms and her gay best friend, she still feels safe. That is, until the vehemently ho-

mophobic Reverend White moves to town, and his son transfers to Monty’s school. Suddenly, Monty feels like everyone she loves is under attack. As usual, Monty turns to the paranormal to help her solve her problems, but when her quest for supernatural knowledge fails spectacularly, Monty may be forced to acknowledge that there are as many surprising mysteries right at home as there are in the vast universe. Mariko Tamaki is best known for her graphic novel collaborations with her cousin Jillian, including the award-winning This One Summer. Her first solo effort offers a complex and nuanced (and often very funny) portrait of a young woman in crisis. Monty is a realistically inspiring heroine—one who is flawed but comes to recognize her own faults and limitations. She sees her way toward real solutions, surrounded by people who love and value her despite, and even because of, those flaws. —NORAH PIEHL

has become her life. Responding to Tess’ inner monologue is Mr. Goldfish, a pocket flashlight in the shape of a fish that sheds light on and offers a voice of reason to Tess’ chaotic thoughts. While the concept may sound silly, the result is realistic and effective. Tess relies on Mr. Goldfish even more when her new math substitute is charismatic Mr. Richardson, who resembles her physically, and she becomes the victim of online bullying. Together, Mr. Goldfish and Tess have a lot to say about truth, friendship and family. —ANGELA LEEPER

THE DARKEST CORNERS By Kara Thomas

Delacorte $17.99, 336 pages ISBN 9780553521450 Audio, eBook available Ages 14 and up THRILLER

Ten years ago, a serial killer in rural Pennsylvania lured Lori Cawley from the home where she was babysitting two 8-year-old girls SILENCE IS GOLDFISH and murdered her. Best friends By Annabel Pitcher Tessa and Callie were those two girls. Manipulated by police and Little, Brown their parents into testifying against $17.99, 352 pages the suspected killer, the girls have ISBN 9780316370752 eBook available always wondered if they sent the Ages 12 and up wrong man to death row. They haven’t spoken since Tessa moved FICTION away after the trial. Now 18, Callie relies on alcohol to suppress her anxiety, and Tessa, who has been Of course Jack isn’t Tess’ real dad. abandoned by both her mother He’s thin to her fat, small to her tall, and sister, returns to Pennsylvania and ginger to her blond. But the to say goodbye to her dying father. 15-year-old never noticed these Tessa’s visit stirs up questions, differences—until she accidentally sending her on a dangerous hunt for answers. reads Jack’s blog entry for the Donor Conception Network, in which The Darkest Corners is a suspenseful ride that’s really two myshe reveals that Tess was conceived with the help of a sperm donor. teries in one: the location of Tessa’s All teens grapple with identity, sister and what really happened the night Lori was killed. Could Tessa’s but Tess doesn’t simply struggle sister be involved? A thriller at its to find the words to express how she feels—she loses her words core, the novel presents a layered altogether. Tess’ heartbreaking and view of how family, friendships and sardonic first-person narration even the flawed judicial system can features her distinct inner voice as tear people apart if they let it. she sorts through the calamity that — K I M B E R LY G I A R R A T A N O

reviews T PI OP CK

CHILDREN’S

AS BRAVE AS YOU

Younger generation’s eyes REVIEW BY DEAN SCHNEIDER

Genie Harris’ parents are “having problems” and are heading to Jamaica to figure things out. In the meantime, 11-year-old Genie and his older brother, Ernie, are to spend a month with their grandparents in North Hill, Virginia. Most of Genie’s story revolves around his blind Grandpop—his conflict with Genie’s father, his regrets over Genie’s Uncle Wood, his lonely seclusion in a room surrounded by caged birds, his intention to go through with a ritual to make Ernie a man on his 14th birthday, and the mystery of the yellow house out back, with a tree growing right through it and swarms of birds ever present. Jason Reynolds’ middle-grade debut demonstrates the love of story apparent in all of his novels. With a palpable affection for his characters and their slowly unfolding stories, Reynolds writes with subtle By Jason Reynolds humor and an ear for the apt simile (blind Grandpop’s eyes are “like Atheneum / Caitlyn Dlouhy, 16.99, 432 pages fogged-up windows”) as he crafts one memorable scene after another. ISBN 9781481415903, eBook available And if it’s Grandpop Harris who is blind, it’s Genie who learns to see Ages 10 and up and come to understand that even his “white-toothed crazyman” of MIDDLE GRADE a grandfather is brave. Though his family history includes suicide, a death in war, parents with problems and a grandfather with fears and regrets, Genie’s penchant for asking questions and observing those around him serves him well as he learns empathy and sees—in each of his family members and himself— the possibility of change and of making amends for the past.

FINDING WILD By Megan Wagner Lloyd Illustrated by Abigail Halpin

Knopf $16.99, 32 pages ISBN 9781101932810 eBook available Ages 3 to 7

Just steps from the subway stop, a single leaf leads two children on an adventure into the wild—both far away and tucked into their own backyard. Readers—particularly those who love bustling cities but harbor a secret admiration for ditch dandelions and resolute climbing ivy—will find their attention captured from the first beckoning willow branches in Finding Wild. Megan Wagner Lloyd makes an imagery-filled entrance into the publishing scene as she taps into the collective nostalgia we humans share: the desire to climb moun-

tains and dive into clear lakes, the urge to take shelter from thunder. Lloyd’s bold, imaginative words and alliteration collide in an invitation to feel, smell and taste. Abigail Halpin’s illustrations are distinctive and energetic, transporting us into the beauty—and danger—of nature. Pages unfurl with shades of green, and a jampacked cityscape bursts with rushing color. A scrapbook-type collage taunts with bees and scorpions, sticker plants and stingers. Little eyes will keep busy finding tuckedaway birds and branch-disguised snakes. The initial leaf makes periodic appearances, lending a sense of continuity and flow, even while the children journey through a variety of landscapes. An enchanting storytime book, Finding Wild is also a delightful gift for anyone with an affinity for determined city blossoms and wide, green spaces. It would also be a delightful addition to any curriculum on descriptive writing.

Finding Wild reminds us that wild beauty persists in the busiest of cities, even in our bustling urban lives.

tives are unusual ones, indeed, and Smith opts for the terms not as commonly used—a turn of turtles, a smack of jellyfish and an unkindness of ravens. Smith uses these delicious words to further the plot (the unkindness of ravens unkindly drop the boy, once again alone, on a formation of rocks). Even the book’s title refers to a name for a group of baby goats that is lesser known; most often we hear “a herd of kids,” not “tribe.” But herein lies the brilliance of Smith’s story: Instead of just listing unusual names for animal collectives, he brings readers a touching tale of family and belonging. The book opens with the lonely boy playing with a group of young goats, and bringing “tribe” full circle, he eventually stumbles upon a group of other wild folks. No longer will he wander alone. Cleverly, Smith makes effective use of tense in the book: All the sentences are in past tense until the boy meets his fellow humans. No more “was.” Now, “there is a tribe of kids” and there is a newfound family. The illustrations—textured mixed-media art that makes economic use of space to show the progression of time—are spectacular. It’s a story that is, at turns, funny and moving—and always entertaining. It’s not to be missed. —J U L I E D A N I E L S O N

—J I L L L O R E N Z I N I

THERE IS A TRIBE OF KIDS By Lane Smith

Roaring Brook $18.99, 40 pages ISBN 9781626720565 Ages 5 to 9 years

Picture books about collective nouns for animal groups have been done before. You could say this is what Lane Smith’s new book is about, but delightfully it is much more. A boy in the wild is dressed in leaves and has no family or friends in sight. He wanders the landscape and meets animals—an army of caterpillars, a troop of monkeys, etc. The names for animal collec-

A MAGICAL WINTER By Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick Carl R. Sams II Photography $19.95, 48 pages ISBN 9780982762585 Ages 5 to 8

The Michigan backyard of wildlife photographers Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick appears to be a busy place, full of deer, doves, turkeys and squirrels. Best known for their 1999 picture book, Stranger in the Woods, the husband-andwife team transform their stunning nature photography into beloved children’s books by imagining the sweet, funny dialogue between different woodland creatures.

reviews In their latest book, A Magical Winter, the forest animals anticipate the arrival of another stranger. Against a backdrop of freshly fallen snow, the animals squabble over the mysterious creature until it finally arrives: an all-white, blueeyed deer that appears to be made of snow. But Mother Doe kindly lets everyone know there’s no reason to worry: “He’s one of my three fawns. He is not made of snow . . . he is not going to melt.” When a white turkey also appears, the animals wonder if their woods are enchanted, which is a good reason to celebrate. They parade and party until spring; after all, parties are more fun when everyone is accepted, regardless of physical differences. Children will love discovering the magic of this backyard, while dreaming up stories for their own. —CAT ACREE

TROUBLE THE WATER By Frances O’Roark Dowell

Atheneum / Caitlyn Dloughy $16.99, 288 pages ISBN 9781481424639 eBook available Ages 9 to 13 MIDDLE GRADE

Award-winning author Frances O’Roark Dowell’s latest book is a page-turner, but not in the traditional sense. The plot doesn’t race along at breakneck speed, nor is there a life-or-death mystery to be solved. There are no car chases or spies or evil villains. Readers of Dowell’s previous books will understand that the appeal of Trouble the Water is the author’s top-notch character building and storytelling prowess. The town of Celeste, Kentucky, in 1953 is no hotbed of politics and civil rights. But to Callie, neither is it the worst place to live. The 11-year-old watches the black people live and prosper on her side of town and only quietly resents the new white school and the whites-only swimming pool. When the white boy Wendell comes to her side of town and wants to help

CHILDREN’S her find the owner of a mysterious wandering dog, she figures that’s his business. Yet as their friendship blooms, tensions come to a boil. Dowell has given us a true hero in the character of Callie, a girl just realizing what segregation means in her life. Understanding that she can’t change the world unless she’s willing to change herself first, Callie’s journey by way of a small mystery and meaningful friendship brings the past and present together in unexpected ways. The anticipation to see how Callie ends up in this turbulent time will keep you turning the pages, as promised. —J E N N I F E R B R U E R K I T C H E L

IT AIN’T SO AWFUL, FALAFEL By Firoozeh Dumas

Clarion $16.99, 384 pages ISBN 9780544612310 eBook available Ages 10 to 12 MIDDLE GRADE

It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel is a charming, authentic and insightful account of an immigrant trying to make sense of America. The book also provides a peek at a moment in history when relations between Iran and the U.S. were severed due to the hostage crisis of 1979. Delightful young Zomorod Yousefzadeh goes by Cindy, taken from “The Brady Bunch” television show. She is a new arrival to Southern California, where she must figure out the unwritten rules of middle-school conduct while serving as her mother’s interpreter. Her desire to fit in, combined with her kind-hearted embarrassment of her parents, leaves readers rooting for Cindy’s success. This coming-of-age story takes a dark turn with the backdrop of heightening tensions between the U.S. and Iran. As an Iranian, Cindy is expected to be the expert on this political crisis, and she does her best to help people understand the situation. But she doesn’t fully succeed in her attempts to educate people, and she and her family become victims of a hate crime

and racist remarks. While trying to discover the perpetrators of the crime, Cindy realizes she, too, was quick to unfairly judge a classmate. After her award-winning memoir, Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas makes a humorous mark with her semi-autobiographical middle-grade debut. —LORI K. JOYCE

LILY AND DUNKIN

coming-of-age novel. — E R I N A . H O LT

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING By Avi

Candlewick $16.99, 224 pages ISBN 9780763681111 Audio, eBook available Ages 10 and up MIDDLE GRADE

By Donna Gephart Delacorte $16.99, 352 pages ISBN 9780553536744 Audio, eBook available Ages 10 and up MIDDLE GRADE

Timothy McGrother was born a boy but knows she is really a girl. Norbert Dorfman is battling bipolar disorder as well as being the new kid in town. Coming home from a Dunkin Donuts run, Norbert sees Tim in a dress and sandals, and his heart skips a beat for the girl with long blond hair and piercing blue eyes. The two meet again when Norbert spies Tim perched on the branches of the great banyan tree outside the local library. Norbert tells Tim that he prefers the name Dunkin, while Tim keeps mum about her preferred name, Lily. As an ensuing friendship unfolds, Lily and Dunkin each narrate their stories, exposing the good, the bad and the ugly that come with keeping secrets from themselves and from others. Despite their differences and conflicts along the way, Lily and Dunkin’s thread of friendship remains tight. Lily and Dunkin is a seamless blend of issues faced by transgender children and those who live with mental illness. Donna Gephart sensitively handles their choices and shows realistic consequences, holding nothing back when it comes to what it takes to be seen, and loved, for who you really are. But as these two eighth graders figure out their places in the world, friendship and honesty shape the true core of this strong

The bond between father and son carries heft and import—and also joy, contempt, resentment and much more. The relationship presents a challenging dynamic at any age, but the question of the most important thing a father can do for his son is answered in different ways by different people. In this collection of seven vignettes, Newbery Medal-winning author Avi returns to the short-story form to take on this weighty subject. In one of the heavier stories, “Dream Catcher,” Paul is forced to meet the grandfather he never knew. Infused with sharp humor, “Tighty-Whities or Boxers” shows readers Ryan’s ingenious way of learning more about his potential stepfather. And in the more somber yet hopeful “Departed,” Luke arrives home to learn his father has died, and he continues to be haunted by his ghost. The questions here are universal: Where is home? What is family? How should I feel? And the situations presented hit upon pertinent and relatable themes—acceptance (or lack thereof), respect, anger, uncertainty, death, change and dysfunction. But along with the harsh realities, Avi’s characters experience awakenings and life-changing interludes as they seek to answer the titular question: What is the most important thing for fathers and sons? Avi is a master of just about anything he writes, and this collection is superbly crafted and ideal for discussions. —SHARON VERBETEN

Visit BookPage.com for a Q&A with Avi.

spotlight

MOTHER’S DAY

meet LISA BROWN KRISTEN SARD

BY JULIE HALE

Better than a bouquet

his year, forget the flowers! Celebrate Mom with a story instead. Filled with humor, poetry and plenty of love, these fresh picture books pay tribute to mothers and their special magic. Laura Krauss Melmed delivers a beautiful salute to the bond that exists between mother and child in Before We Met (Beach Lane, $17.99, 32 pages, ISBN 9781442441569, ages 1 to 5). Jing Jing Tsong’s breathtaking digital collage illustrations feature an evocative palette of violets, purples and blues— the deep hues of a night sky—to create a magical backdrop for a mother’s musings. The phrase “before we met” serves as a refrain in the book’s rhymed lines, turning the text into a lullaby: “Before we met, I dreamt I felt the beating of your heart. Before we met, I promised you I’d love you from the start,” the mother tells her newborn. Soon night gives way to day and a sundrenched gardenscape filled with flitting birds and blooming flowers. This celebratory scene, signifying birth, is the perfect endnote for Melmed’s gorgeous, impressionistic story-poem.

MOM ON A MISSION Emma Levey’s delightful Hattie Peck (Sky Pony, $16.99, 32 pages, ISBN 9781634501705, ages 3 to 6) features a one-of-a-kind mom— a broody chicken who longs for a family all her own. The only egg Hattie ever laid failed to hatch! She dreams of having eggs—lots and lots of them—and so she sets out on a quest. Her goal: round up all the abandoned eggs she can find and hatch them, “every last one!”

Beginning this madcap mission in a rowboat, Hattie plumbs oceans, braves caves and climbs mountains, collecting a “colossal clutch” along the way. Back at home, she sits atop a pile of eggs and waits for the cracking to commence. Soon Hattie has hatched a veritable zoo that includes alligators, snakes, a penguin and a peacock. With so many critters to care for, Hattie is happy at last. Featuring colors that pop, Levey’s bold illustrations make this an extra-special story for families of every breed.

TWO OF A KIND You Made Me a Mother (HarperCollins, $15.99, 32 pages, ISBN 9780062358868, ages 4 to 8) captures the sense of nervous anticipation that precedes a baby’s arrival. Laurenne Sala’s buoyant story follows an excited mom-to-be as she prepares for her big day, studying baby guides and puzzling over new furniture for the nursery. When the tot finally arrives, the young mom naturally adjusts to her new role, making lovely discoveries about herself along the way: “I realized that I would spend my life doing things to make you happy. And that would make me happy,” she tells her little one. Over time, through trips to the playground and walks in the rain, mother and child learn from each other and grow together. Robin P reiss Glasser’s detailed ink-and-watercolor drawings are just right for this moving tribute to a mother’s unique capacity for love.

THE AIRPORT BOOK Illustrator and cartoonist Lisa Brown guides children through the grand adventure of air travel in The Airport Book (Roaring Brook, $17.99, 40 pages, ISBN 9781626720916, ages 5 to 7). Young readers will discover hidden gems on every page of this delightfully busy exploration of the inner workings of airports and airplanes. Brown lives in San Francisco with her husband, Daniel Handler, and their son.

WORDNOOK

BY THE EDITORS OF MERRIAM-WEBSTER

TAKE A HINT

Dear Editor: The word innuendo sounds like it could be a musical term, like crescendo or diminuendo. Did it originate in music? N. D. Richfield, Minnesota Innuendo did not originate in music, but in another field with terminology that traces back to Latin: the law. The verb innuere in classical Latin meant “to nod, beckon, or make a sign to” a person, and in Medieval Latin more generally “to hint” or “to insinuate.” The ablative cause of the gerund was innuendo, which meant literally “by hinting.” In medieval legal documents innuendo introduced inserted remarks, meaning in effect “to wit” or “that is to say,” and the word was adopted with the same function into English legal usage. By the late 17th century innuendo was used as a noun referring to the insertion itself, and more broadly to any indirect

suggestion or veiled allusion. The notion of the invidious possibilities of such a remark came to predominate, so that today innuendo typically refers to an insinuation that is at best catty, at worst defamatory.

LOCATION SCOUTS

Dear Editor: One often hears the word harbinger come springtime applied to robins, crocuses, etc. If they are harbingers, is there a corresponding verb harbinge? L. I. Aventura, Florida It’s a creative theory, but harbinger did not arise from a verb. A modern harbinger is simply a precursor or forerunner, but the duties of earlier harbingers were more specific. In late medieval and early modern times, they were people sent before an army or a royal progress to find lodgings for the whole company. Earlier, the form of the word was herbergere, and the first English herbergeres were the

hosts themselves, the actual providers of lodgings. The Old French word from which the English was borrowed, herberge, was itself a loanword from Frankish, a Germanic language of Gaul. Herberge took from its Frankish source both the literal meaning “army encampment” and the figurative extension “hostelry.” Modern English harbor is another descendant of the same common prehistoric West Germanic word as the Frankish source of herberge, having the meaning “a place of security and comfort” before developing the sense “a sheltered place providing anchorage for ships.”

SHAMEFUL DISH

Dear Editor: I’m curious about the phrase eat humble pie. Where did it come from? B. H. Clearfield, Utah The phrase humble pie appears to be a simple culinary metaphor

for humility, though beneath its surface is a pun on an actual but now seldom-eaten dish. The real humble pie, also called umble pie, is a pastry stuffed and baked with humbles or umbles, the edible viscera of an animal, typically a game animal such as a deer. Stuffed with what was considered to be the inferior parts of the animal, the pie was served to the huntsmen and other servants. Thus, the usual explanation advanced for the phrase is that having to eat such a dish would be symbolic of a lowering in status—a “taste” of humility—though the linguistic development of humble pie casts some doubt on that theory. The earliest references to the literal pie can be found in writings from the 1600s, including the diary of Samuel Pepys, but evidence of the figurative use is not known until the 1800s. Send correspondence regarding Word Nook to: Language Research Service P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102

Test Your Mental Mettle with Puzzles from The Little Book of Big Brain Games

ODD INTERSECTION

workman.com

DIFFICULTY: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● COMPLETION: ■ TIME: ______

The large black circle has a diameter of 1 unit. It is inscribed by an equilateral triangle and a square, as shown. Can you determine the diameters of the three inscribed circles?

ANSWER

It can’t be done. If you start drawing a line outside the black closed line and cross it an odd number of times, you will end up inside the black line. To close the new line, you must intersect the black line, making an even number of intersections. Not only are nine intersections impossible, all odd numbers of intersections are impossible.

ANSWER

The gray closed line is drawn so that it crosses a black closed line from inside to outside or vice versa exactly ten times. Can you draw a new gray closed line over the same black line so that it makes only nine crossings?

INSCRIBED CIRCLES

DIFFICULTY: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● COMPLETION: ■ TIME: ______

Large circle’s diameter = 1⁄2 Medium circle’s diameter = 1⁄4 Smallest circle’s diameter = 1⁄4 (2 – √2 ), or about 1⁄6.

ODD INTERSECTION

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