November 1, 2019: Volume LXXXVII, No 21

Featuring 275 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction, Children's and YA books

KIRKUS VOL. LXXXVII, NO.

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NOVEMBER

2019

REVIEWS

Erin Morgenstern

The author of The Night Circus is back with The Starless Sea— a sprawling, fantastical novel about the power of stories. p. 14

Also in this issue: André Aciman, Jeanine Basinger, Ken Follett, Oge Mora, and more

from the editor’s desk:

Listmania!

B Y T O M

Chairman H E R B E RT S I M O N President & Publisher M A RC W I N K E L M A N

B EER

#

John Paraskevas

Book lists—love them or loathe them, they’ll be part of our literary coverage for as long as the internet exists and people want to click, click, click through eye-catching covers and pithy descriptions. Seven Books to Read Before They Become Movies This Fall. Ten Essential Literary Thrillers. Nine Sad Girl Books for Your Sad Girl Autumn.

Twenty-Three Books That Freaked People Out So Badly, They Actually Had to Stop Reading. At Newsday, where I was books editor for 11 years, my favorite list was Books You Can Read in a Weekend, which started small and kept growing as we discovered bingeable new novTom Beer els under 200 pages. Of course, we at Kirkus produce a hefty share of book lists, too—try 10 New Books by Women That Everybody Should Read Now or The 12 Most Addictive Books of 2019 (So Far).

Sometimes such lists have higher ambitions—for example, the ubiquitous Best Books of the Year lists that start cropping up in late fall and become something of a parlor game on Literary Twitter. For the super nerdy, there’s even the blog Largehearted Boy (the brainchild of David Gutowski), which compiles a master list of online Best Books lists. Meanwhile, our friends at Literary Hub have begun the ambitious project of reviewing the past decade and making claims for what they believe are the greatest books published between 2010 and 2019, starting with The 10 Best Debut Novels of the Decade.

Lit Hub’s list, compiled by Emily Temple, includes outstanding novels by Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer), Nicole Dennis-Benn (Here Comes the Sun), and Kirkus Prize winner Ling Ma (Severance) along with a generous helping of Dissenting Opinions and Honorable Mentions. I weighed in on Twitter with my own dissenting opinion—where was Anthony Marra’s unforgettable first novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena?—as did many others.

And here is where the haters really get up in arms: How can you make such a sweeping claim? What about [fill in title here], which is obviously the best debut of the decade? Naysayers argue that all these lists are nothing more than clickbait, pandering to short attention spans and dumbing down our literary culture. But I don’t see them as a substitute for reviews and criticism so much as a complement—something to generate lively discussion and argument among people who care about books.

Let a thousand lists bloom! We at Kirkus Reviews will keep creating them—and keep publishing the reviews that are the lifeblood of the magazine. Our Best Books of 2019 coverage begins in the next issue, offering lists and sublists for every kind of reader—please stay tuned.

Print indexes: www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/print-indexes Kirkus Blog: www.kirkusreviews.com/blog Advertising Opportunities: www.kirkusreviews.com/about/advertising opportunities

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from the editor’s desk

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Chief Executive Officer M E G L A B O R D E KU E H N mkuehn@kirkus.com Editor -in- Chief TOM BEER tbeer@kirkus.com Vice President of Marketing SARAH KALINA skalina@kirkus.com Managing/Nonfiction Editor E R I C L I E B E T R AU eliebetrau@kirkus.com Fiction Editor L AU R I E M U C H N I C K lmuchnick@kirkus.com Children’s Editor VICKY SMITH vsmith@kirkus.com Young Adult Editor L AU R A S I M E O N lsimeon@kirkus.com Editor at Large MEGAN LABRISE mlabrise@kirkus.com Vice President of Kirkus Indie KAREN SCHECHNER kschechner@kirkus.com Senior Indie Editor D AV I D R A P P drapp@kirkus.com Indie Editor M Y R A F O R S B E RG mforsberg@kirkus.com Associate Manager of Indie K AT E R I N A P A P P A S kpappas@kirkus.com Editorial Assistant JOHANNA ZWIRNER jzwirner@kirkus.com Mysteries Editor THOMAS LEITCH Contributing Editor G R E G O RY M c N A M E E Copy Editor BETSY JUDKINS Designer ALEX HEAD Director of Kirkus Editorial L AU R E N B A I L E Y lbailey@kirkus.com Production Editor C AT H E R I N E B R E S N E R cbresner@kirkus.com Website and Software Developer P E RC Y P E R E Z pperez@kirkus.com Advertising Director M O N I Q U E S T E N S RU D mstensrud@kirkus.com Advertising Associate TAT I A N A A R N O L D tarnold@kirkus.com Advertising Coordinator KELSEY WILLIAMS kwilliams@kirkus.com Graphic Designer L I A N A WA L K E R lwallker@kirkus.com Controller MICHELLE GONZALES mgonzales@kirkus.com for customer service or subscription questions, please call 1-800-316-9361

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contents fiction

The Kirkus Star is awarded to books of remarkable merit, as determined by the impartial editors of Kirkus.

INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS............................................................ 4 REVIEWS................................................................................................ 4 EDITOR’S NOTE..................................................................................... 6 ON THE COVER: ERIN MORGENSTERN........................................... 14 INTERVIEW: ANDRÉ ACIMAN.......................................................... 24 MYSTERY...............................................................................................35 SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY.......................................................... 43 ROMANCE............................................................................................ 45

nonfiction

INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS.......................................................... 47 REVIEWS.............................................................................................. 47 EDITOR’S NOTE...................................................................................48 INTERVIEW: JEANINE BASINGER...................................................62 INTERVIEW: KEN FOLLETT................................................................68

children’s

INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS...........................................................75 REVIEWS...............................................................................................75 EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................... 76 INTERVIEW: OGE MORA................................................................... 84 INTERVIEW: ANTHONY ZUIKER...................................................... 96 VALENTINE’S DAY PICTURE BOOKS.............................................. 105

young adult

INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS........................................................ 109 REVIEWS............................................................................................ 109 EDITOR’S NOTE..................................................................................110 INTERVIEW: NADINE JOLIE COURTNEY......................................114 INTERVIEW: ANDREW MARANISS................................................118

Vivian Gornick’s ferocious but principled intelligence emanates from each of the essays in a distinctive new collection. Read the review on p. 57.

SHELF SPACE: THE RIPPED BODICE, CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA......................................................................................124

indie

INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS.........................................................125 REVIEWS.............................................................................................125 EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................. 126 INDIE Q&A: REUBEN “TIHI” HAYSLETT.........................................132

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FIELD NOTES.....................................................................................146 APPRECIATIONS: LAURA ESQUIVEL’S LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE AT 30............................................................................ 147 |

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fiction A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO FREE FALL

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Abramowitz, Andy Lake Union Publishing (396 pp.) $24.95 | Jan. 1, 2020 978-1-5420-1465-6

THE ILLNESS LESSON by Clare Beams................................................5 A BEAUTIFUL CRIME by Christopher Bollen...................................... 9 AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins.............................................. 13

A narcissistic man is kicked out of the house by his wife after a one-night stand while also having trouble at work; his tentative sister seeks success in her career.

Davis Winger, who’s in his mid-30s, is confident that he’s a good guy. The kind of guy who helps neighbors move and has sex with his wife of eight years “thrice weekly” without needing to picture “a tangle of tipsy sorority sisters.” Sure, he has sex with a co-worker while on a business trip. But she came on to him and he apologized for the “lapse.” Why can’t his wife understand that she belongs to him? And why is his boss putting him on leave during the investigation of a malfunction on a brand-new amusement-park ride he designed? Unfair! After being kicked out of the house, Davis moves into a nearby apartment complex, where he commences an ongoing physics tutoring/ogling situation with a high school teen. He is derisive of housewives and their “nicotine spots and low-swinging labias [sic]” who dare sit by the pool as he lifeguards to fill his nowempty workdays. Davis’ overt sexism is understood as such by himself and others and yet allowed to stand because, you know, he’s a good guy. Half of Abramowitz’s (Thank You, Goodnight, 2015) book revolves around Davis’ younger sister, Molly, 32, and her love life and career trajectory as a soft-news journalist. But don’t worry, she recognizes that her own career opportunities are really due to the much younger man she’s dating. And when she starts dating someone new, her brother grants his permission after making sure the guy hasn’t slept with too many other women. Characters in this book rarely smile, they smirk. The prose is turgid, the story repetitive, the characters clichéd, and juvenile sexual innuendo abounds.

It’s a man’s world and women exist as second-class citizens in this skippable novel.

HOUSE ON ENDLESS WATERS by Emuna Elon; trans. by Anthony Berris & Linda Yechiel............................................ 15 THIS IS PLEASURE by Mary Gaitskill...............................................18 THE BLACK CATHEDRAL by Marcial Gala; trans. by Anna Kushner.........................................................................18 THE END OF THE OCEAN by Maja Lunde; trans. by Diane Oatley..........................................................................27 BLACK LIGHT by Kimberly King Parsons...........................................30 FOLLOW ME TO GROUND by Sue Rainsford..................................... 31 SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid......................................................... 31 SHUGGIE BAIN by Douglas Stuart..................................................... 33 OLIGARCHY by Scarlett Thomas......................................................... 33 THE HOCUS GIRL by Chris Nickson...................................................41 LADY HOTSPUR by Tessa Gratton.......................................................43 THE VANISHED BIRDS by Simon Jimenez.........................................43 COME TUMBLING DOWN by Seanan McGuire................................ 44 THE BEST OF UNCANNY edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas.................................................................... 44 LOVE LETTERING by Kate Clayborn..................................................45 THE VANISHING by Jayne Ann Krentz..............................................45

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TWO BLANKETS, THREE SHEETS

fictionalized in one of the period’s most popular novels, The Darkening Glass. So when Samuel gets the idea to found a rigorous school to teach girls about their “deepest selves” on the site of the failed community, Caroline, now in her late 20s, is apprehensive. This apprehension deepens when one of their pupils, Eliza, turns out to be the daughter of the man who wrote The Darkening Glass. Eliza’s presence is even more disruptive than Caroline and Samuel feared: Though an intelligent and mature student, Eliza seems more interested in prying into the secrets of the Hoods’ past than in her studies. When Eliza suddenly begins manifesting strange physical ailments—seizurelike fits, mysterious markings, hysteria—the other girls soon come down with them, too. Caroline assumes some kind of manipulation; that is, until they start happening to her. When her father calls upon a physician, a family friend who seems to share Samuel’s forward thinking, to treat the girls, the world that Caroline and her father tried to build is in danger, once again, of crashing down. Beams (We Show What We Have Learned, 2016) takes risk after risk in this, her first novel, and they all seem to pay off.

Her ventriloquizing of the late 19th century, her delicate-as-lace

Al Galidi, Rodaan Trans. by Reeder, Jonathan World Editions (400 pp.) $16.99 paper | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-64286-045-0

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Fleeing conscription in Saddam Hussein’s army, an Iraqi refugee finds himself in a different kind of hell after he applies for asylum in the Netherlands.

By the time Samir Karim lands in Schiphol airport in 1998, he has already spent seven years trying to set down anchor somewhere in the world. The Dutch, he has heard, are lenient with asylum. Coming from war-torn Iraq, Karim has a powerful case. The problem is the Dutch have heard it all before, and Karim’s application soon gets snared in bureaucratic procedures. He whiles away years, waiting with his assigned two blankets, three sheets, a towel, a pillow, and a pillowcase, to obtain an official residence permit. Karim meets close to 500 fellow refugees at the asylum seekers’ center. Waiting in the center, not knowing when the all-important letter from immigration will arrive, is modern-day purgatory. Al Galidi, himself an Iraqi refugee in the Netherlands, leans on his experiences to describe the cacophony that’s the ASC. A parade of colorful refugee seekers fills in a striking picture of what life’s like on the inside. Does conversion to Christianity help? Rumor has it that it might. “Whoever goes to the mosque gets sent to the jihad, and whoever goes to the church gets a residence permit. I think the church is better,” says Fatima, with a sardonic sense of humor. Karim is an entertaining—if occasionally coarse—protagonist who expertly dissects the statelessness that plagues today’s refugees. In one of the more touching moments, a 7-year-old born at the center claims it as his country—he has seen nothing else. The nuanced narrative does not hide darker currents of depression or loss of personhood.

A blunt and surprisingly humorous peek at an aspect of global displacement that remains largely hidden from public view.

THE ILLNESS LESSON

Beams, Clare Doubleday (288 pp.) $26.95 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-0-385-54466-5

A progressive all-girls school in 1870s Massachusetts is thrown into chaos when its residents begin to experience inexplicable maladies.

Caroline Hood is the daughter of one of the most prominent thinkers in New England. Her father, Samuel, is a widowed essayist best known for a failed social experiment—a sort of utopian village—he attempted when Caroline was a child. This failure was lightly |

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small is beautiful One of my favorite parts of working at Kirkus is the opportunity to meet small press representatives from around the country—and occasionally from around the world— who come to the office to introduce themselves and their books.

They’re invariably passionate about what they do, and I love learning how they started out and how their presses work. Do they have an office, or do they work from home? (Or maybe from a garage?) Do they specialize in a particular kind of book? I like to hear the nitty-gritty, and another way I sate my hunger for details is through Anne Trubek’s newsletter.

Anne is the founder of Belt Publishing, which focuses on books from the Rust Belt, and her newsletter covers issues like whether printing galleys is worth the money; how much money an author can make from publishing a book; and the eternal question of why books are published on Tuesdays. (Spoiler alert: “No one really knows.”)

Belt will be putting out a compilation of these essays in the spring under the title So You Want To Publish a Book.

Belt is still fairly new on the small press scene. There are also bigger small presses like Graywolf and Coffee House, both of which have been around for decades and regularly publish a full list of innovative and high-quality books. Some small presses have banded together into larger groups, like Counterpoint, Soft Skull, and Catapult, giving them extra heft in the marketplace. There are several distinctive presses that specialize in works in translation, including Open Letter, Archipelago, and Europa—I wrote about these and others last year.

Archipelago, Bellevue Literary Press, Biblioasis, Counterpoint, Dorothy, Dzanc, Europa, Felony & Mayhem, Graywolf, New Directions, Open Letter, Restless Books, Sarabande, Soho Press, Transit Books, Two Dollar Radio, and Unbridled Books all had entries on our list of the 100 Best Fiction Books of 2018. (Tune in for the best of 2019 in our next issue.) We’ve also recently run great reviews of books from Akashic, & Other Stories, Bitter Lem6

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on, City Lights, Dalkey Archive, Feminist Press, Fomite, Godine, Melville House, Milkweed, New York Review Books, Red Hen, Subterranean, Tin House, Torrey House, Two Lines, World Editions, and many university presses, among others.

For a sampling of this year’s small press books, let’s start with Bloomland by John Englehardt, published by Dzanc.

Exploring the reverberations of a mass shooting on a college campus, the book is “a culturally diagnostic achievement in the same way that Don DeLillo’s White Noise and Libra are culturally diagnostic achievements,” according to our review, which concludes: “Hugely important, hauntingly brutal—Englehardt has just announced himself as one of America’s most talented emerging writers.”

Or take Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage by Bette Howland, the very first book from the literary journal A Pub­ lic Space’s new publishing arm, which our review calls “a remarkable literary voice rediscovered….This achingly beautiful book throbs with life, compassion, warmth, and humor; hums with an undercurrent of existential despair; and creeps into your soul like the slushy-gray-yellow light of a wintry Chicago morning.” And don’t forget Mostly Dead Things

by Kristen Arnett, from Tin House, about a woman who takes over her father’s struggling taxidermy shop after his suicide. Our review says, “Arnett brings all of Florida’s strangeness to life through the lens of a family snowed under with grief.” Or Degrees of Difficulty by Julie E. Justicz, from Fomite Press, about the way “caring for a profoundly disabled child 24/7 is both exhausting and tension-producing for every member of a family…. A stunning, heartfelt, and poignant debut.” I can’t wait to see what small-press surprises next year will bring. —L.M. Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor. |

sentences, and the friction between the unsettling thinking of the period and its 21st century resonances make for an electrifying read.

A satisfyingly strange novel from the one-of-a-kind Beams.

historical novels based on the lives of influential women too often overlooked. The children of neglectful mothers, both Clemmie and Winston Churchill are immediately drawn to each other. Once married, they seek security in their marriage, not only producing five children, but also charting together Winston’s phenomenal career. Cat and Pug, as Clemmie and Winston affectionately called one another, navigate nearly every political crisis together. On the homefront, Clemmie must face down dangers of a more domestic sort, too, including managing houses on shoestring budgets and defending her husband from angry suffragists wielding whips and jealous women vying for his affections. Keeping Clemmie by his side helps the notoriously brusque Winston navigate stormy domestic and international waters, from the disasters of the WWI campaign in the Dardanelles to the heights of his service as prime minister defeating Hitler. Throughout it all, as half of a power couple, Clemmie faces criticism from her own friends and sister for the unwomanly nature of her work. Indeed, she questions her own fitness as a mother, as she finds more passion in her work than in raising her children. Benedict capitalizes on the Churchills’ long,

THE TEACHER

Ben-Naftali, Michal Trans. by Zamir, Daniella Open Letter (184 pp.) $14.95 paper | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-948830-07-2

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One woman survives the Holocaust; decades later, another imagines what her life might have been like.

Elsa Weiss survived the Holocaust by obtaining a seat on the “Kastner train”—a train that smuggled more than 1,600 Jews to safety after Rudolf Kastner, a Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer, negotiated with Adolf Eichmann. Kastner’s train was real; in this novel by Israeli writer Ben-Naftali—her first to be translated into English—the reality of Elsa Weiss is up for debate. Once she arrives in Israel, Elsa works for decades as an English teacher before stepping off the roof of her apartment building. The novel is narrated by one of her students, who goes unnamed and who makes a project out of understanding Elsa’s life. That’s not easy to do.

No one, it seems, knows anything about Elsa. What follows, then, is a work of the narrator’s imagining—a kind of novel within a novel. Why Ben-Naftali chose this framing device isn’t entirely clear, since she doesn’t make full use of it. The vast majority of the book is taken up with descriptions of Elsa’s experiences; only occasionally are we reminded that the real Elsa was a cipher, that these descriptions are the narrator’s imaginings. But Ben-Naftali doesn’t fully explore what it might mean to imagine another person’s life or what these fictions illuminate about the narrator herself. Then, too, the narration hovers at a distance, favoring third-person description over dialogue or scenes in the present.

The constant exposition makes Elsa into an abstraction and the other characters into less, even, than that.

Ben-Naftali doesn’t make full use of her material, and the result feels more tired than fresh.

LADY CLEMENTINE

Benedict, Marie Sourcebooks Landmark (336 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-4926-6690-5 Determined to support her husband in his political work through two world wars, Clementine Churchill becomes a powerful role model for women.

Benedict (The Only Woman in the Room, 2019, etc.) continues her series of |

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MOLLY BIT

storied lives to generate a fast-paced narrative: Gallipoli leads to Winston’s stint on the front lines of WWI swiftly followed by 2-year-old Marigold’s death, Winston’s campaign against the Nazis, and finally his triumphant return to the House of Commons. The thrilling ride is marred only by repetitive scenes of an impassioned Winston lashing out at Clemmie, whose stern looks immediately remind her Pug to take better care of his Cat. A rousing tale of ambition and love.

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Bevacqua, Dan Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-9821-0458-0 A portrait of the actress as a young woman.

We meet Molly Bit in a chapter called “College: 1993.” It’s an arts school where “everybody wanted to be famous…and if they didn’t get famous, they might die right there in their beds.” Unlike the other kids, Molly Bit has no doubt that she will hit the mark, and after a brief second chapter called “Dues: 1997,” we arrive at “Success: 2001.” By now, Molly has made two movies with her best friend and has appeared in a three-page photo spread in Vanity Fair titled “Girl From the Future: Why in Six Months Everyone Will Know Who Molly Bit Is.” This proves to be no exaggeration—she soon reaches mega-star status, with the action figures and tabloid exposés

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Fans of crime fiction will delight in this marriage of knowing aestheticism and old-fashioned mayhem. a beautiful crime

RECIPE FOR A PERFECT WIFE

to prove it. By “Venice: 2006,” she’s got a publicist, a personal assistant, and a bodyguard she’s paying 50,000 euros for four days—because she also has a very persistent stalker. The plot of Bevacqua’s debut has a dramatic twist two-thirds of the way through, but there’s something a bit mechanical about it, and subsequent sections lose momentum. Though the author sets out to reveal the human being inside a Hollywood legend, Molly never quite comes into focus. We spend a fair amount of time inside her head, but her thoughts have a generic quality: “Southern California tried to rob you of your deep interiority. LA did.

Hollywood. It was impossible not to lose at least some of it, for shallow thoughts and conversations to cast a spell that sealed a layer off. For six months she’d been contemplating an ass lift.”

This feels more like a hypothesis about what an actress would think than what one specific, fully realized character thinks.

Most enjoyable for its smart, often humorous details about moviemaking and celebrity culture.

Brown, Karma Dutton (336 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-5247-4493-9

A wife in 2018 discovers letters and a cookbook from her house’s previous inhabitant—and realizes that their lives might not be so different.

Alice Hale doesn’t want to move from her tiny Manhattan apartment to a fixer-upper in the suburbs. But her husband has long wanted to move out of the city, and Alice, recently out of a job, feels like she doesn’t have a reason to say no. The free time may even give her more of a chance to start her novel-writing career. But when Alice discovers a cookbook and letters left behind by the house’s previous owner, Nellie Murdoch, she gets more inspiration than she bargained for. Alice pores over Nellie’s letters to her mother (mysteriously never mailed) to learn the minutiae of her life as

A BEAUTIFUL CRIME

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Bollen, Christopher Harper/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $28.99 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-0-06-285388-2 André Aciman meets Patricia Highsmith in this satisfying exercise in literary crime.

“No mythical city should be judged by its airport.” So we read as 25-yearold Nicholas Brink, an Ohioan by way of New York, lands in Venice in a “Gobi of concrete.” Nick is cut out for finer things, and he has come to Venice to take his part in a con game of his own devising. Bollen (The Destroyers, 2017, etc.) skillfully lets the details out bit by bit: We learn on one page that he has a boyfriend, Clay Guillory, on another that Clay is an Italian speaker who knows Venice well, on still another that Clay is an African American who, Nick hopes, will find the city of Othello less ethnically fraught than a white America that sees Clay “as a blur of black skin.” The crime is delicious, a sale of counterfeit antiques to an American expat who has more money than he knows what to do with. As must happen in stories of this sort, mistakes are made, and Nick, who presents himself as the affable good guy, gets greedy—and, Clay protests, “Getting greedy is what will get us into trouble.”

Instead of selling a bunch of old silver and such, Nick wants to sell a whole palazzo that only partly belongs to Clay by virtue of a friendship with a now-deceased bohemian artist—only partly, the rest being tied up in a family squabble of epically Venetian proportions. Cons turn into countercons as a private investigator–cum-strongman turns up, and when that happens, Bollen’s relatively gentle game of cat and mouse takes a bloody turn that’s not entirely unexpected. Clay’s warning to Nick turns out to be exactly right, as Nick sheds any vestigial boyishness in the course of a would-be swindle that goes exactly wrong.

Fans of crime fiction will delight in this marriage of knowing aestheticism and old-fashioned mayhem. |

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An engaging and suspenseful look at how the patriarchy shaped women’s lives in the 1950s and continues to do so today.

a slightly bored housewife—the cooking, cleaning, and Tupperware parties. Alice even enjoys testing out the cookbook, making vintage recipes like Baked Alaska. But as readers see in chapters from Nellie’s point of view, her life wasn’t just a parade of fancy desserts and dinner parties—she was harshly controlled by her cruel and physically abusive husband. Nellie spent as much time hiding her bruises as she did making a home, being sure to keep the sordid details of her life a secret. Meanwhile, Alice is keeping a few secrets of her own from her husband. He doesn’t know that she was really fired from her last job or that she has no desire to get pregnant with the child he wants to have immediately. But as Nellie gains the courage to take control of her life, so does Alice— even if both of them might have to resort to dramatic measures. Brown (The Life Lucy Knew, 2018, etc.) skillfully alternates between Alice’s modern world and Nellie’s in the 1950s. With plentiful historical details (including recipes and depressingly hilarious marriage advice), the pages devoted to Nellie come to life. As both women both start to feel even more stifled in their marriages, Brown ratchets up the tension and pulls off a surprising—but satisfying—ending.

THE GIRLS WITH NO NAMES

Burdick, Serena Park Row Books (336 pp.) $16.99 paper | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7783-0873-7

In the early 1910s, the House of Mercy, a home for wayward girls, looms over the posh Tildon estate in upper Manhattan. Will the Tildon daughters fall into its clutches?

Born with a heart condition that should have ended her life in infancy, 13-year-old Effie Tildon adores her older sister, Luella. When they discover a band of Roma camping near their home, their curiosity is sparked, and the two sisters begin sneaking out to sing, dance, and have their fortunes told. Even though their parents would be shocked, Effie and Luella know they are simply having some fun, exploring a new world. But discovering that their father, Emory, has a shameful secret drives Luella from home. Convinced that her parents have had Luella incarcerated in the House of Mercy (an American version of the notorious Magdalene laundries that plagued unfortunate Irish girls), Effie contrives to rescue her.

Once inside the House of Mercy, she meets Mable Winter, who has plenty of secrets of her own to hide. Yet Effie has grossly miscalculated, and her rescue mission quickly sets in motion a series of fateful events that imperil her life. The bleak lives of women in early-20th-century New York spring to life through Burdick’s (Girl in the Afternoon, 2016) deft sketching. Whether born to privilege, as the Tildon girls are, or tossed into the tenement slums, as Mable is, each girl must fight bitterly for any kind of freedom. As for the House of Mercy itself, Burdick shrewdly lets it loom in the background for a bit before pulling it to the foreground, like an urban legend suddenly brought to life. Burdick is especially adept at slowly revealing the motivation of the ominous figures around Effie and Mable while ratcheting up both the girls’ vulnerability and courage.

A spellbinding thriller for fans of Gilded Age fiction.

TOM CLANCY CODE OF HONOR

Cameron, Marc Putnam (512 pp.) $29.95 | Nov. 19, 2019 978-0-525-54172-1

Jack Ryan is a hands-on president in Cameron’s latest Tom Clancy technothriller (Oath of Office, 2018, etc.).

Developers have built artificial intelligence into a computer application called 10

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Calliope. Nearly sentient and thought of as female, she’s “no ordinary gaming software” and can take over any connected electronic device and perform any mission asked of her. But don’t call her just a virus. Calliope is a predator, “fairly bursting at the seams as she sought new challenges.” Of course the Chinese military lusts after her like Dr. Strangelove lusted after nukes, so their spies are “all over the damn place.” Meanwhile, Sen. Michelle Chadwick, who harbors a “visceral hatred of all things Jack Ryan,” is shown a video of herself in the sack with a Chinese agent (oops!) and is persuaded to get close to Ryan. That’s a bit awkward, but she agrees to approach the president with an olive branch and then politically destroy him. The Chinese plot spreads a wide net, entrapping Father Pat West, an ex–CIA agent and friend of Ryan’s, who’s thrown in jail in Indonesia. The poor guy is falsely accused of proselytizing Muslims and faces an uncertain future, and Ryan wants to go to Indonesia and personally get him released. First lady and ophthalmologist Dr. Cathy Ryan plays an important role by assisting on a little girl’s eye surgery. And somewhere out in the field Jack Junior does his bit, making this a Ryan family affair. Of course the story is fun, as

the Clancy yarns always are, but some backstories feel like filler necessary to reach 500 pages. Cameron’s writing channels the great man’s style to a T, but one day maybe Calliope will get the mission to take over the series and continue it forever. Imagine three generations—hell, four—of Ryans in the White House.

This one’s as good as all the others and those to come.

Read and enjoy, Clancy fans. ’Til next time.

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BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN

$50,000 to restore a mural painted by one Anna Dale in 1940 in time for a gallery opening on Aug. 5, 2018. If Morgan misses this deadline, not only is her deal off, but Lisa will, due to a puzzling, thinly motivated condition of Jesse’s will, lose her childhood home. In an alternating narrative, Anna, winner of a U.S. Treasury Department competition, has been sent from her native New Jersey to paint a mural for the Edenton post office. Anna has zero familiarity with the South, particularly with Jim Crow.

She recognizes Jesse’s exceptional talent and mentors him, to the ire of Edenton’s white establishment. Martin Drapple, a local portraitist rejected in the competition, is at first a good sport, when he’s sober, until, somewhat too suddenly, he’s neither. Issues of addiction and mental illness are foremost in both past and present. Anna’s late mother had manic episodes. Morgan’s estranged parents are unrepentant boozers. And Anna’s mural of civic pride is decidedly strange. One of the strengths here is the creditable depiction of the painter’s process, in Anna’s case, and the restorer’s art, in Morgan’s. Despite the fraught circumstances challenging all three painters, conflict is lacking. The 1940 racial tensions are unrealistically mild, and

Chamberlain, Diane St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $27.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-250-08733-1

A tale of two artists, living 78 years apart in a small Southern town, and the third artist who links them.

The fates of two white painters in Edenton, North Carolina, intertwine with the legacy of a third, that of Jesse Jameson Williams, a prominent African American artist with Edenton roots. In 2018, the recently deceased Jesse has left a very unusual will. In life, Jesse paid his success forward by helping underdog artists. Morgan Christopher, the last, posthumous recipient of Jesse’s largesse, can’t imagine why he chose her, a complete stranger who is doing time for an alcohol-related crash that left another driver paralyzed. Released on an early parole engineered by Jesse’s daughter, Lisa, Morgan will receive

A thriller

MIKE BROGAN “A frighteningly realistic, entertaining story.

Well-developed characters in a convincing real-world menace!”

– Kirkus Reviews “Compulsive new page-turner from a Writer’s Digest award-winner. Suspense from a master...”

– Midwest Book Review “Tense and engaging journey through corporate espionage and revenge.

A timely mystery thriller.”

– Foreword Reviews “Buckle up for a wild ride!”

– Loren D. Estleman, Four-time Shamus Award Winner

How to order: Ingram, Amazon, mikebroganbooks.com 12

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This terrifying and tender novel is a blunt answer to the question of why immigrants from Latin America cross the U.S. border— and a testimony to the courage it takes to do it. american dirt

Jesse’s testamentary testiness is not mined for its full stakesraising potential.

An engaging, well-researched, and sometimes thoughtprovoking art mystery.

more to it, that her friendship with a courtly older man who has become her favorite customer at the small bookstore she runs is a secret key, and that she and her son are marked for death.

Cummins does a splendid job of capturing Lydia’s and Luca’s numb shock and then panic in the aftermath of the shootings, then their indomitable will to survive and reach el norte— any place they might go in Mexico is cartel territory, and any stranger might be an assassin. She vividly recounts their harrowing travels for more than 1,000 miles by bus, atop a lethally dangerous freight train, and finally on foot across the implacable Sonoran Desert. Peril and brutality follow them, but they also encounter unexpected generosity and heroism. Lydia and Luca are utterly believable characters, and their breathtaking journey moves with the velocity and power of one of those freight trains.

Intensely suspenseful and deeply humane, this novel makes migrants seeking to cross the southern U.S. border indelibly individual.

A BEGINNING AT THE END

Chen, Mike Harlequin MIRA (400 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-7783-0934-5

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A grieving father, a British pop star, and a wedding planner cope with the aftermath of a flu pandemic in this postapocalyptic novel by Chen (Here and Now and Then, 2019).

Six years after a virus wiped out 70% of the U.S. population, Rob Donelly, Krista Deal, and Moira Gorman are still unable to move forward with their lives. Rob, a news censor at San Francisco–based PodStar Technologies, hasn’t told his 7-year-old daughter, Sunny, that her mother died during the pandemic, instead saying she’s in “treatment”; Krista, a financially struggling wedding planner, faked her own death to escape her dysfunctional family. Moira, Rob’s co-worker and Krista’s client, is really Johanna Moira “MoJo” Hatfield, a former teenage pop star who ran away from her controlling father.

Rob, Krista, and Moira uncover one another’s secrets as they struggle with the consequences of their past decisions. A lot of backstory and confusing subplot told in document fragments detract from an imaginative premise, likable characters, and an uplifting ending.

A refreshingly nondystopian end-of-the-world story that falls short of Chen’s smart debut.

AMERICAN DIRT

Cummins, Jeanine Flatiron Books (400 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-250-20976-4 This terrifying and tender novel is a blunt answer to the question of why immigrants from Latin America cross the U.S. border—and a testimony to the courage it takes to do it.

Cummins (The Crooked Branch, 2013, etc.) opens this propulsive novel with a massacre. In a pleasant Acapulco neighborhood, gunmen slaughter 16 people at a family barbecue, from a grandmother to the girl whose quinceañera they are celebrating. The only survivors are Lydia, a young mother, and her 8-year-old son, Luca. She knows they must escape, fast and far. Lydia’s husband, Sebastián, is among the dead; he was a fearless journalist whose coverage of the local cartel, Los Jardineros, is the reason los sicarios were sent, as the sign fastened to his dead chest makes clear. Lydia knows there is |

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ON THE COVER

Erin Morgenstern FANS OF THE NIGHT CIRCUS HAVE WAITED EIGHT YEARS FOR THE AUTHOR’S NEXT NOVEL. IT’S FINALLY HERE

By Connie Ogle Erin Morgenstern

ness of this tour, so I needed to chill and thought: ‘I’ll play for an hour.’ I played for six hours!...It’s fascinating to me on a narrative level. You make choices that affect where the stories go. It reminds me of fairy-tale retelling, all those old myths that have different versions.”

This appetite for stories in every possible form fuels The Starless Sea (Doubleday, Nov. 5), a sprawling, absorbing, fantastical novel that imagines a vast underground library that’s more than a library. Think of it as “a labyrinthine collection of tunnels and rooms filled with stories,” Morgenstern writes. “Stories written in books and sealed in jars and painted on walls. Odes inscribed onto skin and pressed into rose petals. Tales laid in tiles upon the floors, bits of plot worn away by passing feet. Legends carved in crystal and hung from chandeliers. Stories catalogued and cared for and revered. Old stories preserved while new stories spring up around them.”

At the center of the novel is Zachary Ezra Rawlins, the son of a fortuneteller. Zachary is a gamer, a reader, and a graduate student in Emerging Media Studies working on his thesis. Zachary stumbles upon a peculiar book with no title on its cover in the college library.

He takes it back to his dorm—and finds a story about himself in its pages.

The discovery leads him on a quest that begins at a lavish masked ball in Manhattan and leads to astonishing subterranean adventures involving life and death, fierce protectors and threatening enemies, disdainful cats and helpful bees, dripping candle wax and the sweet, sticky scent of honey.

The Starless Sea is one of the most anticipated books of the fall thanks to the popularity of Morgenstern’s beloved first novel, The Night Circus. The devotion of her fans is a blessing, she realizes, but it also exerts a certain amount of pressure.

Erin Morgenstern knows good stories can be found anywhere. In books, of course, but also in video games and on television. Just ask her how she relaxes before a book tour or how obsessed she was with Game of Thrones (she’s still miffed about the ending: “I was angry about how we got there. It was too much too fast”). The story, not the medium, is what draws her.

This open-mindedness explains the admission you’ll find in the acknowledgements of her new book: She’s madly in love with the role-playing video game “Dragon Age: Inquisition.”

“You can get so absorbed,” explains Morgenstern, who grew up playing “Super Mario” and “Duck Hunt” and rediscovered the joys of gaming in her 30s. “The other day I was stressed about all the upcoming mad14

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“I know so many people were waiting for this,” she says of the new book. “The Night Circus was more positively received than I ever imagined it would be. I thought it was something only weird people would like.

There are way more weird people than I imagined.”

The Night Circus was published in 2011, so it’s no surprise readers are eager for its follow-up. But they might be surprised to learn that the image of the underground library in The Starless Sea has floated around in Morgenstern’s head for at least 20 years, “right down to the tiles and the lighting,” she says.

“Everything I start, I start with the space,” she says.

“I don’t start with plot. I have to pull plot out like pulling teeth….In On Writing, Stephen King says writing is telepathy. He’s taking a picture and has to choose the right words to put a not exact but comparable picture in your head. That’s how it is for me.”

Referring to other writers’ works comes naturally to Morgenstern. The narrative twists and turns in The Star­ less Sea, but her characters still find time to read, which gives the author a chance to sneak in references to some of her favorite titles: Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger, Raymond Chandler’s Playback.

But then, the fact that the author of The Starless Sea loves stories and those who tell them isn’t surprising.

The novel rewards patient readings and rereadings by design. Morgenstern has great faith in her readers and doesn’t worry that the book’s literary complexities require close attention.

“I never wanted it to be easy,” Morgenstern admits.

“I didn’t want a nice fluffy read. You have to assume the right reader is going to trust you to tell the story.”

THE CAPTAIN AND THE GLORY

Eggers, Dave Knopf (128 pp.) $15.95 | Nov. 20, 2019 978-0-525-65908-2

Connie Ogle is a writer in Florida. The Starless Sea received a starred review in the Aug. 15, 2019, issue.

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A boorish ignoramus takes command of a noble vessel and heads full speed ahead into chaos. Yes, it’s an allegory.

Eggers has developed an affinity for fablelike tales that sound alarms about global economics (A Hologram for the King, 2012), technology (The Circle, 2013), and authoritarianism (The Parade, 2019). This shallow, needless Trump parable is the worst of them. That’s mainly because the metaphorical veneer is so thin it all but renders the book unnecessary. When the commander of the ship Glory retires, a corrupt (not to mention “large and lumpy”) kitsch merchant nominates himself for the job, enchanting some and horrifying others. (Among his cronies are “a patsy named Michael the Cohen” and a daughter he lusts after.) Once the “known moron” takes over the Glory, he delivers crazed messages to passengers on a whiteboard (“People who ‘run’ engines are your Enemies”), flings the ship’s manual overboard, and then begins to do the same to anybody who crosses him. Immigrants who could assist are denied permission to board; minorities are cast out to cheers of “Drown the Brown.” A Robert Mueller–esque “Sheriff of the Seas” proves an ineffectual counterweight; in time, the shallow, gullible captain falls under the sway of a Putin-ish “Pale One.” (The captain “liked particularly the way he murdered his enemies, or ordered the murder of his enemies.”) Soon, the Glory is pillaged for all it’s worth. Anybody who needs the Trump administration explained to them in lightly fictionalized, fifth grade–primer prose is probably beyond Eggers’ help. But there’s little to appeal to anybody else: The deliberately simple, would-be comic style softens the dangers Eggers means to call out, and his concluding messages about how to right the ship are cloying. (“First, dignity.”)

An ill-advised take on “The Emperor’s New Clothes” that’s limp when it isn’t condescending.

HOUSE ON ENDLESS WATERS

Elon, Emuna Trans. by Berris, Anthony & Yechiel, Linda Atria (336 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-9821-3022-0 A celebrated Israeli novelist’s visit to Amsterdam, the city where he was born, triggers the search for his origins that— unknowingly—he has been waiting to

make his entire life.

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writer Elon (If You Awaken Love, 2007, etc.) has composed a story of love, loss, and yearning, expressed through the creation of a novel within a novel. Her central character, writer Yoel Blum, was instructed by his mother never to visit the city from which she, Yoel, and his sister fled, but after her death he makes the trip and accidentally sees a clip of prewar film that opens up questions of identity he feels compelled to explore. So Yoel settles in Amsterdam, in a tacky hotel right near the hospital where he was born, and begins to accumulate notes for a novel through which he will try to make sense of the past. This second story features Sonia, a mother, and her two children, Nettie and Leo, characters who both animate Yoel’s knowledge of the past and accompany him into the present as he wanders the streets, accumulating information, acquaintances, and atmosphere, while slowly coming to terms with the truth. Heavily shadowed with the creeping horrors of the Holocaust—in particular the heartwrenching choice to hide children and the consequences of that choice—the novel is given weight by its focus on Yoel’s psychology and the mood of a beautiful capital flowing with symbolic dark water. Lyrically phrased and often powerfully visual, the novel has a slow pace, unlike other, perhaps more conventional war stories. However, this deeply felt tale offers a rewarding meditation on survival and on digesting the emotional burdens freely or unknowingly carried.

Blurring the edges between history and fiction, this achingly mournful work impresses with its grave empathy.

when Esther attempts to draw the killer out, it puts her firmly in the crosshairs. Engberg’s background as a former dancer and choreographer gives a boost to her considerable flair for the dramatic (keep an eye out for a theatrically staged murder at the Royal Danish Theater) and highlights a strong focus on Copenhagen’s creative community; even Jeppe wanted to be a musician before he became a cop. His fairly recent divorce almost ruined him, and Anette’s upbeat and pragmatic style is no small annoyance to her moody partner, which is played for light comic effect (as is Jeppe’s reawakening libido), leavening the heavier subject matter. Overly familiar plot elements keep this from being a standout, and some twists require a significant suspension of disbelief, but Engberg’s fast-paced narrative is bolstered by an interesting and quirky cast as well as an intriguing setting.

A bit over-the-top but still a lot of fun.

HOW QUICKLY SHE DISAPPEARS

Fleischmann, Raymond Berkley (320 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-984-80517-1

An Alaska woman is drawn into the web of a murderer when he promises to explain her twin sister’s disappearance in Fleischmann’s debut novel.

It’s 1941. Elisabeth Pfautz has moved from Lititz, Pennsylvania, the small German immigrant community of her childhood, to Alaska, where her husband, John, has accepted a job teaching children of the Athabaskan tribe. At first Elisabeth, John, and their precocious 11-year-old daughter, Margaret, adjust well to life in the village of Tanacross. But when Alfred, a substitute mail pilot, flies in, Elisabeth can’t quite identify the root of his strangeness. It’s not just that he once flew missions for the kaiser, claims to have seen spaceships, and picks a very bad time to extol their common German heritage.

In periodic dreams, Elisabeth relives the year 1921, when she and her twin sister, Jacqueline, were 11. Jacqueline was obsessed with a man named Jacob, another German Great War veteran, who wrote her letters and gave her an ornate dagger. Then one day, Jacqueline disappeared, and so did Jacob. Now Alfred, the mail pilot, tells Elisbaeth that he holds the key to her sister’s disappearance and will disclose her whereabouts—for a price.

Alfred murders an Athabaskan man, apparently in cold blood, and is sent to prison in Fairbanks. Through letters and prison visits that arouse John’s ire, Elisabeth is given tasks by Alfred that are increasingly intrusive and risky. Soon she is forced into a stark choice between protecting her current family and reclaiming her past. This is a page-turner, keeping us glued to Elisabeth’s struggles as she tries to turn the manipulations of a psychopath to her own ends. But if it weren’t for technological advances that might have obviated its premise, this book could have been set in the present. The World War II milieu is glancingly and unconvincingly evoked. The language, particularly the

THE TENANT

Engberg, Katrine Scout Press/Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-982127-57-2 A vicious killer follows a writer’s murderous manuscript to the letter in Danish author Engberg’s U.S. debut.

It’s only been about a year since University of Copenhagen professor Esther de Laurenti retired, and she’s been writing a novel, something she’s always dreamed of. When Esther’s tenant, 21-year-old Julie Stender, is murdered, Esther is shocked. Heading up the investigation is Copenhagen detectives Jeppe Kørner and his partner of eight years, Anette Werner, and it’s proving to be a doozy. The murder was particularly heinous: The killer stabbed Julie and carved strange designs into her face and, frustratingly, seems to have been very careful not to leave any physical evidence at the scene. Of course, as investigators start digging into Julie’s life, they discover some suitably shady secrets in her past, and it’s suggested that one of her boyfriends might have felt scorned enough to resort to murder. Perhaps it was her new boyfriend, who is supposedly a much older, sophisticated man. Too bad nobody knows who he is. When Esther reveals that the details of the murder closely mirror her work in progress, it opens a whole new avenue of investigation, and 16

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THE BLACK CATHEDRAL

dialogue, does not even attempt the parlance of the day; instead, it is replete with anachronisms like “You’re venting,” “Give me the bottom line,” and “I am here for you,” to cite only a few.

However, the Alaskan setting is vividly detailed.

A historical thriller minus the history.

Gala, Marcial Trans. by Kushner, Anna Farrar, Straus and Giroux (224 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-374-11801-3

THIS IS PLEASURE

Award-winning Cuban writer and architect Gala links the fate of a community with the doomed construction of a cathedral in this dark, violent, often comic novel, his first to be translated

Gaitskill, Mary Pantheon (96 pp.) $18.00 | Nov. 5, 2019 978-1-524-74913-2

into English.

The Stuart family’s arrival in a rough part of Cienfuegos, Cuba, sparks the neighbors’ interest: “If you’re born black, you’re already screwed; imagine if, in addition, you have to live in the squalid rooming houses of a neighborhood like this.”

Graffiti here in Punta Gotica reads “NO ONE GETS OUT OF THIS NEIGHBORHOOD ALIVE.” The two Stuart sons are smart but odd, the beautiful daughter artistic. Their father, a religious zealot, is obsessed with building a cathedral. The architect hired to design it dreams of the city of the future, viewed from the back of an angel: “I saw the Cienfuegos of the future, a beautiful city, full of elegant buildings...the celestial Jerusalem.”

Events don’t unfold that way, to say the least. Later the architect comes to believe “that it was called the Black Cathedral for those with darkness in their hearts.” Told by a shifting, overlapping multitude of voices, the novel explores the interconnected lives of the local characters: kids, petty criminals, politicians, artists and writers, ghosts of people murdered by a serial killer, and the killer as well, speaking from death row. Though some move abroad, all find themselves affected by the violence and desperation of Punta Gotica and by its strange, unfinished building. As Arturo Stuart labors over “the first cathedral that is truly for and by the meek,” one of his sons is initiated into the Cuban religion Palo, and the other finds work at a Russian mobster’s brothel. The two sons eventually commit a terrible crime together (though worse crimes have already been done by an African Cuban character nicknamed Gringo). A retired principal of the Cienfuegos school laments of his former pupils, “They practically all turned out bad. Even the good ones aren’t like we expected. I would call them the Black Cathedral genera­ tion.” Trying to make sense of the Stuart boys’ crime, one character says, “They were children, wicked children like all of us, children without a childhood.”

A raucous, anguished, fast-paced story, tautly written and deeply rooted.

This insightful fictional take on a #MeToo scandal offers fresh perspectives and avoids easy answers.

The #MeToo movement is arguably not known for nuance; common narratives often portray victims, villains, and little in between. In her novels, essays, and short stories, however, Gaitskill (Somebody With a Little Hammer, 2017, etc.) frequently explores the shaded contours and subtle seesaws of sexual power dynamics and conjures complex characters that resist our urge to fit them into delineated categories of morality and culpability. In this novella, originally published on the New Yorker’s website, Gaitskill introduces two characters swept up—one directly and one indirectly—in a couldhave-been-ripped-from-the-headlines #MeToo moment and, in brief, alternating chapters, allows them to tell their own stories. Quin is an elegant, eccentric, well-connected New York book editor who, although married to a beautiful fashionista and the father of a precocious daughter, enjoys engaging with women he meets, at work and elsewhere, intimately and sexually—toying with them, his friend Margot suggests, in a “vaguely sadistic” yet ultimately harmless way. But is it harmless? Are the women emphatically victims and Quin the culprit? And if so, is the punishment Quin is facing—losing his career and social standing—commensurate with his crime?

Margot, who rebuffed Quin’s sexual advance early in their long friendship, before she acquired her own publishing-world power, believes the young women who have accused Quin of wrongdoing were, at least in some cases, willing participants in and beneficiaries of Quin’s sexual game-playing and that he does not deserve to be punished so harshly. Is Margot correct, or is her judgment clouded by friendship? Does she herself deserve disdain as an enabler? Gaitskill provides room for readers to disagree, ultimately raising more questions than answers. “The best story is one that reveals a truth,” Quin asserts, “like something you see and understand in a dream but forget as soon as you wake up.” The indefinite article is everything there. In this novella, Gaitskill reveals two truths— Quin’s and Margot’s—and reminds us that the truth can be painfully elusive.

Gaitskill’s willingness to ignore common wisdom and consider controversial and complex questions from different viewpoints is a true literary pleasure.

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In the murder of a teenage beauty queen, many suspects vie for the crown. the prized girl

THE PRIZED GIRL

from school. Jenny’s guidance counselor, Hunter Willoughby, ignored the warning signs. So did her father, who keeps a separate residence in New York. Her mother coped with the news by drinking herself into a stupor. At school, Jenny faced backlash from Christine Castleton and Mallory Murphy, the popular girls she rejected. And Benjy, of course, was heartbroken when she quit. But Virginia has a secret too. When she was in high school, she had an affair with a teacher, Mark Renkin, and has never recovered. Every week, she drinks until she blacks out, making her wonder where she was and what she was doing on the night Jenny was murdered.

This disturbing tour behind the scenes of a stolen childhood exposes cringe-inducing truths—and leads to a shocking conclusion.

Green, Amy K. Dutton (384 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-5247-4510-3

In the murder of a teenage beauty queen, many suspects vie for the crown.

Who would want to kill a 13-year-old girl like Jenny Kennedy? The most likely suspect is Benjy Lincoln, a developmentally disabled man who had an inappropriate crush on Jenny and followed her from pageant to pageant.

But Jenny’s half sister, Virginia, doesn’t believe he’s guilty. So she teams up with Detective Brandon Colsen to interview Benjy and other people Jenny knew. As Virginia digs up her sister’s sordid history, the last days of Jenny’s life unfold in alternating chapters. It’s unclear who’s guilty, but no one in town is innocent. By the time Jenny was found dead, she had already quit her beauty pageants and was planning to run away with JP, a boy

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FANDANGO & OTHER STORIES

resolves in uncertainty: The narrator will not kill anyone that day, but what he’ll do the next is an open question. Other stories are specimens from what Soviet critics called “Grinlandia,” an exotic South Seas–like location where people call guests “Señor”—and some of those inhabitants are in fact exiled convicts, such as the founder of the titular “Lanphier Colony,” who “issued phrase after phrase, [which], correctly divided by invisible punctuation marks, evaporated into the air, like clouds of smoke released methodically by an inveterate smoker.” Some of Grin’s fantasies must have seemed unbearable to contemporary readers, like his imagining of a vast banquet, discovered by the protagonist of the story “The Rat-Catcher,” consisting of cheeses, cakes, eggs, and “hams, sausages, cured tongues, and minced turkey,” all from a story written in 1924, a time of deprivation after civil war. Other of the stories are surpassingly strange, then and now, set in imaginary places “well clear of any shipping lanes,” that are redolent of Poe and Verne and whose happenings sometimes reach into the distant future, as in the title story: “I saw those same magic-eyed travelers, the kind this very city will see in the year 2021, when our progeny…will alight the cabin of his electric automobile onto the surface of an aluminum aerial causeway.”

Strange and memorable. Students of modern literature should greet this as if discovering hidden treasure.

Grin, Alexander Trans. by Karetnyk, Bryan Columbia University Press (312 pp.) $16.95 paper | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-231-18977-4 A trove of centrifugal stories by longforgotten Soviet writer Grin.

Grin, ne Grinevsky, was born in a town in north-central Russia where exiles were dispatched in the czarist era; his father was a Polishborn detainee. As soon as he could, he made for Odessa, worked in the port and at sea, and joined the Social Revolutionary Party. Sent out on a mission of assassination, Grin had second thoughts, a matter at the heart of the first story here, “Quarantine,” written in 1907. Claustrophobic and full of the anxiety that “was like someone else’s bothersome cargo, which could not be unloaded until it had been dragged to a certain point,” it

PURGATORY BAY

Gruley, Bryan Thomas & Mercer (332 pp.) $15.95 paper | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-5420-9288-3 Twelve years after a young woman’s family is killed by the mob, she orchestrates an ambitious revenge plot in Gruley’s (Bleak Harbor, 2018, etc.) actionpacked novel.

Jubilee Rathman was just 17 when her parents and sister were murdered days after the Detroit Times ran a story implying that her father was a money launderer for the local mob. Former reporter Michaela “Mikey” Deming has carried the guilt for what happened to the Rathmans ever since.

Twelve years after the hit, Jubilee lives behind protective walls on a private island in Purgatory Bay near Bleak Harbor, Michigan, where she has been remorselessly planning a complicated revenge scheme to punish all those she believes were involved in her family’s deaths. Her mysterious partner, Caleb, has been trained to use a fleet of weaponized drones, and she’s found a way to lure some of her targets to Bleak Harbor; Mikey and her family are coming to town for a hockey tournament. The night they arrive, Mikey’s sister goes missing, and then someone kidnaps her daughter from the rink. The local police chief, Katya Malone, and investigator Gary Langreth must fight against the clock to save the Deming family—as well as the rest of the town—from Jubilee’s wrath and to discover who was really responsible for the original tragedy. There’s so much happening in this novel—every chapter situates us in a specific time, such 20

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Harris proves she still has the magic touch. a longer fall

DEEP STATE

as “Friday, 3:12 a.m.,” and then there are flashbacks to explain the past as well—that it’s easy to lose track of a few more resonant themes. Mikey’s decision to take responsibility for her actions and stop being afraid is one of these, as is the power of compassion to combat violence. It takes a long time, though, for any of the characters to earn our sympathy because of all the driving action, so for most of the novel, there is little human depth or connection.

Give up all suspension of disbelief; this is one crazy ride.

Hauty, Chris Emily Bestler/Atria (288 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-9821-2658-2 A White House intern saves the republic.

Hayley Chill is no ordinary intern: She comes to the job from the military, after life experiences more varied than her companion interns, and is more self-possessed and focused than they are. In fact, she is more self-possessed and focused than almost anyone. She’s assigned to the chief of staff ’s office, and when, in the course of flirting with hunky Secret Service Agent Scott Billings, she assists in the apprehension of a White House intruder, she becomes a minor celebrity. But then the chief of staff, Peter Hall, dies of an apparent heart attack, and only Hayley has evidence his death may not be a natural event. As she tries to investigate this,

A LONGER FALL

Harris, Charlaine Saga/Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-4814-9495-3

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In the second installment of Harris’ weird Western series set in an alternate former United States (after An Easy Death, 2018), gunslinger/bodyguard for hire Lizbeth “Gunnie” Rose must accompany a mysterious crate to its destination, but things go terribly wrong.

A long train ride east to the country of Dixie isn’t 19-yearold Lizbeth’s idea of a good time, but it is a job, and she needs it, especially since her last job left her with a long recovery and no crew. Her new troupe, the Lucky Crew, seems competent enough, and when Lizbeth spots some suspicious folks on the train, she’s pretty sure they’re about to be tested. A shootout precedes an explosion that engulfs the train. Someone must really want the Lucky Crew’s cargo. Lizbeth has been shot, her crew has been decimated, and the contents of the crate are gone, but she’s still got a job to do. When a blast from Lizbeth’s past— Eli Savarov, a grigori, or Russian wizard—shows up, Lizbeth discovers that he’s in search of whomever hired the Lucky Crew to deliver the crate. Lizbeth agrees to take a job as his bodyguard, and the two, posing as a married couple (it’s only proper) poke around the Louisiana town of Sally for clues that will lead them to the chest. They quickly realize the town is in racial turmoil: Slavery doesn’t technically exist, but it might as well considering the backward attitudes of the townsfolk and their shabby treatment of Sally’s black citizens. It all seems to lead to a powerful family that holds the town in its thrall, and, of course, the explosive contents of that troublesome crate. Lizbeth and Eli spend quite a bit of time on old-fashioned sleuthing (and, delightfully, between the sheets), but the action ratchets up exponentially in the surprising last half. Lizbeth is a no-nonsense, dryly funny narrator, and while this installment lacks a bit of the spark of the first book, it’s still a shoot’em-up, rollicking ride.

The indomitable, quick-on-the-draw Lizbeth remains an irresistible heroine, and Harris proves she still has the magic touch.

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REGRETTING YOU

she begins to uncover a vast conspiracy—the deep state is not happy with her boss, the president—and just as she recognizes this, she also realizes that Scott Billings is involved. She escapes from his murderous attention and then manages to elude or otherwise neutralize the deep state’s agents until she has the opportunity to warn the president. These superhuman feats are told in slightly clunky prose, but the novel’s biggest weakness is its reliance on Hayley Chill and her somewhat implausible array of talents, strength, training, intelligence, and grit. Cute and savvy as a Swiss Army knife, there’s nothing she cannot accomplish, except being believable.

A workmanlike plot, but the main character lacks human depth.

Hoover, Colleen Montlake Romance (400 pp.) $14.95 paper | Dec. 10, 2019 978-1-5420-1642-1 When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life.

Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara.

But she secretly got along much better with Chris’ thoughtful best friend, Jonah, who was dating her sister, Jenny. Now her life as a stay-at-home parent has left her feeling empty but not ungrateful for what she has. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. Now Jonah is back in town, engaged to Jenny, and working at the local high school as Clara’s teacher. Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn’t approve. It doesn’t help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. But Clara and Morgan’s home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan’s relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide what’s next.

The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace.

THE CONVERT

Hertmans, Stefan Trans. by McKay, David Pantheon (304 pp.) $26.95 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-5247-4708-4 A Christian woman and a Jewish man fall in love in medieval France.

In 1088, a Christian girl of Norman descent falls in love with the son of a rabbi. They run away together, to disastrous effect: Her father sends knights after them, and though they flee to a small southern village where they spend a few happy years, their budding family is soon decimated by a violent wave of First Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem.

The girl, whose name becomes Hamoutal when she converts to Judaism, winds up roaming the world. Hertmans’ (War and Turpentine, 2016, etc.) latest novel is based on a true story: The Cairo Genizah, a trove of medieval manuscripts preserved in an Egyptian synagogue, contained an account of Hamoutal’s plight.

Hamoutal makes up about half of Hertmans’ novel; the other half is consumed by Hertmans’ own interest in her story. Whenever he can, he follows her journey: from Rouen, where she grew up, to Monieux, where she and David Todros—her Jewish husband—made a brief life for themselves, and all the way to Cairo, and back. “Knowing her life story and its tragic end,” Hertmans writes, “I wish I could warn her of what lies ahead.” The book has a quiet intimacy to it, and in his descriptions of landscape and travel, Hertmans’ prose is frequently lovely. In Narbonne, where David’s family lived, Hertmans describes “the cool of the paving stones in the late morning, the sound of doves’ wings flapping in the immaculate air.” But despite the drama of Hamoutal’s story, there is a static quality to the book, particularly in the sections where Hertmans describes his own travels. It’s an odd contradiction: Hertmans himself moves quickly through the world, but his book doesn’t quite move quickly enough.

Constructed with delicacy, lyricism, and care, Hertmans’ novel still feels occasionally static.

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BURN THE DARK

Hunt, S. A. Tor (384 pp.) $17.99 paper | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-250-30643-2 A punk YouTuber takes down witches in the first volume of a new horror/thriller series.

Robin Martine, better known as Malus, spends her life hunting down witches and documenting it on her YouTube channel, Malus Domestica. Everyone watching on the internet thinks they’re seeing a clever amateur drama, and Robin is happy to play into that for the revenue, but witches are painfully real, and all her fights are, too. When she heads back to her hometown of Blackfield, Georgia, to track down the witches that killed her mother, she finds that things have been happening while she’s been away. A new family has moved into her old house and is dealing with some demons that are not quite gone, and friends old and new have need of her help. With |

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

André Aciman

THE AUTHOR OF CALL ME BY YOUR NAME REVISITS ITS CENTRAL CHARACTERS 20 YEARS LATER IN A ROMANTIC SEQUEL

By Mark Athitakis Chris Ferguson

[Writing a sequel] was with me forever, except that suddenly it became sort of necessary to do it, and it was the right moment.”

Find Me catches up with Elio and Oliver 20 years after the events of Call Me—Elio has become a concert pianist in France, Oliver an academic in New York. But the first half of the novel is focused on Sami, who falls fast for a woman he meets on a train.

Deepening Sami’s story, Aciman says, allowed him to further explore the father-son relationship that was key to the first book.

“I think this is what happens between every father and every son: At some point it’s the son that begins to give advice and from the son that the father learn[s] some of the things that normally your father should know already,” he says. “Whatever the father said in the first volume now takes on a different inflection, and it’s the son who has to teach the father certain things about life and love.”

Aciman says the film version of Call Me had no real influence on the sequel, partly because novels operate in a different sensory register: “Sometimes it’s the sense of smell that’s more powerful than the visual,” he says. But the movie made one thing easier: “It erased from my visual field what you might call the face of Elio as I had imagined him and of Oliver, because suddenly I could see an older Elio in the faces of Timothée [Chalamet] and of Oliver in Armie Hammer,” he says. “They have overwritten the faces that I had originally had in my head, but then the faces that I had in my head changed all the time.”

André Aciman’s exquisite 2007 novel, Call Me by Your Name, turned on a summerlong romance between Oliver, a handsome American graduate student, and Elio, a precocious Italian teenager whose family invites Oliver to stay at their villa. Aciman’s sensitivity to young love, a charmingly rendered Italian setting, and insight into lust and heartache made the novel a sleeper success; the 2017 film adaptation, peach and all, turned it into an even bigger phenomenon. So when Aciman announced on Twitter last December that he was writing a sequel, tens of thousands swooned.

Aciman says the new sequel, Find Me (FSG, Oct. 29), came about by accident. In 2016 he was on a train headed to Rome, working on a story about his father, when he experienced what would inspire the new novel’s opening scene. “I sat next to this woman who was with a dog, and I suddenly said, there it is….

I’m not writing about my father, I’m going to write about Sami [Elio’s father]. That’s where it took off.

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While Find Me updates Elio and Oliver’s story, it also maintains Aciman’s gentle, aphoristic descriptions. The novel plays with notions of time, missed opportunities, faith lost and regained, but it consistently returns to its central characters’ cravings for intimacy. “If I could open your body and slip into it and sew you back from the inside, I would do it, so I could cradle your quiet dreams and let you dream mine,” Sami tells his new infatuation at one moment.

Lines like that are one reason why Aciman gets so much correspondence from readers asking for relationship advice—even if he says he’s ill-equipped to give it.

“There are kids who write to me, adolescents, people who are in college and are confronting their sexuality, maybe for the first time, and don’t know what to do, so they write to me,” he says. “I never give advice because I am not the kind of person who knows enough….I can only be generic because, first of all, I don’t like to speak about my own personal history— that sort of remains taboo. But second of all, I don’t know anything. There are people who are in college who know far, far more about sex than I ever will.”

a terrifying vision of a spirit called the Red Lord haunting her movements, Robin has to figure out what’s going on so she can move forward. The first in a new series from Hunt (Ten Thou­ sand Devils, 2014, etc.), this novel spends a lot of time setting up action to come. While there are a few action sequences, most of the novel is devoted to exploring Robin’s background through flashbacks, introducing new characters for her to interact with, and inserting suggestions of menace without actual exploits.

The witches Hunt sets up are new and interesting but need to be further explored. The father and son occupants of Robin’s childhood home are interesting characters to be expanded on, and her childhood friend and new crush are fun additions to the solo adventurer’s crew. Future books will undoubtedly further the ideas presented in this novel, but ultimately, there is a lot of setup with no payoff.

A good foundation for a series but ultimately unfulfilling on its own.

STAY

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Hyde, Catherine Ryan Lake Union Publishing (298 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | Dec. 3, 2019 978-1-5420-4240-6 978-1-5420-4238-3 paper In the summer of 1969, 14-year-old Lucas Painter takes up running in the woods behind his house and ends up saving three lives, one of them his own.

It all begins when two enormous dogs start chasing him one afternoon, and Lucas is delighted to discover that Rembrandt and Vermeer, two Weimaraner– Great Dane mixes, are out to play rather than attack. Running with them is a great way to escape the tension in his own home, where his parents do nothing but argue while his big brother, Roy, has been drafted to fight in Vietnam. But one morning the dogs won’t budge from the porch, and Lucas discovers that their owner, the mysterious Zoe Dinsmore, has tried to take her own life. By fetching help, Lucas saves Zoe’s life, and in the months that follow, Zoe saves Lucas’ life, too. Ostracized by the town for an accident years earlier, Zoe keeps to herself. But as Lucas shows up every day, the two slowly forge a profound friendship.

Meanwhile, Lucas’ best friend, Connor, is struggling with his own demons. Rather than helplessly watch Connor slip deeper into depression, Lucas introduces him to Zoe, whose ability to listen without judgment becomes a lifeline. So when Roy returns, wounded and troubled, it’s only natural that Lucas and Zoe find a way to help him, too. A master of tales shaped for the human heart, Hyde (Have You Seen Luis Velez?, 2019, etc.) deftly balances tears against courage, avoiding trite sentimentality.

Lucas and Connor both come from troubled homes, but the troubles ring true, never gratuitously abusive; and Hyde never plays Zoe’s and Roy’s tribulations for melodramatic effect.

A compelling tale of damage and the healing powers of acceptance.

Mark Athitakis is a regular contributor to Kirkus Reviews and author of The New Midwest. Find Me was reviewed in the Aug. 15, 2019, issue.

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THE BETTER LIAR

get it at any cost, and she manages to track Robin down. Her plan to bring her sister home hits a snag, though, when she finds Robin’s body in her squalid rented room in Las Vegas. Instead of calling the authorities, Leslie leaves the scene. A possible solution to Leslie’s new problem arrives in the form of waitress/ aspiring actress Mary, whom Leslie meets outside a Vegas restaurant. They strike up a conversation, which eventually leads to a proposition. Mary looks a bit like Robin, so Leslie asks her to put her acting skills to good use and pose as Robin to help her collect the inheritance, offering Mary half the money for her trouble. One dye job later and Mary, posing as Robin, accompanies Leslie to Albuquerque to meet her husband, Dave, and their little boy, Eli. Leslie’s scheme should go off without a hitch, but she didn’t count on the dangerously magnetic and quietly cunning Mary using her new persona to dig into Robin’s life (and then some), Leslie’s marriage…and her secrets. Readers also get a disturbing look at the sisters’ strange bond and the circumstances surrounding their mother’s death. Of particular note is Jones’ depiction of how Leslie’s relationship with her troubled mother indelibly influenced how she relates to Eli. A nicely noir, if not completely surprising, couple of twists round out this feverish thriller.

A blistering debut from a promising new talent.

Jones, Tanen Ballantine (320 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-984821-22-5

A darkly complex relationship between two sisters lies at the heart of Jones’ debut psychological thriller.

Leslie Flores has a problem. For the past seven years, she’s taken care of her father as he wasted away from thyroid cancer in New Mexico. Now that he’s died, Leslie must sort out his estate by herself since her younger sister, Robin, fled the family home a decade ago, when she was 16, checking in only when she needed money—which her father, to Leslie’s frustration, would send her. But it turns out that their father split the $100,000 he left behind between Leslie and Robin, saying they would have to appear together at his lawyer’s office in Albuquerque to collect it. Leslie needs that money and is determined to

THE WHISPERS OF WAR

Kelly, Julia Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-9821-0779-6 When Samantha’s beloved grandmother Marie passes away, her will sends Samantha from her home in Chicago to London, where she learns of Marie’s vivid life during World War II. Born in Munich, Marie met her two best friends, Nora and Hazel, at a British boarding school. Inseparable, the three women stay together long after graduation. As the secretary to the German Department at Royal Imperial University in London, Marie finds herself drawn to Neil Havitt, an ambitious graduate student eager to make his mark in politics via the Communist Party of Great Britain. Married but distraught over multiple miscarriages, Hazel has found meaningful work as a matchmaker. Nora works in the Air Raid Precautions Department of the Home Office , where she is privy to national secrets. And once Hitler invades Poland, those secrets include plans to intern German nationals. As events in Europe escalate, Kelly (The Light Over London, 2019) deftly threads harbingers of domestic danger into the friends’ lives, first via radio and newspaper, then through suspicions of their associates, and finally converging on Marie. Hazel and Nora risk everything to keep Marie out of the internment camps, but Kelly has strewn villains in every corner: Once Neil drops Marie—how can he have a German girlfriend in this time of war?—can she trust that her visits to Communist Party meetings will remain secret? What 26

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Two stories on the impact of climate change intersect in this thoughtful and suspenseful novel. the end of the ocean

QUALITYLAND

of her dissolute cousin Henrik, who is eager to throw Marie out of the house? Will he turn her in to the authorities out of sheer spite? Nora and Hazel are not entirely safe either, especially when it turns out that Hazel set up a wealthy British widow with a German professor—a German professor who is now missing and presumed a Nazi sympathizer. Throughout, Kelly skillfully balances narratives from all three friends’ perspectives, building parallels to Samantha’s own budding romance with Nora’s grandson.

Women’s friendship overcomes the villainy of war in this engaging historical fiction.

Kling, Marc-Uwe Trans. by Romanelli, Jamie Searle Grand Central Publishing (320 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-5387-3296-0

THE RABBIT HUNTER

Kepler, Lars Trans. by Smith, Neil Knopf (528 pp.) $27.95 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-5247-3228-8

More Scandinavian psychopathy from the pseudonymous husband-wife team.

Sometimes a boy needs his dad. It being a Shakespearean world, sometimes a boy just needs to kill his dad, even if the paternity is not firmly established—in which instance you can bet on plenty of collateral damage. In Kepler’s newest, the bodies stack up quickly. The first to fall is Sweden’s foreign minister, who is decidedly not a nice guy and has his eyes shot out for his transgressions. That’s not the least icky of the ugly fates visited on the so-called Rabbit Hunter’s victims, as when the killer gazes meaningfully at one of them and “decides that he’s going to cut his legs off and watch him crawl like a snail through his own blood.” Against this gruesome backdrop, only Joona Linna, the ethnically Finnish Swedish supercop, stands a chance of sussing out what’s going on. Trouble is, he’s in the slammer, having been locked away in a maximum security prison for the last two years for his part in events that unfolded in Stalker (2019).

It’s only when the prime minister, suspecting that his foreign minister’s death has come at the hands of terrorists, intercedes to make Joona “a highly unorthodox offer” that he can swing back into action with Stockholm cop Saga Bauer and figure out why it is that the trail of blood leads to a TV studio by way of a Chicago psychiatric hospital. As always, along with the many bodies left behind by the “spree killer,” there’s a shoal of red herrings in Kepler’s narrative—human smugglers here, Afghan refugees and the FBI there—and all sorts of ancillary unpleasantries, from rape to evisceration and the chilling thought that when the Rabbit Killer’s victims finally die, various bits of their bodies removed, “the world becomes completely still, like a winter landscape.”

Fast-paced and fluent, with all the authors’ trademark stratagems. Sure to be a hit, though best read by those with strong stomachs.

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An outcast in a supposedly utopian future tries to figure out what’s wrong with the world and how to fix it. Join the club.

Well, sure, why not? Kling, the author of a bunch of texts about living with a kangaroo that got translated into a podcast and then turned into three books (all in German, so Google Translate is your friend), enters mainstream author mode with this bitter satire of consumer culture and the modern political sphere. In this kind of book, there’s typically an ordinary guy to represent us, the reader—think Arthur Dent as opposed to Ford Prefect in The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Our main guy here is Peter Jobless, although the point of view bounces around all over the place. Welcome to QualityLand, where everything, from your stuff to your love life, has been optimized for you by algorithm. If you couldn’t tell from his moniker, Peter is a bit of a screw-up, just coming off a long-term relationship with Sandra Admin, who’s happily dumped him based on the admonishment of QualityLand’s dating service, QualityPartner, which matched them up automatically in the first place. Black humor abounds: There’s John of Us, the political candidate who happens to be an android, and TheShop, which essentially serves as the company store for the world.

The interstitial bits—news bulletins, guidebook entries, and the inevitable comments section—are particularly funny and give context to QualityLand’s odd rules and tics. Despite the novel’s comic approach, the nature of the narrative is heavily political, holding up a black mirror to our own troubled times.

In addition to the pitch-black political satire, the novel’s portrayal of economic inequality highlights a problem that wreaks havoc on our own lives. The characters aren’t particularly likable and the narrative is a bit unhinged, but these days, a little comic relief might do us all some good.

How much you enjoy this is in direct proportion to how much trouble you think we’re all in. Sleep tight.

THE END OF THE OCEAN

Lunde, Maja Trans. by Oatley, Diane HarperVia/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-06-295136-6 Two stories on the impact of climate change intersect in this thoughtful and suspenseful novel.

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shabby and unkempt in a worn-out parka,” returns to a hometown that has been changed for the worse by the building of a dam that harnesses what used to be a beautiful waterfall to produce hydroelectric power. A nearby glacier is vanishing, and to add insult to injury, Signe’s estranged lover Magnus, now a capitalist, is sending large quantities of the ice to Saudi Arabia as a luxury item. With the help of a sailboat she has owned since childhood, Signe conceives a plan to shame Magnus. Her story alternates with that of 25-year-old David, who, in 2041 France, has been forced to take up residency with his 6-year-old daughter, Lou, in a refugee camp for those attempting to escape a drought that has been going on for five years. He is hoping against hope that his wife and infant son will join them there and that then they will be able to make their way to the “water countries” up north, but they haven’t been seen since the fire that destroyed their town. Both halves of the story are convincingly detailed and quietly wrenching, and Norwegian author Lunde (The History of Bees, 2017) gradually and subtly draws them together to powerful effect. Signe’s story moves between her earlier life, clearly revealing how it shaped the woman she is, and her present struggles as she navigates a tiny sailboat on the ocean. David’s story widens out to include other residents in the camp as it slides into an increasing state of chaos and as David and Lou begin to come to terms with a new normal and find their way out of the camp and into the countryside.

Global problems soundly grounded in the particular.

more focused on pro wrestling’s notion of kayfabe, of keeping up appearances to advance a narrative, a sustained theme in Ruben’s and Avo’s lives outside of Armenia. On that front, he fully inhabits the cousins’ lives with passion and Slavic dark humor. The truth, McCormick writes “is the only thing that can pin a heart open or seal it off forever.” The pathos of this story comes from the struggle of its protagonists to do either.

A busy but well-constructed tale about new lands and the ghosts of an old one.

THE COCKROACH

McEwan, Ian Anchor (112 pp.) $11.00 paper | Oct. 8, 2019 978-0-593-08242-3 Kafka is brought up to date for the age of Brexit and Trump.

Never mind that in his Lectures on Literature Vladimir Nabokov protested that “he approaches a cockroach in only one respect: his coloration is brown”: Gregor Samsa, or, that is, Jim Sams, emphatically starts life as a cockroach in McEwan’s (MachinesLike Me, 2019, etc.) reimagining of The Metamorphosis. Then he awakens to discover that he has just four limbs as well as, revoltingly, that “an organ, a slab of slippery meat, lay squat and wet in his mouth.” That unwonted tongue will come in handy, but for the moment Jim has other things to attend to, for he’s not just a human, but also the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Instead of leaving the European Union, he has another item on his agenda: He’s backing a weird economic notion called reverse-flow economics, or Reversalism, whereby “the money flow [will] be reversed....At the end of a working week, an employee hands over money to the company for all the hours she has toiled. But when she goes to the shops, she is generously compensated...for every item she carries away.” It’s easy to get the American president, a fan of “fleet-footed liberation from detail,” to sign on to immiserate the taxpayers once Jim explains that he can take all the money slated for the Pentagon and make it flow up the chain into his own pocket, with the magical result that “seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars would be his.” Why bother small-scale looting when there’s so much pelf to be had? Of course, Jim twigs, the American president is on board only because he was once a cockroach himself, as were the rest of the world’s ruling and governing class, who flourish wherever people tolerate “poverty, filth, squalor” and choose to live in darkness. McEwan sweeps wide but hits home, Nabokov aside: He does a pitchperfect Trump, pegs Angela Merkel’s bewilderment that her former allies are “inflicting these demands on your best friends,” and highlights the venality of the Leave crowd in Britain today.

A grimly effective entertainment, at once broad as a saber and pointed as a pike.

THE GIMMICKS

McCormick, Chris Harper/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $27.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-06-290856-8 Two cousins emigrate from Armenia, finding their destinies in backgammon and pro wrestling.

You needn’t be well schooled in either sport to appreciate the debut novel by McCormick (Desert Boys: Stories, 2016); both serve mainly as metaphors for the mix of smarts, luck, and fakery that are essential to every immigrant survival story. In the early 1970s, cousins Ruben and Avo were as close as brothers in a rural Armenian town that promises nothing but endless reprosecutions of the country’s genocidal past. One escape hatch is competitive backgammon, and the game has a prodigy in Mina, a young woman who earns a spot in a tournament in Paris. If Avo knocks down her teacher, killing him, was it an accident, or was Avo angling for a seat on the flight? Regardless, Ruben finds his way to France while Avo heads to California; both become involved in secret terrorist plots against Armenia’s Turkish aggressors. A falling-out with those terrorists gets Avo a scar on his forehead and a gig in pro wrestling, where he’s known as the Brow Beater. The busy plotting (Avo’s former manager narrates chapters that move the story into the late 1980s) makes the novel a bit sodden, and anybody looking for lively depictions of wrestling bouts will be disappointed. McCormick is 28

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DARK MOTHER EARTH

could find a sentence worth quoting on every page. “The first rule of filing is…nothing comes before something.” “There are tricks to coping with a surly person you’ve brought into the world. Focus on the positive.” “I have no idea why sports and religion intermingle—they just do. It seems some people take Jesus for a jock.” Two characters at the Starlite motel in Houston: “There are only two things people do in places like this….

And we’ve already done all the drugs.” Only they haven’t—coworkers Jill and Rick are taking a holiday from their lives and from their spouses (code-named Eyelash and Kneecap at a previous happy hour), and new baggies of powder keep turning up right till quittin’ time. They are one of many memorable pairs in these stories, several of which are about the blurry line between friendship and love. The narrator of “Glow Hunter” is crazy about her friend Bo, who is just “more brightly lit than the rest of us.…I’ve seen strangers stop what they’re doing to watch her shake sugar into her tea.” Bo and the narrator have both been involved with a guy named Jeff, but what they really want is each other. The narrator of “Black Light” is in love with a point guard on the girls basketball team; she is counseled, then consoled by her older brother. (“ ‘Dick,’ he said, done with subtlety. ‘She needs dick.’ ”) Comparisons have been made to Denis Johnson, Karen Russell, Carmen Maria Machado…and we’ll add Angela Carter. The Angela Carter of Lubbock, Texas. It has a ring to it.

Just keeps getting better as you turn the pages.

Novak, Kristian Trans. by Elias-Bursac, Ellen AmazonCrossing (304 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-5420-1610-0 978-1-5420-9356-9 paper In Croatian novelist Novak’s English-language debut, a young novelist is forced to confront the terrible moment in his childhood when his career as a fable-maker began, not by choice but by necessity.

Matija is a writer with two well-received novels behind him, but he’s been floundering for more than a year now on a followup, and one by one his trusted readers are confirming what he has suspected: It’s going nowhere. Meanwhile, Matija’s girlfriend, Dina, with whom he’s been happy, issues an ultimatum: He has to keep his inventions confined to fiction, has to stop being so deceitful—or is it just evasive?—about his childhood. As a test, Dina brings several old photos for him to explicate. Matija does so, at length and feelingly, before Dina tearfully informs him that the photos are fakes; she has doctored them herself, and they have nothing to do with him. After Dina dumps him, Matija reluctantly decides to revisit an epoch he has utterly expunged from memory—the years before, at age 7, he and his family left their village in Međimurje for Zagreb at the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars in 1991. Coming to grips with that past requires him to excavate the lonely, awful, bewildering period immediately after his father’s death, a stretch whose agonies culminated in an epidemic of eight suicides in Matija’s village. That suicide cluster attracted attention not only to the village, but to a particular little boy, in the research called M.D., who knew all the victims and who was thought by some (perhaps including himself) to be obscurely responsible. Novak captures well the way that grief may isolate, dislocate, and unmoor the bereaved, especially if it’s a child left largely to fend for himself. The boy Matija wanders the countryside looking for his dead father and trying to negotiate for his return—from the police, from the land itself, and from the folkloric “will-o’-the-wisps” who inhabit the region.

A search for the painful and awkward wellsprings of the novelistic imagination.

A SMALL TOWN

Perry, Thomas Mysterious Press (336 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-8021-4806-3 Perry’s large-scale update of The Bride Wore Black stars a small-town cop who’s paid $1 million to track down and kill the 12 inmates who organized and spearheaded a massive prison break.

Two years after a diabolically plotted escape from the local prison loosed hundreds of inmates in the little town of Weldonville to rob, rape, and kill before most of them were re-arrested, the verdict is clear: “They murdered Weldonville.” The place has never recovered from the trauma of the breakout and its aftermath; nearly everyone knows someone who was murdered or widowed that night, and no good news has arrived to counterbalance the memories. So the town council comes up with a plan that’s novel, neat, and logical: Take $1 million in grant money that’s been given to rebuild the town and make it all available to Detective. Lt. Leah Hawkins, a local who’s ostensibly taking a leave of absence to brush up on stateof-the-art police procedure but who’s actually being asked, if not exactly authorized, to find the ringleaders, scattered across the country, and visit summary justice on them. Once this germ has been planted, the story virtually writes itself. Following the best leads she can find, Leah travels to Florida or Buffalo or California, waits patiently for the escapee at the top of her list to show his face, and then executes him. Though it’s deeply satisfying to

BLACK LIGHT

Parsons, Kimberly King Vintage/Random House (224 pp.) $15.00 paper | Aug. 23, 2019 978-0-525-56350-1 Stories that can make you believe that doing cocaine all day in a cheap motel is fun or that catching bugs is a great way to spend your childhood.

Parsons’ debut collection is not long on plot, but wisdom and humor are so thick on the ground you 30

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Strange, lyrical, and arresting, this novel will draw readers into its extraordinary spell. follow me to ground

FOLLOW ME TO GROUND

see the first few ex-cons get their just deserts, Perry (The Burglar, 2019, etc.) is too wily a pro to follow Leah passively down the list. Careful as she is to avoid creating the kind of publicity that would alert the other escapees to their peril, some of them get wind of her vendetta, putting them on high alert and eventually encouraging them to take arms against her themselves.

A superior live-action version of the Road Runner cartoons with 12 coyotes and noncartoon violence.

Rainsford, Sue Scribner (208 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-9821-3363-4

HIDE AWAY

Pinter, Jason Thomas & Mercer (368 pp.) $15.95 paper | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-5420-0590-6 In the aftermath of a horrific crime, a woman makes herself over into a powerful protector—or perhaps an avenger.

Pinter (The Castle, 2019, etc.) already has the Henry Parker thriller series under his belt. In this book he introduces another potential series character, Rachel Marin. The story opens with a warm domestic scene of a young woman making dinner for her husband and two kids when a shattering (but undescribed) discovery intervenes. Jump ahead seven years, and single mom Rachel is living in another town several states away. When a mugger jumps her as she’s walking home from work, she leaves him bleeding in the street and hurries home to her bookish son, Eric, and sweet little daughter, Megan. Keeping them safe is her mission in life. But when she sees a news report about a body found on the ice beneath a nearby bridge, she’s riveted. The cops assigned to the case, detectives John Serrano and Leslie Tally, are shocked to discover the body is that of the town’s disgraced former mayor, Constance Wright. They’re even more shocked when Rachel, whom they don’t know, sends Serrano a message that the death was no suicide: “Constance Wright was murdered. And I can prove it.” When Serrano and Tally go to question Wright’s sketchy ex-husband, Rachel shows up at the same time, and they don’t know whether to order her away or be grateful for her help. Pinter builds a complex plot on the dual mysteries of Constance’s murder and Rachel’s transformation from suburban mom to crack investigator and lethal streetfighter. But the story has so many subplots and timelines that it can feel overstuffed, and some crucial questions asked early on are answered so late the reader might be surprised to be reminded of them. Pinter creates engaging characters, though, and keeps the suspense taut.

Determined to shield her family from violence, a woman becomes a fierce freelance crime fighter in this mostly satisfying thriller.

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An otherworldly young woman and her father cure townsfolk in this bewitching debut about desire, power, and the body.

Ada and her father have lived outside the village for as long as anyone can remember. The strange pair don’t seem to age, and they have extraordinary healing powers that come from The Ground.

“The garden is long and mostly grass but back then, close to the house, we kept a patch of moist, fragrant soil,” Ada recalls.

“This was as much ground as Father had managed to tame, and it was where we put Cures that needed long, deep healing.” With a sweep of her hand, Ada puts Cures, or sick people, to sleep and reaches inside their bodies to remove whatever illness lurks there, encouraging the sickness to clot in a bowl or slide down a drain. “This is something Cures don’t know about their curing,” Ada reveals. “The sickness isn’t gone. It just goes elsewhere.”

When Ada falls for Samson, a handsome villager unafraid of what makes Ada different, Ada’s father attempts to protect her.

But Ada bristles at Father’s accusation that Samson’s fascination is dangerous, potentially even draining her healing abilities.

Is Samson a worthy suitor, or is his attraction to Ada evidence of a different kind of illness? Will Ada’s desire for erotic and personal freedom attract the scrutiny of villagers, putting her and Father in danger? Or—worse—distance her from Father forever? Rainsford pursues these questions with deft lyricism, weaving Ada’s story with observations from townsfolk who are, by turns, grateful and wary. Rainsford’s fairy and folktale sensibility blends seamlessly with horror as Ada’s powers begin to shift in unpredictable ways and take on a darkness all their own.

While Rainsford rushes to the novel’s ambiguous conclusions, this is nevertheless an astonishing debut heralding the career of an exciting new writer.

Strange, lyrical, and arresting, this novel will draw readers into its extraordinary spell.

SUCH A FUN AGE

Reid, Kiley Putnam (320 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-525-54190-5

The relationship between a privileged white mom and her black babysitter is strained by race-related complications.

Blogger/role model/inspirational speaker Alix Chamberlain is none too happy about moving from Manhattan to Philadelphia for her husband Peter’s job as a TV newscaster. With no friends or in-laws around to help out with her almost-3-year-old, |

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Briar, and infant, Catherine, she’ll never get anywhere on the book she’s writing unless she hires a sitter. She strikes gold when she finds Emira Tucker. Twenty-five-year-old Emira’s family and friends expect her to get going on a career, but outside the fact that she’s about to get kicked off her parents’ health insurance, she’s happy with her part-time gigs—and Briar is her “favorite little human.” Then one day a double-header of racist events topples the apple cart—Emira is stopped by a security guard who thinks she’s kidnapped Briar, and when Peter’s program shows a segment on the unusual ways teenagers ask their dates to the prom, he blurts out “Let’s hope that last one asked her father first” about a black boy hoping to go with a white girl.

Alix’s combination of awkwardness and obsession with regard to Emira spins out of control and then is complicated by the reappearance of someone from her past (coincidence alert), where lies yet another racist event. Reid’s debut sparkles with sharp observations and perfect details—food, décor, clothes, social media, etc.—and she’s a dialogue genius, effortlessly incorporating toddler-ese, witty boyfriend–speak, and African American Vernacular English. For about two-thirds of the book, her evenhandedness with her varied cast of characters is impressive, but there’s a point at which any possible empathy for Alix disappears. Not only is she shallow, entitled, unknowingly racist, and a bad mother, but she has not progressed one millimeter since high school, and even then she was worse than we thought.

Maybe this was intentional, but it does make things—ha ha— very black and white.

Charming, challenging, and so interesting you can hardly put it down.

her younger brother’s death, events associated with goat stew.

Instead she ran 1,000 miles away from her hometown to Istanbul and was quickly trapped into prostitution. More taste memories follow her life as a sex worker as well as her happy marriage to a leftist artist, cut short by his death during a protest march.

Tastes also represent the five friends central to Leila’s life and their individual stories of being mistreated, victimized, and/or made to feel invisible. Sexual abuse, political corruption, and religious fundamentalists’ intolerance have been the tropes in so many Shafak novels that her outrage here, however heartfelt, feels shopworn. And her plotting can be overwrought. Yet Shafak’s ability to create empathy for her cast of sex workers and social outcasts can be irresistible, especially when a character is allowed more complexity, like Leila’s oldest friend, Sinan, who hid his love for Leila until her death.

An uneven mix of charm, melodrama, polemics, and cliché that doesn’t represent the prolific Shafak at her best.

THE SWEET INDIFFERENCE OF THE WORLD

Stamm, Peter Trans. by Hofmann, Michael Other Press (144 pp.) $14.99 paper | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-59051-979-0

A novel about a novelist who has apparently obliterated the distinction between life and literature.

The narrator, a writer named Christoph, enjoyed breakthrough success with a novel detailing his romance with an actress named Magdalena. He had arrived at a crossroads, in both his relationship and his fiction, where he felt he had to choose between romantic happiness and literary fulfillment. The novel which had begun as a love story thus became a story of that love falling apart. “I didn’t wreck my life...I decided in favor of literature, and made certain sacrifices,” he explains to a younger woman named Lena, which is, of course, short for Magdalena. She is also an actress and is in love with an aspiring writer named Chris, who appears to be writing the same novel that Christoph had already written. What’s going on here? Lena thinks she knows: “There are simple explanations for everything, she said in a cheery voice.

What’s that then? I asked. You’re mad, and this is all a product of your imagination.” Maybe so, but, if so, Lena might also be a product of the novelist’s imagination, and perhaps Magdalena as well, just as all of these characters are the products of the imagination of the Swiss novelist who has made a career out of such literary postmodern gamesmanship (All Days Are Night, 2014, etc.). This novel we’re reading might well be the same one the fictional novelist has written, or is rewriting, the one that brought him the breakthrough success, the one that he could never follow with another. This is the novel he is explaining in great detail to Lena, in short chapters alternating with other short chapters that detail what is going on between them, and what is going on between her and her Chris, and what parallels

10 MINUTES 38 SECONDS IN THIS STRANGE WORLD

Shafak, Elif Bloomsbury (320 pp.) $27.00 | Sep. 24, 2019 978-1-63557-447-0

In a novel circling a murdered woman’s last moments as she recalls key incidents from her life, Shafak (The Three Daughters of Eve, 2017, etc.) highlights Turkish society’s treatment of women

and outsiders.

Tequila Leila, a middle-aged sex worker, lingers at the border between life and death inside a metal garbage can on the fringes of Istanbul—to which Turkish-born Shafak has written a highly ambivalent love letter; lyrical prose embraces the sensual, sordid, and corrupt city she no longer visits for political reasons. Speaking of sensual, Leila’s final minutes are structured around remembered tastes, from the salt on her skin as a newborn to the single malt whiskey sipped with her last customer before recklessly getting into a car with strangers. The flavor of watermelon returns her to a childhood complicated by confusion over her birth mother’s identity and irreparably damaged by an uncle’s repeated sexual abuse beginning when she was 6 in 1953. In 1963 Leila faced an arranged marriage while mourning 32

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You will never forget Shuggie Bain. Scene by scene, this book is a masterpiece. shuggie bain

OLIGARCHY

there are between these lives they are leading and the life with Magdalena that inspired his novel some 15 years earlier. “Maybe I was just imagining everything,” the novelist as narrator ponders at one point, recalling a period of his life that “was all so long ago now that it seemed unreal in my memory, like a bad dream on waking up.”

Art imitates life, or life imitates art, or something.

Thomas, Scarlett Counterpoint (208 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-64009-306-5

SHUGGIE BAIN

Stuart, Douglas Grove (416 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-0-8021-4804-9 Alcoholism brutally controls the destiny of a beautiful woman and her children in working-class Scotland.

The way Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting carved a permanent place in our heads and hearts for the junkies of late-1980s Edinburgh, the language, imagery, and story of fashion designer Stuart’s debut novel apotheosizes the life of the Bain family of Glasgow. Stunning, raven-haired Agnes Bain is often compared to Elizabeth Taylor. When we meet her in 1981, she’s living with her parents and three “weans” in a crowded high-rise flat in a down-and-out neighborhood called Sighthill. Her second husband, Hugh “Shug” Bain, father of her youngest, Shuggie, is a handsome taxi driver with a philandering problem that is racing alongside Agnes’ drinking problem to destroy their never-verysolid union. In indelible, patiently crafted vignettes covering the next 11 years of their lives, we watch what happens to Shuggie and his family. Stuart evokes the experience of each character with unbelievable compassion—Agnes; her mother, Lizzie; Shug; their daughter, Catherine, who flees the country the moment she can; artistically gifted older son Leek; and the baby of the family, Shuggie, bullied and outcast from toddlerhood for his effeminate walk and manner. Shuggie’s adoration of his mother is the light of his life, his compass, his faith, embodied in his ability to forgive her every time she resurrects herself from a binge: “She was no use at maths homework, and some days you could starve rather than get a hot meal from her, but Shuggie looked at her now and understood this was where she excelled. Everyday with the make-up on and her hair done, she climbed out of her grave and held her head high. When she had disgraced herself with drink, she got up the next day, put on her best coat, and faced the world. When her belly was empty and her weans were hungry, she did her hair and let the world think otherwise.” How can love be so powerful and so helpless at the same time? Readers may get through the whole novel without breaking down—then read the first sentence of the acknowledgements and lose it. The emotional truth embodied here will crack you open.

You will never forget Shuggie Bain. Scene by scene, this book is a masterpiece.

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Eating disorders and suspected murder fuel the latest novel from the author of The Seed Collectors (2015, etc.).

The title of this slim book is as sly and slippery as the narrative itself. Our protagonist, Natasha, is whisked from penury in Russia to a British boarding school when her postcommunism, new-money father takes an interest in her. She also establishes herself as one of the girls who leads the student body into disordered eating and light debauchery. Natasha’s transformation includes a fairy godmother in the form of Aunt Sonja, a London-based operator who gives Natasha an iPhone with unlimited data, a black American Express card, and worldweary advice about food and men. But Natasha keeps much of her own tale to herself even as she learns the folklore of her school. Someone named Princess Augusta appears in portraits hung throughout the classrooms and residences, and her story— or, at least, the story that the students tell each other—is both a cautionary tale and an inspiration for girls striving to be the thinnest. Thomas does a fantastic job of capturing the mental and verbal style of a contemporary teen without being precious or exasperating. She also imbues Tash with a signature feature of all adolescents ever, probably: a desire to grow up faster.

While Aunt Sonja is cooing over her perfect complexion, Tash is thinking, “But everyone has it, this skin that says I’m young and I know nothing. Literally everyone she knows apart from Lissa has the same skin—and even Lissa’s would be OK if she used the right toner—and so to compete she needs something else. Why do adults not understand that?” The Amex might allow Tash to buy Balenciaga boots, but what she really wants is adventure.

She wants to “go into the woods and fight monsters”—a wish that sort of comes true when people at her school start dropping dead. This is a weird, twisty book, and anyone familiar with Thomas’ oeuvre will expect the kind of dark humor that is only possible from a writer of profound compassion. Strong stuff.

Another strange delight from one of the United Kingdom’s most interesting authors.

THE GOD GAME

Tobey, Danny St. Martin’s (464 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-250-30614-2 A band of teenage outcasts must overcome demons both personal and virtual when they stumble into an augmented-reality game.

Like Tobey’s debut (The Faculty Club, 2010), this thriller pulls influences and |

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styles from both other books and other mediums, in this case borrowing liberally from Stephen King, Stranger Things, and what academics dub “social problems novels,” this one echoing Rona Jaffe’s Mazes and Monsters (1981). The high schoolers here are Charlie, who lost his mom to cancer; Harvard-bound Indian American prodigy Vanhi; Kenny, a bit of a cipher; Alex, who’s under way too much pressure; and Peter, who’s rich, privileged, and high. They’re a losers’ club who retreat to their high school’s tech lab, where they can code, game, and tinker under Charlie’s invented moniker, the Vindicators. Things get weird when they stumble onto an old-school text game run by an omnipotent, omniscient artificial intelligence who thinks it’s God with a big G. It’s an evil bargain, too, and the AI seems to have the power to make its deals happen: If you win, all your dreams come true, and if you lose, you die. Actions the game likes earn players “Goldz,” currency they use to buy privileges and powers, while other behaviors earn “Blaxx,” demerits that might get you killed. Over time, the kids are awarded “Aziteks,” glasses that augment reality so they can see what God has in mind for the world. There are other banal things going on—bullies who are complete dicks, as happens, as well as crushes and the novel’s central theme: the complicated relationships between parents and children. There’s a great thriller in here, but you have to carve off the excess to get to it. The mythology of The God Game, originating with a 1990s-era squad something like the Vindicators, gets too complicated, and the rules of this universe are never really clear. By the end it’s all a bit dizzying and not entirely satisfying.

Great characters, a novel concept, and scary set pieces, but it never gels into something memorably terrifying.

a quiet young man named Leonard Angsono, whose possessiveness is at first charming. By the time Estella realizes that Leonard’s insecurity and need to control her are dangerous, she is so invested in the relationship that she doesn’t know how to save herself. Tsao’s writing shines when she depicts the ways that the two wealthy families choose to ignore domestic abuse in their midst, revealing the misogyny at the heart of the patriarchal clans. As Doll recalls, “A marriage alliance with the Angsonos would benefit our fortunes. It would pave the way for joint ventures and favorable partnerships with Leonard’s clan....” As the novel races toward its violent denouement, the tone changes again, however, and veers back into broad satire. Tsao was born in California but lived in Singapore and Indonesia in her childhood.

Readers may be thrown by the abrupt shifts in tone, but Tsao’s depiction of domestic abuse is powerful.

THE DEAD GIRLS CLUB

Walters, Damien Angelica Crooked Lane (288 pp.) $26.99 | Dec. 10, 2019 978-1-64385-1-631

Dark secrets haunt a guilt-stricken child psychologist in this twisty supernatural thriller.

When somebody mails Dr. Heather Cole one tarnished half of a heart-shaped “best friends” necklace, she panics; the last time she saw this particular bit of jewelry, she was 12, and it was hanging around the neck of her dead BFF, Becca Thomas.

Heather tells herself that nobody could know she killed Becca— the girls were alone when it happened, Becca’s body was never found, and Becca’s drunken and abusive mother, Lauren, served time for the murder. Then more overt threats follow, prompting Heather to fixate on identifying her tormenter at the expense of her marriage, her career, and her sanity. Flashbacks to the summer of 1991 stud Heather’s first-person, present-tense narrative, chronicling the formation of the Dead Girls Club, whose members gather to read true-crime books and share scary stories; the deterioration of Heather and Becca’s relationship; and Becca’s growing obsession with a vengeful spirit called the Red Lady.

Although Walters (Cry Your Way Home, 2018, etc.) offers knowing nods to Slender Man, The Shining, and The Turn of the Screw, her own attempt at a terror-filled tale of adolescent trauma falls flat. Manufactured conflict, preposterous plotting, and characters lacking in complexity and verisimilitude sap drama and tension while the half-baked legend of the Red Lady fails to frighten. Stilted dialogue and bloated prose further frustrate the pacing and drive.

A sterile, shrugworthy take on long-form horror from acclaimed short-fiction writer Walters.

THE MAJESTIES

Tsao, Tiffany Atria (256 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-9821-1550-0

A sobering look at the dark side of extreme wealth among Chinese families in Indonesia.

Tsao’s (The More Known World, 2017, etc.) novel begins in the aftermath of a crime as the narrator, Doll, tries to understand what has caused her sister, Estella, to poison everyone in their rich, extended Chinese Indonesian family. At first the novel takes a Crazy Rich Asians–esque satirical tone celebrating the Sulinado family’s wealth, power, and, above all, material possessions as Doll recalls a life of great privilege. However, after Doll and Estella move from Jakarta to Berkeley, California, to attend college, the tone deepens. The middle part of the novel becomes a sly study of the stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans that the sisters face for the first time as minorities in the United States. Still the sisters are able to enjoy their relative freedom and come to study entomology, which later becomes the inspiration for business success for Doll. Meantime, Estella starts dating another rich overseas Chinese Indonesian student, 34

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An invitation from a friend introduces an Edwardian couple to yet another odd murder. in the shadow of vesuvius

THE COMMITTEE

In 1958, a professor at the University of Florida learns that bigotry, hatred, and corruption have consequences far beyond the confines of the classroom.

Professor Tom Stall seems to be an average English professor, perhaps a little priggish—when talking to a traumatized student, he mentally corrects her use of “can” with “may.” When well-liked professor Jack Leaf supposedly commits suicide, Stall learns that he was suspected of being gay. A secret committee of men (based on the real-life Florida Legislative Investigation Committee under the control of Gov. Charley Johns) is operating on campus. “The Committee has police powers, subpoena powers, a team of lawyers and investigators, and they’re all hell-bent to root out Communists, homosexuals and other undesirables in our schools,” the university president tells Stall. But as events proceed, with betrayals, secrecy, and violence, Stall realizes he has no idea whom to trust.

The author (Suitcase City, 2015) lets Stall ruminate a little too often, but he does an excellent job of portraying a time, place, and culture without assigning contemporary values where they didn’t exist. When Stall’s wife realizes her pregnancy means she’ll have to quit teaching, for example, she doesn’t like it but doesn’t fight it, either. The dialogue is realistic, and the pacing, especially toward the end, is quick and intense.

Any reader wanting a history lesson wrapped in a compelling, believable novel will find much to contemplate here.

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a neurologist writing a book about criminal psychopaths and eager to pick Sinclair’s brain. She’s not the only one who can benefit from his experience; the local vicar has lost his organist, Greta Hartmann, who fell while crossing a stream and hit her head. But her landlady insists that Greta was always careful when she crossed the stream, and Sinclair performs his own experiment that strongly points to murder. Greta was the widow of a brave German pastor who stood up to the Nazis, and Sinclair wants to find out if someone from her past is her killer.

Through Ann, he meets Julia Lesage, a champion downhill skier who was injured in an accident and confined to a wheelchair.

When Sinclair’s investigations strand him in a snowstorm, Julia sends her chauffeur to bring him back to her luxurious home.

In the meantime, his erstwhile colleague John Madden (The Death of Kings, 2017, etc.) and his wife, who is Sinclair’s doctor, return home from holiday with a mystery of their own: where is Sinclair? Madden calls on his ex-colleagues for help and meets Kriminalinspektor Hans-Joachim Probst, who briefs Madden about a con man with a link to Greta’s death and a history of preying on rich, vulnerable women like Julia, who’s snowbound with Sinclair and a potential killer, but no power and no telephone, in her own mansion. Madden and Probst have to fight both the clock and the winter weather in Madden’s sixth deliberately paced procedural.

As usual, Airth takes his sweet time setting up the plot before making the pages fly at last.

Watson, Sterling Akashic (420 pp.) $32.95 | $17.95 paper | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-61775-783-9 978-1-61775-768-6 paper

IN THE SHADOW OF VESUVIUS

Alexander, Tasha Minotaur (304 pp.) $27.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-250-16473-5

An invitation from a friend introduces an Edwardian couple to yet another odd murder.

Lady Emily Hargreaves and her husband, Colin, agent of the British Crown, are no strangers to unusual murders (Uneasy Lies the Crown, 2018, etc.), but they expect no more than a pleasant vacation when their friend Ivy Brandon invites them to visit Pompeii. They rent a villa and get a scholarly tour of the ruins from Ivy’s new friends. Callie Carter is an archaeologist who got her job only because her artist brother, Benjamin, is on hand to chaperone her. While exploring the ruins, they discover that one of the many bodies apparently preserved when Vesuvius erupted is disconcertingly modern. As Emily and Colin investigate the contemporary murder, alternating chapters explore the ancient story of Quinta Flavia Kassandra, a Greek slave and talented poet whose father, a tutor for a wealthy family, buys their freedom in the year 79. Kassandra has fallen under the spell of Titus Livius Silvanus, but he marries Lepida, her former mistress. Although Kassandra thinks he’ll seek to bed her, his actual desire is to have her secretly write poetry he can claim as his own. Back in 1902, the newly dead man is identified as journalist Clarence Walker, who seemed more dutiful than

m ys t e r y THE DECENT INN OF DEATH

Airth, Rennie Penguin (368 pp.) $16.00 paper | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-14-313429-9

An apparent death by misadventure evolves into a country-house scenario with three veteran detectives in play.

Since Chief Inspector Angus Sinclair’s retirement from the Metropolitan Police, he doesn’t have much to do except mind his blood pressure. An invitation from his former supervisor, also in retirement and living in nearby Hampshire, offers a change of scenery and the chance to meet Ann Waites, |

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FATAL ROOTS

enthusiastic about the story he was writing. The Hargreaves’ lives are turned upside down by the arrival of a young woman named Katharina von Lange, who announces herself as Colin’s daughter. Her mother, Kristiana, who died when Katharina was a child, was a fellow agent Colin was in love with before meeting Emily; she’d refused to marry him and never told him about the pregnancy. Kat is a manipulative loose cannon who resents and ignores Emily while trying her own hand at sleuthing and seeking her father’s approval. Questioning the crew at the archaeological site reveals a trove of hidden secrets. Which of them will provide a motive for murder?

A captivating story of Pompeii in which the city’s mysterious past proves more engaging than the modern mystery.

Connolly, Sheila Crooked Lane (288 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-64385-239-3 A long-buried corpse lies patiently waiting to be discovered in this slowmoving tale.

After more than a year in Ireland, Boston transplant Maura Donovan is still trying to get her public house ready for serious business. Michael Sullivan, an old friend of the American grandmother who raised Maura, left her a cottage, a pub, and bits of property in the West Cork village of Leap.

Although Maura’s main concern is whether to serve food in the pub, she can’t help being intrigued when Ciara McCarthy, a grad student in archaeology, wants to explore Maura’s property for ring forts, early Middle Age monuments otherwise known as fairy circles. Although Maura’s skeptical about those fairies, she allows Ciara to explore. Then Maura’s mother, Helen, who’s fulsomely and frequently apologetic about abandoning Maura as a child, arrives with her other daughter. While Maura’s getting to know her half sister and trying to work out her tentative romance with the pub’s barkeep, one of the two students working with Ciara on the fairy-ring project disappears. Joining the search for him and finally visiting one of the rings, Maura digs down and finds a skeletal hand. After she calls in the local garda, Sean Murphy, with whom she’s worked on previous cases (The Lost Traveller, 2019, etc.), all he can tell her from the autopsy of the hand and the rest of the body is that it’s male and 40 or 50 years old. However, two of Leap’s older residents seem to know something about the corpse, and they and Maura talk about how they’re going to talk about it, and then talk some more about talking, until they finally reveal all in a denouement that makes you wonder if Connolly, in her eighth County Cork installment, is running out of inspiration.

Most likely to appeal to readers who love Irish settings, Irish folklore, and Irish chatter.

FROM THE GRAVE

Brandon, Jay Severn House (240 pp.) $28.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7278-8900-3

A disbarred Houston attorney is offered one more chance at the gold ring if only he can manage to lose the case that’s his ticket back.

And it looks like an easy case to lose.

Donald Willis, whom the police caught inside a house in which socialite Diana Greene says she was held against her will, has already served eight years for kidnapping a football player’s son. He’s eager to have Edward Hall, whose performance in that earlier case he believes won him a light sentence, represent him again. Even though Edward has since lost his license over his defense of his sister on a murder charge (Against the Law, 2018), Harris County D.A. Julia Lipscomb makes him an offer he can’t refuse—to reinstate his credentials for this one trial, with a more definitive return contingent on his performance. And Edward knows exactly what kind of performance the district attorney, who just happens to be Diana’s sister, would like him to give: One that ends in resounding failure. The case seems so hopeless that losing it should be a cinch. Donald’s story that Diana’s husband, wealthy River Oaks developer Sterling Greene, had hired him to serve as a bodyguard for his wife’s trip to a dubious neighborhood to pick up some equally questionable jewels sounds weak from top to bottom, and the evidence against Donald can be measured in tons. Edward’s only hope seems to be to tie the alleged abduction to another possible crime that very day: the fatal shooting of Antonio Alberico, the painter who’d recently completed a portrait of Diana Greene. Putting together the pieces, a task so difficult for Edward, should require considerably less effort from most readers, who are well advised to stay the course anyway for a satisfying double twist at the very end.

Highly accomplished midgrade work from a pro.

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BREWED AWAKENING

Coyle, Cleo Berkley (368 pp.) $27.00 | Dec. 3, 2019 978-0-451-48887-9

A coffeehouse manager awakens on a park bench minus much of her memory.

Clare Cosi wakes up stiff and cold in Washington Square Park. Though there are lots of things she doesn’t remember, she does know that she’ll be safe at the Village Blend coffeehouse, where she’s greeted with joy and told that she’s been missing for four days. When her ex-husband, Matteo Allegro, and his mother, Madame Blanche Allegro Dubois, the coffee shop’s owner, arrive on the scene, they realize she’s forgotten the |

Can a 50-year-old secret ruin an aspiring politician’s campaign? bound for murder

MATCHMAKING CAN BE MURDER

last 15 years of her life and thinks she’s living in New Jersey with her young daughter, Joy. Hospitalized, she fails to recognize both Joy, now a grown-up, and her current fiance, Detective Mike Quinn.

Celebrity psychiatrist Dr. Dominic Lorca takes over Clare’s care and insists she be moved to an upstate facility. Despite pulling every string available, Mike can’t free her from Lorca even though she’s a witness in the case of missing heiress Annette Brewster. Clare, no shrinking violet, pretends to take her drugs but is dying for a cup of coffee. Madame Blanche, Matteo, and Tucker Burton, the Village Blend’s assistant manager, hatch a plan to bust Clare free and find a place where she can be relaxed and open to stimuli that will help revive her memory. But Clare is loath to go with Matteo, who cheated on her repeatedly, even though their current relationship is good. Talking with her friends evokes memories of her past detective work (Shot in the Dark, 2018, etc.), and she struggles to relive her most recent days, some of which she spent with Annette, who’d arranged a private tasting of wedding cakes in the hotel she owns. Clare, Mike, and Matteo end up hiding out in the Hamptons from the police and a killer who’s stalking her.

An unsettling, often scary account of how memory loss affects a strong woman’s life.

Flower, Amanda Kensington (336 pp.) $7.99 paper | Dec. 31, 2019 978-1-4967-2401-4

WHEN OLD MIDNIGHT COMES ALONG

Estleman, Loren D. Forge (272 pp.) $26.99 | Dec. 3, 2019 978-1-250-19717-7

Amos Walker looks under every rock in greater Detroit to locate a woman missing for six years.

If he waited just one more year, Grosse Pointe contractor liaison Francis X. Lawes could have his wife, a PR consultant, declared dead and collect on her million-dollar insurance policy with no fuss. But X doesn’t want to wait a year: He wants to marry Holly Pride, office manager at The Lawes Group, the moment he legally can. So Walker reluctantly agrees to look for Paula Lawes, whose car was found abandoned in a rough neighborhood a world away from her moneyed suburb, knowing full well that there’s no bonus for finding her alive. He talks to her clients George Hoyle, an audiobook producer who admits to having been her lover, and Andrea Dawson, a spokesmodel with a secret of her own. He crosses words with Oakes Steadman, a former gang leader who parlayed his arrest into a position as a police consultant on youth violence; with Inspector John Alderdyce, the head of the original investigation, who retired to work with the Reliance private-investigation agency, a rival of Walker’s; and with Albert White, a commander from the Allen Park police station who retired into a more definitive haze of alcoholic apathy. He gets framed for murder and nearly murdered himself before he’s rescued by an unlikely savior. And somehow, after the dust has cleared, he’s come up with a solution as logical as it is unexpected.

Estleman could crank these out in his sleep. Come for the snappy patter, stay for the surprises.

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An Amish sleuth goes all out to save her niece from a murder charge.

After many years away caring for an ailing sister, widowed, childless Millie Fisher has returned to Harvest, Ohio.

She lives in a small house outside town with her two mischievous Boer goats, Phillip and Peter, who do a bang-up job of keeping her property weed-free. Millie, who has an uncanny ability to tell when two people are right for each other, is deeply concerned that her beloved niece Edith Hochstetler, a widow, is about to marry Zeke Miller, who’s emphatically not right for her. Edith’s been wonderfully successful in running Edy’s Greenhouse, her late father’s business, but now something seems to be going wrong. After she admits to Millie that she doesn’t love Zeke, her decision to call off the wedding has dire consequences. While visiting a new “Englisch” cafe in Harvest, Millie runs into her childhood friend Lois Kenny, married four times and grandmother of cafe owner Darcy Woodin. In addition, Millie sees that her nephew, Edith’s twin brother, Enoch Lapp, has returned to Harvest. Enoch, who left to become Englisch, blames Millie for some of the problems he had as a youth. When Zeke’s found beaten to death at the Greenhouse, Millie and her goats chase away a hidden man.

Seeing Edith become a suspect, Millie resolves to clear her.

Luckily, one of the investigators is Deputy Aiden Brody, whom Millie’s met before (Assaulted Caramel, 2017) and who’s familiar with Amish ways. When they learn that Zeke was romancing both Edith and Darcy, Millie and Lois team up on a wild adventure that uses their local knowledge to help pin down a dangerous killer.

A sentimental view of Amish life complete with two charming goats makes for easy reading.

BOUND FOR MURDER

Gilbert, Victoria Crooked Lane (320 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-64385-243-0

Can a 50-year-old secret ruin an aspiring politician’s campaign?

Amy Webber, Sunshine Fields’ best friend and boss at the Taylorsford Public Library in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is engaged to Richard Muir, dancer, choreographer, teacher, and her next-door neighbor. Amy wants the wedding to be simple, but Richard’s mother is determined that it will be a tasteful extravaganza. Meanwhile, Sunny’s campaign for mayor is rudely interrupted when a skeleton is found |

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on her grandparents’ farm. P.J. and Carol Fields run Vista View as an organic farm, but for a while in the 1960s, it was a commune housing a motley crew of people with varying drug habits.

Amy, whose research skills have helped the police solve several murders (Past Due for Murder, 2019, etc.), finds a 1965 newspaper article mentioning the disappearance of Jeremy Adams, a talented musician who’d lived on the commune but left to pursue his career. Chief Deputy Brad Tucker, Sunny’s ex-boyfriend, asks Amy to do a little more research but to keep it quiet since the case could involve Sunny’s grandparents, who Amy’s sure are hiding information. Once they’ve given Amy a list of all the former commune members, she starts digging into their histories.

One of them recently died in what seems to have been an accident. When the skeleton is identified as Adams’, reporters stake out the Fieldses, but after a rough start, Sunny, encouraged by Amy, makes friends with handsome Daniel Dane, an investigative reporter digging deep into the past because his own aunt went missing from the area in 1964. When another commune alumnus is shot dead, Amy redoubles her efforts, searching the past for clues. A little help from her friends, including a former drug dealer who helped keep the commune mellow, sets her on the right track, prompting dire warnings from the killer.

Historical research wins out over romance and mystery in this pleasant cozy.

him. Rescuing Selina, he sends her on the dangerous trip back to New Orleans while he and Hannibal stay to help Valentina, who’s been accused of murdering her husband. The success of January’s mission requires him to use Hannibal as a frontman to cut through the lies and political intrigue raging in a divided Texas, where land is everything and murder an easy way to improve fortunes.

A riveting exploration of a little-known period of Texas history intensified by gut-wrenching depictions of people’s enduring inhumanity.

SELL LOW, SWEET HARRIET

Harris, Sherry Kensington (304 pp.) $7.99 paper | Dec. 31, 2019 978-1-4967-2251-5

A winter garage sale provokes cold chills in the manager, who’s also grappling with a murder.

Sarah Winston, who divorced her husband but stayed in the Massachusetts town near the Air Force base of their last posting, attends the funeral of Alicia Arbas, an officer’s wife found dead on the base, possibly murdered with a large chunk of ice. Knowing that Sarah has many friends on base and a nose for murder (Let’s Fake a Deal, 2019, etc.), Special Agent Frank Bristow and local police officer Scott Pellner ask her to keep her ears open for gossip. In fact, she goes much further, and her curiosity soon involves her in a potentially dangerous situation. Sarah’s also been hired by Jeannette Blevins to price and sell the contents of her parents’ home after they were killed in an accident in Senegal. The house is packed to the rafters with items from all over the world that the parents, who were CIA agents, had collected. Sarah’s boyfriend, local district attorney Seth Anderson, is unhappy to hear that Sarah’s involved in yet another murder case, but she soldiers on with both her time-consuming projects. Shortly after Jeannette’s brother, Troy, shows up saying he wants to make sure he hasn’t left behind anything he wants from his parents’ collection, he’s attacked in another room. When she comes to the hospital to visit him, Jeannette says that he’s not her brother, and the imposter declines to stick around to explain himself.

Although there are plenty of valuable items in the house, no one knows which of them the man was looking for. Back on base, Sarah hears scads of gossip about Alicia Arbas. The officers’ jealous wives, who’ve spread wildly varying stories, resent Sarah’s questions. Now she’s in danger from both a killer and a thief unless she can solve both cases.

Canny hints for garage-sale success blend nicely with two difficult mysteries for the intrepid heroine to unravel.

LADY OF PERDITION

Hambly, Barbara Severn House (256 pp.) $28.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7278-8909-6

A former slave with a highly developed sense of justice risks everything to serve it.

In April 1840, Benjamin January, a Paris-trained physician and music teacher, leaves his family in New Orleans (Cold Bayou, 2018,etc.) to try to rescue Selina Bellinger, a former student of his. Selina ran away with a scoundrel named Seth Javel, who took her to the Republic of Texas and sold her as a slave.

January follows, pretending to be the slave valet of his friend Hannibal Sefton, whose ownership will protect him. Accompanying them is tough Kentuckian Abishag Shaw, who terrorizes Javel into revealing the name of Selina’s purchaser, a slave trader who thinks nothing of giving prospective buyers a chance to try out the young women he sells. One of his slaves secretly tells January that Selina was sold to a rancher named Gideon Pollack. They hope to buy Selina back, but before meeting Pollack, they run into Valentina Taggart, a woman they know who turns out to be married to Pollack’s neighbor and knows that January is no slave. Valentina, a wild and stunning young woman who agreed to marry Vin Taggart even though she knew her land was her main attraction, agrees to help, but her freedom to act is hampered by the presence of her husband’s hateful mother and aunt. When Pollack, who denies having bought Selina, is badly wounded in a duel, January uses his medical skills to save 38

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A private eye doing her civic duty gets embroiled in several nasty cases. poppy harmon and the hung jury

WINTER OF DESPAIR

Now that they’ve bonded over the writing life and homicide investigation, eminent Victorian Charles Dickens and eminencein-training Wilkie Collins tackle a second case of murder.

No one thinks Edwin Milton-Hayes was a particularly outstanding painter. So why did whoever slashed his throat in his studio take the trouble to slash one of his last paintings, as well? The answer, Dickens swiftly decides, is that Milton-Hayes, whose plummy name isn’t the one he was born with, was a blackmailer with a novel approach. Paintings like The Night Prowler, Forbidden Fruit, Taken in Adultery, Den of Iniquity, Root of All Evil, and Winter of Despair, commissioned by the monumentally clueless Canon Rutter, showed compromising situations in which Milton-Hayes’ society acquaintances had placed themselves, with the actual portraits of subjects, like talented young artist Walter Hamilton, flirtatious wife Molly French, schoolgirl Florence Gummidge and her mother, gallery owner William Jordan, and his wife, Helen, to be revealed later unless the painter’s financial demands were met. What’s particularly alarming to Wilkie is that his troubled younger brother, Charley, seems to pop up everywhere Wilkie and Dick look—making Inspector Field, of London’s Detective Force, all but certain that Charley is the killer. As in the Victorian sleuths’ debut (Season of Darkness, 2019), Harrison alternates chapters narrated by Wilkie, who’s constantly fretting over his lack of progress on Hide and Seek, his second novel, with distinctly less successful third-person chapters presented from the viewpoint of Sesina, the fearful, impressionable, curious Collins housemaid. Sadly, Dickens himself cuts a much less impressive figure this time, playing a supporting role till the very last minute, when he’s on hand to pull a rabbit from his hat—a surprise that no doubt pleases him as much as his readers.

More ingenious than Season of Darkness but altogether less striking. Best wait and hope for two out of three.

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with Rod Harper, she’s launched the Desert Flower Detective Agency, whose staff includes Poppy and her 60-ish sidekicks, pushy Iris and retiring Violet, whose 12-year-old grandson, Wyatt, is a talented hacker who helps them after school. Finding that three golden age females don’t inspire confidence among their target clientele, they’ve hired handsome aspiring actor Matt Cameron, aka Matt Flowers, who does a bang-up job pretending to be a detective. Poppy’s serving on the jury in the trial of famous crooner Tony Molina, who stands accused of assaulting celebrity chef Carmine Cicci over an overcooked steak. Elected as jury foreman, Poppy persuades all but one of the jurors to vote guilty in the open-and-shut case, but the last juror, a young man named Alden Kenny, refuses to budge, hanging the jury and fueling Poppy’s suspicions that Kenny was paid off. Those suspicions are left to simmer when Rod Harper, Poppy’s former co-star, hires the agency to find his missing daughter, Lara, a wild child who vanished after an argument. Her credit card has been used nearby at several places in the Coachella Valley, but when Lara turns up, she claims to have been on a spiritual journey to Nepal. Poppy must also deal with Rod’s renewed interest in pursuing a relationship with her and her daughter Heather’s release from prison after an involuntary manslaughter charge. When juror Kenny calls begging for her help, she goes to his house and finds him dead in his pool, renewing her interest in Tony Molina. The cases turn out to be related in a number of surprising ways.

An amusing cozy with quirky characters and a downto-earth heroine with plenty of moxie.

Harrison, Cora Severn House (240 pp.) $28.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7278-8912-6

SPITFIRE

Huie, M.L. Crooked Lane (320 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-64385-245-4 Post-Blitz London has no place for a former Resistance fighter—until a brand-new intelligence network puts her skills to use at the dawn of the Cold War. Lancashire girl Olivia Nash volunteered to do her part for the war effort in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, but her superiors soon spotted that French was her mother tongue and pluck was her middle name. Livy trained in lock-picking and marksmanship, then landed in Vichy France to support the Resistance. But now, with the war over and her comrade and lover, Peter Scobee, dead, Livy is stuck proofreading at a third-rate newspaper and drinking too much cheap vodka until her talents are requested by none other than a highly polished gentleman named Ian Fleming. His “newspapers” need a new “foreign correspondent” to track the spiderweb of Nazi spies who betrayed Livy and Peter, spies now selling their services to the highest bidder as the alliance between the Soviets and the British and Americans rapidly unravels. After receiving remedial etiquette lessons and an elegant new wardrobe, Livy infiltrates an embassy ball to acquire a list of the operatives. She gets the list only to be robbed of it at

POPPY HARMON AND THE HUNG JURY

Hollis, Lee Kensington (320 pp.) $26.00 | Dec. 31, 2019 978-1-4967-1391-9

A private eye doing her civic duty gets embroiled in several nasty cases.

Retired TV star Poppy Harmon was forced to go back into business when her cheating husband left her a penniless widow (Poppy Harmon Investigates, 2018). Drawing inspiration from Jack Colt, PI, the well-received show in which she starred |

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THISTLES AND THIEVES

gunpoint by a mustachioed man. To retrieve the list, she must fly to Paris—where she meets up with a handsome American with a knack for good timing—and seek her nemesis.

Huie’s debut is an old-fashioned mystery shot through with tragedy; for aficionados of the glamour and romance of spycraft.

MacRae, Molly Pegasus (288 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-64313-321-8

A box full of old books may hold the secret to a mysterious death in a small Scottish town.

American-born Janet Marsh and Scottish-born former social worker Christine Robertson have moved from Illinois to open a book shop, bakery, and B&B in the lovely coastal town of Inversgail, where Janet had spent many vacations before her divorce. Joining them is Janet’s daughter, Tallie, and Tallie’s friend Summer Jacobs, whose purview is food and lodging. Janet, returning to biking after many years, is determined to finish the Haggis Half-Hundred. While she’s out for a ride, she discovers a body in a stream. This is the third corpse she’s discovered (Scones and Scoundrels, 2018, etc.), so she knows to call Constable Norman Hobbs to the scene. Her self-satisfied neighbor, bestselling author Ian Atkinson, identifies the dead man as Dr. Murray, a retired general practitioner whose sister, Florrie, lives with him and whose brother, Gerald, lives nearby. A visit to Florrie finds her vague and not very upset about her brother’s demise.

The Road Policing Unit in charge of the investigation is not at all interested in the amateur sleuths’ input, and Hobbs, who does listen to their ideas, claims to know little of the investigation. Returning to Yon Bonnie Books after another bike ride, Janet finds a box at the front door with a note asking her to look after the books inside. Seeing that most of them are old and well-used, and suspecting that some may be valuable, Janet puzzles over who left them and wonders whether they could have belonged to Dr. Murray. When Janet and Christine visit Gerald Murray’s home, their discovery of him dead in a pool of blood only encourages them to delve deeper into past and present motives for murder.

This slow-paced look at a Scottish backwater is best for those who eschew action in favor of cerebration.

HINDSIGHT

Johansen, Iris & Johansen, Roy Grand Central Publishing (368 pp.) $28.00 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-5387-6292-9 Sparks fly as a woman with extraordinary abilities fights her attraction to a dangerous freelance consultant.

Dr. Kendra Michaels has worked with former FBI Agent Adam Lynch before (Double Blind, 2018), but she’s furious with him for getting her tossed out of Afghanistan after she sustained a minor wound while trying to root out corruption. Kendra, who was blind until an experimental operation restored her sight at 20, has highly developed senses of smell, hearing, and spatial awareness that she’s used to help the FBI and CIA in many difficult cases. Now, as she returns to the U.S., they have another one she can’t resist investigating. Elaine Wessler and Ronald Kim, both staff members at her old school, the Woodward Academy for the Physically Disabled in Oceanside, California, have been found murdered for no apparent reason, and FBI Special Agent Michael Griffin is anxious to use her skills and inside knowledge. Elaine had been fostering an unusual guide dog, Harley, who’s had problems adjusting since the child he was working with was killed in a gas-main explosion. Now that Elaine is gone, his unearthly howls are upsetting the students. Kendra talks her best friend, Olivia, who’s blind, into sharing custody of Harley until they can find him the right home. Meanwhile, she turns up clues the FBI team missed and is rewarded for her efforts with a bomb planted in her car.

It turns out to be fake, but it’s still a potent warning to walk away. Returning from Afghanistan to help Kendra, Lynch finds her still angry with him and intent on resisting his charms. Her friend Jessie Mercado, a private eye, turns up to help extricate her from a dangerous situation and sticks around to join the hunt for the killers. It will take all of them, including Harley, to solve the violent, complex case and get the school Kendra loves back on track.

Mystery, danger, and sexual tension abound in an action-packed thriller that breaks plenty of heads but no new ground.

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THE HOLLOWS

Montgomery, Jess Minotaur (352 pp.) $27.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-250-18454-2 After the violent death of an elderly woman in 1926, a young sheriff ’s investigation inadvertently reveals the deeply contentious history of her Ohio county, tracing back to the Civil War. Lily Ross, a widowed mother of two small children who was appointed to fill out her husband’s term as sheriff after he died, and then won her own election, is barely holding her life together in her small Ohio town. When she is notified that a woman has died after a fall from the tunnel |

over the railroad tracks, she learns quickly that many in town, including her best friend Hildy Cooper’s mother; her rival candidate for sheriff; and the employees of the Hollows, the asylum the woman escaped from, would all prefer the death quietly be declared accidental with no questions asked. Lily’s investigation is increasingly complicated when she finds a white robe belonging to a local Women of the Ku Klux Klan group at an abandoned house the victim passed through the night she died.

These current events grow even more urgent once the victim is identified as Thea Kincaide, a relative of Hildy Cooper’s, who witnessed her father’s murder as a child and testified that an escaped slave committed the crime. Montgomery’s second novel in a series about Kinship, Ohio (The Widows, 2019), and Lily Ross is a skillfully told murder mystery that features a rich array of characters and a sophisticated portrayal of a small town grappling with its own racist past and ongoing conflicted present. Secondary plots, including Hildy’s affair with a miner despite the objections of her overbearing mother and the white schoolteacher’s relationship with an African American man seeking to integrate the union of mine workers, are equally well developed and deeply connected to the larger story about the tensions in Kinship. Despite such complex plots and characters, the novel moves along briskly without sacrificing eloquence in its prose.

A satisfying historical murder mystery set apart by its compelling female cast.

In this he’s helped by Jane’s uncanny ability to know when she’s being followed. He finally hears about Dodd, a mysterious suspect who’s traveling with a woman. But this intelligence comes too late to stop Whittaker from going on a killing spree simply because he enjoys it. Soon after Jane removes her savings from a box she’d hidden in the woods and brings it to the home of Catherine Shields, a motherly woman who’s the only person she loves, she sees Charlotte digging up the empty box. When Catherine, who refuses to reveal the hiding place, is beaten by the thief, Jane cannot fathom how anyone could know her secret. Using every resource at their command, she and Simon work to free Davey and take revenge on the people who are killing to cover up myriad crimes.

This historical tour de force reminds readers who come for the mystery that life hasn’t changed for the disenfranchised.

SCRIPT FOR SCANDAL y o u n g a d u lt

Patrick, Renee Severn House (240 pp.) $28.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7278-8910-2

Three years after a 1936 bank robbery turned lethal, a Hollywood production based on the story fans fatal flames for costume designer Edith Head (Danger­ ous To Know, 2017, etc.), her buddy Lillian Frost, and several other less fortunate denizens of La La Land.

Within two days after the $20,000 heist at the California Republic Bank, all three robbers were dead along with Detective Teddy Lomax, whose LAPD partner, Detective Gene Morrow, is Lillian’s beau. So Lillian is understandably outraged when she realizes that the screenplay of Streetlight Story, the picture Paramount’s making about the crime, fingers Gene as the inside man who set up the whole job and betrayed his partner. George Dolan, the former newspaperman who shares script credit, says that he was only brought on to lighten the dialogue and provide comic relief; the bones of the story were the work of excon burglar Clyde Fentress. Since Lillian, the social secretary to semiretired industrialist Addison Rice, doesn’t even work for the studio, she can do nothing to keep the project, under the direction of Aaron Ludwig, ne Ludwig Aaronofsky, from moving forward. Someone else, however, seems to have more decisive plans to meddle with the production. In short order two hangers-on with a special stake in the story—hotel handyman Aloysius Conlin, an aspiring actor who did time with Clyde in Folsom, and Clyde’s writing protégée, Sylvia Ward—are murdered. Producer Max Ramsey is undeterred: “All I needed was some gossip in the newspapers!” he announces jubilantly. But Lillian has to wonder what sort of Pandora’s box she’s opened in peering once more into the abyss of the California Republic job, till Edith, initially buried under all the subplots and cameos (Fred MacMurray! Ben Siegel! Billy Wilder!), uses her sharp eye for fashion to come up with a pleasingly unexpected solution.

THE HOCUS GIRL

Nickson, Chris Severn House (224 pp.) $28.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7278-8935-5

A thief-taker—someone hired to “find what had been stolen and return it for a fee”—and his assistant risk their lives to help friends.

In 1822, Leeds is already crowded with factories staffed by the desperately poor, and the wealthy owners are worried about revolution. Although thief-taker Simon Westow and his wife, Rosie, understand what it’s like to have nothing, they’ve made a good life for themselves, their twin boys, and Simon’s assistant, Jane, who lives in their house. Simon and Rosie know nothing of Jane’s past but recognize her ghostlike abilities and her skill with a knife as valuable assets in solving mysteries (The Hanging Psalm, 2018). Siblings Emily and Davey Ashton often fed and housed Simon when he was a penniless teen. So when Davey, who dreams of equality, is arrested for sedition, Simon will stop at nothing to save him. Ambitious magistrate Thomas Curzon seems to be spying on and arresting people who protest the awful conditions they must endure; his vicious bodyguard, Whittaker, does the dirty work. Busy with well-paid jobs of recovering stolen property from people like Charlotte Winter, a hocus girl who drugs men and steals their valuables, Simon resolves to track down the spy who helps Curzon get people arrested on bogus charges. |

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THE WOMAN IN THE VEIL

A meaty, densely packed presentation of Tinseltown riven by potentially murderous factions on the brink of World War II.

Rowland, Laura Joh Crooked Lane (304 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-64385-241-6

SEALED OFF

A crime-scene photographer in Victorian London is drawn into the notorious case of the Sleeping Beauty.

A foggy evening finds narrator Sarah Bain (The Hangman’s Secret, 2019, etc.), along with her friend and business partner, Lord Hugh Staunton, and her assistant, young Mick O’Reilly, a former street urchin, in Shadwell prowling the dangerous banks of the Thames, looking for sensational images to sell to the Daily World. And the group makes a sensational find: a naked female body looking like a mermaid who’s washed ashore. Even while they argue about how to proceed, they realize that the corpse is actually alive. Sarah sets out to discover the identity of the mystery woman, who’s soon dubbed Sleeping Beauty. Hugh, meanwhile, struggles in his closeted romance with aristocratic Tristan Mariner, who’s unable to deal with the “sinful” nature of their relationship. Sarah gets able assistance from her fiance, DS Barrett. As the Daily World milks the story of Sleeping Beauty, who remains in a coma, people come out of the woodwork to claim her as a beloved relative. Dapper, condescending Belgian August Legrand claims she’s his wife, Jenny; prim widow Mrs. Oliphant thinks she’s her stepdaughter, Peggy; and eerily composed waif Venetia Napier believes the Sleeping Beauty is her mother. An additional burden comes in the person of Sarah’s sister, Sally, who insists that they work to remove the cloud over their father, who disappeared after being implicated in a high-profile murder. Sarah goes to extremes to solve the case and protect her friends.

Strong in character and plot, Rowland’s fourth Victorian mystery consistently appeals even when it veers into a motley muddle.

Ross, Barbara Kensington (256 pp.) $7.99 paper | Dec. 31, 2019 978-1-4967-1795-5 A tiny Maine island provides the setting for a modern-day murder and a puzzle from the past.

Julia Snowden’s family runs a clambake business whose profits rely on the tourist trade. The season is almost over when handsome lobsterman Jason Caraway causes bad feelings by flirting madly with single mom Emmy Bailey, one of the servers, much to the chagrin of Pru Caraway, Jason’s ex-wife, who also works at the Snowden Family Clambake Company. Also involved in this combustible brew is Terry Durand, the elder brother of Julia’s boyfriend, Chris, who’s recently been released from prison. Meanwhile, Julia is deeply immersed in the renovation of Windsholme, her family’s abandoned mansion, which hasn’t been used since 1929. The contractor is starting demolition on the third floor so that elderly family member Marguerite Morrow can make one last visit before the house is irrevocably changed forever. Julia notices that Jason seems to know one of the Russian immigrants on the demolition crew. The tour discloses a walled-off room still containing furniture, clothes, and a journal dating back to the late 1800s. Then Jason and Terry get into a fistfight that makes Terry the police’s top suspect when Julia finds Jason with his head bashed in—though they’re also interested in the missing Dmitri, whose excellent English made him the natural spokesperson for the Russians. Jason was hiding many secrets, some of which will prove dangerous for Julia as she continues her sleuthing in the past and present. Even though Julia has previous experience with murder (Steamed Open, 2018, etc.), the police are ambivalent about accommodating her attempts to prove Terry innocent. Her whole family, meantime, is fascinated by the mystery of who lived in the walled-off room and hopes the journal will provide the answers.

The beautiful landscape of coastal Maine adds local color to two intriguing mysteries.

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TROUBLE IN MIND

Wiley, Michael Severn House (224 pp.) $28.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7278-8981-2

Noir specialist Wiley (Monument Valley, 2017, etc.) auditions yet another hero with an apparently crippling pair of twists: Getting shot in the head has left him with disinhibition and autotopagnosia.

Three years ago, Sam Kelson, of the Chicago PD narcotics squad, went undercover to nail a teenage distributor called Bicho. All the doomy feelings Kelson and his CPD partner, Greg Toselli, shared with each other in advance turned out to be right on the money, and when the attempted bust ends, Bicho, ne Alejandro Rodriguez, has been shot dead |

The best of what science fiction can be: a thought-provoking, heart-rending story about the choices that define our lives. the vanished birds

science fiction and fantasy LADY HOTSPUR

Gratton, Tessa Tor (592 pp.) $29.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7653-9249-7

A reluctant prince is forced to choose among friendship, love, and duty in this epic fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I. Set in the same world as Gratton’s earlier Shakespeare fantasy retelling, The Queens of Innis Lear (2018), this new novel is set in the neighboring nation of Aremoria. Shakespeare’s histories are perfectly suited for epic fantasy, what with all the battles and political intrigue, but this homage is also gender-flipped. Prince Hal is a woman, as are her “Lady Knight” friends and her mother, Queen Celeda.

The titular Lady Hotspur is a brilliant soldier and commander, and she helps Celeda overthrow the king in the opening chapter.

Hal and Hotspur’s friend Banna Mora, the heir to the deposed king, is forced to give her title of “prince” to the new heir, Hal. |

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Hal is uncomfortable with her position of authority and buries herself in partying and her intense romance with Hotspur. Banna Mora secretly plans to take back the throne, eventually teaming up with the prince of Innis Lear. Due to some thorny political issues familiar to anyone who knows the play (or just Googles it) and Hal’s refusal of any princely responsibility, Hotspur eventually comes to side with Banna Mora against Hal, whom she still loves. A few references to the previous novel aside, this book isn’t a sequel, nor does it have the same problems as its predecessor.

The strange, magical culture of Innis Lear works much better alongside the more practical culture of Aremoria. Readers turned off by flowery, lyrical writing should look elsewhere, but Gratton maintains a dreamy tone that suits the story nicely. What’s more, she writes in conversation with the bard instead of just copying him, using the play as a starting point for a tale about love, family, and creating space for your own story.

Not for everyone but an impressive feat.

THE VANISHED BIRDS

Jimenez, Simon Del Rey (400 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-593-12898-5

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and Kelson nearly so. Pulled back from the brink by his partner’s timely aid, Kelson hangs out his shingle as a private eye who sometimes can’t recognize his own body parts, still haunted by the question of who shot first, he or the kid. A distraction arrives in the person of Trina Felbanks, a hot-looking woman who wants Kelson to stop her brother, pharmacist Christian Felbanks, from dealing his product to lowlifes. The distraction factor here turns out to be monumental: When Kelson goes to the Lakewood Pharmacy, Raima Minhas, the druggist on duty, tells him that Felbanks isn’t in, and when he goes to Felbanks’ home, he finds him shot dead, with the police about to storm the place and arrest Kelson for his murder. It’s a setup, of course, and although Kelson’s soon out on the street, things only get worse when his client turns out to be (duh) an imposter and Raima Minhas is found fatally overdosed in Kelson’s bed. Clearly, someone’s out to get him good. Who is the nemesis the client, who keeps popping up to warn Kelson that more trouble is on the way, calls Mengele?

The Chicago woods are so full of lowlifes that Kelson hardly knows where to begin looking. Working with an improbable team that includes ex-cop DeMarcus Rodman and Francisca Cabon, Bicho’s girlfriend, he wades through a growing pile of corpses to a climactic revelation savvy readers will have seen coming.

The hero, whose memorably disinhibited dialogue merely exaggerates the qualities of many another hardboiled shamuses, deserves a stronger case.

In this gorgeous debut novel, love becomes a force that can shatter space and time.

We first see Nia Imani through the eyes of someone she is always leaving behind: Kaeda, a boy growing up on a backwater planet visited once every 15 years by offworlders who come to collect its harvests. Nia is the captain of a fasterthan-light ship that travels through Pocket Space. While Kaeda lives a decade and a half, Nia spends just a few months traveling between various resource-producing worlds like his, shipping goods for the powerful Umbai Company. It’s not until a mysterious boy falls out of the sky on Kaeda’s planet that Nia begins to form a connection she’s not willing to walk away from. The boy doesn’t talk, but he’s drawn to music, particularly a traditional workers’ song from Kaeda’s world: Take my day, but give me the night. Kaeda teaches the boy to play the flute, and the music speaks to Nia. But there’s something else about the boy, something that draws the attention of Fumiko Nakajima, the woman who designed the massive space stations that anchor this corporate-controlled empire. Something dangerous. Something that could change the universe. Spanning a thousand years, this sweeping novel takes the reader from the drowned cities of Old Earth to the vast reaches of Umbai corporate space but always anchors itself in human connection. Even characters whose lives are glimpsed only in passing, as waypoints along Nia’s time-skipping journeys, are fully realized and achingly alive on the page. This powerful, suspenseful story asks us to consider what we’d sacrifice for progress—or for the ones we love.

The best of what science fiction can be: a thought-provoking, heart-rending story about the choices that define our lives. science fiction & fantasy

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COME TUMBLING DOWN

inhabits Jack’s still-living flesh, thanks to a coerced body-swap instigated by Jill’s vampire master. This state of affairs is distressing for two main reasons: 1. Jack has obsessive-compulsive disorder, which manifests in a pathological fear of being dirty, physically and mentally, and can’t be comfortable in Jill’s mass-murdering body, and 2. The resurrected can’t become vampires, so Jill plans to use her sister’s more vital body for that purpose. Accompanied by her twice-resurrected lover, Alexis, and several students, Jack goes home to her beloved world of the Moors, a blood-tinged and gothically gloomy mashup of Stoker, Shelley, and Lovecraft, to confront her narcissistic, body-stealing twin while her schoolmates must dodge the Moors’ deadly traps and haunting temptations. McGuire (Middlegame, 2019, etc.) specializes in lending equal richness to her worldbuilding and her characterizations; these are real people dumped into fantastical situations. In this novel, she examines the thin line separating heroes from monsters—and then blurs that line completely. As in the other series installments, she also argues that one’s real or perceived flaws can prove to be a source of strength despite, or even because of, the pain they cause to oneself and others.

Grotesque, haunting, lovely.

McGuire, Seanan Tor (208 pp.) $19.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7653-9931-1

The ghoulishly dysfunctional Wolcott twins—mad scientist Jack and her sister, Jill, who aspires to be a vampire— return for the fifth Wayward Children novel (In an Absent Dream, 2019, etc.).

Through a door etched by lightning, Jack reappears at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, a refuge for those children who found a portal to one of many magical worlds but couldn’t cope when they wound up back on Earth again. Jack isn’t quite who she was when she first left; she’s presently stuck in the resurrected body of Jill, whom Jack had previously killed in order to put an end to Jill’s targeted slaughter campaign at the school. Meanwhile, Jill’s mind

THE BEST OF UNCANNY

Ed. by Thomas, Lynne M. & Thomas, Michael Damian Subterranean Press (688 pp.) $40.00 | Dec. 31, 2019 978-1-59606-918-3 This shelf-bending collection of 44 stories and poems from Uncanny Maga­ zine’s first five years highlights not only the publication’s consistent quality, but also the impressive diversity of voices and thematic profundity it showcases.

Many of the selections are powered by brass-knuckle social commentary. Sam J. Miller’s paranormal-nuanced “The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History” is set in an alternate New York City on June 28, 1969, the night of the Stonewall Riots, when a police raid of a gay night club sparked an uprising and became the catalyst for the gay rights movement, and which also happened to be “the first public demonstration of the supernatural phenomenon that would later be called by names as diverse as collective pyrokinesis, group magic, communal energy...liberation flame, and hellfire.” Constructed from oral interviews with witnesses to the bloody conflict, the story explores the tensions of the time and brilliantly conveys a complexity of emotions, from unbridled rage to despair to love. The last few words will stay with you: “I believe joy is the only thing stronger than sadness.” Delilah S. Dawson’s “Catcall” is another story with impressive impact, about a young woman named Maria who experiences misogyny on a daily basis. After facing countless assaults—from a predatory father at a babysitting gig to a sexist jock in high school—Maria finally decides that she has 44

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Fresh, funny, clever, and deeply satisfying. love lettering

had enough and becomes a vehicle for karmic retribution. Hao Jingfang’s Folding Beijing (translated by Ken Liu), which won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette, is a conceptually breathtaking science fiction tale that follows Lao Dao, a worker at a waste processing center, as he explores the mysteries of a megacity with three separate Spaces that fold in upon themselves and share the same geographic area in every 48-hour cycle. Featuring standout stories by N.K. Jemisin, Seanan McGuire, and Catherynne M. Valente, among others, there are no weak links in this transcendent anthology.

A deliciously diverse sampler of speculative-fiction bonbons, created by some of the most talented literary confectioners on the planet.

wonderfully unique, and their romance carves a sweet, winding, and sexy path to self-acceptance and mutual affirmation.

Fresh, funny, clever, and deeply satisfying.

THE VANISHING

Krentz, Jayne Ann Berkley (304 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-9848-0643-7

r om a n c e LOVE LETTERING

Clayborn, Kate Kensington (320 pp.) $15.95 paper | Dec. 31, 2019 978-1-4967-2517-2 A quirky romance between a New York City woman famous for her lovely hand-lettering and the Wall Street mathematician who discovers the secret messages she embeds in her work.

Meg, an Instagram-famous handletterer and calligrapher, couldn’t resist embedding a hidden code in the wedding program of society bride Avery and her handsome but taciturn groom, Reid. When the wedding is cancelled, Reid, a quantitative analyst who discovered Meg’s message (“M-I-S-T-A-K-E”), seeks her out. Reid knows the breakup was for the best, but it brings home how lost and out of place he feels in New York. For her part, Meg has been experiencing artist’s block as she prepares to compete for a contract with a major retail chain to feature her work in their stationery line. She invites Reid to walk the streets of the city with her, looking for meaning in the words and letters around them. As their romance heats up, Reid has to contend with some major conflict at work, and Meg is coping with the demands of a new celebrity client and the increasing distance of her best friend and roommate, Sibby. Clayborn’s (Best of Luck, 2018, etc.) depiction of the artistry of hand-lettering and the worlds that letters open up for Meg is fascinating. Letters and signs organize Meg’s experience: “L-I-K-E, after all, is a word I’ve been turning over and over a lot in my head over these last two weeks, trying to absorb it into my being, trying to keep it from becoming something else.” Meg’s dry observations are hilarious (her drink is a “defibrillator in a cup”), and even readers familiar with New York will see the city in a new light, through its signs and symbols. Reid and Meg are |

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Two women who witnessed a murder in their hometown as teens are suddenly targets of an unknown enemy. As the danger rises, a mysterious investigator with ties to an organization devoted to the paranormal steps in to help.

Catalina Lark and Olivia LeClair were 16 when they were exploring the caves around the tiny Pacific Northwest town of Fogg Lake. Fifteen years before, an incident in the caves had led to a large percentage of the population’s showing paranormal abilities. Fogg Lake residents became extremely wary of strangers, and the town’s children were “raised with a degree of caution that bordered on paranoia.” That watchfulness may have saved the girls’ lives the night they witnessed a murder in the caves. Years later, Catalina and Olivia have left home to start a private investigation agency in Seattle, and while they don’t advertise their psychic talents, they do use them in their cases. Then Olivia mysteriously disappears. Catalina is just beginning to search for her when Slater Arganbright arrives in the city. Catalina once worked with Slater’s uncle, Victor, the head of an “enterprise dedicated to paranormal research,” but it ended badly, so she’s not thrilled to meet his nephew. However as the two gather information, it begins to look like Olivia’s disappearance is connected to the murder the women witnessed as teens and may be tied to a frightening plot to weaponize paranormal power. Saving Olivia will depend on Catalina’s and Slater’s talents, and working together makes them realize what great partners they are. Krentz (Untouchable, 2019, etc.) shows her wizardry for worldbuilding and once again incorporates paranormal elements, which will thrill fans.

A smart, creative series start from a romance master who always entertains.

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THE COST OF HONOR

Muñoz Stewart, Diana Sourcebooks Casablanca (352 pp.) $7.99 paper | Nov. 26, 2019 978-1-4926-7422-1 The lone man in a covert sisterhood of vigilantes nearly drowns in the waters of Dominica only to be rescued by a beautiful entrepreneur with secrets of her own.

The third installment of Muñoz Stewart’s (The Price of Grace, 2019, etc.) romantic suspense series about a secret society of highly trained heroes called the League of Warrior Women picks up exactly where the second left off, which may confuse new readers. Tony Parish had an abusive and violent childhood until his adoption into a league of global justice warriors gave him a family and a purpose. But when he broke the strict family code to save a life, he was forced to fake his own death and flee to the lush, mountainous Caribbean island of Dominica. There, he meets Honor Silva, a local businesswoman with her own family mysteries to untangle. With money inherited from her movie star mother, Honor and her grandfather run “Loco for Cocoa,” a cocoa farm, lodge, and agro-touring business. In a familiar plot device, an outrageously high offer to buy the property is followed by a series of “accidents.” Tony uses his special set of skills to help Honor get to the bottom of the mystery while trying to evade capture and punishment by the League. To make room for a large cast of characters and Tony’s and Honor’s parallel suspense plots, the novel shortchanges the romance, telling rather than showing: “She’s never felt this way about a man.

She’d thought it was a myth, this type of attraction—the kind that drove away doubt and common sense.” Typical of the series, graphic violence and explicit sex punctuate talky scenes about the meaning of family, loyalty, and justice.

A solid romantic suspense novel in a series that should be read in order.

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nonfiction WE OWN THE FUTURE Democratic Socialism― American Style

These titles earned the Kirkus Star: AND IN THE VIENNA WOODS THE TREES REMAIN

by Elisabeth Åsbrink; trans. by Saskia Vogel...................................... 49

Ed. by Aronoff, Kate & Dreier, Peter & Kazin, Michael The New Press (256 pp.) $17.99 paper | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-62-097521-3

LORD OF ALL THE DEAD by Javier Cercas; trans. by Anne McLean.........................................................................50 THE PASSION ECONOMY by Adam Davidson..................................52 ONE LONG RIVER OF SONG by Brian Doyle....................................54 A BOOKSHOP IN BERLIN by Françoise Frenkel; trans. by Stephanie Smee.......................................................................56 UNFINISHED BUSINESS by Vivian Gornick.................................... 57 LAND OF TEARS by Robert Harms..................................................... 57 ELECTION MELTDOWN by Richard L. Hasen................................... 57 BUSTED IN NEW YORK AND OTHER ESSAYS

by Darryl Pinckney.............................................................................. 66 SIDNEY LUMET by Maura Spiegel......................................................70 HOW YIDDISH CHANGED AMERICA AND HOW AMERICA CHANGED YIDDISH ed. by Ilan Stavans & Josh Lambert................ 71 UNCANNY VALLEY by Anna Wiener.................................................. 73 BETWEEN TWO FIRES by Joshua Yaffa.............................................74 BETWEEN TWO FIRES Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia

Yaffa, Joshua Tim Duggan Books/ Crown (384 pp.) $28.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-52-476059-5

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NOTRE-DAME by Ken Follett..............................................................56

A collection of unique perspectives on democratic socialism.

Aronoff (co-author: A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal, 2019), Dreier (Politics/Occidental Coll.; The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame, 2012, etc.) and Kazin (History/Georgetown Univ.; War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914-1918, 2017, etc.) deliver a chorus of intellectual voices who describe their vision for democratic socialism systems in the U.S. as well as assessments of inevitable roadblocks. The editors’ introductory essays offer a crash course in the history of the socialist movement, particularly its incremental resurgence from the federal programs of the 1930s through the social activist movements of the 21st century. As they warn, the mechanics of socialism in other countries offer lessons but not necessarily blueprints. They also address how the “hidden rules of race and racism” must first be overcome before any kind of economic justice can be realized. Each piece is thoughtful and regimented and includes a usable plan of action. Economist Darrick Hamilton hypothesizes a three-part playbook of policies to remediate our unjust financial system while historian Thomas Sugrue proposes a restructuring of the housing and transit markets to create more livable urban and rural spaces. Naomi Klein discusses how enacting the Green New Deal would prioritize and confront the issue of climate change head-on. Social justice advocate Dorothy Roberts addresses the comprehensive impact of universal health care, and journalist Michelle Chen examines the advantages of open borders. The contributors also survey education, sports, election systems, reproductive justice, and the arts. Sensible and convincing, the book takes on the country’s current “troubled plutocracy” and proposes ways “to build a kinder, more humane, and altogether freer society.” Even for those not inclined to agree with its core objective, the book challenges and motivates readers to act and appeal for “daunting but not impossible” changes.

A book of inspired opinion certain to provoke spirited political debate and proactive discussions.

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six to seek out in november Leah Overstreet

Every month, there are at least 20 books that I would feel comfortable recommending to friends and family, depending on preferred subject matter. In the spirit of the recently awarded Kirkus Prizes, which feature 6 finalists in each category, here are my top 6 choices for November (no, I can’t choose a winner), in alphabetical order by author, which cover a nice variety of subjects and styles.

Essays One by Lydia Davis (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Nov. 12). In the first installment of a two-volume set, a master of the short story collects essays on writing and, especially, translating. From Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka to John Ashbery and Thomas Pynchon, Davis provides “lively essays bound to stimulate debate among readers of global literature,” according to our reviewer.

Dictionary of the Undoing

by John Freeman (Hachette, Nov. 5). As the executive editor of Literary Hub and founder of his eponymous literary journal, Freeman has always demonstrated a fierce passion and discerning eye when it comes to literature and language. Here, he expresses his palpable anger about our current political and cultural landscape, arguing that “we need to take the one tool being vandalized before our very eyes—language—and reclaim it, and redefine what it means to be an ethical citizen in the present moment.” From A to Z, he examines the words that he feels are most potent for our time, offering what our review calls “exuberant and inspiring clarion calls for activism.”

Time Is Tight: My Life Note

by Note by Booker T. Jones (Little, Brown, Nov. 1). In a longawaited memoir, the iconic Stax musician and composer takes us behind the scenes of the music-making process. The author explores not just Booker T. & The MG’s and other associated 48

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acts, but also the many struggles he has faced as a black musician in the South. It’s a pleasing treat for fans of the genre; Kirkus’ review calls it “a thoughtful autobiography that takes in not just the tunes, but the times that produced them.”

Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises by Jodie Adams Kirshner (St. Martin’s, Nov. 19).

This well-documented study of income inequality and bankruptcy in Detroit serves as a natural companion to Matthew Desmond’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Evicted. As our reviewer wrote in a starred review, “Kirshner is masterful at explaining the predatory banking and insurance industry practices that have led to impoverishment across the entire city (except for the white establishment downtown), the heartlessness of white politicians (mostly Republicans) who seemingly operate from racist viewpoints, a judicial system that offers little justice for the poor, and bankruptcy law, which was never meant to be applied to city governments.”

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate (Little, Brown, Nov. 5).

Slate is a creator and performer of many talents. In addition to her improv work and appearances on a variety of TV shows and films (her character on Parks & Recreation is hilarious), she is the creator of Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and, now, a quirky book of memoiristic vignettes that are not only funny, but also frequently poignant—and always slightly skewed. Little Weirds is, well, weird, but in the most delightful way. Our reviewer calls her “a uniquely talented writer and performer [offering] an unexpectedly uncommon approach to autobiographical writing.”

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Nov. 12). The New York Times columnist and author of Shrill is pissed off—and rightfully so.

In her second book, she takes aim at Donald Trump and the poisonous social and political atmosphere he fosters as well as countless other malignant strains of misogyny, racism, and social injustice. It’s the perfect book for our time, says our reviewer—a “satirical, raw, and unapologetically real” set of hard-hitting, no-nonsense pieces in which the author “delivers the bittersweet truths on contemporary living.” —E.L. Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor. |

Top-notch microcosmic World War II history and an excellent illustration of the immense power of the written word. and in the vienna woods the trees remain

AND IN THE VIENNA WOODS THE TREES REMAIN The Heartbreaking True Story of a Family Torn Apart by War

BETTER DAYS WILL COME AGAIN The Life of Arthur Briggs, Jazz Genius of Harlem, Paris, and a Nazi Prison Camp

Atria, Travis Chicago Review Press (336 pp.) $27.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-914090-10-6

Åsbrink, Elisabeth Trans. by Vogel, Saskia Other Press (320 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-59051-917-2

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Swedish journalist Åsbrink (1947: Where Now Begins, 2018, etc.) offers new information about the founder of IKEA’s Nazi ties, but that is secondary to the engrossing tale of a young Jew in Sweden during World War II. At first rejecting Otto Ullmann’s daughter’s request to write his story, the author found it as compelling as readers will. Eva Ullmann gave her an IKEA box filled with letters from Otto’s parents dating from 1939, when the 13-year-old was one of 100 children sent to Sweden. The program that enabled him to escape was part of the Swedish Israel Mission, led by Birger Pernow, a pastor who was devoted to converting the Jews and felt that his child relief program would be effective. The plan was to bring 100 children whose parents had good reputations.

Otto embarked on Feb. 1, 1939, on the train to Sweden. At first, he and 21 children were taken to a children’s home in Tollarp, and it would be years before he was finally sent out as a farm hand and found friendship. The author then introduces IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, who grew up the son of a wealthy farmer whose family had immigrated some years before. Otto and Ingvar met and became friends even as Ingvar participated in Nazi causes. Åsbrink expertly exposes Sweden’s tendency toward Nazism at the time, with geographical proximity as well as threats pushing the inclination. Her book, she writes is “an account of Sweden before the country became a ‘good’ one.”

Ingvar’s grandmother and father were both devoted Nazis and were thrilled when Hitler took over their former home in the Sudetenland. Meanwhile, Otto was a lost young boy trying to survive and learn a new language. His only support and encouragement came in the form of the more than 500 letters from his family, which the author seamlessly weaves into the narrative.

Just as important were the letters they received (now lost) from their son, knowing he was safe.

Top-notch microcosmic World War II history and an excellent illustration of the immense power of the written word.

The authorized biography of Jazz Age trumpeter Arthur Briggs, who spent four of his prime years in a German concentration camp.

Granted access to Briggs’ personal details thanks to his only daughter, Atria (co-author: Traveling Soul: The Life of Curtis Mayfield, 2016) fashions a sympathetic look at this thoroughly upright musician, who chose to ply his art in Europe rather than America largely because of the racism and segregation that prevailed at the time. In that regard, he was joined by many others who crossed his path in the 1920s, such as Josephine Baker.

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Born in Grenada in 1901—his birth date is often listed as 1899 because he lied about it in order to join the military—and thus a British citizen, Briggs received training in classical music at a young age. In 1917, he moved to New York to join his sister, arriving just in time for the explosion of the Harlem Renaissance. During World War I, he joined the Harlem Hellfighters reserve band, under the mentorship of James Reese Europe, and toured Europe with the Southern Syncopated Orchestra, led by Will Marion Cook. These were his legendary mentors along with jazz clarinetist Sidney Bechet, a lifelong friend. Due to his strong work ethic, Briggs was often the organizer of his own groups—e.g., the popular Savoy Syncops Orchestra and others that included Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli.

Many of these bands were popular in Paris and elsewhere, even in Egypt—until the war, when Briggs chose, to his detriment, not to return to America. After trying to hide when the Nazis occupied Paris, he was arrested in October 1940 as “an enemy of the Reich.” As Atria reports in his readable, straightforward narrative, performing for the prisoners and the Nazi guards kept him sane during his imprisonment.

A clear picture of an extraordinary life of resilience, talent, and determination. (43 b/w photos)

THE AGE OF INTOXICATION Origins of the Global Drug Trade Breen, Benjamin Univ. of Pennsylvania (304 pp.) $34.95 | Jan. 3, 2020 978-0-8122-5178-4

Everybody must get stoned: That’s the great lesson of history, driven home by this elucidating survey.

According to Breen (History/Univ. of California, Santa Cruz), the quest for drugs has been a constant of human history, propelling the rise of empires in the modern era. By “drug,” he adds by way of qualification, the author includes a wide variety of substances both recreational and medicinal, some of them quite dubious: “Eating the powdered flesh of an Egyptian mummy may cure the plague….Possessing an enemy’s toenail clippings may allow you to kill them.”

Between-the-lines reading offers intriguing possibilities: It’s not hard to liken the doings of the Portuguese Empire, by far the most effective of all drug-seeking powers, and the British Empire that overtook it as rival drug cartels. What is certain, argues Breen, is that the Portuguese “spent much of their first decades in the Americas stumbling in the dark, trying and usually failing to make sense of the hallucinogens, poisons, stimulants, and remedies that surrounded them.” Apply science to a recreational substance, and you often get medicine, from CBD oil to morphine, with the “pristine sterility of the pharmacy” replacing the dusty shelves of the antiquarian; apply it to a remedy, as with quinine, and you get a lucrative patent, giving rise to the modern pharmaceutical industry. All reason enough to chase after drugs, a bewildering variety of which marched into 50

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European markets following the Columbian exchange: Samuel Johnson’s dictionary includes definitions for many of these novelties, including agaric (“a drug of use in physick, and the dying trade”) and nepenthe (“a drug that drives away all pains”). Breen makes a fine case for his title, which he suggests is more appropriate than the Age of Reason—and for reasons good and true.

A provocative examination of the history of exploration as a quest for new and improved ways to change our minds. (35 illustrations)

LORD OF ALL THE DEAD A Nonfiction Novel Cercas, Javier Trans. by McLean, Anne Knopf (288 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-525-52090-0

A notable Spanish writer haunted by his family’s allegiances during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) manages to achieve a magnificent reconciliation.

Having addressed the war in previous works of both fiction and nonfiction, Cercas (The Blind Spot: An Essay on the Novel, 2018, etc.) wrestles in this “nonfiction novel” with a persistent obsession: the short life and “glorious death” of a revered member of his family, his great-uncle Manuel Mena, who died at age 19 as an enthusiastic Falangist (the foe of the Republicans) in the Battle of the Ebro in 1938. Mena had been adored by the author’s mother, who lived in the tiny village of Ibahernando in Extremadura. She had been relocated as a young bride to live in Catalonia, and the family had effectively buried Mena’s name.

Shame runs at the heart of this story, as the tragedy of the civil war created terrible fissures between Francisco Franco’s loyalists and the Republicans in the tiniest towns of Spain, including the socially stratified village of Ibahernando. Indeed, Cercas had been haunted and obsessed by the shame of his family’s Francoist loyalties his entire life, and he vowed never to write about Mena, although his mother—a kind of long-suffering Beckett-ian character waiting her whole life for a return to the lost glory of her family’s past—hoped he would. Visiting the village and carefully enticing some of the skittish elders who had lived through the war to speak with him, the author clearly illustrates the deep divisions that plagued Spanish society during that tumultuous period. Cercas is a marvelous writer, and his character studies of the elusive Mena are masterly. Ultimately, grappling with the enormously nuanced, continuing story of sacrifice, passion, and dishonor allowed for significant forgiveness and release.

A beautiful, moving story that must have been extremely difficult for the author to write. Thankfully for readers, he persisted. (13 illustrations)

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THE CONTACT PARADOX Challenging Our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Cooper, Keith Bloomsbury Sigma (288 pp.) $28.00 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-4729-6042-9

An overview of the search for intelligence on distant planets.

In his first book, Cooper, science writer and editor of Astronomy Now, emphasizes that the universe teems with extrasolar planets, but evidence of life remains out of reach, to the frustration of almost everyone, including scientists working at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, which has been looking for more than 50 years. The sci-fi trope of the evil alien has largely fallen out of fashion. From the hit movie ET to Congress, which killed SETI funding in 1993, almost everyone

today agrees that intelligence on distant planets is worth searching for. Traveling the world, Cooper chronicles his interviews with scientists and scholars who discuss how to do it and what we might find, if anything. Throughout, the author is free with his own opinions, and there is no shortage of surprises, the first of which is the chapter on altruism. Why should extraterrestrial visitors have benign intentions? “Our present beliefs about alien civilizations are built on the basis of taking the best parts of our humanity and extrapolating them into the future,” writes Cooper. “It’s an easy trap to fall into.” He reminds readers of the disastrous history of human explorers who encountered strange cultures. Do smart aliens even exist? Experts can’t decide if—like an elephant’s trunk or giraffe’s neck—intelligence is a chance byproduct of evolution or a regular feature such as eyes, limbs, or wings. Cooper recounts the debate between “rare Earth” experts who believe we may be unique with those who disagree, but it remains an area of pure (and frustrating) speculation. Discussions on technical aspects of searching contain more satisfying answers. Provided distant aliens possess transmitters an order of magnitude more powerful than ours, today’s

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Fine inspiration for entrepreneurs that should be required reading in any business school curriculum. the passion economy

THE PASSION ECONOMY The New Rules for Thriving in the Twenty-First Century

receivers can detect the signal. Sending an actual message—as opposed to a mere signal—requires vastly more power.

“Are we alone in the universe?” has no answer yet, but Cooper delivers an enlightening exploration of the question.

UNCOUNTED The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America Daniels, Gilda R. New York Univ. (272 pp.) $30.00 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-1-4798-6235-1

A law professor examines the persistent measures that still hinder citizens of color and the elderly from voting in America.

There is a sad sense of history’s repeating itself in this focused, hard-hitting, and highly relevant work, which moves from the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, which effectively tore down hindrances to voting in the South, to today’s newly erected voter suppression tools by the states. How could this happen? The culprit, as Daniels (Univ. of Baltimore School of Law) delineates, was the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder decision, in which “the Court found part of the [VRA] unconstitutional and removed protections from a majority of the South.” Hence, where the VRA had abolished literacy tests and poll taxes and provided voter registrars in “recalcitrant jurisdictions throughout the South,” new restrictions have been implemented in certain counties and states across the country. These include the early closing of polling places, the introduction of new voter ID laws (on Latinx voters especially), voter intimidation and deception, and the purging of voters from rolls (usually because a person hadn’t voted in the past). Daniels sees these efforts as Republican measures to suppress the opposition—i.e., burgeoning minority communities that often vote Democrat. As she notes, “while whites enjoy overrepresentation at the ballot box, minority communities are younger and growing faster than white communities.” The author examines each of these factors in specific chapters with an eye toward the legal ramifications, but she also offers plenty of useful real-world examples. She humanizes this dreary depiction by illustrating the case of her grandmother, who grew up in rural Louisiana and lived through the restrictions to voting during the Jim Crow era; today, she still faces restrictions because she could not produce a birth certificate.

An accessible human story of a longtime history of voter suppression.

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Davidson, Adam Knopf (336 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-38-535352-6

Financial journalist Davidson explores the new economy of pursuing one’s dreams instead of plodding through a thankless career.

Do what you love, and the money will follow. Davidson, a New Yorker staff writer and creator of NPR’s Planet Money podcast, takes that idea and runs with it, his book predicated on the thrilling idea that a new economy is right around the corner, one in which “our work lives and our deepest passions can merge, happily, in ways that make us better off financially and personally.” Think of a place like a certain well-known fast-food chain, one that makes it “immediately clear that you are not in a place of joy,” a place where workers are replaceable and know it. Then contrast that with someone with a rare skill set, someone who, as with one of his examples, took training as a naval aviator and retail consultant and turned that into a delicious, much-sought-after candy bar, successful even though the candy giants had a lock on the distribution chain. Another example is a woman who grew up around the people who, with callused hands and dirty boots, did the hard work of harvesting grapes, and she converted her in-depth knowledge into a marketing business positioning wines before discerning audiences of drinkers. There’s a new paradigm at work here, one that defies the old laws of supply and demand and that instead posits that price, for instance, is one of those things that a customer understands is a token of “the benefits they hope to receive: benefits based on very specialized knowledge.” Technology and interlocked global markets bring this specialized knowledge to the world in ways that could only have been dreamed of in the past.

Davidson’s case studies are excellent, but the heart of the book is a set of rules worthy of committing to memory—e.g., “Pursue intimacy at scale”; “Know what business you’re in, and it’s probably not what you think.”

Fine inspiration for entrepreneurs that should be required reading in any business school curriculum. (first printing of 150,000)

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HOW WE LEARN Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine...For Now

Dehaene, Stanislas Viking (352 pp.) $28.00 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-0-525-55988-7

Computers learn, but they will not hold a candle to humans for the foreseeable future, according to this expert overview of learning.

Dehaene (Cognitive Psychology/Collège de France (Con­ sciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts, 2014, etc.) emphasizes that a fly can learn and that a newborn’s brain contains a great deal of information thanks to several billion years of evolution. Unfortunately, he writes, “evolution adapts each organism to its ecological niche, but it does so at an appallingly slow rate.” However, “the ability to learn… acts much faster; it can change behavior within the span of a

few minutes, which is the very quintessence of learning.” Never mind our opposable thumb, upright posture, fire, tools, or language; it is education that enabled humans to conquer the world.

“We are not simply Homo Sapiens, but Homo docens—the species that teaches itself,” writes the author. Short-term memory of a literate person is almost double that of someone who has never attended school. IQ (a supposedly fixed concept) increases several points for each additional year of education. In the first of the book’s occasionally dense but mostly accessible sections, Dehaene defines learning as simply forming an internal model of the outside world. In the second, he describes how learning occurs. A computer leaves the assembly line as a blank slate, but a newborn’s brain already possesses circuits enabling it to generate abstract formulas and the ability to choose wisely from those formulas according to their plausibility. The third section defines “four pillars of learning” that make our brain the most effective learning device. “Attention” carefully selects relevant signals. “Active engagement” (i.e., curiosity) generates hypotheses. “Error feedback” corrects the mental model when the world violates our expectations. Finally, “consolidation,” which

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This brilliant compendium of spiritual musings will resonate with people of any faith—or of none. one long river of song

ONE LONG RIVER OF SONG Notes on Wonder for the Spiritual and Nonspiritual Alike

involves sleep as a key component, transfers knowledge to longterm memory, freeing neural circuits for further learning. The best educators, whether parents or teachers, follow these principles, and the author urges their general adoption.

Dehaene’s fourth insightful exploration of neuroscience will pay dividends for attentive readers.

Doyle, Brian Little, Brown (272 pp.) $27.00 | Dec. 3, 2019 978-0-316-49289-8

HOW TO BE A DICTATOR The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century Dikötter, Frank Bloomsbury (304 pp.) $28.00 | Dec. 3, 2019 978-1-63557-379-4

Comparative study of eight dictators, plumbing the connections between their ruthless political narratives and their fluctuating popular appeal.

Samuel Johnson Prize winner Dikötter (Chair, Humanities/ Univ. of Hong Kong; The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History, 1962-1976, 2016, etc.) writes with academic rigor and awareness that these megalomaniacal figures continue to inspire fascination relevant to politically volatile times—see Putin, Erdoğan, and others. “Throughout the twentieth century,” writes the author, “hundreds of millions of people cheered their own dictators, even as they were herded down the road to serfdom.”

Dikötter moves from the most notorious dictators—Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Kim Il-sung—to the less well-known, including Haiti’s Duvalier, Romania’s Ceausesçu, and Ethiopia’s Mengistu. Mussolini established the fascist autocrat archetype almost accidentally, consolidating power with a spike in statesanctioned violence. He received sustained popular acclaim while seeking a “self-sufficient economy” to prepare for war until his calamitous alliance with one-time protégé Hitler. Of the quintessential dictator, the author writes, “when Hitler had given his first political speech at a beer hall in Munich, few could have predicted his rise to power….He enjoyed a bohemian lifestyle, reading widely and pursuing his passion for opera and architecture.” While he was a master manipulator of his political circle, he channeled his popular appeal into “a costly war of attrition.” Following a chronicle of the devastation of World War II—and a similarly compelling examination of the ruthless Stalin—the author examines the politically complex and socially brutal reigns of Mao and Kim. “As Kim’s word became absolute the epithets used to describe him became ever more extravagant,” and “his cult extended to his family.” While Dikötter focuses broadly on the biographies of each dictator (and their crucial sycophant enablers), each chapter establishes a firm sense of time and place, capturing the palpable dread these figures established within their societies.

An approachable discussion of a brand of political menace that seems both faded into history and oddly relevant.

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A posthumous collection of stunning mystical prose from the award-winning

author and editor.

Doyle (1956-2017) was well known as the longtime editor of Portland Magazine, but he also published multiple novels (Chicago, 2016, etc.) and numerous volumes of short stories, “proems” (hybrids of prose and poems), and essays. Though his nonfiction appeared in many renowned publications, including the New York Times, the Atlantic, and Harper’s, he had a cultlike following for his lesser-known writing on spirituality.

After Doyle was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor in late 2016, David James Duncan, a friend, novelist, and essayist, proposed this collection to benefit Doyle’s family. While the book may prove to be of financial value to his survivors, the richest beneficiaries will undoubtedly be those who read it. Doyle’s spirituality defies categorization. He was raised Catholic and does occasionally draw from that tradition, but his catechism isn’t comprised of doctrine or theology. Rather, much like Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, Doyle employs the ordinary to catch the reflection of a world that is “still stuffed with astonishments beyond our wildest imagining, which is humbling, and lovely, and maybe the only way we are going to survive ourselves and let everything else alive survive us too.” The author looks for God not in a book or a building but in a group of kindergarteners, at the post office, in a doll with one arm. Doyle’s mysticism is similar to spiritual writers like Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen, but his prose is informal, instantly relatable, and quite often delightfully unorthodox—e.g., “I am standing in the hospital watching babies emerge from my wife like a circus act.”

Though each topic spans at most a few pages, Doyle’s prose is so expansive and dripping with visceral detail that even the briefest vignettes are often a wondrous adventure.

This brilliant compendium of spiritual musings will resonate with people of any faith—or of none.

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SUFFRAGE Women’s Long Battle for the Vote

THE THIRD RAINBOW GIRL The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia

DuBois, Ellen Carol Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 25, 2020 978-1-5011-6516-0

Eisenberg, Emma Copley Hachette (336 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-0-316-44923-6

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A former resident of Appalachia reconsiders its unsolved “Rainbow Murders” in a genre-straddling debut that blends true crime and memoir.

Eisenberg tells two interwoven stories that span three decades in heavily forested Pocahontas County, West Virginia.

The first—and by far the more interesting—story centers on the unsolved 1980 murders of two young women whose bodies turned up in a clearing after they were shot while hitchhiking to a festival known as the Rainbow Gathering. Alarming rumors quickly spread about local farmer Jacob Beard, who went to prison for the Rainbow Murders 13 years later. Then

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Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which finally recognized women as participants in democracy, historian DuBois (History/UCLA; co-author: Through Women’s Eyes: An American History With Documents, 2018, etc.) offers a lively, deeply researched history of the struggle for suffrage.

From 1848, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott convened a women’s meeting in Seneca Falls, New York, to Aug. 26, 1920, the official date of ratification, the political and social climate of the nation changed, as did the suffragists’ leadership, membership, and strategies. “The Declaration of Sentiments,” issued at Seneca Falls, modeled after the Declaration of Independence, attested to women’s “social and religious degradation” and deprivation of legal, civil, and economic rights. Nearly 30 years later, at the nation’s centennial celebration, Susan B. Anthony, Stanton, and Matilda Joslyn Gage, representing the National Women’s Suffrage Association, issued an even stronger statement, the “Declaration of the Rights of the Women of the United States,” enumerating the “Articles of Impeachment,” the major injustices—such as the right of trial by a jury of one’s peers—resulting from disenfranchisement.

By 1876, suffragists had been so thwarted in achieving a constitutional amendment that they decided to work state by state, succeeding first in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah; by 1911 in Nevada and Arizona; and by 1914 in Oregon and Montana. In 1917, Montana voters made Jeannette Rankin the first woman seated in Congress. DuBois animates her well-populated history with vivid portraits: Victoria Woodhull, “the most scandalous, disruptive, and transformative figure to enter the suffrage ranks”; “society queen” Alva Belmont, whose largesse funded much suffrage work in the early 1900s; beautiful young pacifist Inez Milholland Boissevain, whose death, at age 30, elevated her to martyrdom; and the defiant Alice Paul, whose prison hunger strike brought wide attention to the suffragists’ tenacious fight against virulent opposition from “conservative clergy, stubborn congressmen, nasty newspaper coverage, and the many women who feared venturing beyond their homes.”

An authoritative, brisk, and sharply drawn history. (40 b/w images)

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Fans of Follett and cathedrals alike will enjoy his exploration of the great Parisian edifice—and will want more. notre -dame

Charlie Rose and 60 Minutes II, having heard that serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin had confessed to the crimes, started poking around, and a judge granted a new trial for Beard, whom a jury found not guilty. Alleging police misconduct and malicious prosecution, Beard sued and was awarded nearly $2 million.

Eisenberg learned of the murders while working for an anti-poverty program in the area after graduating from college, and she reconstructs the case with a brisk pace and a keen sensitivity to a Gordian knot of kinship and other ties that posed challenges for the police and suspects alike. The author’s compelling second story is, in effect, a memoir of her coming-of-age in Pocahontas County, involving bluegrass parties, lots of alcohol, and sex with an inapt partner. “I told him I was queer and that my most recent relationship had been with a woman,” she writes.

“That’s cool, he said.” Several themes link the true-crime and memoir sections—including how we distinguish lies from the truth—and a related set piece explores the stereotypes of Appalachians as either “noble and stalwart” mountaineers or “profligate” and “amusing” hillbillies. With access to Beard and other key figures, Eisenberg avoids both perils and offers a nuanced portrait of a crime and its decadeslong effects.

A promising young author reappraises a notorious double murder—and her life. (maps; photos)

NOTRE-DAME A Short History of the Meaning of Cathedrals

Follett, Ken Viking (80 pp.) $17.00 | Oct. 29, 2019 978-1-984880-25-3

A survey of the storied history of Notre-Dame Cathedral, a victim of a devastating fire in April 2019.

Follett (Edge of Eternity, 2014, etc.) knows a thing or two about medieval cathedrals, having structured his Kingsbridge series around the building of one such architectural wonder. It’s for that reason that when NotreDame, the jewel at the heart of Paris, caught fire, the media flocked to the author for commentary. He began informally, he relates here, tweeting to friends and followers that it’s not hard for a gigantic tower of stone to catch fire: “The rafters consist of hundreds of tons of wood, old and very dry. When that burns the roof collapses, then the falling debris destroys the vaulted ceiling, which also falls and destroys the mighty stone pillars that are holding the whole thing up.” Though badly damaged, the cathedral’s pillars held up, and French President Emmanuel Macron has promised that the damage will be repaired within five years. Follett casts some doubt on that optimistic timetable while noting, “it is always unwise to underestimate the French.”

In this slender essay, he connects the events of 2019 to the building of Notre-Dame over a century, beginning in 1163. It was, he writes, the equivalent of a space launch today, benefiting whole segments of the society and economy and yielding tremendous technological advances. However, he writes, “when you add up 56

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all the pragmatic reasons, they’re not quite enough to explain why we did it.” Indeed, generations of builders would die before the cathedral was finished in 1345, yet they threw themselves into the godly work. The proceeds from this book, which touches on such things as Victor Hugo’s novelistic celebration of Notre-Dame and Charles De Gaulle’s celebrated Te Deum there on the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation, are being earmarked for the restoration, another space launch–worthy mustering of our better angels.

Fans of Follett and cathedrals alike will enjoy his exploration of the great Parisian edifice—and will want more.

A BOOKSHOP IN BERLIN The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman’s Harrowing Escape From the Nazis

Frenkel, Françoise Trans. by Smee, Stephanie Atria (288 pp.) $26.00 | Dec. 3, 2019 978-1-50-119984-4

The potent story of a Jewish woman who fled, hid, endured imprisonment and debasement, and eventually escaped to Switzerland in June 1943.

In a republished volume that has enduring relevance, Frenkel (1889-1975), who originally produced her long-forgotten and recently rediscovered work in 1945 (original title: No Place To Lay One’s Head), chronicles her life before and after the Nazis rose in Germany and invaded France. As the new title suggests, she was a bookshop owner. She tells about her early love for books and her decision to go into the business—and to locate that business in Berlin, where she found no shops specializing in French literature (her love). When the Nazi oppressions grew more severe in Germany, she returned to France, where conditions were tolerable—at least for a while. Then she was forced to hide with sympathetic gentile friends, but she soon realized France was no longer safe, so she resolved to escape to Switzerland. She was apprehended in the process and spent time in custody before, miraculously, a judge freed her after a brief trial. A bit later, she made a second attempt to cross the border and succeeded despite gunfire and a near recapture. Frenkel, who originally wrote the book not long after her escape, is a fine writer: detailed, emotional, and careful about giving her readers sufficient information to keep the tension taut and not overwhelm.

The current edition features some useful additions, including a chronology and a “dossier,” a compilation of some research to validate what the author wrote, as well as a preface by French novelist and Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano. Pictures, photocopies, and translations of documents comprise nearly 30 pages of engaging and relevant backmatter.

A compelling account of crushing oppression, those who sought to flee it, and those who, at great risk, offered help. |

UNFINISHED BUSINESS Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader

Gornick, Vivian Farrar, Straus and Giroux (176 pp.) $25.00 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-0-374-28215-8

LAND OF TEARS The Exploration and Exploitation of Equatorial Africa Harms, Robert Basic (544 pp.) $35.00 | Dec. 3, 2019 978-0-46-502863-4

Fresh interpretation of the 19th-century race to colonize the interior of subSaharan Africa. |

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Gornick’s (The Old Woman and the City, 2016) ferocious but principled intelligence emanates from each of the essays in this distinctive collection.

Rereading texts, and comparing her most recent perceptions against those of the past, is the linchpin of the book, with the author revisiting such celebrated novels as D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers, Colette’s The Vagabond, Marguerite Duras’ The Lover, and Elizabeth Bowen’s The House in Paris. Gornick also explores the history and changing face of Jewish American fiction as expressions of “the other.” The author reads more deeply and keenly than most, with perceptions amplified by the perspective of her 84 years. Though she was an avatar of “personal journalism” and a former staff writer for the Village Voice—a publication that “had a muckraking bent which made its writers…sound as if they were routinely holding a gun to society’s head”—here, Gornick mostly subordinates her politics to the power of literature, to the books that have always been her intimates, old friends to whom she could turn time and again. “I read ever and only to feel the power of Life with a capital L,” she writes; it shows. The author believes that for those willing to relinquish treasured but outmoded interpretations, rereading over a span of decades can be a journey, sometimes unsettling, toward richer meanings of books that are touchstones of one’s life. As always, Gornick reveals as much about herself as about the writers whose works she explores; particularly arresting are her essays on Lawrence and on Natalia Ginzburg. Some may feel she has a tendency to overdramatize, but none will question her intellectual honesty. It is reflected throughout, perhaps nowhere so vividly as in a vignette involving a stay in Israel, where, try as she might, Gornick could not get past the “appalling tribalism of the culture.”

Literature knows few champions as ardent and insightful—or as uncompromising—as Gornick, which is to readers’ good fortune.

As Harms (History and African Studies/Yale Univ.; Africa in Global History With Sources, 2018, etc.) writes, the Congo Basin rainforest was long isolated, difficult to access, and lacking welldeveloped trade routes. This changed in the 19th century, when exploration on the part of explorers like Richard Francis Burton and David Livingstone was met by the arrival, in the eastern interior, of Arab and Swahili traders who took slaves and ivory to the Zanzibar coast—and then, with the assistance of Henry Morton Stanley, that of the forces of the king of Belgium, whose colonization of the Congo was among the most brutal of any in human history. The last aspect has been well documented in works such as Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost, but Harms contributes significantly to the literature by explaining how these various intrusions were linked and fueled each other—and more, how Belgian colonization inspired further intrusions by other European powers. Livingstone, for example, had been traveling with those very Arab ivory and slave traders for years while the Italian-born explorer Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza pressed French claims along the Congo, helping the cause by mounting awe-inspiring fireworks shows for the local chiefs and their followers, after which he would “threaten to call war down upon them if they did not cooperate.” The stratagem was effective. The intruders, writes the author, soon became something more. They “were no longer explorers but were state builders,” states that did not have the benefit of being built with the consultation of the native peoples. Those peoples suffered and died in the spice plantations on the Indian Ocean coast, in mines, and on rubber plantations deep in the forest even as Stanley, an architect of genocide, enjoyed a funeral service in Westminster Abbey and the Zanzibari slave trader Tippu Tip became the wealthiest man in the land save for the sultan.

An exemplary work of history and a somber account of a colonial enterprise that has crippled Africa to this day. (11 maps; 25 b/w illustrations)

ELECTION MELTDOWN Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy

Hasen, Richard L. Yale Univ. (208 pp.) $27.50 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-0-30-024819-7

A hard-hitting critique of the American election process as timely as it is frightening.

In a slim, cogently argued analysis, legal scholar Hasen (Law and Political Science/Univ. of California, Irvine; The Justice of Con­ tradictions: Anthony Scalia and the Politics of Disruption, 2018, etc.) points to four dangers threatening the voting process in 2020 and beyond: “voter suppression, pockets of electoral incompetence, foreign and domestic dirty tricks,” and “a rising incendiary rhetoric about ‘stolen’ or ‘rigged’ elections.” Each of these problems causes voters to distrust the fairness and accuracy of elections—the basic tenet of democracy—and may provide fuel for kirkus.com

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A rousing, well-argued defense of global trade in a time of isolationist entrenchment. trade is not a four-letter word

Donald Trump in 2020 if he refuses to concede a close election by raising “unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.” As Michael Cohen remarked in February 2019, “given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020 that there will never be a peaceful transition of power.” That fear was so great before the 2016 election that the Barack Obama administration, assuming a Hillary Clinton victory, “came up with contingency plans,” calling for an oversight committee of congressional Republicans, former presidents, and former Cabinet-level officials to validate the election result. Hasen looks in depth at Republicans’ efforts to suppress voter registration and notes that as the 2020 election season began, “more states passed new laws aimed at curtailing voter registration drives in the face of high African American turnout.” Addressing the problem of technological disruptions of the voting process and manipulation of public opinion, the author urges members of the current administration to take seriously “cyberthreats to America’s power grid, critical infrastructure, and voting technology, and that they take defensive measures despite being led by a man who has proved himself more than willing to look the other way (at best) regarding Russian involvement in American elections, particularly when that involvement benefits him.” Overall, Hasen calls for “nonpartisan, professionalized election administration” and enhanced civics education about the nation’s vital “multifaceted plural democracy.”

Required reading for legislators and voters.

SEXUAL CITIZENS A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus Hirsch, Jennifer S. & Khan, Shamus Norton (448 pp.) $27.95 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-324-00170-6

A serious study of the causes of campus sexual assaults along with proposals for tackling this very real problem.

Hirsch (Sociomedical Sciences/Columbia Univ.; A Court­ ship After Marriage: Sexuality and Love in Mexican Transnational Families, 2003, etc.) and Khan (Chair, Sociology/Columbia Univ.; Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School, 2011, etc.) draw on the findings of the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation, a five-year research project of which Hirsch is co-director and chief investigator. In their academic analysis, these two scholars use a wide variety of specialized terminology, including “sexual projects,” “sexual citizenship,” and “sexual geographies,” concepts they explain at some length in the introduction. In a nutshell, the first concerns the reasons a person might seek sexual experiences, “citizenship” refers to a sense of right to sexual agency, and “geographies” to the social power of environments. As well as examining the causes of sexual assaults, the authors present numerous portraits of campus sexual experiences, consensual and nonconsensual, among Columbia undergraduates. These 58

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portraits are based on SHIFT’s extensive interviews with students, focus groups, and hours of observations, and they often include lengthy excerpts of the student’s remarks. In the concluding chapter, the authors offer ideas about improving sex education and creating campuses that support social cohesion and address issues of power, inequality, and mental health.

They also advocate taxing the pornography and liquor industries in order to support funding for sex education, and they explore the economic consequences of assault. “If preventing sexual assault’s emotional and social harms is insufficient to justify more attention to prevention,” they write, “we can also point to sexual assault’s vast economic impact”—in 2017, experts estimated “the economic cost of rape” at more than $3 trillion. The authors assert that their intended readership is parents and young people heading off to college, but their presentation of SHIFT’s findings and their discussion of methodologies seem more appropriate for an academic journal.

A broad encapsulation of a significant sociological study that will likely overwhelm general readers but should interest fellow scholars.

TRADE IS NOT A FOUR-LETTER WORD How Six Everyday Products Make the Case for Trade

Hochberg, Fred P. Avid Reader Press (320 pp.) $28.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-98-212736-7

Tariffs be damned: Global trade is a net good, and any consumer should be grateful for it.

Hochberg, former president of the Export-Import Bank, served as CEO of Lillian Vernon Corporation, the firm his mother founded “at our kitchen table.” In working there, he writes, he and his family were hot on the heels of Richard Nixon in opening up to China, where, though modernization had yet to hit in 1972, they offered products and materials that were unavailable or much more expensive in the West. Making China a modern villain in the trade wars is misguided, he argues. Granted that “with the largest workforce on the planet, massive state-owned enterprises, and a desire to dominate highvalue manufacturing sectors, it took very little time for China to become a formidable competitor for export business”; competition is what it’s all about. Hochberg surveys several products and categories to make his case: Everyone like tacos, after all, but the components of tacos alone reflect the interplay of trade, with parts coming from nearly every continent. Just so, many people would be lost without their smartphones, which are made from materials gathered in Africa, designed in the U.S. and Europe, and manufactured in China and other Asian nations. The author digs deeper: Consider that half a century ago, all 50 states found it necessary to pass “lemon laws” to protect consumers from badly made cars; now such things are objects of antiquity given that stiff global competition has made |

THE WRONG KIND OF WOMAN Dismantling the Gods of Hollywood

every automaker up its game. There are disincentives aplenty, on the other hand, for “nativizing” trade. One of Hochberg’s most pointed examples is the Foxconn plant that will open next year in Wisconsin through the largest subsidy (at about $4 billion) ever given to a firm and at the cost of seizing private property through eminent domain and breaking all sorts of environmental laws “in the hope that this Taiwanese company will prove to be a good bet.”

A rousing, well-argued defense of global trade in a time of isolationist entrenchment.

Jones, Naomi McDougall Beacon (256 pp.) $26.95 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-0-80-703345-6

GAY LIKE ME A Father Writes to His Son Jackson, Richie Harper/HarperCollins (160 pp.) $24.99 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-0-06-293977-7

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A father advises his son on their mutual homosexuality—the reasons to celebrate and the challenges they face— in a book that shows what has changed in recent decades and what hasn’t.

As his older son prepared to leave for college, TV producer Jackson wrote to him, “I am enthused for the flight ahead of you; I am apprehensive of the fight ahead of you.” The author was enthused because he attributes so much of what has enriched his life to his sexual orientation. He says that he would choose to be gay. He also knew early on that he would choose to be a father, and he clearly loves that his son can experience the same joy in his sexual identity as he has. However, he also fears that he and his husband have minimized the ongoing threat of homophobia in giving their son a safe and sheltered childhood. “You are leaving home and entering a riptide of hate,” writes Jackson, “and we taught you as a child never to swim directly into a riptide, always swim with it, parallel to where you want to be. Not so with this fierce current. Here you have to join the battle to fight just as I did. The only way to safe shore is forward.” Though the narrative only presents one side of the conversation, the author acknowledges that his son thinks being gay isn’t that big a deal and that the emphasis his father places on it is anachronistic in a time of pride marches, gay marriage, and legal advances. Jackson, however, sees abundant evidence of backsliding in the age of Trump, who, ironically, was an enthusiastic guest at the author’s wedding. “The grief, the dread, the fear, the carefulness, is my ball and chain,” writes Jackson. “It goes where I go.

You are not weighted down by any of this. It’s a history lesson for you.” He wants his son to internalize that history.

An easily digestible collection of lessons recommended for readers struggling with their sexual identities. (first printing of 50,000)

An investigation of how the maledominated film industry silences women’s stories.

Drawing on more than 100 hours of interviews and abundant studies and news articles, actress, writer, and producer Jones makes her book debut with a spirited critique of the film industry’s treatment of women at all levels. “I have lived and experienced the harassment, the casual dismissals, the closed doors, the patronizing head-pats, the blatant sexism, the indifference toward women in film for over a decade,” she writes, mounting compelling evidence that her experiences are widespread—and persist even after #MeToo, #OscarsSoWhite, and the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Fresh out of drama school, Jones knew she would have to spend a few years “furiously battling to get auditions” and working for little or no money in order to build a resume. She soon discovered that along with competition and disappointment, “sexual harassment, assault, and degradation make up the constant, thrumming, crushing backdrop of being an actress.” With men predominant as casting directors, agents, directors, and producers, she found that when trying out for a part, she was “being held up against a set of stereotypes of the type of women who are allowed to appear in films and on television” and “make sense to the creators and gatekeepers.” Frustrated as an actress, she faced gender discrimination, as well, as a film producer. Female film school graduates, argues the author, “have a far harder time than their male peers acquiring even the lowest-level entry jobs in the industry,” meaning less access to financial support and networking.

Women behind the camera, moreover, have “to fight to command the respect from typically majority-male crews.” Sexism directly affects film’s cultural impact: Since 95% of movies have been directed by white men, the images they perpetuate “have shaped everybody’s cinematic visual language,” turning women into the objects of male protagonists’ “actions, desires, and gaze[s].” Jones offers concrete suggestions for change within and outside of the industry, including by filmgoers who should “vote with your dollars.”

A bold, convincing call for new voices and perspectives in cinema.

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BUBBLE IN THE SUN The Florida Boom of the 1920s and How It Brought on the Great Depression Knowlton, Christopher Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $30.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-982128-37-1

A well-told history of the 1920s Florida land rush, the developers who fueled it, and an environmentalist who saw its dangers.

Writers like Erik Larson and Gary Krist have found a sturdy formula for enlivening history: Take a neglected or misunderstood era or incident, ferret out its colorful heroes and scoundrels, and show not just their successes or failures, but the social forces that shaped their lives. Former Fortune magazine London bureau chief Knowlton (Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West, 2017, etc.) uses the method to fine effect in his story of a land-buying frenzy that led one observer to note, “All of America’s gold rushes, all her oil booms, and all her free-land stampedes dwindled by comparison with the torrent of migration pouring into Florida.” The author begins with Henry Flagler (1830-1913), the patriarch of Florida resort development, but moves on quickly to the architects and developers who drove the 1920s rush, including Addison Mizner in Palm Beach, George Merrick in Coral Gables, and David Paul “D.P.” Davis in Tampa. Perhaps no man was more flamboyant or controversial than Carl Fisher, who dredged Biscayne Bay for the sand needed to build Miami Beach and whose razzle-dazzle publicity efforts fed the boom and its collapse, owing to factors that included rampant overleveraging and the hurricanes of 1926 and 1928.

Fisher had a small elephant who caddied for visiting President Warren G. Harding and hired black laborers who couldn’t live in his subdivisions: “The so-called Caucasian clause in the deeds prohibited anyone but a white person from buying a parcel of land on the island.” The writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas saw the injustices to blacks and the environmental risks of overdevelopment and later wrote the nature classic The Everglades: The River of Grass (1947). In an especially strong chapter, Knowlton argues cogently that while the collapse of the bubble alone didn’t cause the Great Depression, “the Sunshine State did provide both the dynamite and the detonator.”

A lucid account of the human and economic factors that drove a notorious land rush. (16 pages of b/w photos)

THE LIGHT THAT FAILED Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy

Krastev, Ivan & Holmes, Stephen Pegasus (256 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-64313-369-0

Two academics and policy experts bring considerable erudition to the conundrum of why anti-liberalism has gained currency since the fall of the Soviet Union, when the world seemed happy to see it go.

According to Krastev (After Europe, 2017, etc.), a fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, and Holmes (New York Univ. School of Law; The Quest for the Trinity: The Doctrine of God in Scripture, History and Modernity, 2012, etc.), once communism fell, the “radiant future” of Enlightenment democracy— encompassing a separation of powers, checks and balances, free elections, freedom of the press, and so on—seemed the sole alternative model. However, in chapters moving from Central and Eastern Europe through Russia and China, the authors show how imitating the “masters” created a groundswell of resentment and backlash. In Central Europe, Hungary and Poland were at first content to imitate the Western model.

Unfortunately, “Central and East European versions of liberalism had been indelibly tainted by two decades of rising social inequality, pervasive corruption, and the morally arbitrary distribution of private property into the hands of a few.” Krastev and Holmes succinctly explain why this brand of populism and nativism would ring familiar in Russia, China, and eventually in the United States under Donald Trump. The authors also cogently explore the anti-immigration hysteria that has continued to plague these countries. In Russia, the authors see a convulsion of “aggressive isolationism” at work in addition to an effective destabilizing revenge theory bent on revealing the mask of hypocrisy of the U.S., especially in foreign affairs.

Meanwhile, China, once an imitator of the Soviet Union, has ceased exporting its brand of Maoism and is reaping grandly the effects of centralized economic control.

An informative study that conveys a subtle but powerful argument for the attraction of anti-liberal populism.

TIGHTROPE Americans Reaching for Hope

Kristof, Nicholas D. & WuDunn, Sheryl Knopf (320 pp.) $27.95 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-525-65508-4

Pulitzer Prize winners Kristof and WuDunn (A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity, 2014, etc.) zero in on working-class woes and how to ease them.

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Useful ammunition for an argument on gun rights at the bar or dinner table. repeal the second amendment

REPEAL THE SECOND AMENDMENT The Case for a Safer America Lichtman, Allan J. St. Martin’s (336 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-1-25-024440-6

A thoroughgoing survey of that most troublesome of constitutional matters.

Recent court decisions, from the lower municipal to the highest in the land, have held the Second Amendment right of gun ownership to be sacrosanct, never mind that pesky “well-regulated militia” bit.

The National Rifle Association, for its part, has argued that the Second Amendment is the most important in the Bill of Rights, protecting all others. But, writes Lichtman (History/American Univ.; The Embattled Vote in America: From the Founding to the Present, 2018, etc.), Founding Father James Madison didn’t see it that way: He held instead that “the ‘essential rights’ are trial by jury and freedom of conscience, speech, and the press.” Past interpretation of the amendment did in fact connect it to the |

militia, subsequently replaced by the National Guard and therefore, in theory, rendered moot. Instead, as Lichtman enumerates in just one statistic, nearly 24,000 Americans die of gun suicide, something that rarely happens in other developed nations with strict firearms codes. As he notes, our constitutional right to keep arms is shared only with Guatemala, “whose gun murder rate is the third highest of some 195 countries worldwide”). The NRA was once a responsible hunters’ organization. Since the 1960s, not coincidentally the civil rights era, it has become a lobbying firm that protects arms manufacturers’ interests by battling any efforts at gun control—and not just here, but also in places such as Canada and Brazil, the latter of which “has by far the most firearms homicides and deaths of any country in the world.” As for Americans, we are far more likely to be murdered by gun than a resident of any of the G7 nations—more than 20 times per capita, in fact, adding Australia to those nations. What can be done? Short of repeal outright, Lichtman sensibly suggests strengthening background checks, limiting gun sales, and holding gun manufacturers legally accountable for the nefarious uses of their products.

Useful ammunition for an argument on gun rights at the bar or dinner table.

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With an earnest blend of shoe-leather reporting and advocacy for social justice, the married journalists send a clear message to anyone who wants to see working-class Americans prosper: Stop blaming them for making “bad choices” and for failing to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps.” While acknowledging the need for personal responsibility—and for aid from private charities—the authors make a forceful case that the penalties for missteps fall unequally on the rich and poor in spheres that include education, health care, employment, and the judicial system; to end the injustices, the government also must act. “After Harvey Weinstein was arrested for sexual assault following accusations by more than eighty women, he was freed on bail,” they write. “In contrast, a young adult caught smoking marijuana may be unable to afford bail and stuck indefinitely in jail, losing his job and, unable to make payments, perhaps his home and car as well.” In making their case, the authors describe what they saw in Kristof ’s hometown of Yamhill, Oregon, where the loss of well-paying union jobs and other upheavals have left a community in peril. Elsewhere, they find hope in initiatives such as the Remote Area Medical aid group, which offers free health care in Appalachia, and the Women in Recovery program in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which gives some offenders counseling instead of prison time, leading to lower recidivism rates. At times, the authors sound less like print journalists than like politicians (we’re wasting “America’s most important resource, its people”) or Oprah (“Ten Steps You Can Take in the Next Ten Minutes To Make a Difference”).

Whatever the tone, the book is enhanced by the more than two dozen black-and-white photographs by award-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario.

An ardent and timely case for taking a multipronged approach to ending working-class America’s long decline.

(40 b/w photos. First printing of 100,000)

HEART OF MALENESS An Exploration Liogier, Raphaël Trans. by Shugaar, Antony Other Press (112 pp.) $14.99 paper | Jan. 28, 2020 978-1-63542-993-0

A French philosopher and sociologist examines femininity as constructed by the dominant and destructive “Weinsteinian masculinity that still remains

dominant.”

Liogier, who teaches philosophy in Paris, reflects on how “archaic [masculinity has] focused on the mastery of the [female] other while blinding [itself] with the fantasy of the transcendence of the [male] self.” He writes from the perspective of a white male heterosexual disgusted by the actions of other white heterosexual men like Harvey Weinstein who is also aware of the misogyny embedded in how he has been “conditioned to view and desire women.” The global #MeToo movement, he writes, was not simply an example of the mobilizing power of the internet, but a historic groundswell that signaled recognition of a “transcendental subjectivity” that transformed women from objects of male desire to subjects demanding equality before the law. Liogier then deconstructs the myth of “Prince Charming.” Based on a 14th-century folktale about a princess raped in her sleep by a king, the myth suggests that rape is not only a “blessing,” but the means by which the princess is “enabled to awaken to her true life” as a woman. Such stories are only reflections of a capitalist Western culture in which females have been denied the enjoyment of their own corporeality. Women are valuable only for the wealth, power, and/or status they bring to men. Such modern developments as kirkus.com

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Jeanine Basinger

FROM SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN TO HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, THE FILM SCHOLAR SHARES HER LOVE OF THE GENRE IN THE MOVIE MUSICAL!

By Elisabeth Vincentelli Jay Fishback

The founder of Wesleyan University’s film studies department, Jeanine Basinger is used to watching lots of movies. But spending countless hours researching her new book, The Movie Musical! (Knopf, Nov. 5), was a particular pleasure. “These films mean a great deal to me; they’ve been such an important part of my life,” the scholar said of musicals. “And they can be watched over and over again in a way that a lot of other kinds of films can’t be.”

Unsurprisingly, Basinger is a font of knowledge about the musical’s golden years (roughly from the 1930s to the mid-1960s)—she is an expert on Hollywood’s studio system, which she analyzed in her 2007 book, The Star Machine. Her takes on more recent movies are equally illuminating, however, especially when she puts in context and praises unlikely favorites such as the Outkast musical Idlewild, then dismantles critical darlings (La La Land comes in for a drubbing). Basinger took a few minutes between screenings to answer questions about the book.

Why did the musical blossom in the United States, of all countries?

America had the filmmaking system that could afford to grind these things out. Each studio had under contract

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musicians, arrangers, composers, songwriters, orchestras— they could afford to do musicals. We also had this huge vaudeville system that had nurtured this kind of entertainment. But it really is the factory system of Hollywood that brought such a high level of art form to the movie musical.

In the book, you explain the differences between the various studios’ productions. Why do you think it’s the MGM style—epitomized by Meet Me in St. Louis, Singin’ in the Rain, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris—that has come to symbolize the classic Hollywood musical?

These were the movies that won the awards. MGM had the most prestige because it had the most money because it had the most stars. And it specifically signed a lot of musical stars. Musicals was their thing, whereas Warner Brothers, for instance, had the crime movie.

Why did musicals go into a tailspin in the late 1960s?

The musical is essentially a joyous creation, but America is sinking: You’re getting Vietnam, the understanding of the horror of our race attitude, and suddenly the musical seems trivial, old-fashioned. Plus, the studio system collapses. The old studios were factories and financed their own product. In the ’70s and ’80s, they finance outside.

It’s a case of the world changing, a business changing, and a genre having to reinvent itself. To do that it has to go through a process of trial and error all over again.

You’ve been teaching this genre for a long time. How do your students react to it?

I first taught a musicals class here [at Wesleyan] in 1971, and they were appalled at first, but they loved the films.

And they change over the decades. They hated [Vincentelli Minnelli’s] The Pirate, then they loved it, then they hated it, and now they love it again. I have never had, at any point, any class not fall absolutely in love with Fred

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Astaire. That’s the gold standard. Gene Kelly goes in and out of favor because his macho kind of persona can alienate people, but they respect the work. What I’ve learned as a programmer—we also run a theater on campus—is that the one movie you never worry about is Singin’ in the Rain.

That’s the musical for people who hate musicals. It’s also the musical for people who love musicals. And the musical for people who are totally indifferent [laughs]. It’s an infallible musical.

The book spends quality time on obscure performers like Lucille Bremer.

Bremer’s numbers with Fred Astaire in Ziegfeld Follies and Yolanda and the Thief are just exquisite. I referred to her as [MGM producer] Arthur Freed’s protégée—and we all know what that means—but the Freed unit’s people resented her because they really liked his wife. She was not in with that crowd, and I think it affected a lot of what went on in her career.

You also make a case for Francis Ford Coppola as an underrated director of musicals. Do you think he could have done for them what George Lucas did for science fiction?

I love that! If One From the Heart [from 1981] had worked and Coppola had been able to do what he wanted to do, that would have revolutionized the musical. He is a real thinker about cinema in a way that practically nobody else is. His musicals really reflect that, and they don’t get enough attention.

Elisabeth Vincentelli is a regular contributor to the New York Times and the New Yorker.

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INVISIBLE AMERICANS The Tragic Cost of Child Poverty Madrick, Jeff Knopf (256 pp.) $24.00 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-0-45-149418-4

An economics analyst proposes a simple solution to the complex problem of child poverty—give those children cash.

In the acknowledgements, Madrick (Seven Bad Ideas: How Mainstream Economists Have Damaged America and the World, 2014, etc.), a contributor to the New York Review of Books and the Nation, thanks his publisher for supporting his work in general and “this book in particular, whose subject is dense and not very accessible.” His approach, heavy on statistics and critique of policy in programs known by acronyms, seems intended more to influence policymakers, government officials, and liberal activists rather than tug at the heartstrings of the public at large. Yet he builds a strong case that child poverty in America is “moral tragedy,” with as many as 25% of American children suffering from such deprivation. He systematically traces the cycle, beginning with prenatal care (or lack thereof) and continuing through food and housing insecurities, economically segregated schools with substandard resources, and poor employment prospects. If our economic policies are keeping such a large percentage of children in such a cycle of poverty, why does society permit it? Because we don’t agree on the severity of the problem or where the poverty line should be set. We don’t agree on whose fault it is, often blaming the poor for bad habits, little initiative, and a tendency to have children they can’t support. In other words, the “culture of poverty,” which Madrick attacks forcefully, particularly in regard to the black community. “Ideological battles over the origins of poverty,” writes the author, “are not an abstraction—they have consequences for the poor, for policy and for a way that Americans understand who is to blame for poverty.” We have Social Security to help keep older citizens out of poverty; we need something similar for the young. “I believe,” writes Madrick, “we should provide monthly, substantial, and unconditional cash allowances for all children through disbursements to their families.”

A useful book that reveals what might be considered a secret shame but that is hiding in plain sight.

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Your unabashed enjoyment of the High School Musical franchise is just as impressive.

These are great musicals! They really have this wonderful energy. One of the things that’s so wonderful about the genre is that even in the dumbest musical, you can find a spectacular number.

the internet now allow females to not only express themselves en masse; they also permit women to undermine masculine control of their bodies as they pursue their own pleasure and self-empowerment. This new situation, writes the author, leaves heterosexual men forced to redefine their “ambitions as men, our fantasies as men, our behavior as men, our desires as men.” While Liogier’s work does not offer new insights into gender, it is still important for what it reveals about how modern gender movements have impacted the way respectful heterosexual men perceive themselves and their relationship to women.

A brief but thoughtful, topical read.

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A charming, informative, unique introduction to Western philosophy. how to teach philosophy to your dog

A COLLECTIVE BARGAIN Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy

McAlevey, Jane Ecco/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-06-290859-9

A battle cry for union rights in a time hostile to labor organizations.

Longtime union organizer McAlevey (Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell): My Decade Fighting for the Labor Movement, 2012) is nothing if not a tough talker; her first chapter closes with the provocative phrase, “As the Parkland youth say, I call bullshit.” The objection is to the prevailing narratives about unions and the causes of their decline—the notion, say, that unions are immaterial in an age of robotics and globalism or the charge that unions are racist, sexist, and corrupt. “Of course,” writes the author, “some unions are sexist for the same reasons that they are racist: union formation is a product of a sexist society.” She adds that women and people of color fare better economically with unions than without them. Even as she points out some inconvenient truths about certain elements of unions and the tactic of striking, she ably demonstrates how there is nothing quite like a strike to get the juices flowing, as when the 20,000 teachers of West Virginia recently went out on strike and, in the end, emerged with higher pay not just for themselves, but also for 14,000 nonteaching staff—and, still more, gave “the state police, roads workers, and everyone else on the state payroll a raise those workers could not have won because they did not strike.” Union busting is a big business, she writes, because unions are the capitalist’s greatest fear: Whole Foods may appear fresh and organic, but its methods in this regard would please John D. Rockefeller, and even the Democratic Party, she writes, has cast its lot with the enemies of their base: “When it comes to public education and teachers’ unions, Democrats don’t look much different from red-state Republicans.”

Tough talk for tough times and a welcome guide for labor activists.

in and around London’s verdant landscapes. Sauntering across Hampstead Heath, Primrose Hill, and along the Thames from Richmond to Strawberry Hill, the author responds to Monty’s “earnest, quizzical look” by explaining complex ideas—epistemology, nominalism, empiricism, free will, and many more—in clear, accessible terms and with concrete illustrations to which Monty can relate. Thinking about Kant’s rule-based ethics, for example, the author reminds Monty of the time he stole a cheesecake that lay temptingly on a coffee table. Kant would say, “before you steal the cheesecake, ask: would it be right to universalize that action?” If not, don’t do it. Unraveling difficult concepts of structuralist linguistics, McGowan explains that “the material part is called the signifier, and the mental component is the signified,” which combine to form the sign. “The word DOG is a sign made up of the letters D-O-G, and the idea of a dog.” When McGowan gives Monty a sausage, “the sausage is the signifier, the signified is ‘I love you.’ ” Socrates and Aristotle, Francis Bacon and René Descartes, Leibniz, Hume, Locke, John Stuart Mill, Wittgenstein, and Spinoza are among other philosophers featured in McGowan’s discussions, with cameo appearances by “mean, miserable, arrogant” Arthur Schopenhauer; the Franciscan monk William of Ockham; utilitarian Jeremy Bentham; and Thomas Hobbes, who “famously saw life in a state of nature as being a war of all against all.” Organized thematically, the chapters begin with a short recap of what the pair discussed on their last walk, which leads into topics that consider how we know right from wrong, how best to live in a community, how we know what we know, and how to live a good life.

A charming, informative, unique introduction to Western philosophy.

HOW TO TEACH PHILOSOPHY TO YOUR DOG Exploring the Big Questions in Life

McGowan, Anthony Pegasus (336 pp.) $25.95 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-64313-311-9

A Londoner and his canine companion consider thorny philosophical questions on their daily walks.

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IN THE LAND OF MEN A Memoir

Miller, Adrienne Ecco/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $28.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-0-06-268241-3

A former Esquire fiction editor recounts her time at the magazine and her working relationship and romance with David Foster Wallace.

Miller (The Coast of Akron, 2005) was 25 with three years’ experience in editorial assistant roles at GQ when her boss became editor-in-chief at Esquire in 1997 and hired her to be the latter’s fiction editor. During her tenure, which ended in 2006, she edited four stories by Wallace, “the fiction writer with whom I’d work the most frequently at the magazine.” For a time, they were a couple. In her debut memoir, Miller recounts her years at Esquire, her struggle to grapple with working for a men’s publication in which the “representation of women was problematic at best,” and her relationship with Wallace. Many passages movingly recount the sexism she endured, such as when, after she got the job, a male literary agent told her, “You don’t have any authority to do this job, you |

know”; or when she discovered that then-unknown Dave Eggers, an Esquire colleague, received twice her salary for similar work. Unfortunately, much of the narrative is unfocused and suffers from weak prose—e.g., “He obviously didn’t exactly hold me in terribly high regard”; “my grandfather, who had died six years before, was still dead.” Many passages read like lines from a romance novel: “His hand was firm, and soft, and warm”; “David promised he’d call. I hoped he’d call. I needed him to call.” Despite her focus on Wallace, we never get a satisfying sense of what made him a unique writer. For the most complete and insightful portrait of Wallace, readers should turn to D.T. Max’s Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story. Miller’s experience as a woman at a male-dominated magazine is unique, but her rendering is flawed.

A scattershot glimpse into the American magazine scene of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Park, Benjamin E. Liveright/Norton (320 pp.) $28.95 | Feb. 25, 2020 978-1-63149-486-4

Vigorous study of the early Mormon settlement in Illinois, linking its founding to a rising anti-democratic tradition.

Park (History/Sam Houston State Univ.; American Nation­ alisms: Imagining Union in the Age of Revolutions, 1783-1833, 2018, etc.) joins the history of Mormonism—a term used throughout the book but one that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seems to be distancing itself from—to that of Puritanism as a breakaway political movement whose members “believed the nation had forgotten its true purpose and was in need of a return to divine values.” In the case of the Mormons, that return involved a repudiation of the Constitution in favor of a document called the Council of Fifty, which “rejected America’s democratic system as a failed experiment and sought to replace it with a theocratic kingdom.” Thus the Kingdom of Nauvoo, on the Mississippi River, a place very different from the Utah in which the Mormons eventually took shelter. Persecuted by neighbors and officials for polygamy and sedition, the Mormon residents of Nauvoo—12,000 of them in 1844, by Park’s reckoning—also suffered internal divisions, including a famed disagreement between Mormon founder Joseph Smith and his wife Emma over what she regarded to be widespread sexual impropriety. As a force meant to clean society of its evils, the Mormons attracted plenty of like-minded converts, including a handful of African Americans and Native Americans who were definitively second-class citizens in the new order. Park allows that the Mormons had a point to make and that they were not alone in protesting a democracy that had witnessed much impropriety itself since the days of the Revolution, including “legal precedents based on the flimsiest of judicial decisions and |

A GAME OF BIRDS AND WOLVES The Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Game Helped Win World War II Parkin, Simon Little, Brown (320 pp.) $29.00 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-0-316-49209-6

A New Yorker contributing writer and Observer critic tells the story of how volunteers in the Women’s Royal Naval Service helped the British military win the battle against German U-boats during World War II. As Parkin (Death by Video Game: Danger, Pleasure, and Obses­ sion on the Virtual Frontline, 2016, etc.) shows, in 1940, the British navy was struggling badly. German U-boats had sunk more than 1,200 vessels and done more damage to British shipping than the German navy and Luftwaffe combined. Civilians were dying, as well, and with every ship lost, Britain had one less way to carry much-needed food and supplies back from the United States. To protect public morale and keep the Germany military in the dark, Winston Churchill imposed a blackout on all information regarding shipping losses from U-boats. Meanwhile, Gilbert Roberts, a former British naval officer forced into early retirement by tuberculosis, came up with an idea that, though initially dismissed by members of the British admiralty, eventually turned the tide of war against the Germans. Using a Battleship-style game to simulate lost sea battles, Roberts reasoned he could help naval officers to understand each situation “from all angles.” His assistants included a team of exceptionally gifted young women from the newly formed “Wrens” unit.

Using “string, chalk, great sheets of canvas [and] linoleum,” Roberts and the Wrens devised and tested countermaneuvers, including one dubbed “Raspberry,” which they taught to skeptical British naval officers. By the summer of 1942, Britain began seeing an increase in the number of U-boat sinkings, but the greatest victory came in 1943, when a convoy of British ships survived attacks by “wolfpacks” that included some of Germany’s most decorated U-boat commanders. With novelistic flair, Parkin transforms material gathered from research, interviews, and unpublished accounts into a highly readable book that celebrates the ingenuity of a British naval “reject” and the accomplishments of the formerly faceless women never officially rewarded for their contribution to the Allied defeat of Germany.

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KINGDOM OF NAUVOO The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier

political traditions established in the wake of corrupt electoral bargains.” The author effectively links the Mormon critique to other dissidents, including the states’ rights advocates who would lead the secessionist movement and modern-day dissidents who “flagrantly challenge the political and legal system” and reject the nation’s democratic precepts.

A welcome contribution to American religious and political history. (35 b/w illustrations)

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A deeply satisfying, beautifully crafted collection of work by a writer of uncommon excellence and humanity. busted in new york and other essays

INFORMATION HUNTERS When Librarians, Soldiers, and Spies Banded Together in World War II Europe

Peiss, Kathy Oxford Univ. (288 pp.) $34.95 | Jan. 2, 2020 978-0-19-094461-2

George Clooney gave Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter’s The Monuments Men (2009) the Hollywood treatment; will anyone do the same for this survey of librarians and scholars and their activities with print materials during World War II? Unlike the Monuments Men, Peiss’ (American History/ Univ. of Pennsylvania; Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style, 2011, etc.) subjects did not operate under the aegis of one organization or agency and had more diffuse charges, ranging from procuring books and periodicals from Europe for intelligence analysis during the war and later gathering enemy documents and books of all kinds as the Allies swept across Europe, to figuring out what to do with Nazi literature and caches of Jewish books both holy and secular after it. Perhaps as a result of this attempt to gather disparate figures and missions together under the rubric of “information hunters,” the author rarely goes deep, instead delivering a reasonably well-written but nevertheless unfocused account of wartime book-related activities. Some of the figures—most prominently the author’s uncle, Reuben Peiss, a librarian-turned-agent in Lisbon—recur, but far too many appear for a few pages and are never revisited.

Though Peiss makes copious use of her subjects’ letters, few of them emerge as distinct enough characters to carry their parts of the narrative. The dizzying occurrence of initialisms—R&A, IDC, CIOS, SHAEF, MFAA, LCM, etc.—serves to further distance readers from the events described. Some individual portions are fascinating. The discussion of postwar censorship’s role in the denazification of Germany has (sadly unacknowledged) echoes in today’s conversations about literature and culture, and Peiss movingly explores the dilemma of how to make restitution to a nearly annihilated people. Overall, however, the author shows herself to be a diligent historian but a poor storyteller.

Unlikely to become another George Clooney vehicle.

Deutschland, 2016, etc.), who once carried around James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son “as if it were a training manual,” examines the African American experience, past and present, from the deeply observant vantage point of a black, gay intellectual. The most compelling pieces illuminate events—e.g., the “shower” of self-help at the Million Man March and tensions on the streets of “sundown town” Ferguson, Missouri, where the author bonded with protesters after the police shooting of Michael Brown. Each is exquisitely detailed, set firmly in history, and filled with personal reflections, unfurling in the beguiling manner of longer pieces in the New York Review of Books, where much of this book first appeared. The title essay describes Pinckney’s arrest for smoking marijuana “in the dark of Sixth Street” in Manhattan. Writing with understanding and skepticism, he examines the centurieslong “surveillance” of black people, Soul on Ice at 50, the black upper class, and the first Obama inaugural in ways that meander pleasingly between distant and highly personal. The lives of his “NAACP faithful” parents are touchstones, as are the careers and works of Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and Ta-Nehisi Coates, all considered here. The author first traveled to Europe in 1971, at age 17, and returned to live in Berlin for several years in the 1980s to escape America and racism. Of the 2016 election and the resurgence of white supremacy, he writes: “I mind this happening when I am getting too old to run from it. Shit, do not hit the fan.” Other essays tell the story of blacks in Russia, explore the recent revival of Baldwin’s work, and celebrate the art of Aretha Franklin, whose songs remain a soundtrack in Pinckney’s life.

A deeply satisfying, beautifully crafted collection of work by a writer of uncommon excellence and humanity.

BUSTED IN NEW YORK AND OTHER ESSAYS

Pinckney, Darryl Farrar, Straus and Giroux (416 pp.) $30.00 | Nov. 12, 2019 978-0-37-411744-3 Fiercely intelligent essays, reportage, and reviews from the award-winning novelist and nonfiction writer.

In a generous gathering of 25 pieces published since 1995, Pinckney (Black 66

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EIGHT DAYS AT YALTA How Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin Shaped the Post-War World

Preston, Diana Atlantic Monthly (416 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-0-8021-4765-3

On the Yalta conference’s 75th anniversary, this insightful history recounts its enormous, if teeth-gnashing, accomplishments.

In her latest impressively researched volume, awardwinning historian Preston (A Higher Form of Killing: Six Weeks in World War I That Forever Changed the Nature of Warfare, 2015, etc.) emphasizes that the goal of the 1945 meeting was to decide the fate of Germany and the Eastern European nations liberated from Nazi domination. The author astutely points out that while Franklin Roosevelt was not necessarily a deep thinker, he was a master in the rough-and-tumble arena of American politics. He arrived at Yalta confident that he could handle Stalin better than Churchill. Many readers may be unaware that Churchill, despite his charisma and heroism early in the war, was extremely conservative, even for his conservative party. He |

SLAYING GOLIATH The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight To Save America’s Public Schools Ravitch, Diane Knopf (352 pp.) $27.95 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-0-52-565537-4

An urgent appeal to prevent the privatization of our public schools.

In her latest, education expert Ravitch (Education/New York Univ.; Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools, 2013, etc.) documents the failures of the “disrupters” of public education—those who wish to privatize the public system—and celebrates the work of grassroots activists resisting the push for charter schools and vouchers at the expense of the nation’s schools. “The purpose of public schools,” writes the author, “is to encourage students to think and act as citizens of a democratic society, prepared to do their part in making it better for everyone.” In addition to the curriculum, public schools teach “integrity, honesty, civility, industriousness, responsibility, and ethics.” Such schooling is undercut by poverty, inequality, and racial segregation as well as by the draining of financial resources away from public schools toward charter schools and vouchers for primarily religious schools. Throughout, Ravitch shows how the disrupters’ emphasis on standardized testing narrows the curriculum, encourages test preparation over instruction, and treats all students as if their needs are the same. The move to privatize public schools has been “funded by billionaires and financiers” who oppose “accountability and transparency.” This lack of accountability has led to numerous examples of financial corruption, all |

well documented by the author. Privatization, in Ravitch’s estimation, is wrong for any number of reasons—e.g., it involves public funds with private management; it promotes segregation (race, social class, religion, etc.); it takes away funding that rightly belongs to the public schools; it “is a direct assault on democracy” in that it is not answerable to elected school boards.

Furthermore, there is little or no evidence that charter schools or the voucher system have resulted in higher test scores. In response to this assault on public education, there have been successful grassroots struggles, many examples of which are chronicled by Ravitch.

A fervent defense of public education with abundant examples of how privatization has failed to deliver on its promises. (40 photos)

THE SUN AND HER STARS Salka Viertel and Hitler’s Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood

Rifkind, Donna Other Press (560 pp.) $30.00 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-1-59051-721-5

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refused to consider social programs as long as the war continued, a fact that contributed to his defeat in the 1945 election. His fierce opposition to independence for British colonies irritated the Americans as well as many in his own party. Stalin insisted that Eastern Europe must provide a barrier—i.e., friendly governments—between the Soviet Union and Germany. Since his armies already occupied the area, there was little the war-weary Allies could do except extract a promise to hold free elections; he duly promised and, within months, reneged. Almost everyone, Preston included, agrees that the two leaders betrayed Eastern Europe at Yalta. She adds that both genuinely wanted a democratic postwar Europe, but this took a back seat to their national priorities. Roosevelt’s main priority was persuading Stalin to join the war against Japan, which was proving brutally difficult. Like his hero, Woodrow Wilson, he yearned to create an international organization to enforce world peace. Stalin agreed to both, but at a price. Churchill aimed to preserve British influence. Stalin had no objection and threw him a bone by agreeing not to support Greek communist insurgents.

An expert account of an unedifying milestone at the dawn of the Cold War. (maps; illustrations)

Remembering a neglected woman of early Hollywood.

Journalist Rifkind begins her impressive biography of screenwriter Salka Viertel (1889-1978) with a question: How can so “large and estimable” a woman “been more or less forgotten in America”? The author hopes Salka (as she is referred to throughout) will provide a role model for a new generation of readers, especially women, currently experiencing the same kinds of geopolitical issues of human migration and anti-Semitism that Salka also suffered. Her early years in Austro-Hungary were privileged. She acted on stages throughout Europe, and her circle of friends included Franz Kafka and Max Brod. In 1928, with National Socialism on the rise, Salka and her filmmaker husband, Berthold, along with thousands of other refugees, fled to greater Los Angeles. They both worked with F.W. Murnau on film projects and befriended other immigrants like Bertolt Brecht, Arnold Schoenberg, and Ernst Lubitsch. Rifkind chronicles in meticulous detail Salka’s substantial career in a hostile Hollywood studio system that regularly ignored the contributions of women. She wrote screenplays for a number of films, most notably Queen Christina (1933), working closely with producer Irving Thalberg and the film’s star, Greta Garbo, who took Salka under her wing. Their relationship would become the “longest and most important… either of them would ever have in Hollywood.” Rifkind calls Salka a “connector of people.” Her legendary Sunday afternoon gatherings at her Santa Monica home on Mabery Street became an intellectual “place of shelter” for immigrants, including Sergei Eisenstein, Aldous Huxley, and Thomas Mann and Christopher Isherwood, two of Salka’s best friends. She helped refugees find jobs and places to stay, and she provided financial support.

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Ken Follett

THE NOVELIST BEHIND THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH EXAMINES A DAMAGED MONUMENT IN A WORK OF NONFICTION, NOTRE-DAME

By Gregory McNamee The Follett Office

On April 15, 2019, a fire broke out in the subroof of the storied Notre-Dame Cathedral in the heart of Paris, France. Perhaps caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette, perhaps by an electrical malfunction, it burned through the ancient timber supports, tinder-dry after centuries of use. “When that burns,” writes Welsh novelist Ken Follett in his new book, Notre-Dame: A Short History of the Meaning of Cathedrals (Viking, Oct. 29), “the roof collapses, then the falling debris destroys the vaulted ceiling, which also falls and destroys the mighty stone pillars that are holding the whole thing up.”

Fortunately, amazingly, the pillars held up. Follett, who immediately went across the Channel to Paris, did a number of interviews on the scene. Follett, of course, knows a thing or two about how such monumental buildings are constructed, having written a bestselling three-volume series, beginning with Pillars of the Earth, about the building of an English cathedral. So when his French publisher 68

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asked him to write a short book about the fire in order to raise funds for the cathedral’s restoration, he jumped to it. “It took me a week to write,” Follett tells Kirkus Reviews from his home in Hertfordshire, England. “It was written, so to speak, in the heat of the moment.”

It was a fitting match of book and writer, for Follett has been living and breathing cathedrals for decades, well before he began writing those novels—surprising readers, it should be remembered, who had been drawn to earlier books like his bestselling debut, the World War II thriller Eye of the Needle. “In the early 1970s,” Follett explains, “I was working as a journalist in London, and I was sent to a town up north called Peterborough. I no longer remember what story I phoned in, but I had an hour before my train to London left, and so I went to have a look at the cathedral there. That sparked my imagination. I got to thinking that I wanted to know why those things are where they are and how it is that they are still standing 800 and more years later.”

The answers lay, Follett discovered, not just in the places, but also with the people who built them “for somewhat mysterious and mystical reasons,” transcendental reasons that spanned several lifetimes. “At a minimum,” he says, “it took 30 years to build a cathedral.”

Notre-Dame took a century. As Follett writes, “It required hundreds of workers, and it cost a fortune. The modern equivalent would be a moon shot.”

When French President Emmanuel Macron declared that Notre-Dame would be completely restored in five years, in time for the 2024 Olympic Games, Follett expressed some skepticism—allowing, however, that “it is always unwise to underestimate the French.” In June of this year, Follett returned to Paris and was given a private tour of the damaged church, speaking at length with the architect in charge of the restoration, Philippe Ville-

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Gregory McNamee is a contributing editor. Notre-Dame is reviewed on p. 56.

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drew the attention of the FBI, which tapped her phones and read her mail. In 1953, Salka moved to Switzerland, where she wrote her memoir, The Kindness of Strangers.

An impassioned and revelatory biography occasionally hampered by excessive detail.

WILL

Self, Will Grove (272 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-80-212846-1 One of Britain’s most inspired writers employs his novelistic style in a chronicle of his addictions.

In this hybrid of memoir and novel— nominally nonfiction, although one wonders how a serious addict could recall so much—Self (Phone, 2017, etc.) offers a third-person, no-holdsbarred tale of his fascinating life. The author has always worn his influences on his sleeve, so his readers won’t be surprised by this heady stew of J.G. Ballard, Hunter S. Thompson, and Philip K. Dick. Much of the narrative falls somewhere between Tony O’Neill’s drug-fueled ultraviolence and the grungy milieu of the self-destructive, filth-covered addicts of Trainspotting.

Self ’s hallucinatory journey begins in 1986 with 24-year-old Will, with 57 pence to his name, idly pondering stealing painkillers from a chemist’s shop. The book jumps back and forth through the 1980s as Self gets higher and higher, even while studying at Oxford, “hardly ever breaking cover.” The amount and diversity of the drugs are staggering; consider this nod to Thompson: “multicoloured collection of uppers, downers, twisters and screamers…namely: ten blotters of acid, a half-ounce of Pakki black, four black bombers, twenty-odd amphetamine blues, a couple of Mogadons Mike’d nicked from his mum and a bottle of amyl nitrate.” The prose is consistently spectacular, but the narrative is oblique, portraying the author’s troubled youth in moments and flashes. The supporting characters, while presumably real, are mostly generic with the exceptions of Chloë, the love of Self ’s life, whom he ultimately abandoned before he could inevitably hurt her; and Caius, the spoiled junkie who accompanied Self on many of his (mis)adventures. Despite the author’s inevitable trip to rehab, this is no redemption song.

From London to Marrakesh to India to Australia and back, Self delivers a hallucinatory, confessional version of his life devoid of melancholy and, mostly, regret.

Addiction memoirs are ubiquitous, but a tale of addiction and consequences by the singular Self earns its shock and awe.

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neuve, who has been working on plans around the clock since mid-April. One problem is replacing the ancient old-growth timbers with modern trees. “It may be lightweight steel or even plastic that holds the new roof up,” says Follett. “It will be above the ceiling and not visible, so in a sense it doesn’t really matter.” Still, he notes, some of the other ideas that have been floated for the restoration are not consonant with the spirit of the medieval church—including a proposal to put a swimming pool on the new roof.

In any event, Follett says, the fire has had wide-ranging effects. “It’s safe to say, I think, that every single cathedral in Europe is now under scrutiny for fire danger.

Of course, Notre-Dame had a fire suppression system, but when the alarm rang, no one knew how to respond.

This means either that the system was bad or the staff was untrained.”

There have been other developments since the fire, including theories about its cause, but Follett doesn’t plan to revise the book to take them into account. “It was important to have this book done quickly,” he says.

Asked whether he’ll be returning to the medieval-era historical novels of his series, he demurs: “I’m not really supposed to talk about it just now. I’m going to the Frankfurt Book Fair next week, and there we’ll reveal the new book.” Whatever that is, Follett’s long publishing record suggests that it will find plenty of interested readers. For the moment, those who hold Notre-Dame Cathedral dear in their hearts will want to read his homage to that remarkable structure.

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A likely definitive exploration of the director’s distinguished career—of great interest to budding filmmakers and film enthusiasts. sidney lumet

THIS BRILLIANT DARKNESS A Book of Strangers Sharlet, Jeff Photos by the author Norton (320 pp.) $30.00 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-1-32-400320-5

Isolated lives shine from dark landscapes.

After his father suffered a heart attack in 2014, journalist Sharlet (English and Creative Writing/Dartmouth Coll.; Radiant Truths: Essential Dispatches, Reports, Confessions, and Other Essays on American Belief, 2014, etc.) traveled from his home on the Vermont/New Hampshire border to his father’s home in Schenectady, usually at night. “It seemed easier,” he writes, “the steep twisting road more likely to belong to me alone; the radio, when I could find a station, less clogged with news and yet more alive with voices. Night shift voices” that revealed “other people’s nightmares and dreams, projected onto the black night-glass of the car windows.” When he stopped for gas, food, or just to rest, he took snapshots, which he posted on Instagram along with moving narratives about the people he met during those interludes. Travels to Los Angeles, Nairobi, Russia, and Ireland yielded additional portraits of vulnerable “night shift voices,” individuals “around whom the veil of the world is very thin.” One of the longer pieces focuses on 61-year-old Mary Mazur, a disabled woman whose closest companion is a potted plant, which she carries with her when she forays out of her motel room, near midnight, to buy a Thanksgiving turkey. A mother at 19, her three children were taken from her around 1982, when she herself entered the social services system. Now, lonely and wheelchair-bound, she exclaims, “I’m not like everybody else!” Neither is Jared Miller, a “sweet soul” who started abusing drugs in the military and died of an overdose six months after Sharlet met him; or Charley Keunang, a homeless man in his 40s, killed by a police officer who claimed he reached for a gun—a claim contradicted by body-cam footage. Charley immigrated to the U.S. from Cameroon hoping to be an actor, got involved in a robbery, served 14 years in federal prison, and ended up on skid row. Gentle, dignified, and respectful, Charley was “one black life that mattered, no more or less than any other.”

An intimate, poignant look at life at the margins of society. (116 photos in color and b/w)

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SIDNEY LUMET A Life

Spiegel, Maura St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $29.99 | Dec. 10, 2019 978-1-250-03015-3

A well-grounded biography of the American director’s expansive career.

Throughout a prolific career, Sidney Lumet (1924-2011) emerged as one of the most acclaimed directors of his time, recognized for his accomplishments in theater, TV, and, especially, film (Twelve Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, etc.). In this first significant biography of Lumet, Spiegel (Literature and Film/Columbia Univ.; co-author: The Breast Book: An Intimate and Curious History, 2002, etc.) offers a comprehensive study of this multifaceted filmmaker, thoughtfully examining the creative and personal forces that influenced his work.

The author traces his early years as a child actor performing in Yiddish theater at age 5 through his work on Broadway as a teenager and his enlistment in the Army during World War II. After the war, Lumet’s interest quickly shifted from acting to directing for the theater. In the early days of TV, he firmly hit his stride, mastering the quickly evolving technical craft of directing for live TV, which included directing diverse groups of actors while remaining mindfully efficient with tight schedules and budgets. These skills would benefit his later work on film.

Spiegel comfortably weaves elements of Lumet’s personal life into her narrative, touching on his complex relationship with his father, Baruch, also a theater actor in his day; his four marriages (Gloria Vanderbilt was his second wife); two children; and his expansive network of show business friends. Yet the author shines brightest in her illumination of Lumet’s skills as a director. Beyond offering knowledgeable film summaries, she deftly examines the technical artistry he brought to each project. “Sidney never stopped experimenting,” writes Spiegel. “He was constantly working with new actors, new equipment, new genres, and new techniques. Throughout his career he drew upon his earlier experiences in radio, theater, television, and film to expand beyond his comfort zones and break new ground as both an artist and a citizen.”

A likely definitive exploration of the director’s distinguished career—of great interest to budding filmmakers and film enthusiasts. (b/w photos)

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HOW YIDDISH CHANGED AMERICA AND HOW AMERICA CHANGED YIDDISH

REWRITING THE RULES OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity

Ed. by Stavans, Ilan & Lambert, Josh Restless Books (496 pp.) $29.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-63206-262-8

Stiglitz, Joseph E. with Dougherty, Carter Norton (208 pp.) $30.00 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-0-39-335563-5

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Nobel Prize–winning economist Stiglitz (People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent, 2019, etc.) turns a gimlet eye on the EU. The Brexiteers may be wolves in sheep’s clothing, but they have a couple of points to make—e.g., the European economy is a tangled mess that defies explanation. A number of its key doctrines, writes the author, are mistaken and damaging. One is the “austerity doctrine,” which requires governments to keep deficits below 3% of GDP, an arbitrary number that doesn’t make sense.

Another is a borrowing from the U.S. that the market knows best, when, “without strong government actions, competition will erode as firms create barriers to entry…and work hard to reduce competition through mergers and acquisitions.” Debt is, of course, a difficult issue to work around, and European economic leaders have seen it through the lens of moral hazard: “the risk that the debt mutualization will incentivize countries to become overindebted.” That may be, but something needs to give Europe a jolt, and it won’t be borrowing from American ideas, which often yield only monopoly and inequality. Stiglitz notes, approvingly, that India has low telecom rates because there is so much competition, forcing prices down, while in places like Mexico and the U.S., rates are high because competition is scarce or nonexistent. The author offers recipes for improvement, such as shoring up the European banking union in order to “prevent macroeconomic harms to the community” and balancing competing doctrines. Europe has fallen behind the U.S. and China in some realms of the economy because of its concern for individual privacy, which hampers the development of artificial intelligence. Most pointedly, the author encourages the EU to stick to its regard for institutional justice, fostering multilateral agreements rather than following the current U.S. administration’s “retreat from globalization and the global rule of law,” which has benefited no country so much as China.

A provocative and accessible case for making the EU stronger rather than allowing it to disintegrate.

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A wide-ranging, eclectic anthology of work by Yiddish writers.

Stavans (Humanities, Latin American, and Latino Culture/Amherst Coll.; The Seventh Heaven: Travels Through Jewish Latin America, 2019, etc.) and Yiddish Book Center academic director Lambert (American Literature/ Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst; Unclean Lips: Obscenity, Jews, and American Culture, 2014, etc.) have assembled an impressive collection of essays, fiction, drama, memoir, poetry, cartoons, and interviews, all showing how “Yiddish is so deeply woven into the fabric of the United States that it can sometimes be difficult to recognize how much it has transformed the world we live in today.” Arranged thematically rather than chronologically, the pieces are, in some cases, written by names that general readers will recognize: Irving Howe, Emma Goldman, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Allen Ginsberg, Cynthia Ozick, Grace Paley, Michael Chabon, Alan Alda, Leonard Nimoy, and Elliott Gould. Others will be news to many readers—and mostly good news. The editors provide a brief introduction to each major division of the text and to each contributor. The arrangement of the text is sensible, and the editors show us that American Yiddish writing expands well beyond the United States; they include pieces from Canada, Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico.

Among all these are some stunners—e.g., “Oedipus in Brooklyn,” a story by Blume Lempel (1907-1999) that begins with the line, “Sylvia was no Jocasta.” Emma Goldman (1869-1940) writes fiercely about marriage, which she compares to an “iron yoke.” In a poem about Coney Island, Victor Packer (1897-1958) writes, “Beauty and crudity / Go hand in hand and / Launch a united front / Right there on the sand.” Ozick (b. 1928) compares Sholem Aleichem to Dickens, Twain, and Will Rogers.

“He was a popular presence, and stupendously so. His lectures and readings were mobbed; he was a household friend; he was cherished as a family valuable.”

For readers unfamiliar with Yiddish writing, a revelation; for readers and aficionados of the language, a treasure.

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THE LOST GIRLS Love and Literature in Wartime London

THE JOURNEY TO THE MAYFLOWER God’s Outlaws and the Invention of Freedom

Taylor, D.J. Pegasus (336 pp.) $28.95 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-64-313315-7

The tale of a small group of uppermiddle-class young women who inhabited the rarefied world of literary London during and after World War II. Drawing on rich archival sources and the many memoirs, novels, and stories written by his prolific cast of characters, British biographer, novelist, and cultural historian Taylor (The New Book of Snobs, 2017, etc.), winner of the Whitbread Prize for Biography, creates a brisk, spirited portrait of the astonishingly beautiful women who “fizzed” around Cyril Connolly, “a genuine literary power-broker, a grand panjandrum, a maker— and breaker—of reputations,” in 1940s Britain. Self-aggrandizing, self-indulgent, “easily wounded, unforgiving, dislikeable, delightful,” according to a male friend, Connolly inspired “unfeigned devotion” in his female admirers. “Whether they were living with him, employed by him, pursued by him or merely wistfully regarded by him from afar,” Taylor writes, “he was the fulcrum on which their existence turned.” Among those in his orbit, the author focuses mostly on four: Lys Lubbock, a devoted caretaker and survivor of a nine-year affair with Connolly; fiery Barbara Skelton, who married him; his editorial assistant, Sonia Brownell, who married George Orwell; and Janetta Parladé, who was 17 when Connolly anointed her his “muse.”

Christened “the lost girls” by poet and critic Peter Quennell, they had “spent their adolescence scheming to escape” oppressive, often fractured, family life. Flouting convention and flaunting independence, still, they yearned for security and love.

Physically, they were a type: notably attractive, “tallish, slim to the point of skimpiness” (except for Sonia). Financially vulnerable, each spent the war years “moving from place to place and billet to billet as the demands of work, romance and inclination took her.” Living in an unheated bedsitter, they might depend on “an eligible or not so eligible suitor” to pick up the tab at upscale restaurants. “Glamorous, edgy and inimitable,” the lost girls, Taylor concedes, left no indelible legacy except perhaps as a link between emancipated young women of the 1920s and the “Dionysiac hordes of the 1960s and 1970s.”

Captivating, gossipy social history. (16 pages of b/w photos)

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Tomkins, Stephen Pegasus (304 pp.) $28.95 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-64-313367-6

The Pilgrims who boarded the May­ flower were a diverse, disordered group of religious rebels.

In a richly detailed chronicle, British historian Tomkins (David Livingstone: The Unexplored Story, 2013, etc.) examines the violent religious conflicts that roiled England from Queen Mary’s reign to the advent of Elizabeth I’s nephew James. When Mary took the throne in 1553, she “embarked on a Catholic spring-clean” that involved defrocking, excommunication, torture and mutilation, hangings, and the public burning to death of accused heretics. “This is where the story of the Pilgrim Fathers starts,” Tomkins writes, “with Mary’s campaign to burn Protestantism out of England.” As violently as Protestants hated Catholicism, many deeply opposed the Church of England, whose “whole shape and organisation,” they believed, “were still founded on unbiblical Catholic principles,” with authority vested in the monarch and a hierarchy that bowed to—and remunerated—the pope. The author examines many reformist movements, the rivalries among leaders, and the beliefs that impelled them. Presbyterianism, for example, “raised the standard of active involvement of ordinary believers in their religion,” requiring discipline and “promoting the virtues that led to success in the growing arenas of industry and commerce.” Puritans, frustrated in their inability to transform the church from within, split off to form radical new sects that edited the Prayer Book, chose their congregation, and elected pastors and elders; “lay members could pray in their own words, preach to one another and even create a new church through a communal act of covenant.” Persecuted in England, some established themselves in the Netherlands. However, in the early 1600s, “life in Dutch cities seemed just too grim” for their church to survive, and young people, especially, were disgruntled. Longing for a brighter future, and seeing their “reflection in countless scriptural parallels, but above all in the exodus,” pilgrims undertook the arduous, four-month sea journey to Cape Cod. There, they created a settlement “governed by consent”— “an idea,” Tomkins notes, “with a future.”

A dramatic history of religious intolerance and oppression.

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A funny, highly informative, and terrifying read. uncanny valley

THE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PUZZLE A Living History From Reconstruction to Today

UNCANNY VALLEY A Memoir

Wiener, Anna MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (288 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-37-427801-4

Urofsky, Melvin I. Pantheon (592 pp.) $35.00 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-1-10-187087-7

Can equality be legislated? So asks this thoroughgoing examination of legal efforts to rectify racial injustice through

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affirmative action.

Many discussions of affirmative action have been derailed through simple confusion of terms, writes Urofsky (Emeritus, History/Virginia Commonwealth Univ.; Dissent and the Supreme Court: Its Role in the Court’s History and the Nation’s Constitutional Dialogue, 2015). There’s “soft” affirmative action, which encourages equality by way of what amounts to goodwill, and then “hard” affirmative action, which imposes equality by way of quotas and makes it a zero-sum game. In the instance of hard affirmative action, he writes, consider what might happen if Jews were limited entrance by quota into certain professions even as, because of educational success, they lead in several areas of law, medicine, and the like. It’s for that reason that when, in 1970, the federal Equal Economic Opportunity Commission began pushing for hard, quota-based reforms, “every single national Jewish organization protested.” Urofsky’s comprehensive survey examines early efforts at affirmative action, a phrase that appears for the first time in the 1935 Wagner Act but some of whose outlines were in place in the Reconstruction era and during World War I, when women workers replaced men in factories. Urofsky notes that while the literature has emphasized the African American experience, affirmative action has extended to include other groups and has occasioned enough controversy in most instances to lend credence to Justice Harry Blackmun’s observation that “in order to get past race and gender, we have to take race and gender into account.” The author doesn’t stake an advocacy position, for the most part, except to note that in the strictest terms, hard/quota affirmative action is a violation of Title VII and “of the constitutional order, namely, that rights are individual.” He also observes that in recent quota decisions affecting, for instance, the admission of Asian Americans into elite universities, limiting their number has had the unintended consequence of benefiting white males who otherwise might not have made the cut.

A must-read for anyone interested in the history of affirmative action and its associated legal conundrums.

A former tech worker–turned-journalist gives the inside scoop on life inside the wickedly weird and wealthy world of Silicon Valley startups.

Before Wiener took a customer support job at a San Francisco–based tech startup, she was a broke 20-something pursuing dead-end jobs in the New York publishing industry.

Friends who had left the city warned her that the San Francisco they loved had been replaced by “a late capitalist hellscape” that catered to the “on-demand” whims of young techies with “plump bank accounts.” Wiener quickly learned that the tech workplace was younger, more casual, and more maledominant than she had expected. Helping company clients, she often felt like she was one step above artificial intelligence.

“I was an intelligent artifice, an empathetic text, a snippet or a warm voice, giving instructions, listening comfortingly,” she writes. Despite bouts of existential angst, within a year of moving west, Wiener moved into middle management and a work life that included a healthy salary as well as “an acronym and enterprise accounts.” Still, her salary represented a tiny fraction of the total wealth—which sometimes amounted to billions—she saw generated in the high-stakes startup world around her. As she burrowed deeper into the tech world, she saw excesses that repulsed almost as much as they excited her. Quasi-autocratic corporate cultures, including her own, demanded body-and-soul loyalty for “perks” such as ultrastylish workplace surroundings, interoffice skateboarding, luxurious company retreats, and work-at-home privileges on platforms that looked like “video game[s] for children.” Wiener also witnessed the ruthlessness of Silicon Valley’s quest to control consumer behavior through data acquisition and the way it actively promoted men while telling females to “trust karma” when it came to advancement. Equal parts bildungsroman and insider report, this book reveals not just excesses of the tech-startup landscape, but also the Faustian bargains and hidden political agendas embedded in the so-called “inspiration culture” underlying a too-powerful industry.

A funny, highly informative, and terrifying read.

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SCREENING REALITY How Documentary Filmmakers Reimagined America

BETWEEN TWO FIRES Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia

Wilkman, Jon Bloomsbury (400 pp.) $30.00 | Feb. 18, 2020 978-1-63557-103-5

A documentary filmmaker examines the history of conveying truth on screen.

Drawing on his own career and extensive research (including viewing every film he discusses), Wilkman (Floodpath: The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th Century America and the Making of Modern Los Angeles, 2016, etc.), whose series Moguls and Movie Stars was nominated for three Emmys, offers an illuminating, encyclopedic history of nonfiction film, from Eadweard Muybridge’s 1878 images of a galloping horse to the virtual reality of the 21st century. While Westerns, comedies, mysteries, and romances dominated the entertainment industry in its early days, in 1908, in order to meet audiences’ demand for “glimpses of the real world,” the French film company founded by Charles Pathé and his brothers began distributing newsreels: short films recording events such as a daredevil’s fall from the Eiffel Tower and a suffragette march in Washington, D.C. In addition to showing current events, including images of military activities during wars, nonfiction movies became a popular means of education. Henry Ford, diving into movie production, offered films on topics such as pottery making, newspaper production, and, not surprisingly, “Ford’s way of doing business.” Wilkman creates vivid profiles of significant documentarians: photographer Edward S. Curtis, who filmed Native peoples of British Columbia; the daring Osa and Martin Johnson, who filmed expeditions in Africa and the South Pacific; and Robert Flaherty, whose Nanook of the North, a lyrical celebration of Inuit culture, became an unlikely box office success. During World War II, the Army enlisted acclaimed director Frank Capra to produce documentaries “to show Americans what they’re fighting for and why.” TV ensured new audiences for revelations about public issues, society, and culture, on such programs as See It Now, CBS Reports, Frontline, Ken Burns’ histories, and a groundbreaking PBS series, An American Family, that filmed daily life in the Santa Barbara home of the Louds. The author also underscores the importance of documentary film “at a time when the foundations of evidential inquiry are under attack and virtual reality promises to change perceptions of what is accepted as real.”

A capacious celebration of film’s potential to show us the world. (8-page color insert and b/w images throughout)

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Yaffa, Joshua Tim Duggan Books/Crown (384 pp.) $28.00 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-52-476059-5

Memorable portraits of Russians living under Vladimir Putin.

In his first book, New Yorker Moscow correspondent Yaffa begins with Yuri Levada, a pioneering sociologist whose massive survey during the collapse of communism showed plummeting enthusiasm for a strong leader, desire for an honest appraisal of their nation’s history, and more personal responsibility. He concluded that the passive if wily “Soviet Man” was disappearing in favor of a self-reliant individual yearning for freedom. In 2000, Levada reversed himself. Following the disastrous 1990s, Russians welcomed Putin, and they continue to give him approval ratings of over 80%. This is in “no small measure a product of the state’s monopolistic control over television, the media with the widest reach, and its squelching of those who would represent an alternative.” After this introduction, Yaffa delivers eight long, engrossing New Yorker–style profiles. One of the most significant of these figures is Konstantin Ernst, head of Channel One, Russia’s largest TV network.

“Even as Channel One faithfully transmits the Kremlin’s line,” writes the author, “it does so with a measure of professionalism and restraint” and demonstrates genuine creativity in apolitical areas such as culture and history. Among Yaffa’s other powerful portraits are those of a saintly doctor who became a national hero caring for children during the gruesome Russian-Ukraine insurgency but found herself roped into endorsing the Russian side in a war she hated; a patriotic Russian entrepreneur in Crimea who despised living under the inefficient, corrupt Ukrainian government—while he rejoiced at Putin’s takeover, he discovered that life was harder under a more efficiently corrupt Russia; and a human rights crusader who, frustrated at her impotence, took a job in the government human rights office, a largely ceremonial position that now and then allows her to do a good deed.

Gripping, disturbing stories of life under an oppressive yet wildly popular autocrat.

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children’s ON MY MOUNTAIN

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Aubineau, François Illus. by Peyrat, Jérôme Orca (32 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 25, 2020 978-1-4598-2232-0

GLAD, GLAD BEAR! by Kimberly Gee................................................83 WE HAD TO BE BRAVE by Deborah Hopkinson................................87 HUMPTY DUMPTY LIVED NEAR A WALL by Derek Hughes; illus. by Nathan Christopher................................................................87 MINDY KIM AND THE YUMMY SEAWEED BUSINESS

by Lyla Lee; illus. by Dung Ho............................................................ 90 CAST AWAY by Naomi Shihab Nye................................................... 94

ASTRONAUTS by Jim Ottaviani; illus. by Maris Wicks................... 94 OLD ROCK (IS NOT BORING) by Deb Pilutti....................................95 VILLAGE OF SCOUNDRELS by Margi Preus.....................................95 FRED’S BIG FEELINGS by Laura Renauld; illus. by Brigette Barrager.................................................................... 98 WAYSIDE SCHOOL BENEATH THE CLOUD OF DOOM

by Louis Sachar; illus. by Tim Heitz................................................... 99 ON A SNOW-MELTING DAY by Buffy Silverman...........................100 THE DINKY DONKEY by Craig Smith; illus. by Katz Cowley.........101 THE DEEP & DARK BLUE by Niki Smith..........................................101 DANDELION’S DREAM by Yoko Tanaka.......................................... 103 MOTHER JONES AND HER ARMY OF MILL CHILDREN

by Jonah Winter; illus. by Nancy Carpenter......................................105

BEGINNERS WELCOME

Baldwin, Cindy Harper/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-0-06-266589-8

THE DEEP & DARK BLUE

Smith, Niki Illus. by the author Little, Brown (256 pp.) $24.99 | $12.99 paper Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-316-48598-2 978-0-316-48601-9 paper

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THE MAGNIFICENT MONSTERS OF CEDAR STREET by Lauren Oliver; illus. by Ethan M. Aldridge.................................................... 94

Told in two separate stories, the perspectives of a wolf and a shepherd living on the same mountain are presented in this picture-book import from France.

Thanks to a clever design, readers can begin from either side—the physical book flips so the story begins from either end. One side presents the story from the wolf ’s perspective; the other, from the shepherd’s. The wolf ’s story begins with an arresting illustration depicting the wolf looking down on the shepherd and flock. “This, here, is my mountain,” the text reads. The wolf goes on to tell how it eats, sleeps, and lives on the mountain and how there is danger, but it is also where the wolf feels safe and happy. The wolf relates how it is wary of the “Other,” who has been feared for generations. The wolf is referring, of course, to the shepherd, who carries a long gun in the accompanying illustration. The wolf ’s story ends with the thought that while it’s hard to share the mountain, it “surely… is big enough to fit everyone who loves it.” Flipping the book, readers begin the shepherd’s story—and, in a powerfully teachable moment, it is exactly the same, word for word, as the wolf ’s.

Peyrat’s illustrations, which use delicate lines and a palette of greens, blues, and Alpine white, never fail to impress with their subtle visual linking of the two stories and their bold, atmospheric design.

Truly a book for today and our changing future. (Picture book. 3-9)

Southern charm and ghostly magic bridge the loss of 11-year-old Annie Lee’s daddy.

The death of Annie Lee’s vivacious father was sudden and unexpected. So too is moving into a cramped apartment in Durham, North Carolina, and losing her best friends in the process, and so is trying to communicate with her rigid, griefstricken mother. Throw in the start of sixth grade, a broken |

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let’s get gross Leah Overstreet

The gross book: It’s a critically underrated genre, but, as anyone who’s spent time with young children will affirm, there’s a substantial slice of the readership that can’t get enough of it. Fart jokes, booger jokes, poop jokes—all are as unto a Shakespearean sonnet for them. (And lest we grown-ups forget, the Bard was not above the occasional windy passage about breaking wind.)

But something happens between the child’s robust celebration of the rude and slimy, a taste that reaches its zenith in fifth and sixth grade, and adulthood. Maturation, it seems, turns most of the population into stodgy schoolmarms when it comes to bodily eruptions and effusions. Happily, a subset of the population never loses that taste, and while many of their literary compatriots are honing their craft to lyrical perfection, these heroes of the schoolyard are reaching for broad humor.

Also happily, there are those among Kirkus’ reviewer corps who have likewise retained an appreciation for the finer points of yuck, and they eagerly apply their critical faculties to separating the stinky from the stinkers, if you will. Children deserve only the best gross books, after all, and this year’s crop has produced some delightfully disgusting ones.

In When Unicorns Poop (Running Press, Oct. 1), Lexie Castle imagines just about every possible bodily effluent and how its emanating from a unicorn might affect its properties. They sneeze glitter, spit chocolate syrup, and vomit ribbons, all illustrated by Christian Cornia with sherbet-colored verve.

The book is silent on urine, blood, and pus—maybe even Castle’s stomach turned at the thought. But, as our doughty reviewer opined, “Lovers of all things repellent can consider this a sparkly, smelly present.”

With Pig the Pug, Aaron Blabey has created a stupendously unlikable protagonist, a creature who is something of an object lesson in obnoxiousness. In his newest outing, Pig the Stinker (Scholastic, April 30), the canine antihero descends to new lows by refusing to 76

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bathe. Blabey, on the other hand, reaches new heights with loving renderings of his goo-spattered pup and the visible cloud of stench that surrounds him.

Noses can both detect the gross and be its source, as Paula Merlán and Gómez demonstrate in their odd fable, The Finger and the Nose (nubeOCHO, Oct. 22), in which young Sophie’s finger—Tim— tries to take up permanent residence in her nose. Tim gets so busy fitting out his new accommodations that Sophie’s nose grows alarmingly, and eventually Sophie and her finger must learn to cooperate in order to establish a peaceful coexistence. Like I said, odd—but the picture of Sophie’s nose’s snottily cozy interior is most memorable.

A fondness for the foul is not solely the province of fiction; purveyors of informational texts can glory in the gross, too. Jess Keating has parlayed the juvenile fascination with the strange into a successful series, The World of Weird Animals. With Gross as a Snot Otter (Knopf, Oct. 29), she takes it to the next level, offering profiles of 17 slime-covered, feces-festooned, vomitemitting, or otherwise revolting creatures. Mary Batten and James Braithwaite reveal “What’s Cool About Drool” in Spit (Firefly, Oct.1), exploring the science of saliva—a surprisingly expansive subject. As our reviewer concluded, “A lot to digest—but easy to chew, swallow, and regurgitate.”

Perhaps the best of the most recent crop is the novel Hobgoblin and the Seven Stinkers of Rancidia (Hazy Dell Press, Sept. 17), a fantasy that turns “Snow White” on its head with a kingdom ruled by an usurper who dubs himself the Grossest Smelling in the Land. Author Kyle Sullivan’s nomenclature is what an 8-year-old Dickens might have aspired to. There’s the evil Fiddlefart and his Burping Bullfrog along with the eponymous Seven Stinkers: Grody, Yucky, Icky, Musty, Fusty, Poot, and Toot—readers will giggle through every page of this smart political satire.

Not your cuppa snot? That’s OK—they’re not for you. —V.S. Vicky Smith is the children’s editor. |

The portrait of a boy as a young rascal. the best of iggy

washing machine, and constant signs from her father, from shaving cream in the sink every morning to his favorite songs turning on his record player, and life can be downright overwhelming. But in this first-person narration, the plucky white preteen arms herself with an “invisibility cloak” to protect her from loving and losing again. She also changes the course of her life when she sees an ad at the mall for an amateur piano competition with a cash prize. As did the protagonist of the author’s first novel, Where the Watermelons Grow (2018), Annie Lee forms tight bonds with local residents, including a white pianist who prepares her for the competition, a black hairstylist, and a white classmate with her own form of invisibility. Her interactions with these three, as well as with her overworked mother, weave the storylines together and help Annie Lee begin to heal and open up her heart. A blend of other racially diverse characters creates an inclusive neighborhood.

Once again, Baldwin crafts a solid story of hardship tempered by community and resilience. (Fiction. 8-12)

Barrows, Annie Illus. by Ricks, Sam Putnam (144 pp.) $13.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-9848-1330-5

The portrait of a boy as a young rascal: Iggy doesn’t really mean to be “bad,” does he?

A narrator in an amusing direct address and somewhat adult voice serves as both apologist and somewhat bemused observer of three incidents recounted in 20 very short chapters. Iggy Frangi is 9 and in fourth grade. He likes his teacher and tolerates his family—mother, father, sisters Maribel (older) and Molly (younger).

Like many people his age, Iggy doesn’t realize that something is wrong with what he is doing until either he is in the middle of doing it (and is reprimanded) or until it’s too late. Ricks’ cartoon illustrations portray Iggy and his family as white-presenting and his lively friends as slim boys with dark skin of various shades.

In the first story Iggy defends his own honor and dignity with a strategy involving a skateboard, ladder, and trampoline in a way that only just avoids complete disaster. In the second, Iggy’s flair for going big gets slightly out of hand when he “los[es] his mind” in an incident involving shaving cream and lipstick. The third story involves his teacher and a minor injury and is an incident Iggy regrets “even years later.” Authorial asides combine with amusing cartoons (the universal strikethrough symbol is enlivened by repetitions of “nope” forming the outer circle) to enlist readers as co-conspirators.

Funny, silly, and fairly empathetic—and perhaps even consoling to young, impulsive people who hope to be better (someday). (Fiction. 7-10)

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Bayarri, Jordi Illus. by the author Trans. by Ibars, Patricia & Wright, John Graphic Universe (40 pp.) $29.32 | $8.99 paper | Jan. 1, 2020 978-1-5415-7821-0 978-1-5415-8699-4 paper Series: Graphic Science Biographies A highlights reel of the great scientist’s life and achievements, from clandestine early schooling to the founding of Warsaw’s Radium Institute.

In big sequential panels Bayarri dashes through Curie’s career, barely pausing at significant moments (“Mother! A letter just arrived. It’s from Sweden,” announces young Irène. “Oh, really?…They’re awarding me another Nobel!”) in a seeming rush to cover her youth, family life, discoveries, World War I work, and later achievements (with only a closing timeline noting her death, of “aplastic anemia”). Button-eyed but recognizable figures in the panels pour out lecture-ish dialogue. This is well stocked with names and scientific terms but offered with little or no context—characteristics shared by co-published profiles on Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity (“You and your thought experiments, Albert!” “We love it! The other day, Schrödinger thought up one about a cat”), Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution, and Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion.

Dark-skinned Tierra del Fuegans make appearances in Darwin, prompting the young naturalist to express his strong anti-slavery views; otherwise the cast is white throughout the series.

Engagingly informal as the art and general tone of the narratives are, the books will likely find younger readers struggling to keep up, but kids already exposed to the names and at least some of the concepts will find these imports, translated from the Basque, helpful if, at times, dry overviews.

Together with its companions, too rushed to be first introductions but suitable as second ones. (glossary, index, resource list) (Graphic biography. 7-9) (Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity: 978-1-5415-7823-4, 978-1-5415-8696-3 paper; Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution: 978-1-5415-7822-7, 9781-5415-8697-0 paper; Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion: 978-15415-7824-1, 978-1-5415-8698-7 paper)

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THE BEST OF IGGY

MARIE CURIE AND RADIOACTIVITY

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A great reminder of what is to be gained when girls appreciate their own uniqueness and that of others. just like me

THE TRUE STORY OF ZIPPY CHIPPY The Little Horse That Couldn’t Bennett, Artie Illus. by Szalay, Dave NorthSouth (40 pp.) $17.95 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7358-4396-7

The true story of a racehorse that failed to win a single contest.

Thoroughbred racehorse Zippy Chippy comes from exalted bloodlines. But racehorse genes notwithstanding, Zippy is slow on the track and, the narrative implies, not terribly competitive. “Instead of running, Zippy sometimes stood perfectly still.”

However, when he did (finally) finish a race, he “would prance off the course, head and tail held high.” So it’s confusing when the story then tells readers that his owner, Felix Monserrate, “felt that Zippy needed a win…to boost his morale” and tries various ways to turn Zippy into a winner. Zippy continues to race, and the quirky, pokey horse becomes a crowd favorite.

At Zippy’s last race, his 100th, he takes a moment—after the starting bell—to bow to the crowd. (He finishes last.) Author Bennett’s ending salvo, “it takes guts to compete [and] courage to dream.…[Y]ou can lose…and still be a winner,” is rallying, but the body of the story doesn’t quite get there, instead placing more emphasis on Monserrate’s attempts to turn Zippy into a winner rather than validating Zippy’s quirky personality.

Szalay’s full-color illustrations have a lively, angular appearance with well-thought-out perspectives and effectively utilize both full-page and double-page spreads. Monserrate is Puerto Rican, and other humans depicted are diverse.

Humorous enough in both text and illustrations, but the message is muddled. (author’s note, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 4-8)

JUST LIKE ME

Brantley-Newton, Vanessa Illus. by the author Knopf (40 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-525-58209-0 978-0-525-58210-6 PLB

lists her “Memawh’s Wisdom” on how to be “a great lady someday.” The girls are diverse in race, ethnicity, style, situation, relationships, and personality, and on the final spread, they all link up “like a paper chain / made of every single / color / … / pulling each other up / … / until our link crosses the world / like the change / we long to see.” Brantley-Newton’s attractive illustrations feature bright colors and layered textures and patterns, with such variety that each page has its own feel to suit its story. The poems are simple, upbeat, and affirming—a great reminder of what is to be gained when girls appreciate their own uniqueness and that of others.

A dynamic, uplifting, and welcoming world of girls.

(Picture book/poetry. 4-10)

I BELIEVE I CAN

Byers, Grace Illus. by Bobo, Keturah A. Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $18.99 | Mar. 3, 2020 978-0-06-266713-7 Diversity is the face of this picture book designed to inspire confidence in children.

Fans of Byers and Bobo’s I Am Enough (2018) will enjoy this book that comes with a universal message of self-acceptance. A line of children practices ballet at the barre; refreshingly, two of the four are visibly (and adorably) pudgy. Another group tends a couple of raised beds; one of them wears hijab. Two more children coax a trepidatious friend down a steep slide.

Further images, of children pretending to be pirates, dragons, mimes, playing superhero and soccer, and cooking, are equally endearing, but unfortunately they don’t add enough heft to set the book apart from other empowerment books for children.

Though the illustrations shine, the text remains pedagogic and bland. Clichés abound: “When I believe in myself, there’s simply nothing I can’t do”; “Sometimes I am right, and sometimes I am wrong. / But even when I make mistakes, I learn from them to make me strong.” The inclusion of children with varying abilities, religions, genders, body types, and racial presentations creates an inviting tone that makes the book palatable. It’s hard to argue with the titular sentiment, but this is not the only book of its ilk on the shelf.

Banal affirmation buoyed by charming illustrations.

(Picture book. 3-5)

Brantley-Newton delivers a book of poems featuring girls of all kinds.

The first few poems—“I Am a Canvas,” “The Day I Decided To Become Sunshine,” and “Warrior”—draw readers in through personal perspectives before “All in Together Girls” pulls out to a group perspective: “If we view each other with amazing grace / our America would be such a great place.”

Characters express deep self-love in “I Love My Body” and mild angst in “Pimple.” A city girl longs to be a country girl, and a country girl longs to be a city girl. One girl is “weird,” one is shy, one is “mixed.” One girl wishes for a daddy; another 78

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LITTLE JOE CHICKAPIG

Calhoun, Brian Illus. by the author & Bradley, Pat Printers Row (32 pp.) $9.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-7944-4452-5 Is it a book about aspirations or the backstory for the board game?

Chickapig is defined as “an animal hybrid that is halfchicken and half-pig” and is depicted in yellow, two-legged chick shape with pink pig snout and ears. Young Joe Chickapig lives on a farm that was his grandfather’s dream, but it’s getting Joe down. He dreams of adventure but needs the “courage to follow his heart. / But how could he do it? How could he start?”

In a bedtime story, Joe’s mother shares the influential characters that helped Joe’s sailor grandfather “follow his heart against the tide.” It seems that “Grandpa had heard a story told / Of a great big bear who broke the mold. / The bear was tired of striking fear”—so he became a forest doctor and a friend to all. And

the bear’s inspiration? “A mouse who went to space.” The mouse, in turn, found hope in a “fierce young dragon” who joined a rock band. And coming full circle, the dragon found courage from a Chickapig warrior who “tired of shields and swords to wield” and established a farm. Chickapig game fans will appreciate this fanciful rhyming tale illustrated in attention-grabbing colors, but readers coming to it cold will note a distinct absence of plot.

Mouse and dragon present female; all others are male.

Take strength from the dreamers before you and follow your dreams. Or maybe just roll the dice. (Picture book. 4-6)

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THE BEST FRIEND PLAN

Calmenson, Stephanie & Cole, Joanna Illus. by Burks, James Aladdin QUIX (96 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 24, 2020 978-1-5344-5251-0 Series: Adventures of Allie and Amy, 1 Best friends Allie and Amy have plans for their summer, but when they are nearly separated, they have to zoom through their summer to-do list.

It’s the first day of summer vacation, and Amy and Allie can’t wait to get started on their short list of “Things To Do This Summer.” But they’ve only completed one item when Allie’s parents tell her that she got a spot at Camp Merry Moose.

At first she is excited, but when she calls Amy, Amy tells her she can’t go because then they’ll be separated. Allie tries to back out of camp, but her parents won’t hear of it. So she devises a plan to bind herself to Amy, which, predictably, doesn’t last long.

The best friends decide they will have to rush through their list.

Using the alarms on their watches, they speed through their fun in time for Allie to pack for camp. Their farewell is too quick to take seriously, but it turns out they don’t have to separate after all. The large, generously spaced typeset is broken up by halfpage black-and-white illustrations, and a word list gives pronunciations and definitions of less-common words. The story is more fast than fun, and it sacrifices realism and emotional resonance for speed. Still, it serves its narrow purpose of bridging the gap between beginning readers and chapter books. Allie and her family are black, Amy and her family are white, and an annoying-boy secondary character has a Spanish surname.

Helpful reading practice where needed. (reading questions) (Fiction. 4-9)

A TO ZÅÄÖ Playing With History at the American Swedish Institute

Christopherson, Nate & Sweeney, Tara with Theissen, Inga Illus. by Christopherson, Nate & Sweeney, Tara Univ. of Minnesota (96 pp.) $24.95 | Dec. 1, 2019 978-1-5179-0788-4

In this longer-than-usual picture book, the Swedish alphabet is paired with illustrations of selected objects in the collection of the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.

The concept is ambitious: to give readers a taste of the Swedish language, culture, and migration story to America by organizing simple Swedish words in alphabetical order (with their English translations but no pronunciation guide) and pairing them with paintings of objects displayed in the Turnblad Mansion, the former residence of 19th-century Swedish immigrants and ASI founders Swan and Christina Turnblad.

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Following this alphabet section, the book becomes an exploration of history, presenting photos of the previously illustrated objects and relaying stories of their provenance alongside sidebars of the people connected with them. While the watercolor illustrations are gorgeous, masterfully imbuing delicate light and shadow, and the historical information is fascinating, the project bogs down in attempting too many connections. The Swedish word accompanying the object illustration is often not the object’s name (as readers may logically expect) but rather a simple action word (or words) that begins with the necessary alphabet letter. Trying to connect the word and the illustration, small pen-and-ink figures, related “historically or via…imagination” to the object, are drawn on and around the watercolor (and too often in the gutter). It’s a neat concept, but it becomes confusing and, since the figures are cumulative, crowded.

This ambitious project delivers fascinating history and beautiful illustrations but attempts too many creative connections. (authors’ notes) (Informational picture book. 8-12)

EAT THE CAKE

Clark, M.H. Illus. by Glatt, Jana Compendium (32 pp.) $16.95 | Feb. 1, 2020 978-1-946873-84-2 A festive romp of good wishes.

Although not explicitly a birthday book nor one that depicts a graduation, this title would be a suitable gift for either sort of occasion and for recipients of all ages. Its rhyming text, written almost exclusively in couplets, addresses the reader with celebratory declarations that make general note of achievements made, milestones met, and wish-fulfillment on the horizon. “Choose a dream, set a path, see how far you will go. / Find out what you can do with the things that you know.” Illustrator Glatt’s accompanying art looks every bit as merry as the playful text’s tone, with stylized, cartoon pictures of people, animals, and cheery, bipedal not-quite-people cavorting about the pages.

The primary palette is pink, gold, red, and light blue, giving the white-backgrounded pages the look of vanilla frosting with sprinkles strewn across it. Her loose style is reminiscent of some of Maira Kalman’s work, and the playful dynamic between art and text delivers a satisfying read even in the absence of a story. The closing spread brings a close to the text with four, not two, lines with the same end rhyme, culminating with the titular directive: “And whatever you do, eat the cake.”

A book to wish—and to inspire—many happy returns.

(Picture book. 3-18)

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Gentle, fully fleshed characters are lovingly drawn. a home for goddesses and dogs

A HOME FOR GODDESSES AND DOGS

Connor, Leslie Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 25, 2020 978-0-06-279678-3

After her mother succumbs to heart disease, 13-year-old Lydia goes to live with her mother’s older sister, Aunt Brat, and her wife, Eileen, in their small Con-

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necticut town.

Almost immediately the loving couple adopts a large rescue dog that becomes mostly Lydia’s responsibility. The unfortunate animal isn’t even housebroken, and Lydia’s most decidedly not a dog person, so caring for Guffer is challenging. So is trying to be cordial—but not too friendly—with her 12 eighth grade classmates. Previously home-schooled, Lydia’s not quite ready for the friend thing. Secrets, like who could have been responsible for maiming two baby goats or why Brat is secretly caring for them at a neighbor’s farm, complicate life. Background plotlines (an angry neighbor who hates Guffer, Lydia’s absent father, and the cause of Guffer’s anxieties) all gradually evolve.

Similarly, Lydia slowly learns to cope with her grief, sometimes aided by spending time with “the goddesses”—artistic collages of strong women that she and her mother crafted. Gentle, fully fleshed characters (most seemingly white) are lovingly drawn in this long tale of healing, but the pacing is sometimes frustratingly slow. Although she’s clearly intelligent, Lydia’s first-person narrative often seems more like the voice of an adult than a young teen. In spite of these minor flaws, her poignant tale is engaging and uplifting.

An almost-orphan and a rescue dog share lots of heart in a winsome coming-of-age story. (Fiction.10-13)

declares the unsolved case over. Still, she invites Agent Lion back to her apartment for tea. Dejectedly arranging the couch’s pillows, Agent Lion finally—and unwittingly—locates Fluffy.

All ends well as neighbors convene for a sweet celebration. This is a lightweight but humorous story; readers will chuckle at the silly questions Agent Lion asks and the witty, knowing comments he makes about cats. The ending, though predictable and unoriginal, satisfies. Lion is amusing; self-confident; and, as depicted in these delicate cartoon illustrations, very expressive, as are the other animal characters (including the beady-eyed pigeon Lion spies on a rooftop). Readers will also appreciate the endpapers’ displays of mouthwatering doughnuts.

Readers will enjoy watching this clueless detective get the “mane” job done in spite of himself. (Picture book. 4-8)

AGENT LION

Davis, Jacky & Soman, David Illus. by Soman, David Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-0-06-286917-3 An inept lion detective searches for a missing cat.

After receiving his assignment from Ms. Chief (an elephant), Agent Lion takes two hours to reach the home of Fluffy’s owner, Ms. Flamingo. (A map tracking his route from his office shows stops at fast-food joints and entertainment venues. Readers will note the more direct path he could have followed had distractions not beckoned.) Arriving on the scene, Agent Lion asks Ms. Flamingo ludicrous questions and posits absurd theories; checks for clues in unlikely places, including the refrigerator; and wreaks havoc when interviewing neighbors throughout her building. As the self-absorbed, doughnut-loving gumshoe continues his ridiculous investigation, Ms. Flamingo, patience gone, |

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An adorable and rollicking read-aloud about animal babies. we love babies!

CATCHING A RUSSIAN SPY Agent Les Wiser Jr. and the Case of Aldrich Ames Denson, Bryan Roaring Brook (176 pp.) $15.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-250-19916-4 Series: FBI Files

A true tale of counterespionage—the identification, stalking, and capture of a devastatingly effective CIA mole.

The second of Denson’s FBI Files casebooks (after The Unabomber, 2019) plays more like a comedy than a thriller. Elements include a CIA functionary’s suddenly driving a Jaguar, fending off a shrewish Colombian mistress-turned–secondwife in recorded conversations, and missing a clandestine meeting in Bogotá because he gets the time wrong, as well as lurking FBI investigators who train carefully to pull quick garbage-can switcheroos, take 45 minutes to pick a lock at the suspect’s house, and manage to lose him on Washington streets despite a radio tracer in his car. But there was nothing funny about Ames’ actions—for nearly nine years between 1985 and 1994 he banked nearly $2 million for feeding bundles of top-secret documents to the KGB that, among other disasters, largely wiped out the CIA’s Soviet assets—and the author preserves an earnest tone as he describes the FBI unit’s methodical gathering of evidence, its surveillance procedures, and how Ames and his co-conspirator wife were persuaded to confess. Still, along with being perhaps startled at how easy it apparently was to receive authorization for wiretaps, break-ins, and like assaults on personal rights, readers may well come away marveling at how both Ames and his pursuers seemed to just bumble along.

Well, the mole was caught…but readers expecting a counterespionage thriller will be underwhelmed. (photos, author’s note, glossary, source list, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

LITTLE BUT FIERCE

Emerson, Joan Scholastic (32 pp.) $4.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-338-57619-1 Emerson profiles three animals with disabilities featured in The Dodo’s “Little but Fierce” online video series.

In two to three sentences per page, the author introduces a tiny trio. Vera, a French bulldog, “could fit into a teacup,” and her cleft palate made eating difficult; Cody, an alpaca, was too small to stand on her own; and Karamel, a squirrel, was injured in a trap, necessitating the amputation of her four legs (referred to as “arms”). Fortunately, patient humans nursed each back to relative health: “It only takes a little love to make a BIG difference!” Fans of cuddly animals will enjoy the cheery color photos as Vera mugs at the camera, Cody poses in a unicorn 82

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costume, and Karamel zooms with her wheeled prostheses.

Kids with disabilities may find their furry counterparts comforting or cool. Though the text frames the plucky animals’ disabilities positively, it occasionally does so via clichés that humans with disabilities encounter all too often—though Vera is small, she “doesn’t let that stop her”; Cody “may be tiny, but her heart is BIG!” The page layout is rather busy. Against a graph-paper background, bright blue, green, pink, and yellow borders and text boxes compete with photos and text; occasional blue text against blue background is somewhat hard to read. A glossary defines terms printed in the narrative in boldface, such as “surgery” and “prosthetic.”

A warm and fuzzy look at animals living with disabilities. (Informational early reader. 6-8)

WE LOVE BABIES!

Esbaum, Jill Illus. by Hanson, Sydney National Geographic Kids (40 pp.) $17.99 | Dec. 31, 2019 978-1-4263-3748-2 Esbaum brings the littlest listeners an adorable and rollicking read-aloud about animal babies.

Bouncy rhymes and spot-on rhythms will delight little ears (“Paws and claws / and little flippers, / feet that look like fuzzy slippers. / Itty-bitty hooves and toes. // Webby footsies? / We love those!”), but inarguably, it is the photos that will attract and hold readers’ attention; accompanying the quote above, these include a black bear, a manatee with a parent, a polar bear, an Indian rhino, a mountain gorilla, and a trio of domestic ducks. Whether taking up a single- or double-page spread or simply placed in circular vignettes whose borders they frequently overflow, these babies will enthrall. While the animals are not labeled on the pages, the backmatter “Meet the babies” includes a circular thumbnail of each of the 54 (identical to the photo from the text), its name, and the name used for the baby animal (calf, chick, foal, etc.). Throughout, children will spy Hanson’s tiny cartoon animals with pompoms cheering about their love for babies of all kinds. Listeners will quickly catch their enthusiasm, though some rereads may be in order before they can chime in on the only thrice-repeated refrain: “We love babies! / Yes we do! / We love babies! / How about you?”

An eye-catching way to introduce older toddlers and preschoolers to the babies of our world. (Picture book. 2-5)

THE BOLD, BRAVE BUNNY

Ferry, Beth Illus. by Lam, Chow Hon Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-0-06-285031-7

An abundance of bunnies in the burrow propels one of their number to explore the world beyond. |

BORN CURIOUS 20 Girls Who Grew Up To Be Awesome Scientists Freeman, Martha Illus. by Wu, Katy Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (128 pp.) $19.99 | Feb. 18, 2020 978-1-5344-2153-0

A collective biography of 20 groundbreaking women in science.

Arranged chronologically, the compilation begins with Ellen Swallow Richards, a white geochemist born in 1842, who not only became the first woman to earn a degree in chemistry in the U.S., but used her research in nutrition, sanitation, and health to establish the first school-lunch program and first water-quality standards in the country. A few women who follow, such as Sylvia Earle, may be recognizable, but most will be new to readers. Each profile starts with an anecdote that describes the scientist’s childhood influences in the present tense before switching to the past tense to focus on her professional accomplishments and impact on science. A full-page portrait with clues to each woman’s focus and a concluding roundup of her major achievements, a reflective quote, and a “fascinating fact” accompany the profile as well. Freeman aims for diversity in both the range of disciplines covered and in the scientists themselves, who include Chinese pharmacologist Tu Youyou, African American physicist Shirley Ann Jackson, and Colombian geologist Adriana Ocampo. While the thematic emphasis, as the title suggests, is on the curiosity that drove each woman to pursue science, the profiles also highlight the role failure played in their paths and how they overcame such challenges as sexism, racism, illness, and disability to reach their goals. |

An inspiring look at women who realized curiosity plus tenacity equals success. (afterword, glossary, source notes) (Collective biography. 8-12)

BLUE DAISY

Frost, Helen Illus. by Shepperson, Rob Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House (96 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 17, 2020 978-0-8234-4414-4 A homeless dog transforms a neighborhood.

When a skinny, filthy dog suddenly appears, next-door neighbors Sam and Katie immediately notice. They watch her get shooed out of the Wilson sisters’ flower garden. They see the Tracy twins (the biggest, meanest kids in their grade) throwing rocks and chasing her on their bikes. As Sam and Katie search everywhere for the dog, the Tracy twins are also looking for her. Discovering the dog asleep under a table Sam’s father just painted blue, Sam and Katie are inexplicably spurred to paint a blue daisy on her back, prompting neighbors to take notice and call her Blue Daisy. Sam and Katie feel Blue Daisy should be their dog since they’re “the ones who like her best,” but they also feel guilty about painting her. They don’t understand why Blue Daisy prefers the Tracy twins, but those mean kids have somehow earned her trust. In alternating voices, Sam and Katie tell the story of how Blue Daisy finds a home and how they find new friends, with Sam speaking in verse, Katie in prose in a different typeset; speech in both portions is indicated by italics rather than quotation marks. Black-and-white illustrations capture key events and depict most core characters with pale skin; a recipe section includes a couple of Blue Daisy’s favorite treats.

An easy-to-read, heartwarming lesson in trust-building. (recipes; author’s note) (Fiction. 7-10)

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Everywhere Teetu the bunny looks, there are bunnies.

“When he turned left…bunnies. When he turned right…bunnies.” They’re even in his books: “A IS FOR ANTEATER. B IS FOR BUNNY.” When Teetu complains, his mother counsels tolerance, but rambunctious siblings and cousins in one very small space are certainly cause for a burrow breakout. Under “sunlight…starlight…moonlight, [and] flashlight,” Teetu braves a journey filled with new sights that fuel his imagination. Writing and sketching, Teetu creates a book of his own inspired by the curious forest creatures he encounters and the inky, twisty trees that surround them. “B is not only for…bunnies.” The need for a break satiated, Teetu heads back home with some unexpected help and an appreciation for his cozy, albeit bustling, abode and all the many meanings of B. Debut illustrator Lam’s illustrations emulate print techniques and stick to a palette primarily made up of slates, black, and white. His bendy trees that curl into the shapes of animals are visual stimuli for Teetu and readers alike.

Elliptical and circular elements recur throughout and occasionally frame Ferry’s text. Accents of red solely adorn the band of bunnies and their belongings.

An enjoyable tale of the marvels of adventuring and the comfort of home. (Picture book. 4-8)

GLAD, GLAD BEAR!

Gee, Kimberly Illus. by the author Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 18, 2020 978-1-5344-5269-5 Series: Bear’s Feelings Gee’s Mad, Mad Bear (2018) returns, continuing to adjust to and embrace his feelings as he explores music and dance.

It’s a new day, and little brown Bear is very glad because he has new leggings, dance slippers, and a tutu. Eager to wear it all, he and his parent bear head out for ballet class. But on arrival, Bear sees everyone else in class and begins to feel unsure about himself; at first he’s “a little shy,” then “a little afraid,” and even feeling “a little different.” The music he hears helps to change his attitude, and, emboldened, he begins “to feel light. / And kirkus.com

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Oge Mora

SATURDAY, THE SECOND PICTURE BOOK FROM THE AWARD-WINNING ILLUSTRATOR AND AUTHOR, IS AN ODE TO FAMILY AND EVERYDAY JOYS

By Hope Wabuke Abigail Best

The artwork of Oge Mora is full of deliberate joy and grace—qualities that Mora herself shares. She is exuberant, yet thoughtful, throughout our phone conversation during a break from work at her studio in Providence, Rhode Island, on the eve of publication of her new picture book, Saturday (Little, Brown, Oct. 22).

Mora, a recent graduate of the Rhode Island Institute of Design, didn’t start making picture books until a senior year class assignment; at her senior showcase she was offered a book deal, and her debut picture book, Thank You, Omu, won the Coretta Scott King/ John Steptoe New Talent Award, a Caldecott Honor, and the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award, among other commendations. How did it feel to be the recipient of such sudden success?

Says Mora: “I wasn’t worried about whether it would have so much great feedback as it has come to have; I was really focusing on the craft of it. I was aware that it would be a journey from idea to publication. But there has been another journey for me, from publication to beyond, in seeing my stories resonate with people and the stories people share with me 84

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about the special people who are in their lives. I could never have anticipated that impact.”

Mora confesses that she is still adjusting to her growing career and the opportunities it affords her. As someone who had long defined herself as an artist, says Mora, “the idea of being a writer is a new kind of role that I am getting more and more comfortable with.”

But, for Mora, “thinking about narrative from a visual side is something that has always been in my life; picture books were always something that I was interested in as a sequential visual medium.”

Mora got into art because she loved drawing and visual storytelling. But despite going to art school for illustration, she says with a laugh, she never thought she would end up a freelance illustrator. “I thought I would find a career that at least gets me close to art, but I didn’t think anyone actually did art for a career.”

She developed her unique collage style on the advice of a professor and loved it “because it combines texture, color, and other things I had always been passionate about as an artist.”

What does art mean to Mora? “Growing up, art was a real coping thing and source of comfort to me in my life,” she says. “It was just drawing for the joy. Even today, it doesn’t matter how I am feeling—if I can put my pen to the page for a little bit, I feel really comfortable and really right.”

Mora’s new book, Saturday, is a story about a mother and daughter who create joy in their lives despite unexpected difficulties. In many ways, it is an ode to time spent with the people we love. Was this the inspiration for Mora?

“I think that moms tend to underestimate how much they give to their children,” says Mora. “When I first started to figure out the story, I was wrapping my brain around a mother and daughter who share Saturday, and the mom is being a mom—that rock, that beacon of positivity.” |

Hope Wabuke is a writer and assistant professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Saturday received a starred review in the July 15, 2019, issue.

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bubbly. / And twirly,” until he is dancing freely with everyone.

Expressive, black-outlined drawings colored in muted tones make an endearing, uncomplicated, clear-cut accompaniment to the minimal text, working with it to evoke the emotional aspects of the little one’s experience. Whether he is uneasy about participating because he is new or self-conscious of his gender presentation (four of the other students wear tutus; one wears only leggings) is never addressed, leaving this text open to interpretation and discussion. What is clear is that his nonstereotypical gender presentation is celebrated and affirmed. A star sticker from the teacher for his participation leaves Bear “very glad” he joined the class, where he has also made a new friend—a bespectacled, darker-furred bear.

A positive, contemporary view of individuality and nonjudgmental acceptance. (Picture book. 3-5)

WHAT’S UP, MALOO?

Godbout, Geneviève Illus. by the author Tundra (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7352-6664-3 Series: Maloo and Friends

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Continues Mora: “All of my work is just really steeped in where I grew up and the people that I know and the person that I am. And if you are really speaking from that space, you have to give it your all. If I’m going to speak about the people who have given me so much in my life, and I’m so grateful for them, they deserve everything because they gave me everything.”

Mora, who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants who settled in historically black American neighborhoods. She describes being “immersed in the culture” of murals and other aspects of community art as being foundational to her artistic training growing up. She cites especially the work of Nina Robinson—“her murals all around the city that would tell the story of life in the area when she was a girl.”

Mora admired how “these artists had a lot of storytelling, not only in the work itself, but finding the magic element in everyday life.” As she grew up, Mora realized that “there were so many stories that had been shared with me that I didn’t see in mainstream picture books. So it’s about taking these stories from the margins and celebrating them in this main space, in the work.”

“Really,” says Mora, “my greatest joy in life gets to be my career, which is really amazing.”

In her authorial debut, Québecois illustrator Godbout explores depression through the movements of a kangaroo.

At first, the marsupial, clad in a short, yellow jumpsuit, is seen merrily jumping over a cluster of pink flowers. The mood quickly shifts, however, as a gray cloud settles over Maloo’s head. The ’roo’s posture compresses, and then Maloo descends into the dark burrow of a wombat. Even cake doesn’t help restore Maloo’s cheer. Hopping gives way to small steps that are counted aloud, offering a sense of the length of the mood: “Seven steps. Eight steps. Nine steps.” Five pages later, Maloo has reached 1,000. Friends try to help—playing in the water, turning on fans to propel Maloo into the sky. It is only when they launch their pal upward from a blanket that the fog lifts. Soft, warm scenes, rendered in pastels and colored pencil against a spacious white background, create a safe environment to discuss sadness. From the shift to a darker palette, the tree that closes in on creatures, and the serious faces, readers will understand that the protagonist is suffering; the spare text, written from the friends’ perspectives, describes the change in locomotion but allows viewers to identify the emotions.

Although the friends are steadfast, three spreads depict Maloo striving in midair alone, suggesting that the individual has a role in healing.

Provides quiet assurance to those who recognize this feeling as well as a model for supporting a friend. (Picture book. 3-6)

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Geometric illustrations are chock full of patterns to spot. pitter pattern

DIANA Princess of the Amazons

Hale, Shannon & Hale, Dean Illus. by Ying, Victoria DC Zoom (144 pp.) $9.99 paper | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-4012-9111-2

A young Diana of Themyscira makes an unusual friend.

Not quite Wonder Woman yet, this preteen princess of the Amazons is finding it more and more difficult to find her place on their isolated island. Too old to be considered the village baby but too young to be trained in combat, Diana spends her days trying to stay out of trouble. After mixing clay with wet sand to sculpt another young girl to talk to, Diana is shocked when her sculpture springs to life. Diana and her new pal, Mona, enjoy each other’s company, but Mona may not be as innocent as she seems.

Ying’s comic panels move effectively, conveying action and emotion with ease, while the Hales craft a pleasant, upbeat adventure for Diana that doesn’t lean too heavily on Wonder Woman lore to work. Young readers intimidated by the PG-13 rating applied to Patty Jenkins’ 2017 film will find a brightly colored and softly structured entry point here. Diana presents white, but there is racial diversity apparent in the secondary cast of characters. While there’s nothing here that radically redefines the character or breaks narrative ground, it’s refreshing to have a Wonder Woman story for kids that gives them a proper steppingstone into the fandom.

A cute and brightly rendered bit of backstory for DC’s Amazon warrior. (Graphic adventure. 8-12)

PITTER PATTERN

Hesselberth, Joyce Illus. by the author Greenwillow (40 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-0-06-274123-3

“Pitter, pitter, pat! Pitter, pitter, pat!...

Hey, it’s a pitter, pitter pattern!”

Spots (on a dog), nested diamonds (on the wallpaper), houndstooth (on clothing)—there are so many patterns to see! At first, Hesselberth presents sequences textually with visual support as main character Lu, with light-brown skin and dark-brown hair, helps her friends (a short, black-presenting child and a tall, white-presenting child) remove their wet boots. Then the days of the week carry the narrative along to next Sunday, when Lu can see her friends again. There are patterns to identify in each day’s activity, like the pentagons on a soccer ball, beats in a musical piece, and intricate quilt patterns. Guided identification transitions easily into open questions (“Are there patterns here?”) for nature scenes viewed with Lu’s interracial family. Geometric illustrations are chock full of patterns to spot, but the sweeping two-paged 86

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spreads are never overwhelming, partially thanks to strategically juxtaposed colors. Hesselberth includes backmatter on pattern types (repeating vs. growing) and places to find patterns (nature, time, etc.) to prompt further discussions. The text and essential pictures offer bountiful opportunities for reader interaction, whether one-on-one or in a group setting.

Young ones can verbally identify or point to their discoveries or participate in rhythmic clapping and repetitive dance moves. There’s lots to discover as well as several methods to access the lesson.

Never pedantic, this book encourages a fun, developmentally appropriate way to look at the world. (Picture book.

4-8)

TWINKLE THINKS PINK!

Holabird, Katharine Illus. by Warburton, Sarah Little Simon/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-5344-2917-8 Reminiscent of another rosy-hue– loving protagonist, Twinkle can’t get enough of the color pink.

Twinkle and her friends are invited to a garden party hosted

by Fairy Godmother at the royal palace. It promises beautiful roses, which are the talk of the town. Twinkle, along with fairy friends Pippa and Lulu, can’t resist sneaking a peek before the party begins. The roses are all the colors of the rainbow. It looks divine, but Pippa can’t help but muse, “What a shame there aren’t more pink ones.” That’s all the encouragement Twinkle needs. She waves her wand, and (after a few missteps) suddenly everything in the garden is pink, right down to a winged rabbit onlooker and a shocked owl. Poor Twinkle still doesn’t have a handle on spell-casting. Have they ruined the garden party for everyone? The fuel for Holabird’s impetuous heroine’s fluttering is excitement rather than common sense. But she does confess to Fairy Godmother and admit her mistake. Warburton’s intricately inked illustrations provide enough fairy magic (tiny fruit houses with even tinier doors, a poodle with gossamer wings) to have readers poring over the details. The fairies present mostly white (other friends are shown on the endpapers), with only black-presenting Pippa providing diversity.

It’s slight on story, but there is an abundance of shimmery glitter. And, of course, pink. (Picture book. 3-6)

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WE HAD TO BE BRAVE Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport

Hopkinson, Deborah Scholastic Focus (368 pp.) $18.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-338-25572-0

A vital collection of vignettes from the Kindertransport, the World War II rescue effort that brought about 10,000 child refugees from Nazi-controlled

HUMPTY DUMPTY LIVED NEAR A WALL

Hughes, Derek Illus. by Christopher, Nathan Penguin Workshop (48 pp.) $14.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-5247-9302-9

In this illustrated retelling of the “Humpty Dumpty” nursery rhyme, the egg still falls, but does Humpty lose it all?

Humpty Dumpty lives near a wall and has “no fun at all,” nor do any of the creatures who inhabit this sharp, dark world brought to exquisite life by masterful black-and-white illustrations. The king in this gloomy world has forbidden his subjects—all well-known fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme characters, a clever, nuanced touch—to dream. But Humpty has a dream anyway: He wants to look over the wall. He builds a ladder in secret (“he couldn’t even tell his friend the Mad Hatter”), and one night, he props his ladder against the wall and climbs. The |

WHERE’S BABY?

Hunter, Anne Illus. by the author Tundra (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-7352-6498-4

In a hiding game led by Baby Fox, Papa Fox searches the forest for his little one but neglects to look in one obvious place.

Not finding his offspring indoors in their den, Papa Fox asks Mama where Baby might be, and she responds: “Why, Baby must be somewhere, Papa Fox.” Papa heads out to find Baby and looks in, over, under, down, up, and around, encountering owl, skunk, bear, mouse, toothy fish, and bull—but no Baby Fox. Disheartened, Papa says, “Mama Fox, I can’t find Baby anywhere.” She responds knowingly, “Have you looked behind you, Papa Fox?” Readers will have seen that Mama has been in on the joke all along if they noticed, early on, Mama waving goodbye to Baby, who is quietly following Papa as he sets off on his search.

The text is entirely composed of dialogue in speech balloons.

Graceful, finely sketched pen-and-pencil drawings, primarily in black and gray against a pale blue backdrop, complement this exercise in identifying prepositions. Kids will play along with Baby, easily spotting his pointy ears and rusty-orange body, which pops against the otherwise muted palette. Reunited with Papa, Baby Fox asks, “Can we do that again?”—encouraging multiple readings of this amusing story.

Fun and instructive, this forest frolic will have kids eager to play along. (Picture book. 2-4)

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countries into Britain.

Years before the Nazis ramped up to genocide, the antiSemitic laws of the Third Reich convinced some parents that their children were unsafe. Emigration, however, was quite difficult. Even for those prepared to move somewhere they didn’t speak the language, it was shockingly difficult to get a visa.

England and the United States had strict immigration quotas.

Nevertheless, refugee advocates and the British Home Office hatched a plan to bring child refugees into Britain and settle them with foster families. (A similar attempt in the U.S. died in Congress.) The voices of myriad Kindertransport survivors are used to tell of this harrowing time, recalling in oral histories and published and unpublished memoirs their prewar lives, the journey, their foster families. Sidebars provide more resources about the people in each section; it’s startlingly powerful to read a survivor’s story and then go to a YouTube video or BBC recording featuring that same survivor, speaking as an adult or recorded as a child more than 80 years ago. Historical context, personal stories, and letters are seamlessly integrated in this history of frightened refugee children in a new land and their brave parents’ making “the heart-wrenching decision” to send their children away with strangers to a foreign country.

Well-crafted, accessible, and essential. (timeline, glossary, resources, index, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

next day, an egg is found in pieces and the king declares the wall has won, sending out photos of the smashed egg. But in his haste to dampen any glimmers of hope his subjects might harbor, the king has neglected to look carefully at the eggshell, and what he misses sets his subjects free. Hughes’ rhyming text is simple, as befits its source, but its timely message is profound: Dreams cannot be stopped by a wall. Christopher’s sublimely detailed illustrations, the style of which, appropriately, harkens to Arthur Rackham, strengthen and expand the story indelibly, giving it visual excitement and atmospheric impact.

Wickedly, subversively brilliant. (Picture book. 6-10)

I LOVE YOU, FRED

Inkpen, Mick Illus. by Inkpen, Chloë Aladdin (32 pp.) $17.99 | Dec. 10, 2019 978-1-5344-1475-4

The untrained, exuberant dog and his patient child owner from I Will Love You Anyway (2016) are back, this time exploring the meaning of a name.

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class. The pup now responds appropriately to “Fetch,” “Sit,” and “Stay” and knows “Ball,” “Walk,” “Park,” and “Bed.” But the meaning of the word “Fred” eludes him, the adorable tilt of his head conveying his confusion. Eager to please, the dog just wants to know how to “Fred” so he’ll earn a “Good Boy!” Maybe the dog upstairs (his reflection in a mirror) knows? What about the dog he spies in the water while chasing ducks in the park? Trying to play with that pup leads him to trouble. Luckily, his child comes to his rescue, snuggling the dog close and whispering his name. “A light goes on inside my head!” Fred’s his name, and he can now Fred with the best of them. A cozy ending celebrates the love between dog and child. While Mick Inkpen’s rhymes sometime belabor the point and nearly overstay their welcome, Chloë Inkpen’s illustrations against white backgrounds give readers a view from the dog’s perspective, and his expressions and body language convey much. Fred’s child, the only human in the book, presents white.

Fred has certainly matured since his first outing. Readers may have mixed feelings about a third, though. (Picture book. 4- 7)

WILL YOU MISS US IF WE GO?

Jaeger, Paige Illus. by Quirk, Carol Hill BQB Publishing (40 pp.) $18.95 | Dec. 1, 2019 978-1-945448-59-1 Series: If We’re Gone

Fourteen endangered or threatened animals highlight their plights in perky rhyme.

“With a ruddy red appearance, I’m very cute. / I grow big and strong eating insects and fruit.” Frequently privileging metrics over precise language or even meaning, Jaeger adds to the gallery begun in Who Will Roar If I Go? (2018) with lyrics from the orangutan (depicted by Quirk with pale orange hair and a woefully shriveled-looking arm) as well as the addax, the Eurasian lynx, the tapir, the pygmy hippo, and like rarities. Along with a blithe assurance that the ivory-billed woodpecker is extant (which is still subject to debate), the author makes some headscratching observations. The red panda informs readers, “My feet can swivel all the way around / Which allows me to walk upside down!” and the orang states, “Our forest homes disappear each year / Due to some palm-growing racketeer.” A closing section offers prose “Factoids” cast as riddles—with answers directly attached. The illustrations make a stronger case for concern, with creatures who, though looking diaphanous and placed in even more airy natural settings, gaze up at viewers with knowing or quizzical expressions as if actually asking the cogent titular question.

Too many incongruities and unpacked issues to stay on track, if well meant. (glossary) (Informational picture book/ poetry. 6-9)

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CONFESSIONS OF A DORK LORD

Johnston, Mike Illus. by Altés, Marta Putnam (352 pp.) $13.99 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-1-5247-4081-8

The son of a fallen Dark Lord looks for his own place in the world.

Azrael Bal Gorath the Wicked— “Wick” to his friends—is the heir to the throne of the grim folk. Wick’s father, the Dark Lord, ruled over ogres, orcs, goblins, witches, and warlocks alike until he vanished after fighting the faire folk’s champion, Galorian (a “good” wizard). The absent lord left nothing behind for his son, hoping the lack of titles and status would help build Wick’s character. Wick (a white preteen with a shock of red hair) spends his days evading bullies and dreaming of having the power to move on past his struggles in Remedial Spell Casting. The novel is a promising if curious blend of Dungeons and Dragons fantasy world and the typical “diary of an underdog middle schooler” fare, but the enterprise never quite gets off the ground. There’s a lot of worldbuilding up front, and the day-to-day banality doesn’t jibe well with the big-picture conflicts between the faire folk and the grim world. The novel also overstays its welcome, coming in at well over 300 pages of disjointed and poorly structured story. Wick is unpleasant, the world he inhabits is boilerplate fantasy, and his story feels sluggish when it should be brisk and rushed when it should take its time.

A miscalculated satiric fantasy that treads too-familiar ground. (Fantasy. 8-12)

RUBY RED SHOES A Very Aware Hare Knapp, Kate Illus. by the author Doubleday (48 pp.) $9.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-0-593-12346-1

Ruby, a white hare, always wears red shoes.

Her first pair came from Babushka Galina Galushka, the grandmother she lives with in a sweetly decorated caravan, evocative of Eastern Europe. Though the title suggests that Ruby might learn or teach a lesson about awareness in the story, this book offers almost nothing in the way of plot. There is little interaction between Ruby and Babushka Galushka, no dialogue outside of the grandmother’s advice to treat feelings as “delicate birds’ eggs,” and no additional named characters. What this work offers in abundance is a sweet satisfaction with the day to day.

Ruby’s unhurried routine showcases the role of humble objects within it, such as capacious teacups, energetic, engaged chickens, and a billowing clothesline. While some readers may find |

A creative and inspirational resource. dictionary for a better world

such inaction, well, boring, others may appreciate sensing the comfort of home. A charming cadence shapes the narrative, making it appealing to read aloud. Within the clean, sophisticated illustrations, notable attention is paid to the small details, such as holes in each individual button in a jar, tiny petals folded tightly on flowers, and slightly rounded points on Ruby’s colored pencils. Everything about this book asks readers to go slowly, to put aside the expected, and to savor the simplicity of the moment.

Surprisingly pleasant. (Picture book. 5-8)

THE OCEAN Exploring Our Blue Planet

Krestovnikoff, Miranda Illus. by Calder, Jill Bloomsbury (64 pp.) $23.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-1-5476-0335-0

Krull, Kathleen Illus. by Bye, Alexandra Atheneum (48 pp.) $18.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-4814-9151-8

“When someone opens a door to you, go forward.”

From shy child to keen observer, vocal activist to highly effective political adviser, Frances Perkins led a life of tremendous worth, helping others as a volunteer, social worker, expert investigator, workplace-safety regulator, industrial commissioner, and, ultimately, the first woman Secretary of Labor. Brimming with realistic detail about the difficulties of pursuing one’s goals and making a difference while functioning as a woman in the first half of the 20th century, this appealing volume features colorful and appealing animation-inflected illustrations peppered with ideas that inspired Perkins; these appear as banners, headlines, and signposts throughout the story. Krull smoothly describes Perkins’ influences and motivations, her sensitivity to and awareness of injustice, how she overcame some of the fears and constraints she faced, her development as an advocate, and her many accomplishments—including her major contributions to (some say authorship of) FDR’s New Deal and the adoption of the Social Security Act—in a kid-friendly and accessible manner, focusing almost entirely on Perkins’ professional accomplishments. As for Perkins’ personal life, the afterword briefly refers to her husband and daughter within the context of their “significant health problems” (both experienced mental illness), but the text is silent on Perkins’ same-sex relationship following her husband’s institutionalization.

Overall, an appealing, informative picture-book biography that showcases the accomplishments of a great American heroine. (Picture book/biography. 6-10)

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An invitation to explore ocean habitats from a British television presenter who has specialized in natural history, wildlife, and the water world.

Spread by double-page spread, this straightforward introduction provides an illustrated overview of a variety of ocean environments and their inhabitants. The table of contents is a simple list of topics, but the book’s nicely varied layout reveals the underlying organization: coastlines, shallow seas, the open ocean, the polar seas, the deep ocean, and plastic in the ocean.

Each double-page spread introduces a different subject: habitats such as estuaries, seagrass beds, or hydrothermal vents; inhabitants such as seabirds, sharks, polar bears, and even deepocean monsters. Each topic is further developed with examples, which also appear, labeled, in the illustrations. Calder’s process suits the subject, combining the fluidity of drawing with inks, pens, and brushes with digital textures and techniques. Appropriately, the backgrounds are mostly blue or green like the sea.

The text is relatively dense and, though lightly Americanized, occasionally shows its British origins: “The limpet is well known for its incredible ability to suck tightly onto a rock so that predators cannot prise it off and eat it.” (Unfamiliar terms—such as the limpet’s “radula”—are defined in context.) But her examples come from around the world, and there is an enormous amount of accurate information for curious and determined readers.

Clearly organized and attractively illustrated, this import should inspire some young readers to dive deeply.

(Informational picture book. 7-10)

THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE PHOTO Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America

DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes From A to Z Latham, Irene & Waters, Charles Illus. by Amini, Mehrdokht Carolrhoda (120 pp.) $19.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-5415-5775-8

Instead of an ordinary dictionary, poets Latham and Waters have alphabetized their vision of “a better world.”

This compilation of alphabetized words offers readers opportunities to reflect upon vocabulary that uplifts and acts to improve human connection and community. Each word is introduced with a poem and a quote, often from children’s literature, that provide a deeper expression of the chosen word. These |

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Lee ambitiously takes on a number of issues and artfully manages to balance it all. mundy kim and the yummy seaweed business

are followed by an anecdote that offers personalized context.

“Compassion,” for instance, presents an aubade about siblings who care for their sick mother before walking together to the bus stop. In Amini’s textured collage, two young black children “steep Mama / in hugs and blankets,” their love and concern glowing from the page. A quote from Julius Lester instructs readers that “there is nothing we need to understand to be compassionate with each other,” and Latham offers her musing on what compassion means to her. Finally, under the rubric “Try It!” are prompts that elicit engagement to amplify the word as action. Unlike many alphabet books, there is not always just one word per letter; some letters gather several words together. This collection is best summed up in the last poem, “The Etymology of Progress”: “What makes the world / a zinger / is remembering / we’re all in this… / together.”

A creative and inspirational resource suitable for a broad range of ages and uses. (authors’ note, bibliography, further reading, resources, index, thanks) (Poetry. 8-14)

THREE WAYS TO TRAP A LEPRECHAUN

Lazar, Tara Illus. by To, Vivienne Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $10.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-06-284128-5 A budding engineer proves to her younger brother that leprechauns are real.

In her “leprechaun trap laboratory,” Claire sets about making a contraption that will give skeptical Sam hard evidence: a laundry basket and forked stick with “something shiny” as bait.

Readers paying attention will spy a little figure in a green suit peeking through the window, so it’s no surprise when the siblings find a note from Finn instead of the leprechaun himself.

Claire’s next, Rube Goldberg–esque trap is just as unsuccessful.

But the third works: Some mirrors, invisible wire, a net, and a pot of gold coins catch Finn, but he uses his magic to escape, leaving them with a triple rainbow for a reward while taking the coins Claire somehow had on hand. Finally believing, Sam makes a list of a few other mythical beasts he’d like to try trapping. The final two pages offer readers some suggested supplies and advice for sketching and building their own traps (but no specific directions). Lazar introduces readers to some challenging vocabulary (“inescapable,” “kaput,” “nab,” “vamoosed”), but Claire doesn’t always sound like the kid she is: “Oh, zip! He tripped the trap but gave us the slip!” In To’s shiny, cartoon illustrations, all three characters are white with red hair; Claire wears glasses, and the pockets of her jumper are filled with tools.

May trigger a flurry of STEM activity for the March holiday but not much beyond that. (Picture book. 4-8)

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MINDY KIM AND THE YUMMY SEAWEED BUSINESS

Lee, Lyla Illus. by Ho, Dung Aladdin (96 pp.) $16.99 | $5.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-5344-4009-8 978-1-5344-4007-4 paper Young Mindy takes an entrepreneurial approach to a new school and a new life.

Moving from California to Florida is tough. On top of that, Korean American Mindy and her father are still grieving the recent loss of her mom from a long illness. The first day at her new school is discouraging, as she is teased for her lunch of kimchi, seaweed, eggs, and rice. The next day a white classmate named Sally tries the seaweed and effectively flips public opinion, making Mindy’s lunch very popular. Encouraged by Sally’s enthusiasm, Mindy starts trading her seaweed, then opts to sell it to raise money for a puppy (a long-held dream of hers) that she hopes will alleviate her father’s sadness. The evenly paced plot thickens when a disgruntled classmate, a white boy named Brandon, reports Mindy’s forbidden business to a teacher, causing Sally, Mindy, and Brandon to go to the principal’s office. Just on the verge of settling in, Mindy now must untangle this mess. Lee ambitiously takes on a number of issues with a new school, microaggressions, friendships, and grief, and she artfully manages to balance it all. Mindy’s accessible, genuine-sounding voice is sincere without diminishing the gravity of heavy issues. Lee also knows when to insert scenes of family love that prevent Mindy’s dad from being defined solely by his grief. Ho contributes friendly-looking black-and-white illustrations every few pages.

A lovingly authentic debut that shines. (Fiction. 6-9)

PACHO NACHO

López, Silvia Illus. by Pino, Pablo Capstone Editions (32 pp.) $17.95 | Feb. 1, 2020 978-1-68446-098-4 Librarian and author López puts a Latin American twist on a classic silly story.

When Mamá and Papá welcome their first child, no one can decide on a name. Rather than pick just one, they decide to string together all the suggestions from the abuelos and abuelas, tíos and tías, primos and primas, along with their own favorite names into the tongue-tripping “Pacho-Nacho-NicoTico-Melo-Felo-Kiko-Rico.” The family and the community are proud of the name and the little boy who carries it. A new son, Juan, later joins the happy family. All goes well until, when his older brother is threatened by dangerously swift waters, young Juan is hindered in his urgent quest for help by his elder |

brother’s extensive and cumbersome name. Though Pacho Nacho’s name is a string of popular Spanish nicknames, astute readers will quickly recognize the similarities to the tale of Tikki-Tikki-Tembo, itself based on a Japanese folktale, a partial history of which is included in the author’s note. Bright cartoon illustrations by Pino seem to set the story in what is now the United States Southwest and lend a cinematic theatricality. A glossary of Spanish vocabulary folded into the text is appended.

As with the source material, a read-aloud that will have young audiences in stiches. (Picture book. 3- 7)

WANDA SEASONGOOD AND THE MOSTLY TRUE SECRET

Lurie, Susan Illus. by Harney, Jenn Disney-Hyperion (224 pp.) $15.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-1-368-04315-1 Series: Wanda Seasongood, 1

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Seven-year-old Grace knows a great many words, but she can’t bring herself to string them together on paper.

In her eyes, this gift is unique to her writer aunt, Lily, with whom she spends her afternoons. Lily, however, has found herself bereft of ideas, and out of desperation she puts out an ad for a writing assistant. Enter Rex: a dog whose apparent oddities cleverly conceal a magic that, while unexplained, is quietly remarkable.

Rex inspires Lily almost immediately, and the two find happiness in their new partnership. Similarly, Rex inspires Grace to turn her words into stories. Her reservations will feel familiar to any fledgling pen-pusher: not knowing how to write what she feels, how to start, or how to press on. Those reservations extend into her everyday life, as it fills and changes in ways she never foresaw, but her small network—loving (if busy and often absent) parents, the wondrous Rex, Lily and her writing group, the encouraging teacher Ms. Luce, and steadfast, unflappable Daniel, Grace’s best friend—remains by her side throughout her writer’s journey. MacLachlan spins from simple words an enigmatic, gentle, but perhaps too succinct tale. While Grace’s first-person narration doesn’t quite ring true to her young age, (a lack of contractions makes the prose oddly formal), charmingly scratchy pencil sketches scattered throughout mitigate this alienating effect. The only physical descriptions to be found are attached to the animal characters.

Sweetly magical. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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Wanda’s 11th birthday begins with a bluebird flying smack into her bedroom window, and then it gets worse.

Wanda always tries to be kind and helpful. Still, her parents chastise her and praise Zane, her horrible beast of a younger brother, no matter what happens, even when he spits peas at her across the dinner table. Every birthday she wishes to suddenly become an orphan. It turns out that the bluebird, named Voltaire, has a secret message to deliver, but he cannot remember it.

On a journey to learn what it is, the two go into the Scary Wood among all sorts of creatures who wish her ill (and frequently almost succeed in doing it). Amid many magical mishaps, transfigurative perils, and a smooch-obsessed frog, Wanda hopes to discover her “true” family. The text is well constructed, containing odd scraps sewn together into an imaginative story quilt.

There’s a supernatural cast chock-full of familiar types in fiendishly new forms, such as the Groods, chimerically composed of various flora and fauna. Wanda is by turns charmingly flabbergasted and persistently practical but ever well meaning; readers are sure to root for her along the journey. Textual descriptions combine with Harney’s cartoon illustrations to establish a largely white cast; in a welcome twist for a genre that too often racializes evil, the dreadful witch has “creamy” skin.

This inventive, modern fairy-tale adventure is sprinkled with wry humor. (Fantasy. 8-12)

WONDROUS REX

MacLachlan, Patricia Illus. by Dzubiak, Emilia Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (96 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 17, 2020 978-0-06-294098-8

NIGHT ANIMALS NEED SLEEP TOO

Marino, Gianna Illus. by the author Viking (32 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 25, 2020 978-0-425-29065-1

Having a restful day of sleep proves difficult for Possum and his fellow night animals.

In Marino’s follow-up to Night Animals (2015), the search for “somewhere dark and quiet” to sleep doesn’t go easily for Possum. Readers meet Possum on the endpapers, as the marsupial is woken by a singing bird welcoming the new day. The problem?

Possum is a night animal and must therefore sleep during the day. As Possum looks for a place to lay down his head and sleep, other nocturnal animals join the search. First, Skunk suggests a cave. Yet before even turning the page, the dangers that lurk there are visible to attentive readers. Soon Possum trails behind him a band of sleepy companions—skunk, bear, beaver, gray wolf—all night animals looking to catch some Z’s while the sun kirkus.com

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shines. As each suggestion proves inadequate, the group must escape the dangers they encounter. Escaping is sometimes hard, as Possum, doing what possums do, often plays dead, and his friends must carry his inert body along. Marino’s illustrations of Possum and company—struggling to stay awake, playing dead, and running for their lives—are hilarious and endearing, as is her dialogue. Beaver: “Oh, Possum! I am so sorry you’re dead!”

Bear: “He does that sometimes.” Brief facts on the nocturnal animals depicted appear on the inside of the dust jacket.

A midday bedtime book that will keep readers laughing.

(Picture book. 3-6)

HOME GAMES

Markovits, Benjamin Harper/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-0-06-274230-8 When his parents split up, Ben enters the choppy waters of his new life in Austin.

Ben’s workaholic dad heads to London while Ben moves with his mother from New York to her hometown. Introspective Ben retreats into himself, feeling pulled between his parents and indecisive about what he truly wants—to stay with his mother or to move in with his dad. Adult novelist Markovits’ (A Weekend in New York, 2018, etc.) debut book for children starts slowly as readers live through Ben’s uneventful summer days and he begins school. Though both his parents encourage Ben to express his opinions and speak up for himself, Ben finds himself lonely and the target of bullies. Readers may find themselves unengaged as the author methodically introduces story elements, but things pick up at the halfway point. Ben is coerced into managing the popular basketball team—coached by a teacher his mom is dating—while on the side, groundskeeper Sam teaches Ben basketball basics on an abandoned outdoor court. When Ben gets the chance to participate in a playoff game, his newly acquired skills are, refreshingly, not a magic fix to his problems. The story moves slowly, and not all the pieces introduced get a proper payoff, but Ben’s realistically rocky emotional journey ends on a satisfying note. The cast of characters is a primarily white one.

Not quite a slam dunk but an honest portrayal of a family in transition. (Fiction. 8-12)

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PUG’S SNOW DAY

May, Kyla Illus. by the author Scholastic (80 pp.) $4.99 paper | $24.99 PLB | Dec. 26, 2019 978-1-338-53006-3 978-1-338-53007-0 PLB Series: Diary of a Pug, 2 Bub the anxious pug tackles snow days and new neighbors in his second outing.

Bub, acclaimed by some as “the cutest pug on the planet,” at first shares the enthusiasm owner Bella expresses about snow days even though he doesn’t know what they are. Then Duchess the cat (mildly antagonistic, in typical feline fashion) rains on Bub’s parade by pointing out that snow is water—and Bub’s no fan of rain or baths. After a comedic and disastrous first attempt, Bub learns how to properly dress for snow and enjoy it. The outdoor fun’s cut short by mysterious noises coming from the new neighbor, which frighten Bella into thinking there’s a monster. Bub puts on a Sherlock Holmes get-up to investigate but becomes afraid himself of the new neighbor’s large dog. Finally, Bella meets Jack, who’s been working on a tree fort, and his dog, Luna, who is enthusiastically friendly. The story ends on a positive note, as they all happily work together on the fort. The full-color cartoon illustrations, especially of Bub, are adorably expressive and certain to please the age group. The generous font and format—short, diary-entry paragraphs and speechbubble conversations—create a quick pace. Bub’s stylized emoji bubbles return and are most hilarious when used to express his nervous flatulence. Bella and Jack both present white.

A strong, accessible diary story for readers seeking an adorable animal tale. (Fantasy. 5- 7)

TRUE TO YOUR SELFIE

McCafferty, Megan Scholastic (288 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-338-29699-0

Mean Girls goes to a New Jersey middle school in the social media age.

Life is perfect as Ella Jane Plaza enters seventh grade. She and her best friend, Morgan Middleton, are the local internet sensation #Morgan&Ella. With more than 10,000 followers on all the best “socials,” the duo are on their way to “global multiplatform domination.” Maintaining her image as the ukulele-playing “Goofball Goddess” sidekick to Morgan’s “Girlboss Goddess Next Door” isn’t easy, but as long as Ella does exactly as privileged, spoiled Morgan says, everything is harmonious. When Ella, who’s never been particularly good at anything except being epically unorganized, discovers she has a natural aptitude for fencing, she has to hide it from Morgan. Such a “terminally uncute” sport is bad for their |

A breeze to reference, with helpful illustrations to boot. where’s my stuff?

brand and will make #Morgan&Ella (but mostly Morgan) look bad. Eventually, Ella, who narrates with sincerity and uncertainty, must decide whether or not to continue being untrue to herself in order to maintain her popularity. Ella knows Morgan is manipulative and cruel (particularly to Ella’s nerdy former best friend) but rationalizes Morgan’s unkind words and actions as acts of charity and wisdom. Notably, Morgan’s meanness isn’t explained away as a result of neglectful high-power parents.

Olive-skinned Ella is of Mediterranean descent, and Morgan is white; their community is also largely white.

A quick, entertaining read for fans of frenemy fiction.

(Fiction. 8-13)

WHERE’S MY STUFF? 2ND EDITION The Ultimate Teen Organizing Guide

For middle graders through high school students needing help with organization, this second edition of Where’s My Stuff? (originally published in 2010) is a user-friendly resource to get them started.

The guide begins by offering the reasons why kids should get organized: extra free time, minimize costly damage, less stress, more independence. The first step instructs students to assess their “stuff,” including books, homework, and handouts, to create a School Organizing System. After establishing the SOS, the book next demonstrates how students can efficiently schedule time and activities, starting with a Brain Dump of tasks to be done: It’s a “proven method for turning the muffled static in your head into clear-signal action,” say the authors. The most relevant advice to kids and teens who are constantly engaged with social media are found in snippets called “Your Digital Life,” in which the authors give advice about how best to minimize social media time in order to complete work. Free online resources are listed for file storage as well as tips for how best to use digital planners and calendars. Though much of this organizational self-help information for students is readily accessible online, this book is a breeze to reference, with helpful illustrations to boot. Cheery diagrams of well-organized lockers and study areas give kids concrete models to work from, although such privileges as sequesterable space are assumed.

Sensible information well organized and presented.

(Nonfiction. 11-18)

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Newman, Magdalena & Newman, Nathaniel with Liftin, Hilary Illus. by Swaab, Neil HMH Books (336 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-328-63183-1

Nathaniel Newman and his mother, Magda, recount how Nathaniel’s Treacher Collins syndrome has affected their family.

In alternating passages, the authors relate how, after being born with severe craniofacial deformities affecting his hearing, eating, and breathing, Nathaniel underwent “sixty-plus” surgeries before age 16. Along the way, he and his family faced kids’ curiosity and adults’ insensitivity. Magda’s poignant, sometimes absurdly humorous endeavors to raise Nathaniel and his little brother, Jacob, as normally as possible emphasize how Nathaniel’s disability shaped their family; siblings of kids with disabilities will sympathize when Magda describes how Jacob’s needs came second. Nathaniel is witty and matter-of-fact about his condition, concluding that “it would have been easier to be born ‘normal,’ but far less cool.” Throughout the book’s second half, the authors discuss how R.J. Palacio’s book Wonder (2012) encouraged empathy for kids with craniofacial and other differences, and fans of the movie will appreciate thought-provoking peeks behind the scenes. Despite being dubbed “Auggie Pullman come to life,” Nathaniel abundantly shows that he’s his own multifaceted person. Flashbacks to Magda’s childhood in Poland emphasize the importance of family and imagination in tough times. Though their story sometimes feels disjointed or overstuffed, its breadth reflects their personally extraordinary but emotionally universal journey. As Nathaniel observes, “I’m not normal, and neither are you.” Swaab’s full-page cartoonstyle drawings introduce each chapter. The Newmans present white. Magda is Catholic; her husband and sons are Jewish.

Funny, compassionate, and thoughtful. (Memoir. 10-14)

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Moss, Samantha & Martin, Lesley Schwartz Illus. by Wertz, Michael Zest Books (120 pp.) $14.99 paper | $37.32 PLB | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-5415-7895-1 978-1-5415-7894-4 PLB

NORMAL One Kid’s Extraordinary Journey

BIRDIE AND ME

Nuanez, J.M.M. Kathy Dawson/Penguin (256 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 18, 2020 978-0-399-18677-6 Two siblings struggle to adjust to life with their two very different uncles.

Twelve-year-old Jack and 9-yearold Birdie, white children named after Jackie Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson, respectively, are happy enough living with Uncle Carl, eating Honey Bunny Buns (a conveniencestore foodstuff that shows up far too often for no discernible reason) and helping him win the heart of his food-truck–operator girlfriend. Their mother died almost a year ago in a car kirkus.com

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Nye writes conversationally, injecting humor, outrage, and reminiscence. cast away

accident following a history of episodes that some may recognize as bipolar disorder, and Carl’s tiny town of Moser, California, is less welcoming than their old home in Oregon. Birdie’s attendance at school is spotty; classmates and administrators think that a young boy in pink leggings, headbands, and nail polish is distracting, and truancy officers remove the children to live with taciturn Uncle Patrick, who is more than happy to enforce a gender-normative dress code on Birdie. A flat plot basically follows the children through this adjustment period, and much of the conflict centers on the various bullies Birdie has to deal with, including an obligatory scene of homophobic violence in a boy’s bathroom. Despite the young protagonists, most of the book focuses on the relationships among the various adults, with the children serving more as instruments than fully realized or engaging characters.

A paint-by-numbers coming-of-age—it’s readable, but that’s about it. (Fiction. 10-14)

CAST AWAY Poems of Our Time

Nye, Naomi Shihab Greenwillow (176 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-0-06-290769-1

Nye explores what we throw away, literally (she’s a litter picker-upper) and metaphorically.

In 80-plus poems, Nye writes conversationally, injecting humor, outrage, and reminiscence.

Unambiguously championing the environment, she marvels at how casually humans toss trash. “What about these energy bottles pitched by someone / who didn’t have energy to find a bin? / Fun Finger Food wrappers dropped by someone / not so fun?” An archaeologist of urban detritus, she ponders her discoveries, championing children throughout. “Blocks around elementary schools / are surprisingly free of litter. / Good custodians?” Nye locates the profound in the mundane: “A single silver star / on a curb

by Bonham Elementary / Good work! / Glimmering / like a treasure / stronger at this moment than all 50 / drooping on the flagpole.” She mourns the current othering of the homeless and refugees: “A few hundred miles from here / thousands of traumatized kids / huddle in cages / … / Who can believe this? / Land of the Free!” She keenly knits place into poems: her city, San Antonio; the Ferguson, Missouri, of her childhood; Maui; Hong Kong. She castigates Trump, who “talks uglier than the bully in grade school,” and Prince Charles, who dithers ineffectually about plastic waste. She generously praises poets and writers: W.S. Merwin, who drafted poems on junk mail; David Ignatow, for a poetic image that Nye has found compelling since high school; Kevin Henkes, for his book Egg. Nye at her engaging, insightful best. (Poetry. 8-12)

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THE MAGNIFICENT MONSTERS OF CEDAR STREET

Oliver, Lauren Illus. by Aldridge, Ethan M. Harper/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-0-06-234507-3 Cordelia Clay helps her father, Cornelius, rescue injured and endangered monsters, restoring them to health in the ramshackle family mansion; when her father and the monsters disappear, she sets out to find them.

Gregory, a homeless orphan whose sick zombie puppy—a zuppy—she cured, insists on joining Cordelia’s dangerous quest.

The baby dragon with a broken wing and the elderly filch found hidden in the oven can’t be left behind, either, as those aware that monsters do exist advocate exterminating them. Traveling by foot, rail, hot air balloon, and—after Cordelia resolves a pixie infestation—sailing ship, the children flee across Boston, seek out a Manhattan circus featuring monsters, and visit a Nova Scotia university, encountering anxious monsters posing as humans along the way. In this grimy, Dickensian world, an alternate-history Gilded Age, vast wealth coexists with grinding poverty and fear of the other runs deep: Where fear rules, difference is the enemy. Cordelia’s mother, author of a definitive natural history of monsters, held more benign views, convinced that the two evolutionary branches, Animalia (ours) and Prodigia (monsters), were relatives sharing a common origin, but died before proving her theory. While resourceful Cordelia and stalwart Gregory are good company, the monsters are standouts, manifesting, like all animals, unique natural attributes and proclivities (described in a comprehensive guide). Charming or alarming, these creatures and their world, rendered in abundant, imaginative detail, beg for further exploration. (Human characters seem to be white in Aldridge’s woodcutlike illustrations.)

Enchanting. (Fantasy. 8-14)

ASTRONAUTS Women on the Final Frontier

Ottaviani, Jim Illus. by Wicks, Maris First Second (176 pp.) $19.99 | $12.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-62672-877-6 978-1-250-76003-6 paper How women got mad, busy, and finally, reluctantly, accepted into NASA’s corps of astronauts.

Recast by the creators of Primates (2013) from NASA oralhistory interviews with ex-astronaut Mary Cleave and other eyewitnesses, this likewise lightly fictionalized memoir takes its narrator from childhood interests in science and piloting aircraft to two space shuttle missions and then on to later |

educational and administrative roles. The core of the tale is a frank and funny account of how women shouldered their way into NASA’s masculine culture and as astronaut trainees broke it down by demonstrating that they too had both the competencies and the toughness that added up to the right stuff. Highlighted by a vivid series of scenes showing Cleave with a monkey on her chest, then a chimpanzee, an orangutan, a gorilla, and finally a larger gorilla to symbolize the G-forces of liftoff, Wicks offers cleanly drawn depictions of technical gear, actual training exercises, eye-rolling encounters with sexist reporters and clueless NASA engineers, iconic figures (such as a group portrait of the watershed astronaut class of 1978: “Twenty-six white guys and nine…well…people who were not. Pretty diverse for NASA”), and astronauts at work on the ground and in space.

They capture both the heady thrill of space travel and the achievements of those who led the way there.

Exhilarating—as well as hilarious, enraging, or both at once depending on the reader. (afterword, print and web resources) (Informational graphic novel. 11-14)

Paxton, Kirsty Illus. by Lötter, Megan Capstone Editions (32 pp.) $17.95 | Feb. 1, 2020 978-1-68446-096-0

From South Africa comes the story of a cantankerous giraffe and the budding artist who created him.

A brown-skinned child, with sizable brown afro puffs and a penchant for yellow, applies yellow and orange chalk to a paved road to draw a giraffe that comes alive. Immediately, the giraffe complains that he’s alone and bored with the gray that makes up his created world. In response, the precocious young artist draws him an acacia tree, then bright green lush grass, then stars and a sun. The giraffe volubly finds each improvement wanting, so eventually the exhausted protagonist rubs him, the tree, the stars, and the sun out with a foot—and then regrets the action. Re-creating the giraffe, the artist is surprised when the giraffe grabs the chalk and draws the child into the picture, which allows the child to see that the giraffe is lonely. Together they draw the giraffe numerous animal friends and congratulate themselves on making “great art,” underscoring the value of editing, revision, and precision to the artistic process. For most of the book, black backgrounds highlight the chalky, textured look of the protagonist’s artwork, each page warm with citrusy colors and grounded with earthy greens that add exceptional brightness. The striking art helps to compensate for the pedestrian, singsong-y rhyming verse and the tedium inherent in documenting the iterative process of revision.

Makes the burdensome process of reworking art surprisingly engaging. (Picture book. 4-8)

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Pilutti, Deb Illus. by the author Putnam (40 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-0-525-51818-1

A witty, engaging exploration of deep time.

Spotted Beetle, Tall Pine, and Hummingbird think that their friend Old Rock must lead a terribly boring existence just sitting in the same spot year after year. After all, Hummingbird flies all over the world to sample nectar, Spotted Beetle can climb to the top of Tall Pine to take in the vistas, and even Tall Pine dances in the breeze. But just sitting there? As they describe their own, ostensibly more exciting lives, however, Old Rock relates experiences that include being shot out of a volcano, seeing dinosaurs pass by, traveling by glacier, and having a close encounter with a mastodon. These tales occupy multiple page turns, helping to communicate both Old Rock’s great age and the eventfulness of its existence. The trio ends up being fascinated by these accounts of Old Rock’s exploits, and they all agree that ending up together in the present day is “Not boring at all.” Throughout, Pilutti’s expressive cartoon art is punctuated by speech balloons, some with words and some with rebuslike images, that add humor to the already witty main text, and the facial features she supplies her protagonist with are delightfully communicative. A backmatter timeline pinpoints Old Rock’s episodic journey to the present day with precision.

This picture book rocks! (Picture book. 4-8)

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THE CHALK GIRAFFE

OLD ROCK (IS NOT BORING)

VILLAGE OF SCOUNDRELS

Preus, Margi Illus. by the author Amulet/Abrams (304 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-4197-0897-8 The inhabitants of a village in the mountains of Vichy France quietly carry out clandestine activities as they rescue and hide Jews.

Adults, teens, and even younger children work independently and in carefully constructed networks of established residents and Jewish refugees. “Everyone in this town had secrets.” Refugees are hidden on outlying farms. Youngsters attend school and live in boardinghouses. All are given beautifully forged identification papers, many made by Jean-Paul, who has forged several versions of his own papers. Some have joined the Maquis, disguised as Boy Scouts. Céleste conveys secret messages; Philippe leads refugees to safe houses and to the Swiss border while others create diversions that lead authorities astray. Ten-year-old Jules notices and remembers everything.

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Anthony Zuiker

HIS NAMESAKE PRESS PUBLISHES ISSUE-ORIENTED GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR YOUNG READERS, INCLUDING ACTIVIST, BY PARKLAND SHOOTING SURVIVOR LAUREN HOGG

By Marion Winik David Zentz

“My worst day at Zui-

were speaking out about gun control, he knew the issue

ker Press is better than

was right for the series. Since widely known students like

my best day at CSI,” says

Emma Gonzales and David Hogg turned out to be too

Anthony Zuiker, who cre-

busy for the intensive process involved in creating the

ated the CBS crime drama

books, David’s younger sister, Lauren, was suggested. Zui-

franchise and produced

ker had lunch with her and her mother when they were out

all four shows for 16 years.

in LA filming a segment with Anderson Cooper about Lau-

“Because the work we are

ren’s Twitter exchange with Donald Trump Jr. and Melania

doing now actually means

Trump; the vocal high school student opposed conspiracy

something for the world.”

theories and the idea that her brother and other activists

Zuiker is the force be-

were “crisis actors.”

hind a series of issue-ori-

Zuiker flew to Florida for his standard three-day in-

ented graphic novels, the fifth of which is Activist: A Story

terview with the family. Afterward, he took his notes and

of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Shooting by Lauren Eliza-

holed up at a “writer’s haven”—Starbucks was mentioned—

beth Hogg (Zuiker Press, Nov. 5), one of the surviving stu-

to produce a 22-page script in Lauren’s voice. He showed

dents of the Parkland tragedy. The first four books in the

this to Lauren and her family, and they had no notes for

series focused on kids who have lived through divorce, cy-

him at all: He had gotten it right. From there, he began

berbullying, racism, and body image issues; coming soon

the lengthy process of developing the graphic novel with

are books about transitioning, autism, and suicide—the

a group of artists (five are credited on the copyright page

last of these written in collaboration with the bereaved

of Activist).

parents of Hailee Joy Lamberth.

“We do not give young people blank pages and say, ‘write

Zuiker started small, underwriting the first volumes

a book.’ Completely impossible,” says Zuiker. “On the oth-

with a fundraiser held at his 50th birthday party, then giv-

er hand, what I don’t want to start doing is saying ‘writ-

ing away classroom sets of them to principals and teach-

ten by Anthony Zuiker’ on the cover and take the thunder

ers in his Southern California area. As laudatory emails

away from the child. It’s her story.” If this process leads to

poured in and hundreds of the books were requested, the

a certain sameness in the way the stories are told, Zuiker

project was picked up by Simon & Schuster; the books are

thinks consistency is a positive thing for the series.

now starting conversations inside and outside of middle school and high school classrooms all over the country.

When Zuiker heard about the Parkland kids who 96

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After

establishing

Lauren’s

background—activist

mother, FBI agent dad, close relationships with brother David and her two best friends, alias “Heart” and “Soul”— |

Lauren’s experience the day of the shooting is narrated in detail. Both Heart and Soul were among the dead.

The turning point in Lauren’s story—the beginning of her path to activism—came when the school principal called for students to walk onto the football field for 17 minutes of silence to honor the dead students. Feeling this was not an adequate response to the situation, Lauren tweeted out a different plan. She and her classmates linked arms and kept walking right past the field, joining with hundreds of other area students for a rally.

Zuiker and his wife, Michelle, a former teacher, have three sons, ages 19, 17, and 12, and are directly in touch with issues affecting kids. In fact, the whole idea for the press came when their middle son wanted to do a book about his struggle with autism. In the end, Zuiker Jr. decided to keep his story private but gave his parents the idea to start

policeman Perdant, openly questioning him about the morality of his insistence on following the orders and laws of the Nazi overseers. The knowledge he gains allows him to provide the others with key information, warnings, and time to get to safety.

Each character’s backstory is woven seamlessly into the action.

Preus builds suspense and drama by following these brave souls as they take on dangerous tasks, facing arrest, deportation, and, very likely, death if they are caught by the Nazis. Named as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, these characters are based on real people from the village of Le Chambon sur Lignon, and Preus tells their afterstories in a well-researched, comprehensive epilogue.

Deeply emotional, intense, and thought-provoking. (pronunciation guide, list of characters, photos, documents, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 10-18)

a full-blown publishing company to tell kids’ stories. Now,

RUTH OBJECTS The Life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

the press is looking for a subject for a volume on vaping.

“Every time a child picks up one of our books, the immeback to a family, it brings the family closer,” says Zuiker.

“And what I never realized is how much my wife and I would grow in the process.”

Marion Winik, author of The Big Book of the Dead, teaches memoir at the University of Baltimore. Activist received a starred review in the Sept. 15, 2019, issue.

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Rappaport, Doreen Illus. by Velasquez, Eric Disney-Hyperion (48 pp.) $18.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-148474717-9 Series: Big Words

diate message is ‘I’m not alone.’ Every time I hand a book

Ruth Bader Ginsburg witnessed and experienced discrimination, both subtle and overt, that profoundly affected her choices and the direction her life would take.

Her mother was denied many opportunities, but she was determined that Ruth would achieve independence. She died just before Ruth’s high school graduation, never seeing her daughter’s splendid achievements. Colleges had quotas for admitting women, Jews, and racial minorities. School administrators openly disparaged women, and there were severe restrictions regarding housing, dining, curfews, and studying. Women, including Ruth, had to leave jobs when pregnant. There was discrimination in hiring for positions in law firms or for clerkships.

But Ruth persevered, with her husband as equal life-partner every step of the way. While a law professor at Rutgers University she participated in a successful lawsuit seeking equal pay with her male counterparts. Many more lawsuits seeking to end gender inequities followed. As lawyer, federal judge, and the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court, her remarkable career was forged from strength, determination, and pure guts. Rappaport tells Ruth’s story chronologically, punctuating it with Bader’s own words. Differing typesets, font sizes, and colors separate the quotes from the cogent, informative narration supplied. Per series formula, there is no title on the front cover—just Velasquez’s oil portrait depicting her intensity and serious demeanor. Interior illustrations focus on Ruth in every phase of her life and perfectly match the text.

An insightful and fascinating examination of Ginsburg as woman and jurist. (timeline, author’s note, illustrator’s note, selected bibliography, additional resources) (Picture book/biography. 7-10) kirkus.com

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Renauld’s lively, approachable text welcomes young readers in the same way that Rogers welcomed his young viewers. fred’s big feelings

FRED’S BIG FEELINGS The Life and Legacy of Mister Rogers

Renauld, Laura Illus. by Barrager, Brigette Atheneum (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-5344-4122-4

An account of the life of this humble giant of children’s television.

Children know about emotions perhaps before any other concepts—big emotions, too, like fear, sadness, frustration, joy, love. Fred Rogers understood this and used the medium of television to connect with children and help them manage and accept their emotions. From a childhood often spent inside and isolated from other children who bullied him to his career change from ministry to children’s media, Rogers’ life was punctuated and driven by the emotions he felt, recognized, and then used to add authenticity and tenderness to his television shows. Using second person, as well as Rogers’ iconic phrase, “Hello neighbor,” Renauld’s lively, approachable text welcomes young readers in the same way that Rogers welcomed his young viewers into his living-room set. Words describing emotions are italicized throughout for emphasis and recognition by children, and myriad details offer touchstones for grown-ups familiar with the show. Bold colors spotlight each spread, especially an array of individual panels that illustrate the feelings children experience daily. The book ends as it began, with a message validating each reader’s intrinsic worth; it’s one we should all have in our hearts, every day of our lives. A note from the author offers additional biographical details. It’s an excellent companion to You Are My Friend, by Aimee Reid and Matt Phelan (2019), with a personality all its own.

Bright, well-researched, and welcome. (Picture book/biog­ raphy. 5-8)

THE WAY HOME

Runton, Andy Illus. by the author Graphix/Scholastic (160 pp.) $22.99 | $10.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-338-30066-6 978-1-338-30065-9 paper Series: Owly, 1 A wide-eyed owl yearns to make friends.

Owly, a gentle bird of prey, just wants to help. The other forest creatures fear him even when he approaches with kindness and support. Owly tries leaving seed to feed the smaller birds, but they flee when they spot him. He rescues two insects trapped in a jar, but again, they fly off when they spy the raptor. Owly’s luck turns when he aids a worm named Wormy trapped in a puddle. Wormy and Owly forge an unlikely but genial friendship, and their forest adventures include reuniting 98

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Wormy with his missing parents and then befriending—and ultimately having to say goodbye to—two lovely hummingbirds who must migrate south as the seasons change. When adversity challenges Owly, he reacts calmly, communicates his feelings with Wormy, and acts with warmth and bravery. Originally published in 2004 as a wordless, black-and-white volume, this reissue adds both color, with a cheery earth-toned palette, and dialogue among most of the characters, with the exception of Owly, who communicates only through pictures. Runton’s evocative characters are nothing short of huggably adorable and affirm the importance of compassion and empathy against perceived stereotypes. Owly and Wormy both identify as male characters; hummingbird friends Tiny and Angel identify as male and female, respectively.

A simple but by no means simplistic tale emphasizing the universality of kindness. (Graphic fantasy. 6-10)

THE STORY OF CLIFFORD

Rusu, Meredith Illus. by Oxley, Jen & Kepler, Erica Scholastic (32 pp.) $6.99 paper | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-338-57713-6

Clifford’s back for a BIG adventure!

Clifford the Big Red Dog, an iconic children’s-literature character since 1963, is making a reappearance on television and in books for children, complete with a new look and a new ability, one even more powerful than his big size and big heart.

For the first time, Clifford and Emily Elizabeth can talk to each other and share stories. These two have always gone on adventures together, but their newfound communication honors the bonds many children have with their pets. It’s Birdwell Island’s birthday, and Clifford leads a special parade in the island’s honor, a parade that grows and grows as all the residents join in, bringing balloons, banners, and confetti. It’s a BIG, Cliffordsized parade! Birdwell Island is full of people of all shapes, sizes, and colors—embracing and celebrating inclusion and diversity.

Themes of togetherness, celebration, collaboration, and community run deep through this book, and, if previous Clifford properties are any indication, they will through the forthcoming television show as well. Lively illustrations seek to honor the traditions of Clifford by including both the slightly rough and scratchy style Norman Bridwell brought to the original books as well as the smoother, brighter style of the previous TV show while also offering novel palette colors and facial features to characters new and old.

A new twist on a timeless classic for brand-new readers.

(Picture book. 3- 7)

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WAYSIDE SCHOOL BENEATH THE CLOUD OF DOOM

Sachar, Louis Illus. by Heitz, Tim Harper/HarperCollins (192 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 3, 2020 978-0-06-296538-7 Rejoice! 25 years later, Wayside School is still in session, and the children in Mrs. Jewls’ 30th-floor classroom

HEARTSONG’S MISSING FOAL

Sanderson, Whitney Illus. by Tejido, Jomike Jolly Fish Press (72 pp.) $18.99 | $4.99 paper | Jan. 1, 2020 978-1-63163-391-1 978-1-63163-392-8 paper

Sisters venture into the secret Enchanted Realm to help a unicorn foal.

The Enchanted Realm is kept secret to protect unicorns from humans; only the Unicorn Guardians (always two little girls) have keys to the Magic Gate. The current guardians are sisters Iris and Ruby, who have newly inherited the keys from their mother and aunt. The sisters are excited for the first birth of a unicorn foal since they took over. But when the foal’s mother, Heartsong, doesn’t return from the Fairy Forest (where unicorns birth), the two must venture in to find out what’s wrong. Heartsong is trapped by maze weed, a magic plant that quickly becomes |

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haven’t changed a bit.

The surreal yet oddly educational nature of their misadventures hasn’t either. There are out-and-out rib ticklers, such as a spelling lesson featuring made-up words and a determined class effort to collect 1 million nail clippings. Additionally, mean queen Kathy steps through a mirror that turns her weirdly nice and she discovers that she likes it, a four-way friendship survives a dumpster dive after lost homework, and Mrs. Jewls makes sure that a long-threatened “Ultimate Test” allows every student to show off a special talent. Episodic though the 30 new chapters are, there are continuing elements that bind them—even to previous outings, such as the note to an elusive teacher Calvin has been carrying since Sideways Stories From Wayside School (1978) and finally delivers. Add to that plenty of deadpan dialogue (“Arithmetic makes my brain numb,” complains Dameon.

“That’s why they’re called ‘numb-ers,’ ” explains D.J.) and a wild storm from the titular cloud that shuffles the school’s contents “like a deck of cards,” and Sachar once again dishes up a confection as scrambled and delicious as lunch lady Miss Mush’s improvised “Rainbow Stew.” Diversity is primarily conveyed in the illustrations.

Ordinary kids in an extraordinary setting: still a recipe for bright achievements and belly laughs. (Fiction. 9-11)

a leafy labyrinth around them. Luckily (if inexplicably), Heartsong’s foal is on the outside of the maze and helps them find their way (extremely easily) by creating magical stars, and thus is dubbed Starsong. Though Heartsong doesn’t want to leave the forest, she obeys the girls. The next day, Heartsong’s agitation to get back to the forest prompts the realization that she likely had twins, so the girls return to rescue the missing twin from mild but inventive peril. The magic is as kid friendly as the large type and short sentences. Picturesque settings and attractive equines populate the black-and-white illustrations, which depict the girls as white. The book’s strongest element is characterization: Younger Ruby’s bolder while responsible Iris must actively decide to face her fears and plan how to succeed. The next three series titles (Unicorn Uncovered, Stolen Magic, and The Red Key) publish simultaneously.

Likely to be an instant hobbyhorse for young lovers of equestrian magic. (Fantasy. 6-8) (Unicorn Uncovered, Vol. 2: 9781-63163-404-8 paper, 978-1-63163-403-1 PLB; Stolen Magic, Vol. 3: 978-1-63163-400-0 paper, 978-1-63163-399-7 PLB; The Red Key, Vol. 4: 978-1-63163-396-6 paper, 978-1-63163-395-9 PLB)

MY MONSTER FRIENDS AND ME A Big Kid’s Guide to Things That Go Bump in the Night Sarac, Annie Illus. by Brereton, Alice Sourcebooks Wonderland (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-4926-9367-3

A child invites readers to uncover common childhood fears and describes how to transform monsters to friends.

An 8-year-old kid shares experiences with monsters and fears—and the secret to handling them: Naming each monster makes the fear go away. The first sharp-toothed monster lives on the other side of a picket fence. It turns out the first monster’s name is Kate and is actually a sweet dog. The protagonist continues through the house addressing other monsters, or common childhood fears, including shadows, the dark, thunder and lightning, and, of course, the monster under the bed. Each fear is first illustrated and described with its own dark, frightening monster personality, but with a flip of the page it is transformed into a bright, cheery version of what it really is. This is a great way to start talking to young children about their fears and the monsters they become in their imaginations. In rhyming verse, Sarac encourages children to take control of their fears by giving them names and reimagining them as friends, not foes. Some of the verses do not flow smoothly, but they still get the message across. The illustrations combine bold colors, geometrical shapes, and lots of textures and patterns that really emphasize the darkness of fears—and the light of reimagining them. The bespectacled protagonist has pale skin and wavy black hair.

A solid choice to address fears. (Picture book. 4- 7)

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PIPER & MABEL Two Very Wild but Very Good Dogs Shankle, Melanie Illus. by Watkins, Laura Zonderkidz (32 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 25, 2020 978-0-310-76086-3

Shankle, best known for her devotional titles for adults, pivots to picture books.

Based on the author’s own dogs, Piper and Mabel are “two very wild but very good dogs” who love each other and their humans. When the family begins discussing a trip to the beach, Piper and Mabel eagerly look forward to joining in the family vacation only to discover that they will not be going to the shore. Piper and Mabel are off to Happy Tails Ranch, whose appealing brochure summons visions of spa-like farm fun for the canine companions, even if going with the family would be their first choice. The actual ranch is underwhelming and even scary for the pooches; the food isn’t great, they are forced to take baths, and there are no facials to be found, so they decide to make a break for it. Though lost for a time, they sniff their way to safety and back to their family, where they wanted to be all along. It’s cute and satisfying, but this ground’s been trod many times before. Watkins’ soft edges and pastel hues lend a cozy yet energetic aesthetic, reassuring readers that even when Piper and Mabel are lost, all will turn out right in the end. Piper and Mabel’s humans appear to be white, though readers never get a good view, as the illustrations focus on the protagonist canines, who are mostly black but whose breed is not readily apparent.

Family-friendly dog stories will always find eager audiences, although this kibble’s a bit stale. (Picture book. 4-8)

ON A SNOW-MELTING DAY Seeking Signs of Spring

Silverman, Buffy Millbrook/Lerner (32 pp.) $27.99 PLB | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-5415-7813-5

Full-color photography and sparse, rhyming verse offer a look at early spring in a temperate climate.

Text, art, and layout are clever, thoughtful, and engaging.

One double-page spread gives the beginning of a sentence that will have several different endings over the pages that follow; the sequence is repeated four times. The opening pages start with “On a drip-droppy, / slip-sloppy, / snow-melting day….”

Each of those three descriptions is accompanied by a clear and beautiful stock photograph; contrasting black or white text over the photographs is large and legible. The pages that follow use rhyming couplets with their own photographs to end that preceding phrase: “Squirrels cuddle. / Snakes huddle. / Clouds break. / Salamanders wake.” Plants, animals, and human 100

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beings are all included in the signs of spring; children will relate strongly to soaked mittens, boots in puddles, melting snowmen, and swinging on a tire swing. A particularly stunning photograph shows a chickadee, wings whirring, sipping water from a dripping icicle. Explanations of this and all the early spring phenomena depicted are offered at the back of the book, extending the age level from preschool to early primary grades. The overall theme, as well as the creative use of noun-verb combinations to form new adjectives, also lends itself to introducing children to the e.e. cummings poem that begins “in Just-spring.” One photograph shows two humans, both presenting as white.

Crocus-poking, mud-luscious enjoyment. (glossary, further reading) (Informational picture book. 3-8)

BRIGHT IN THE NIGHT

Sjöberg, Lena Illus. by the author Thames & Hudson (48 pp.) $17.95 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-500-65219-0

“When night falls, everything is dark.

Or is it?”

In this Swedish import, Sjöberg suggests that viewers look again, and against pitch-black backdrops she casts sprays of stars and curtains of ionized northern (and southern) lights across night skies, glimmering fish and other marine creatures in shallow or deep-sea settings, lambent residents of otherwise lightless caves, fungi and even birds glowing eerily in ultraviolet light, and empty city streets faintly lit by windows and streetlights. Mainly she focuses on the natural world, presenting views of astronomical phenomena, ranks of fluorescent minerals, and dozens of biofluorescent or bioluminescent creatures. These include fire centipedes and certain shrimp that cast glowing nets of slime as a defense, the reflective eyes of cats and deer, puffins with UV–reactive beaks, luminous earthworms, toothy anglerfish, and, in the near future perhaps, glowing trees and textiles. Sjöberg occasionally plays fast and loose with facts—a star will last for a bit more than “thousands of years,” and there actually is a natural explanation for swamp lights. As well, the survey presents readers with a visual challenge by presenting much of the narrative in tiny, dim type. Still, while feeding scientific interest, the author effectively makes a comforting point that for all its feeling of scary mystery, the dark is rarely, if ever, absolute.

An illuminating look at the dark’s wonders, both informative and atmospheric. (afterword) (Informational picture book. 7-9)

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Should be packaged with an oxygen supply. the dinky donkey

THE DINKY DONKEY

Smith, Craig Illus. by Cowley, Katz Scholastic (24 pp.) $7.99 paper | Nov. 5, 2019 978-1-338-60083-4

THE DEEP & DARK BLUE

Smith, Niki Illus. by the author Little, Brown (256 pp.) $24.99 | $12.99 paper | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-316-48598-2 978-0-316-48601-9 paper A pair of twins seeks refuge—and revenge on the cousin to usurp his power.

On the day of the solstice, cisgender boy Hawke and his twin, Grayce, a transgender girl, flee for their lives when their cousin Mirelle stages a coup, murdering both their grandfather, lord of House Sunderlay, and their cousin Reyden, their grandfather’s rightful heir. They disguise themselves as initiates of the Communion of Blue, an order of women who spin the threads that bind the world. Grayce discovers belonging, purpose, and power with the Communion, but Hawke grows restless, eager for the chance to fight for justice. In her middle-grade debut, Smith (Crossplay, 2018) steeps Grayce and Hawke’s world in immersive color. The Communion’s bright blue pops, drawing the eye whenever it appears and illustrating the magical energy that entices the twins to the Communion’s mysterious and mystical activities. Dynamic panel layouts, particularly during high action sequences, give |

THE AMAZING LIFE OF AZALEAH LANE

Smith, Nikki Shannon Illus. by Lobo, Mari Picture Window Books (112 pp.) $14.95 | Jan. 1, 2020 978-1-5158-4464-8 Series: Azaleah Lane When her baby sister, Tiana, realizes her favorite stuffed frog, Greenie, is missing, Azaleah promises to help her find him—but will she have enough time to help Tiana and complete her school project?

Third grader Azaleah Lane is anxious to get home and start her diorama of Nikita the tiger after a visit to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. However, before she can get started, she must help Tiana find Greenie. Oldest sister Nia is of little help, as she’s busy preparing to play Dorothy in her middle school production of The Wiz. In order to complete her diorama and help Tiana solve the mystery of Greenie’s disappearance, Azaleah must prioritize her tasks and pay attention to the clues around her. This inaugural book in the Azaleah Lane series is a fast-paced and fun read, and Azaleah is a sympathetic, likable narrator who, like readers, is learning new vocabulary all the time. She thinks aloud as she works to solve the mystery, occasionally (and realistically) losing patience with the sobbing Tiana. Lobo’s playful, full-color illustrations every few pages are just enough to give transitioning readers needed rests so they’ll keep going; they depict Azaleah and her family as black.

The backmatter includes a glossary of vocabulary words, bookdiscussion and writing prompts, and instructions for making a diorama.

Young readers will be happy to make Azaleah’s acquaintance. (Mystery. 6-8)

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Even more alliterative hanky-panky from the creators of The Wonky Donkey (2010).

Operating on the principle (valid, here) that anything worth doing is worth overdoing, Smith and Cowley give their wildly popular Wonky Donkey a daughter—who, being “cute and small,” was a “dinky donkey”; having “beautiful long eyelashes” she was in consequence a “blinky dinky donkey”; and so on… and on…and on until the cumulative chorus sails past silly and ludicrous to irresistibly hysterical: “She was a stinky funky plinky-plonky winky-tinky,” etc. The repeating “Hee Haw!” chorus hardly suggests what any audience’s escalating response will be. In the illustrations the daughter sports her parent’s big, shiny eyes and winsome grin while posing in a multicolored mohawk next to a rustic boombox (“She was a punky blinky”), painting her hooves pink, crossing her rear legs to signal a need to pee (“winky-tinky inky-pinky”), demonstrating her smelliness with the help of a histrionic hummingbird, and finally cozying up to her proud, evidently single parent (there’s no sign of another) for a closing cuddle.

Should be packaged with an oxygen supply, as it will incontestably elicit uncontrollable gales of giggles. (Picture book. 4-6)

the story momentum and help communicate the tone. Characters’ facial expressions and body language capture the intense emotional shifts, from Grayce’s excitement at learning to the stabbing sorrow of sudden loss. Grayce and Hawke have beige skin and black hair, and the supporting cast includes a diversity of skin tones. Grayce’s coming-out subplot is affirming; she is met with love and support by old family and new. While the story can stand alone, the world is built with a complexity that invites further exploration and adventures.

Woven with magic. (map) (Graphic fantasy. 10-14)

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Both Bob and Someone the cat have irresistible expressions. up on bob

THE BLUNDERS A Counting Catastrophe!

the Moon. With folkloric echoes aplenty (but no specific credit), the plot feels very familiar, and the boys’ mother comes across as little more than a naysayer to Little Brother. It is the book’s illustrations that truly carry the day. Every detail is charming and ingenious—from the sumptuous gold-on-green endpapers to the two boys’ joy, represented by flying birds, racing deer, and icy mountains. Both boys are depicted with light-brown skin and fluffy, brown hair.

A visual treat. (Picture book. 3-8)

Soontornvat, Christina Illus. by Jack, Colin Candlewick (32 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-1-5362-0109-3

At the end of a day spent outside, 10 siblings each take a turn counting themselves and come up one short.

What will they tell their mother? Readers may think she’ll be relieved, as the kids are outside because she tossed them out after they’d “blundered” too many things in the house. And in Jack’s cartoon illustrations, all views of her save one portray her as either angry or exasperated. After a full afternoon playing by and in the creek (no adult supervision, but it’s only waistdeep), their mom’s words echo: Keep track of each other and be home by sundown. But no matter if they count by ones, twos, or threes, in English or Spanish, every child who attempts the count comes up with only nine kids (readers are in on the joke, as in every illustration the counter is missing a number). Upon returning home, they tell their mother an outlandish story but quickly come clean at the sight of the table set for 10. She finds the missing child, though not the missing pies, which the kids have carefully portioned…twice! Jack’s characters have an array of hair colors and heights, though most tend toward light skin and very thin physiques; one wears glasses. Even though their names are typically associated with gender, the presentation of several kids is ambiguous. Oddly, their noses and ears are distractingly darker than their faces.

This could lead to some storytime or classroom counting fun. (Picture book. 4-8)

THE CLIMBING TREE

Stith, John Illus. by Pieletskaya, Yuliya POW! (32 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 12, 2019 978-1-57687-934-4

A meditation on being big, being little, and finding ways to share the proverbial sky.

Two little boys play in their yard beneath a big Climbing Tree, which Big Brother, being the bigger and stronger, is the first to scale. Little Brother is eager to join him, but his mother reminds him that he is simply too little for the big tree. Time passes, and Little Brother is allowed to climb the tree, but when he has climbed as high as a bird, Big Brother has already climbed as high as a mountain, and then higher still, to the Sun. Little Brother cannot compete, as Big Brother reminds him “there isn’t room for both of us…there’s only one Sun in the sky.” Excluded from the possibility of ever catching up, Little Brother simply weeps in his mother’s lap.

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UP ON BOB

Sullivan, Mary Illus. by the author HMH Books (40 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-1-328-99471-4 Dog and cat meet cute and make friends.

Bob is a dachshund with huge, expressive eyes and a mission to sleep all day on a carefully made twin bed. The understated text works with the drolly humorous illustrations to describe Bob’s “hard work” of creating a perfectly comfy sleeping spot. The dog tosses stuffed animals off the bed, rumples up the bedding, knocks over a lamp, and then settles in to the chaos in a cozy nest of pillows and blankets. A set of cat ears appears behind the bed, and the cat is gradually revealed on subsequent pages, referred to in mysterious fashion only as Someone. The cat watches and waits and then, on a doublepage-spread with great dramatic impact, leaps through the air toward Bob. This spread with the attacking cat has as text only the single word “POUNCE!” illustrated in huge letters with the effect of reverberating motion. Replacing “Bob” with “Someone,” the text then repeats all the steps Bob went through to create the perfect sleeping spot, this time with illustrations depicting the cat mauling Bob and crawling in next to the surprisingly tolerant dog for a long nap together.

Both Bob and Someone the cat have irresistible expressions, with their huge eyes conveying emotion on every page. This funny story will have wide appeal, from preschoolers just learning about humor right up to new readers, who will be able to handle the brief text set in a large font A clever twist on traditional dog-versus-cat animosity, with subtle overtones of sharing and tolerance. (Picture book. 3- 7)

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PARKED

Svetcov, Danielle Dial (400 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-0-399-53903-9

SNAIL CROSSING

Tabor, Corey R. Illus. by the author Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 4, 2020 978-0-06-287800-7 Why did the snail cross the road?

Cabbage. How? That’s another story.

While “scooting around” one day, Snail spots a field of scrumptious cabbage on the other side of a dangerous road.

The self-assured gastropod approaches the obstacle with a cando attitude: “Well, you won’t stop me!” After traveling for some time—and generating a glistening trail of slime—Snail decides to take a break. Just then, a vehicle in the distance zooms closer. Snail narrowly avoids it. Further perils and delays arise, but the “cabbage bound” hero slimes his way out of them all.

Despite all the stress, Snail keeps it kind: He invites a “troop of rowdy ants” inside his shell (and his vintage-decorated living room) to take shelter from the rain. But between the tea and |

DANDELION’S DREAM

Tanaka, Yoko Illus. by the author Candlewick (40 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 11, 2020 978-1-5362-0453-7

In this wordless picture book, a dandelion becomes a dandy lion before he

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Two white preteens—one nearly homeless, one affluent—connect in San Francisco.

Abruptly quitting her Chicago restaurant job, Jeanne Ann’s single mom, Joyce, drove the van they now live in to California and parked among the line of vans blocking ocean views for affluent residents, including Cal and his single mom, Lizzie, owner of a trendy vegetarian restaurant. With her prison record and refusal to compromise career goals, Joyce can’t find work. When money runs out, Jeanne Ann sells her beloved books. Hunger sets in; the public restroom’s cold-water tap serves for bathing. Meanwhile, socially awkward Cal pays a price for painting an unauthorized mural at his private school: working at his mom’s restaurant and attending public school. A neighbor, aware that Cal sketches the van dwellers and feeds their meters—helps him slip Jeanne Ann snacks and money. A wary friendship grows. Joyce takes a dishwashing job, Lizzie’s chef takes an interest in Jeanne Ann, and some mansion dwellers plot to evict the van-dwellers. Though Jeanne Ann’s description of food insecurity is haunting, the rambling, far-fetched plot often resembles a clever, extended elevator pitch. Despite manifestly good intentions, little light is shed on income inequality; events are too unlikely, characters too exceptional for readers to recognize or identify with. While “good” adults are interchangeable paragons of quirky wisdom, grumpy-butinteresting Joyce remains frustratingly underdeveloped.

Intermittently intriguing, this overlong, high-concept debut mostly plods. (Fiction. 10-14)

other distractions, will Snail ever make it to his lunch? Though snail-centric, Tabor’s story is far from snail’s pace: Deft shifts between double- and single-page spreads and other visual cues heighten the drama of the fraught adventure. The cartoon illustrations digitally combine pencil, watercolor, and ink to create beautiful textures. Careful readers may see a visual mismatch between the more-detailed spreads and those set against a white background (e.g., how big is Snail’s shell home anyway?).

Still, Tabor (of 2019 Geisel-winning Fox the Tiger fame) shines; his clever reversal of expectations will replace any skepticism with a fit of giggles.

A shell of a good time. (Picture book. 4-8)

goes to seed.

To call this book original is an understatement. Tanaka literally translates a common mispronunciation of “dandelion” into a series of pictures whose adventures unfold as in a dream. The lemon-yellow petals surrounding a comical, toothless, wideeyed lion face glow against detailed backgrounds in grainy, gradated grays, whites, and blacks. The plant-cum-lion gazes wonderingly at the transformation of leaves into soft, clawless paws before it ventures beyond its meadow into the world beyond. As can happen in dreams, potential dangers and sorrows are thwarted by sudden changes: The threat of falling off the top of a train ends in a soft landing on the back of a sheep; when rain begins on the high seas, a bird’s wing offers shelter; in a large, indifferent city, a movie theater offers respite. The paneled sequence of Dandelion inside the theater is particularly whimsical, especially when his diminutive size is contrasted with a piece of popcorn. The dream ends with realistic images of thousands of dandelion seeds sailing off into the night—and then a final image that reconnects reality and Dandelion’s dream. The art produces such strong identification with Dandelion that it will encourage young listeners to verbalize as Dandelion. A subtle lesson in life cycles underlies a book that is gently humorous, engaging, and soothing.

Stunning. (Picture book. 3-6)

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I SURVIVED THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC, 1912

Tarshis, Lauren Illus. by Dawson, Scott Graphix/Scholastic (160 pp.) $24.99 | $10.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-338-12092-9 978-1-338-12091-2 paper Series: I Survived Graphic Novel

A popular prose series gets a graphic revitalization.

Faithfully following its predecessor, the book introduces readers to 10-year-old George, an American boy traveling first class on the Titanic with his aunt Daisy and little sister, Phoebe.

When the fateful collision between boat and berg occurs, Phoebe goes missing. As the arctic waters rise, George sets out to find her. Although panic mounts all around, it seems that George’s privilege will save him, until he is shocked to discover otherwise. After the Titanic goes down and he’s safe back at home, George wrestles with his anxieties in a way that is accessibly age-appropriate, albeit a bit facile. In the vein of other graphic adaptations of bestselling series (like the evergreen The Baby Sitter’s Club), the first installment of Tarshis’ sprawling prose disaster oeuvre for young readers is reimagined in visually interesting full-color comic panels that support its recognizable thrilling pace and convenient twists. Many of the most exciting scenes are largely wordless, spotlighting the propulsive action amid growing tensions. New backmatter includes interesting historical facts and photographs of persons and places of interest, including pictures of the first-, second-, and third-class cabins and of relics recovered from the shipwreck. Also included are lists of further reading, both fiction and nonfiction. George, Phoebe, and Daisy are white, as are nearly all the secondary characters as well.

A fresh and interesting adaptation, making for an easy crowd pleaser. (facts, character bios, bibliographies) (Graphic adaptation. 7-10)

THE RUNAWAY PRINCESS

Troïanowski, Johan Illus. by the author Trans. by Smith, Anne & Smith, Owen Random House (272 pp.) $20.99 | $12.99 paper | $23.99 PLB Jan. 21, 2020 978-0-593-12416-1 978-0-593-11840-5 paper 978-0-593-11841-2 PLB Princess Robin isn’t supposed to have adventures, but that doesn’t stop her in this French import.

Excited for the Aquatic Carnival, happy-go-lucky Princess Robin slips out of the castle without any adults catching her. Taking a shortcut through the woods, she comes across four brothers who, à la “Hansel and Gretel,” are terrified after having been 104

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dropped off in the woods by their father. Robin is determined to help them, and as adventures featuring a mermaid, pirates, kidnapping, and a candy house ensue, the quintet becomes fast friends. Adventures are broken down into three chapters (the book was originally published in three separate volumes), and each one includes a map and at least one interactive activity. “Dear reader,” prompts one, “please help our friends make the right choice! Which vine reaches all the way to the ground?”

At least one, a connect-the-dots drawing, actively encourages children to put writing implement to book. The style and substance are less like Jeremy Whitley’s comic-book series Princeless or Ursula Vernon’s Hamster Princess and more as though Yellow Submarine and Luke Pearson’s Hilda had an extremely European baby. The scribbly crayon-and-ink illustrations have a bright, bold color palette and often take advantage of the diminutive size of Robin and her friends (all white-presenting) in their use of scale. Robin is one of only a few girl characters.

A quirky romp but also a niche one. (Graphic fantasy. 6-9)

HOW TO CATCH A DRAGON

Wallace, Adam Illus. by Elkerton, Andy Sourcebooks Wonderland (40 pp.) $10.99 | Nov. 5, 2019 978-1-4926-9369-7 Series: How to Catch…

A kid tries to catch a good-luck dragon hiding around town as the family prepares for Chinese New Year following the formula established in How To Catch an Elf (2016) and other series installments.

After hearing Mom wish for a dragon to bring health and fortune for the new year, a boy (presumably Chinese) and several friends (of varying racial presentations) discover a dragon lurking about town. Among the Chinese-style architecture of the town buildings, they employ various fantastical lures related to Chinese culture to catch it, including a web of noodles and sticky rice, a giant red lantern, gold coins, and a dragon dance.

The simple and often awkward rhyming quatrains leave no room for deeper insights into Chinese culture, but each stanza does include one or two highlighted words whose Chinese translation can then be found within the illustration. The entire text is translated into Simplified Chinese with Pinyin in the backmatter for cross-referencing. Elkerton’s digitally painted, colorful cartoon illustrations depict a diverse cast of modern-looking children against a backdrop of a traditional Chinese village.

Ultimately, despite the protagonist’s failure to catch the dragon, it is being within the embrace of a loving family (depicted as a mother and a grandmother) that is the luckiest of all.

A joyful if simplistic celebration of Chinese New Year culture. (Picture book. 3- 7)

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A stellar introduction to an important and ongoing social issue. mother jones and her army of mill children

MOTHER JONES AND HER ARMY OF MILL CHILDREN

Winter, Jonah Illus. by Carpenter, Nancy Schwartz & Wade/Random (40 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Feb. 25, 2020 978-0-449-81291-4 978-0-449-81292-1 PLB

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Bell, Davina Illus. by Colpoys, Allison Scribble (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 17, 2020 978-1-947534-97-1

above each of them.

Readers follow four children through difficult times as the unnamed narrator describes the “love umbrella” that is

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Winter focuses on Mother Jones’ Children’s Crusade to introduce young readers to the history of protests against child labor.

“My name is Mother Jones and I’m MAD. And you’d be MAD, too, if you’d seen what I’ve seen.” Thus begins Mother Jones’ first-person narrative about her long career fighting child labor practices in the early 20th century. The first pages depict Mother Jones in front of smoky factories, in West Virginia coal mines, and in Philadelphia fabric mills, where white and brown children toil “for TEN HOURS STRAIGHT.” Her anger at what she saw led Mother Jones to organize the central event of the volume, a children’s march from Philadelphia to New York City to dramatize the plight of child laborers. The march proved unsuccessful, but was it a failure? “HECK, NO!” Mother Jones assures readers. But Winter is careful to have Mother Jones state on the penultimate page that “the wheels of justice grind slowly” and that it took 40 more years of work to get laws changed. His protagonist/subject speaks with fervor in a folksy idiom with the occasional dropped G and a great many capital letters. Carpenter depicts Jones as an apple-cheeked, silverhaired white woman in full-length black dress, white lace collar, and an aura of indestructibility. There is racial diversity among both child marchers and onlookers.

A stellar introduction to an important and ongoing social issue. (author’s note, photographs, bibliography) (Pic­ ture book/biography. 5-9)

“Up in the sky, among the stars / There’s something you might not see… // But over your head and just above / There’s an umbrella of my love / To show it’s you I’m thinking of / Wherever you might be.” The first-person narrator, though never revealed, is clearly each loved one who shelters and soothes. The four children—Joe, Brian, Grace, and Izzy—are racially diverse, as are their families, and are introduced opposite the title page, giving readers a mission: to count the umbrellas they find (no answer is revealed). They face scary shadows, friends that don’t share, shyness, moving, and such everyday childhood issues as wet pants, a lost tooth, and a parent’s rushing them. No worry can last under a love umbrella, but Bell may reach too far when she writes, “I will never not be near / Holding our love umbrella.”

For children whose caregivers are absent, for whatever reason, the titular concept may ring false or cause pain. Colpoys’ striking illustrations, which combine an earth palette with day-glo highlights, effectively show love umbrellas both imagined (stars in the sky, a cloud) and real (a beach umbrella, a rain umbrella, a sun shade).

Less tangible than a kissing hand, though it may prove comforting for some. (Picture book. 3- 7)

I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART

Chapman, Jane Illus. by the author Tiger Tales (32 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-68-010189-8

Chapman adds to the I-love-youalways shelf.

When Little Bear’s drumming gets a little too enthusiastic, she accidentally topples Mommy’s favorite plant. To her credit, she goes right to Mommy with the snapped-off sunflower, quick to apologize. But she just knows it’s not enough and that Mommy will “be sad…and angry…and you won’t love me anymore!” Mommy is just as quick to soothe and reassure, asking Little Bear to put a paw over Mommy’s heart to feel “my love beating on and on forever.” Chapman nicely sidesteps what could be a sticky issue by having Mommy point out that this same love lives in Little Bear’s heart, too, and the cub puts that knowledge to work the very next day to deal with a disappointment at school and to persevere while chasing her lost kite. And Mommy gets a dose of her own medicine when she burns a cake: Little Bear loves her always, even when things go wrong—and with this, the book ends abruptly. Chapman’s signature adorable, expressive animals bring the tale to life; readers will have no problem empathizing with Little Bear.

Yes, hearts are full of love, and a heartbeat can be a soothing comfort to those in need of some TLC. (Picture book. 3- 7)

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Readers would need hearts of stone not to be moved by the family togetherness on display. one hug

I WILL ALWAYS BE YOUR BUNNY Love From the Velveteen Rabbit

Gilbert, Frances Illus. by Swaney, Julianna Doubleday (32 pp.) $8.99 | $12.99 PLB | Dec. 24, 2019 978-1-9848-9341-3 978-1-9848-9342-0 PLB

The Velveteen Rabbit shares all the ways he’ll be there for his beloved friends.

“When it’s dark and when it’s sunny, / I will always be your bunny. // If the world feels like a muddle, / come on over for a cuddle.” Against simple backgrounds that keep eyes focused on the action and the relationship, Swaney places charming, seemingly watercolor illustrations of diverse children interacting with the Velveteen Rabbit, a long, brown-and-white bunny who is, of course, “alive.” From snuggling in bed and refereeing a sibling disagreement to either moping indoors through the rain or enjoying the puddles, the situations will be familiar to young readers. Though the rabbit lacks a mouth, both the line of his chin and the area where the white of his belly meets brown suggest one, and his emotions are clear through body language. The tiny trim size makes this ideal for sharing one-on-one, and the gift plate on the front endpaper suggests personal rather than public-library use. But the audience remains a question; some vocabulary suits this to older children (“morale,” “BFF,” “ref ”), who would also truly understand and appreciate the original Velveteen Rabbit book, but the rhyming and simple pictures are aimed at a younger age group.

Either sweet or treacly depending on any given reader’s mindset and love for the classic. (Picture book. 4- 7)

ALWAYS MORE LOVE

Guenderlsberger, Erin Illus. by AndoTwin Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (40 pp.) $10.99 | Jan. 1, 2020 978-1-7282-1376-7 An interactive book works to get its titular message across to readers.

The narrator, an anthropomorphic cartoon heart with big eyes and stick arms and legs, is nothing if not exuberant in its attempts, clumsy and cloying as they may be. “I love you so much, / but there’s more in my heart. / How is that possible? / Well, where do I start? // Now move in close, and you will see / just how much you mean to me. // My love is huge—below, above. / As you can tell, there’s always more love!” The page following the instruction to move in shows a close-up of the top of the heart and its eyes, one stick arm pointing skyward, though despite the admonition “you can tell,” readers will glean nothing about love from this picture. À la Hervé Tullet, the book prompts readers to act, but the instructions can sometimes be 106

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confusing (see above) and are largely irrelevant to the following spread, supposedly triggered by the suggested actions. The heart, suddenly supplied with a painter’s palette and a beret and surrounded by blobs of color, instructs readers to “Shake the book to see what I can be.” The page turn reveals hearts of all different colors, one rainbow-striped, and then different shapes.

Most troublingly, the heart, who is clearly meant to be a standin for loved ones, states, “I’m always here for you,” which for too many children is heartbreakingly not true.

Skip. (Picture book. 4- 7)

MY LOVE IS ALL AROUND

McLean, Danielle Illus. by Braun, Sebastien Tiger Tales (32 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-68-010194-2

As Mommy and Baby Bear roam, Mommy points out all the love around them in the world.

Just as “love is all around,” so do McLean’s messages multiply: to appreciate the world, to see love being shared, to recognize the many small ways love is shown, or to know that one is always loved. Each is worthy, though mixing them all together may dilute them. Love is in the butterflies, birdsong, and the games played by the pair. The sunshine also contains love and is a reminder of the mother’s love. The pair hears a rabbit family laughing and watches a mother fox kissing her kit: These are both love, and Baby Bear makes the connection, noting that Mommy kisses her own cub all the time: “I must be SOOO loved!” Love is also helping others, kindness, cuddling, and the twinkling stars. As they’ve talked about love the whole day, they end it cuddled together, their hearts full of love under a star-spangled sky and a crescent moon. Braun’s animals are adorable, though more simply drawn than many in this canon.

Their sometimes-static expressions also keep readers at a bit of a remove.

Too many takeaways muddle the message of love. (Pic­ ture book. 3- 7)

ONE HUG

Moore, Katrina Illus. by Woolf, Julia Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $14.99 | Dec. 10, 2019 978-0-06-284954-0 One family’s reunion is celebrated through many types of hugs.

As with many books on the topic, this one surveys the many types of hugs in the world: “Some hugs nuzzle nose to nose. / Some hugs lick and tickle toes.” But in contrast, Moore and Woolf offer readers something more. As the pages turn, the Asian nuclear family of a mom, dad, and two children anticipates and prepares for what is clearly a long-awaited reunion

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with family that has flown in: a grandmother and another couple with their own three children. “Some hugs wait for years and years. // Some hugs cradle falling tears.” The excitement is catching, and readers would need hearts of stone not to be moved by the family togetherness on display. They have a picnic feast (both typical American picnic food such as hot dogs and hamburgers and Asian dishes like dumplings and noodles) and spend the evening catching fireflies, which then—troublingly—provide a night light for the five children cozied up in a backyard tent. (The top is not visible, so readers will go on wondering about air holes.) The loosely cartoony illustrations are filled with charming details that give clues as to what is happening, and by the end, readers will be searching out hugs of their own.

The book amply demonstrates that “hugging makes us family.” (Picture book. 2-5)

A BOOK OF LOVE

A how-to book of love.

Valentine’s Day brings a new crop of books each year about love, including at least one that attempts to define and exemplify love. This is that book for 2020. “We often show our love with touch, / like a great big hug or kiss. / But there are lots of ways to show you care, / and ideas not to miss.” These include being patient, listening to someone who’s having a tough day, gifts, kind deeds (like washing the dishes), “forgiving and forgetting,” sharing with siblings, standing up for people, and looking past faults. In some cases, the pictures may not aid much in comprehension, especially with the younger audience the rhymes are meant to appeal to: “To offer a gentle word or two, / and consider how others feel, / are both examples of selfless acts / that prove your love is real” (one child cheers on a frightened soloist at a recital—does that really illustrate selflessness?). The meter is sometimes off, and in a few cases it’s clear words were chosen for rhyme rather than meaning. Bright illustrations fill the pages with adorable children readers can trace throughout the book. The final two spreads are the strongest: One depicts a robustly diverse crowd of people all holding hands and smiling; the other is a starry spread over a neighborhood full of homes, hearts spangling the sky.

A nice sentiment marred somewhat by its forced verse.

(Picture book. 3-6)

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Ray, Mary Lyn Illus. by Graegin, Stephanie HMH Books (32 pp.) $14.99 | Dec. 17, 2019 978-1-328-48899-2

Ray and Graegin (The Thank You Book, 2018) team up again for this tribute to friendship.

The text lyrically describes friendship: “Sometimes being friends begins all at once. // And sometimes it takes awhile to get acquainted. / But then, as some small knowing grows, you start feeling that feeling that comes with having a friend— // as if there’s sunshine in your pocket. / Or inside you.” Ray shares what a friend is, what friends do together, and that they can be alike or different. Things aren’t always rosy: Sometimes friends disagree or get mad (“But it doesn’t last. / Because they’re friends”), and one may have to be there for the other when “they need some extra sunshine.” When you don’t have a friend, it may help to think that somewhere, there is someone else just waiting to begin a friendship with you, and it may start with a simple, “Hello.” The small trim size and earthy tones of the cozy illustrations echo the subject matter, and Graegin again uses both anthropomorphized animals and racially diverse people to set scenes of friends enjoying time together. Still, while sweet, what advice is here is vague—this is unlikely to help children make/keep friends or cheer up the friendless or those missing friends who are far away.

A sweet celebration for those who don’t need to build friendship skills. (Picture book. 4- 7)

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Randall, Emma Illus. by the author Penguin Workshop (32 pp.) $16.99 | Dec. 24, 2019 978-1-5247-9331-9

THE FRIENDSHIP BOOK

WITH ALL MY HEART

Stansbie, Stephanie Illus. by Smythe, Richard Silver Dolphin (32 pp.) $15.99 | Dec. 3, 2019 978-1-68412-910-2

A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.

With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together— a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown.

Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.”

The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work

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whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leafshaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”

Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)

LOLA DUTCH I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

Wright, Kenneth Illus. by Wright, Sarah Jane Bloomsbury (40 pp.) $17.99 | Dec. 31, 2019 978-1-5476-0117-2

Lola Dutch has many ways of communicating her love to her friends.

When each of her anthropomorphic animal friends starts the day grumpy, Lola (a human girl) knows just what to do, and readers of Gary Chapman’s popular 5 Love Languages books will recognize them. She sews cozy pajamas for chilly Gator (receiving gifts), arranges Crane’s strewn-about books in a “Book Nook” (acts of service), organizes an outing to the park for Pig (quality time), and gives Bear a hug (physical touch). In return, her four friends celebrate just how much they appreciate and love her with a banner and a cake (words of affirmation).

The rear copyright page includes a small, easily overlooked paragraph citing the book’s inspiration and asking readers how they feel loved and show love to their friends. No information is given about how to determine which love language to use in different situations or with different people. The loosely outlined illustrations are a delight because of the expressive characters and Lola Dutch’s infectious exuberance. Lola is pale-skinned with a brown pageboy. The dust jacket unfolds to show a party scene, Bear and Crane preprinted on the page. Lola Dutch and Gator are paper dolls that can be cut out along with a loving note to share with someone special. Pig is absent.

Love can be shared in so many ways; reading this together is a start. (Picture book. 3- 7)

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young adult TEARS OF FROST

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Barton, Bree Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (480 pp.) $17.99 | Nov. 5, 2019 978-0-06-244771-5 Series: Heart of Thorns, 2

THE BLUE ROAD by Wayde Compton; illus. by April dela Noche Milne......................................................... 111 WHAT I CARRY by Jennifer Longo.................................................... 115 JUST BREATHE by Cammie McGovern...........................................119 ALL THE DAYS PAST, ALL THE DAYS TO COME

by Mildred D. Taylor..........................................................................122

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Magic and sisterhood intertwine in the high-stakes sequel to Heart of Thorns (2018).

Mia Rose awakens from her death with gaps in her memory and her senses gone numb. Her search for a mother who betrayed her trust leads her to the snow kingdom, where she hopes to find answers and a way to rescue Prince Quin from her sister Angelyne’s powerful enthrallment.

Determined to seek revenge against her powerful mother, Pilar d’Aqila is on the run from the river kingdom when she runs into a recently escaped Prince Quin—the boy whose sister she killed. Pilar and Quin join forces to travel together into the snow kingdom in search of Pilar’s long-lost father. Chapters alternate viewpoints between Mia and Pilar, who are on a collision course that connects ongoing family secrets and betrayals, the failings of previous generations, and a thoughtful examination of agency, female empowerment, and the history of magic. In this world, “magic is born of a power imbalance,” and while this conceit showed a lot of promise in the overtly feminist first book, the sequel is effectively bogged down by an extended magical system that leads to convoluted worldbuilding, a love triangle, and trivial twists. Mia and Quin are white, Pilar has golden skin and black hair, and there are multiple queer characters.

A sequel that builds on its predecessor with mixed results. (map, author’s note, resources) (Fantasy. 13-16)

SHADOWSPELL ACADEMY The Culling Trials Breene, K.F. & Mayer, Shannon Sky Pony Press (564 pp.) $16.99 | Nov. 5, 2019 978-1-5107-5510-9

ALL THE DAYS PAST, ALL THE DAYS TO COME

Taylor, Mildred D. Viking (496 pp.) $18.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-399-25730-8

In a bid to save her family, Wild braves brutal entrance exams for Shadowspell Academy.

Texan farm girl Wild lives with her ailing father and younger twin siblings, Billy and Sam. Her mother has passed, and her older brother |

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diverse books: are they just for teaching?

Photo courtesy Leah Overstreet

Recently, a friend shared a diverse book list for young readers on social media. A white friend of hers commented that she is always looking for books that will expose her children to diversity but that she was dismayed at how many of them feature characters who may have different names or eat different foods but otherwise seemed to be “just like us.” I replied that wanting to learn about other cultures is laudable, but it is also valuable for kids to see that other people don’t exist just to be learning opportunities. When I shared this anecdote with a white Scandinavian friend who is married to an Asian American man, she was more succinct, commenting drily, “Maybe that’s the point.”

All of which led me to think about what kinds of diverse stories pass through publishing’s gatekeepers and appear in print, in turn shaping perceptions about what certain groups of people “are like.” It can be easy to regard diverse books as primarily educational tools for kids from dominant culture backgrounds. This would explain the relative paucity of diverse genre fiction as compared to historical fiction and realistic fiction that centers on narratives of oppression and persecution.

Another true story: A colleague from my school librarian days shared a story about Kwame Alexander’s Newbery-winning The Crossover (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014). A white teacher assigned it based on his recommendation—but without reading it first (that’s a column for another day!). Even though the kids loved it, she was upset because she wanted the book to provide an opportunity to teach about race; in failing to do so, it negated her reason for choosing a book by a black author.

Ironically, the word “didactic” is frequently wielded as a criticism against diverse books in particular (another columnworthy subject), giving the unfortunate impression that either way, we just can’t win: that diverse books only have value in terms of their role as teaching tools—as long as the teaching they do is not too explicit, of course.

It’s important that we have a wide variety of materials with culturally diverse protagonists where the focus is on things other than identity, including—as in the examples below—falling in love, getting embroiled in a toxic friendship, and taking risks in order to be true to yourself. These titles are all #ownvoices works with strong reader appeal that do not exist primarily to be culturally instructive.

Virtually Yours by Sarvenaz Tash (Simon & Schuster, 110

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June 4) focuses on Mariam, who tries out a virtual reality dating app that matches her with her ex-boyfriend as well as a platonic male friend…though maybe he’s more than just a friend. Mariam is Persian and Muslim and an NYU freshman who moves in diverse circles. Her story is one about love, self-discovery, and figuring out relationships of all kinds.

Sarah Lyu’s The Best Lies (Simon Pulse, July 2) is a darkly thrilling tale set in Atlanta. Remy’s boyfriend, Jack, is dead—shot by her best friend, Elise, with whom she has an obsessive relationship. This intense novel centers on a third-generation Chinese American girl, but it is primarily a suspenseful drama in which two girls, each of whom has terrible personal struggles, support one another, albeit disturbingly.

In Lance Rubin’s Crying Laughing (Knopf, Nov. 19), Winnie is an aspiring comedian who had a humiliating experience while attempting a routine at her own bat mitzvah. But sophomore year is all about growth for this Jewish teen—both the welcome kind that comes from facing your worst fears in order to realize your biggest dreams and the kind that is thrust upon you when a beloved parent faces a terminal diagnosis.

Each of these books adds welcome diversity to the pool of romance, thriller, and realistic fiction titles for young adults.

They entertain and offer insights into the human condition, but they don’t make their diverse characters into instructive examples. I hope that readers of all backgrounds will value them, and books like them, just as they are. —L.S. Laura Simeon is the young adult editor.

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A touching allegory of the trials of migration. the blue road

THE BLUE ROAD A Fable of Migration

Compton, Wayde Illus. by dela Noche Milne, April Arsenal Pulp Press (128 pp.) $18.95 paper | Nov. 1, 2019 978-1-55152-777-2 A journey from swampy nothingness to fulfillment.

Lacuna knows her own name and little else. She cannot remember living anywhere other than the Great Swamp of Ink, where she senses that she is being watched. Polaris, a will-o’the-wisp and magical guardian of the swamp, gives her a choice: Leave or die. Before heading north, Lacuna fills two gourds with swamp ink and soon encounters the Thicket of Tickets, where a forest of “admit one” tickets stands between her and the blue road leading to the Northern Kingdom. Once she emerges from the thicket and embarks upon the blue road, Lacuna realizes her trials are only beginning. Taking cues from The Wizard of Oz, Compton (The Outer Harbour, 2015, etc.) draws parallels between the confusing journey migrants face and Lacuna’s journey. Compton’s characters are intriguing; brown-skinned, curly–black-haired Lacuna is wily, smart, inventive, and empathetic, and her internal battles are thought-provoking. Her own resourcefulness and the different objects she gathers allow her to persevere in her perilous pilgrimage. Milne’s (The Imperfect Garden, 2019, etc.) loose illustrations are colorful, featuring many gradations of blues, greens, and browns, and effectively convey the intensity of the journey. As the story leaves unanswered questions, it begs for a sequel. Characters are diverse, ranging in skin tone from beige to dark brown.

A touching allegory of the unexpected and burdensome trials of migration. (Graphic fantasy. 12-16) |

DAY ZERO

DeVos, Kelly Inkyard Press (432 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 12, 2019 978-1-335-00848-0 Series: Day Zero Duology, 1 A near-future political thriller about change and agency.

In the United States, two new political parties emerge from the ashes of the New Depression—The Opposition and The Spark. When The Opposition, under the leadership of the charismatic Ammon Carver, unexpectedly wins the election, the country is thrown into a state of befuddled disarray, made worse by terrorist attacks on the banking system that soon lead to curtailed civil liberties. Seventeen-year-old Susan “Jinx” Marshall is a coder who just wants to have fun gaming, but her family is caught in the middle of it all: Her stepfather is framed for the attacks, and her survivalist, tech genius father might have the answers to what is really happening. On the run with her little brother, Charles, and her stepsiblings, MacKenna and Toby, Jinx has to remember all those weekend doomsday drills her father put her through if she wants to survive as the world collapses around them. Jinx’s arc from passive onlooker to an agent for change who will do anything to protect those she cares about is at the core of a compelling, action-packed story about family ties, politics, and revolution. The villains come across as simplistic, but the divisive political environment from which they arise reads as genuinely terrifying and plausible. Jinx and her family are white; one important secondary character is Mexican American.

Fast-paced, topical, and engaging. (Thriller. 14-adult)

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was killed in an accident at the academy. Now another recruitment letter has appeared, this time addressed to Billy, with an added threat that their whole family will be destroyed if he doesn’t show. Wild shears off her long hair and sets off in his place. But from the moment she heads off to upstate New York, she is faced with constant danger, finally being forced into a helicopter with other captive teens. Wild is a natural contender in the perilous Culling Trials, putting her intuition for danger, penchant for fighting, and love of puzzles to work. A team of misfits forms around her, slowly burgeoning into friendships.

But students begin disappearing, and an assassin may be trailing Wild. Suddenly, Wild’s entangled in a mystery, and she’ll do anything to keep her team safe. Her journey leans heavily on tropes derived from Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, with less focus on worldbuilding or character development, leaving little to propel readers through the never-ending gauntlets. Unkind jokes at the expenses of a fat character, a character on the spectrum, and gay people are unredeemed by character growth. All major human characters are white.

An uninspired slog through another magical boarding school. (Fantasy. 13-18)

THE GOOD HAWK

Elliott, Joseph Walker US/Candlewick (368 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-5362-0718-7 Series: Shadow Skye, 1 Deft characterization and an original protagonist elevate a fantasy set in quasimedieval Scotland.

Fifteen-year-old Agatha, who has a Down syndrome–like disability, is proud to be a Hawk, charged with watching the seas of Skye for danger, despite some in her clan calling her “retarch,” stupid, and useless. Jaime has always been friendly toward her, even while dismissing himself as weak and worthless. When their people are enslaved by brutal raiders from Norveg, Agatha and Jaime must summon all their individual strengths. This page-turning adventure is rich in atmosphere while dripping with grisly violence; untranslated dialogue inspired by Scottish Gaelic and Old Norse adds extra flavor. Jaime and Agatha alternate narration, each distinctive voice unreliable in its own way: Jamie’s

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A poetic love letter exploring a vast range of topics. say her name

cautious, anxiety-riddled account cannot conceal his courage and compassion; Agatha’s simple words convey passion, loyalty, and cleverness. Other characters display less depth—the Viking-ish marauders especially are shallow villains. While the disability superpower trope is never overtly invoked, the only explicit magic is Agatha’s gift of communication with animals and a severely traumatized woman’s power to command spirits, which may trouble some. Nevertheless, most readers will race to the triumphant conclusion and shiver at dark hints of possible sequels. The few physical descriptions seem to point to an all-white cast; there is one same-sex relationship.

A fresh and exciting debut. (note about languages) (Fantasy. 12-16)

SAY HER NAME

Elliott, Zetta Illus. by Wise, Loveis Jump at the Sun/Disney-Hyperion (112 pp.) $18.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-368-04524-7 A collection of poems centering the experiences of black women, girls, and femmes.

Elliott (Dragons in a Bag, 2018, etc.) offers up a poetic love letter exploring a vast range of topics: Black Lives Matter; microaggressions such as hair touching; violence against black women and girls; the Middle Passage; what self-care and resistance can look like; not fitting into prescribed definitions of blackness; and surviving in the U.S. (a country where, echoing Audre Lorde’s “A Litany for Survival,” she writes, “…you are a miracle / because we were never / meant to survive / not as human beings / yet despite their best efforts / to grind us down / still we rise / we strut / dazzle / & defy the odds…”). It’s clear that Elliott poured not only her talent, but her heart into this collection, which acknowledges race-wide struggles as well as very personal ones. True to the title, several poems allude to black women and young people who have been murdered, though, disappointingly, black trans women are largely absent. Elliott includes a sprinkling of mentor poems that served as inspiration to her and that form an introduction to readers unfamiliar with the poets’ works (though why Phillis Wheatley’s ode to internalized anti-blackness “On Being Brought From Africa to America” was included without context isn’t clear). Art not seen.

This empowering collection belongs on every shelf. (notes) (Poetry. 12-adult)

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SPELLHACKER

England, M.K. HarperTeen (416 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-0-06-265770-1 A close-knit team of magic thieves attempts one last job only to uncover a dangerous conspiracy.

Science fiction melds with fantasy in the futuristic city of Kyrkarta, where people use both advanced technology and magical energy, called maz. The Maz Management Corporation heavily regulates maz, leading teenage hacker Diz to illegally siphon the valuable resource with her best friends: spellweaver Remi, techwitch Ania, and muscle Jaesin. When the group’s final job ends disastrously, it leads to a shocking discovery—and it’s vital that Diz and her crew stop things before there is further damage. Action and humor combine in a compelling narrative that is rooted in Diz’s complex relationship to her found family. Over the course of their adventures, Diz struggles to let her walls down, hindered by trauma from her childhood. In particular, she slowly learns to give room to her romantic feelings for Remi, who uses they/them pronouns and has a chronic illness caused by contaminated maz. Readers will be hooked by the high stakes throughout, though a linear plot and a sense of inevitable success deflate moments of tension.

The cast is racially diverse and joyfully queer.

Readers will want to buckle in for this high-speed, bighearted sci-fi/fantasy adventure. (Speculative fiction. 13-17)

THIS LIGHT BETWEEN US

Fukuda, Andrew Tor Teen (384 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-250-19238-7

Friends separated by an ocean experience the traumas of World War II. For Japanese American Alex Maki, the world in 1935 mostly consists of reading and drawing comics. By mistake he is assigned to be the pen pal of Charlie Lévy, a Jewish girl living in Paris whom his teacher believes to be a boy.

The two become devoted friends, and their correspondence proves comforting when World War II brings anti-Japanese sentiment to Alex’s home of Bainbridge Island, Washington, and Charlie’s parents argue over whether to leave Paris following the Nazi occupation. After Alex’s father is taken by the FBI, under suspicion of being a spy, the rest of the family is sent to the Manzanar internment camp. The story, punctuated by Alex’s and Charlie’s letters, overall belongs to Alex. As the war in Europe interferes with mail delivery to and from France, Alex decides to enlist in exchange for his father’s release and, secretly, in hopes of finding Charlie. Assigned to the legendary all-Japanese American 442nd regiment, Alex confronts the ravages of

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war, haunted by his fears for Charlie’s safety. Fukuda (The Trap, 2013, etc.) artfully conveys Alex’s inner turmoil and paints visceral combat scenes. Alex grows over time, battling internalized racism, which is partially expressed in his negative reaction to the recruits from Hawaii whose portrayal could have been developed with more nuance and context.

An intriguing premise and fascinating tale. (author’s note, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 13-18)

WOVEN IN MOONLIGHT

Ibañez, Isabel Page Street (384 pp.) $18.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-62414-801-9

A rollicking political fantasy inspired

by Bolivian history and filled with irrepressible heroines, opulent settings, twisty court intrigue, bloody revolutions, and mouthwatering feasts.

Ximena Rojas has been the decoy for the Illustrian Condesa of Inkasisa ever since the Llacsan King Atoc overtook La Ciudad Blanca by unleashing murderous earthquakes and ghosts. Ximena’s own parents died in the siege, so when Atoc demands to marry the condesa, Ximena, a trained assassin with weaving powers given to her by the moon goddess, takes her place. At court, she finds unlikely allies and joins forces with a roguishly handsome Robin Hood figure, but she also begins to question whether her people should rightfully

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Nadine Jolie Courtney HOW A YA AUTHOR EXPLORED AND EMBRACED HER OWN MUSLIM BACKGROUND TO WRITE ALL-AMERICAN MUSLIM GIRL

By Megan Labrise Brandy Menafee

At the start of Nadine Jolie Courtney’s YA novel AllAmerican Muslim Girl (FSG, Nov. 12), no one at Allie Abraham’s new high school in Georgia knows she’s Muslim— and she intends to keep it that way. The daughter of a Jordanian Circassian father and a white American mother, Allie has been taught to hide her heritage and embrace her white-passing privilege to insulate against Islamophobia.

However, as her 16th birthday approaches, she’s moved to embrace her faith. What that means for her familial relationships, burgeoning friendships, and romance with dreamy Wells Henderson, the son of a famous white conservative political commentator, is the subject of Courtney’s quintessential coming-of-age novel, based on the author’s own experience of growing up Circassian American.

When did you start writing the story that became AllAmerican Muslim Girl?

About 10 years ago, when I was in my 20s and had moved to LA, I had the idea of a character named Allie Abraham. She

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was very much like me, a white-passing girl of Islamic heritage, and she had this boyfriend who didn’t know she was Muslim…but then I didn’t really explore it. I was still very much under the radar with being Muslim, even understanding what that meant to me when I was alone. So I shelved it.

What made you revisit it?

After Trump got elected, after the Muslim ban, I remember sitting on my couch watching CNN’s live footage of the protestors at JFK. All of these people showed up with poster boards that said “We Are All Muslim” and stood up for their neighbors as well as strangers. I literally started crying because it was so contrary to what my father had told me when I was young, which was, “People hate Muslims. People look down on us. People will never support us.

You have to hide, hide, hide, hide, hide.” To see people in New York standing up for Muslims was a seismic shift. It was something I never believed could be possible. That’s when I reopened the document.

How closely does Allie’s experience of exploring her heritage and falling in love with Islam resemble your own?

It’s very similar, but rather than falling in love with Islam on my own in my teens, it happened for me in my early 30s.

Allie is 15 going on 16, going through the process of determining who she is, what’s important to her, and who she wants to be. She wants to know what it means to be a “good Muslim.” She also wants to have a boyfriend (which is forbidden). And she’s hiding her religious practice from her father.

The self-discovery process is never linear. It’s been two steps forward, seven steps back for me. It’s like, I bought a Quran and I’m praying…but I’m also going out and meeting my friends for a drink. I’m doing Arabic lessons twice a week…but I have a boyfriend. I was doing that dance in my own life.

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When you’re [Allie’s] age, your self-examination is not going to hold up under a microscope or in a court of law.

Someone could pick it apart, but it doesn’t mean it’s any less real or meaningful to you. I think that messiness, the process where you’re trying to figure out who you are and what you believe, makes your convictions last. When you do have people poking holes in your beliefs—when you are tempted or you are tested—you have to confront how you react, how you behave in the real world. It’s no longer in a bubble.

Megan Labrise is the editor at large and hosts the Fully Booked podcast. All-American Muslim Girl received a starred review in the Oct. 15, 2019, issue.

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WHAT I CARRY

Longo, Jennifer Random House (336 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-0-553-53771-0 At 17, Muiriel needs to make it through one more placement, then she will age out of foster care and into statesanctioned self-sufficiency.

Muir is white, woke, and keenly aware that her experience of not knowing any family from birth isn’t representative of most foster kids. She meticulously follows the wisdom of her hero and namesake, John Muir, and keeps her baggage light. However, it quickly becomes apparent that her new temporary home will challenge her resolute independence. The island forest beckons to her. Francine, her latest foster mother, is insightful and socially aware. Kira, a heavily tattooed artist, is brimming with best friend potential. And then there’s Sean, the beautiful boy who understands that the world can be terrible and wonderful at the same time. As these people show up for Muir, the survival strategy she clings to—don’t get attached—diminishes in validity. This is terrifying; Muir has only ever learned to depend on herself. The trauma she contends with is not perpetrated by a villain; it is the slow boil of a childhood in which inconsistency has been the only constant. The power of relationship—both those experienced and those denied—is expertly explored throughout this novel with nuance and humanity. The central characters are immensely likable, creating a compelling read sure to leave an imprint. Most main characters are white; Kira is Japanese American.

An exceptional addition to the coming-of-age canon. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)

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What’s your hope for readers of this book?

My hope is that another Muslim girl who feels confused or alone or just kind of weird will read this book, and it will resonate and she’ll feel less alone. It’s so important to be seen. We’re living through this amazing time now where there’s so much pop culture that is representative. [My generation] just didn’t have that.

I feel emotional about this book. This book was so scary to write, because the book is me. It is all of my teen vulnerability, what it felt like when I was young and thought there was literally no one in the world who could possibly understand me, that I was the only girl that was caught between cultures. This is the book of my heart.

rule over the denizens of Inkasisa, who are brown-skinned and indigenous to the land they’re all fighting for. Action-filled scenes and steamy encounters push the narrative forward.

Readers will never be sure whom to trust or which side to be on, especially as Ximena questions what she’s always learned about her lighter-skinned race. Themes of imperialism, genocide, and citizenship are punctuated by Spanish words and descriptions of delectable food and lavish clothing. Atoc doesn’t hesitate to torture or kill his enemies, which can make some scenes hard to stomach. Secondary characters get short shrift, but readers won’t think twice as they immerse themselves in the story.

A refreshing, page-turning debut. (map, glossary) (Fan­ tasy. 14-adult)

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Intensely moving, at turns heartbreaking, joyful, and frightening. wildfire

TWEET CUTE

Lord, Emma Wednesday Books (368 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-250-23732-3 Romance and a Twitter war brew between two New York teens whose families run competing eateries in this fresh debut.

Though unsure of her aspirations after high school, high-achieving student Pepper Evans is sure that good grades and entrance into a top college will please her mother, co-founder of Big League Burger, one of the country’s top fast-food franchises. Classmate and funny guy Jack Campbell feels overshadowed by his gifted identical twin brother, Ethan, a feeling that grows when their father hints that he expects Jack to take over their family’s deli, Girl Cheesing, while Ethan goes on to greater things. When Big League Burger announces the release of a new menu item called “Grandma’s Special,” a sandwich that is a copy of a Campbell family classic, Jack tweets a snarky response through Girl Cheesing’s account. Unbeknownst to him, Pepper, instructed by her mother, claps back, and a battle ensues. While their public slam down goes viral, Pepper and Jack anonymously confide in one another through an online messaging app called Weazel, which Jack developed himself. From meme wars to social media marketing, Lord accurately depicts various sides of today’s online culture. Amid all the digital hoopla is an engaging story about family loyalty and pursuing one’s own passions. Most characters are white except for some secondary characters whose names suggest ethnic diversity; Ethan is gay.

A just-right combination of sweet and cheesy. (Fiction.

12-18)

WILDFIRE

Mac, Carrie Knopf (272 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 28, 2020 978-0-399-55629-6 Annie’s best friend Pete is nearly unconscious with fever as wildfires threaten their solitary tent in the Washington wilderness.

Through meandering flashbacks, Annie recounts the events that led up to this dire predicament, including the recent death of Annie’s grandmother and Pete’s plan to hike the Pacific Northwest Trail to snap Annie out of her grief. The two have been campers, thrill seekers, and wilderness lovers since childhood, but Pete’s present plan involves hiking off-trail on a route unreported to their dads. When Pete gets stabbed in the leg with a branch of a shrub, neither could know that their first aid efforts would be in vain or that they would get lost with two dead phone batteries.

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inspired joyful discoveries in the wilderness, Annie’s life is illuminated through snippets of memory: how she and Pete both lost their mothers as children, how she has developed feelings for Pete that he may not return; how Pete’s girlfriend, Preet, is too perfect to hate; and, mainly, how deep Annie’s relationship is with her best friend. Despite the somewhat disjointed storytelling, the memories are intensely moving, at turns heartbreaking, joyful, and frightening. Back in the present, Pete’s condition keeps worsening, and Annie must make life-or-death decisions about leaving Pete behind to search for help. All characters are white except for Preet, who is Indian American.

An affecting combination of wilderness adventure and poignant teen angst. (Fiction. 13-18)

ECHOES BETWEEN US

McGarry, Katie Tor Teen (384 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-250-19604-0

In Veronica’s world, things are not always what they seem—and she’s comfortable with that.

But what else would you expect from a girl who lives with the ghost of her mother and celebrates holidays on the wrong days? Her friends are happy to go along with Veronica’s quirks, but the other kids at school think she’s weird. When Sawyer, who is part of the popular group and struggles with his overly involved, alcoholic mother, moves into the apartment downstairs from Veronica, she doesn’t suspect that it will change her life. First, Veronica and Sawyer pair up to work on a class assignment and become amateur ghost hunters. Then, they start to fall for each other as they visit haunted spots around town. But as they grow closer, there’s always the looming specter of Veronica’s debilitating migraines—she lives in fear of a life-threatening disease. Can Sawyer handle that? This spooky teen drama is narrated in Veronica’s and Sawyer’s firstperson voices in alternating chapters. McGarry’s (Only a Breath Apart, 2019, etc.) characters are lively and sympathetic, though their circumstances often seem overly dramatic. The book is also packed to bursting with a slew of issues that can feel overwhelming. Veronica and Sawyer are white, and the cast includes characters who are black, Mexican American, and lesbian.

A sweet teen love story that is weighted by an overflow of drama. (Fiction. 13-18)

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The opposite of magical is not y o u n g a d u lt

ordinary.

The opposite of magical is

mankind.

Coming

November 5, 2019 Hardcover: 9781338188325 | $19.99

Catch up on The Raven Cycle!

TM/ÂŽ Scholastic Inc.

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Andrew Maraniss

THE STORY OF THE FIRST U.S. OLYMPIC BASKETBALL TEAM AT THE 1936 BERLIN OLYMPICS GETS A VIVID TREATMENT IN THE AUTHOR’S YA BOOK

By Mary Ann Gwinn Keith Miles

When Americans remember the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, they think of Jesse Owens, the African American track star who won four gold medals, overturning Nazi notions of Aryan supremacy. Or the University of Washington crew team immortalized in Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat, a band of student athletes from modest backgrounds who won gold in Berlin and defeated the Nazis’ hand-picked team.

Heroes to be sure, but the fuller story of America’s participation in the Berlin Olympics is more complicated, as vividly illustrated by the story of the United States’ first Olympic basketball team. The players, giddy with the thrill of representing the U.S., had to weigh Olympic participation against a boycott of the games to protest Nazi persecution of Jews and other minorities. A Jewish team player faced competing in a country where Jews were harassed, persecuted, and murdered. Several teammates faced a hard choice; in the depths of the Depression, they were told that if they left to play for their country, their jobs would be gone when they got back.

Andrew Maraniss conceived their story as a great book for middle and high school students, both a lively sports saga and an indelible history lesson. Author of the award118

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winning Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South, Maraniss is an articulate advocate for accessible and relevant nonfiction for YA readers, students who “might pick up a book with basketball players on the cover who wouldn’t pick up a book about civil rights or fascism,” he says. “I’m trying to write the books I would have been interested in as a kid.”

The Nashville-based Maraniss, son of author David Maraniss, answered some questions about his new book, Games of Deception: The True Story of the First U.S. Olympic Basketball Team at the 1936 Olympic Games in Hitler’s Germany (Philomel, Nov. 5).

Members of the first U.S. Olympic basketball team came from two separate teams—the Globe Refiners of McPherson, Kansas, and the Los Angeles Universals.

Most were young working-class men. How did they manage to get to Berlin?

They qualified to go to the Olympics by playing in New York, but then they had to go back to LA or Kansas, and they were freaked that they weren’t going to get back to NYC to get on the boat. The McPherson team sold raffle tickets. The LA team didn’t think they were going to get to go until some famous actors donated at the last minute (Boris Karloff was a supporter). Employers told them that if they went, they wouldn’t have jobs when they got back—they really had to love the sport for its own sake.

Sam Balter was a Jewish player for the Universals. How did he make his decision to participate?

Heading into the qualifying tournament, it was already being talked about in basketball circles and the Jewish community—what will this guy do? He was hearing such strong opinions from people who said he should not go that it kind of turned him off. He decided the best thing was to go to the Olympics and win a gold medal. What better rebuke could there be to Hitler than that? I think he truly

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believed that. I think the African American athletes felt the same way.

You draw parallels between the Nazi persecution of Jews and minorities and American treatment of blacks and immigrants during the 1930s.

I thought that was extremely important—it would be a real oversight not to address the way things were here.

The Nazis came over to America to study race laws because they were the most racist laws they could find….

Anti-lynching legislation was being discussed, but we couldn’t even pass that.

People were talking about Jesse Owens as if his feet on the track dispelled Hitler’s notions of Aryan supremacy.

We don’t talk about the fact that when Jesse Owens and Mack Robinson [another track star and Jackie Robinson’s brother] came back, they couldn’t find jobs. Plus the fact that this basketball team had no African American players.

Mary Ann Gwinn is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist in Seattle who writes about books and authors for several publications.

Games of Deception was reviewed in the Sept. 1, 2019, issue.

McGovern, Cammie HarperTeen (352 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-06-246335-7

Two troubled teens form a deep friendship in a hospital room.

David Sheinman is senior class president and “mascot to the pretty-girl/jock crowd.” He’s also an expert at minimizing the life-threatening aspects of his cystic fibrosis. Jamie Turner, a friendless 10th grader at the same school, volunteers at the nearby hospital. After her artist father died by suicide 18 months ago, Jamie fell into a depression so severe she required hospitalization. Now David’s waiting for the lung transplant that, if successful, might extend his life by a few years. In the face of his parents’ denial, he’s struggling to figure out what kind of life he wants given how short it’s likely to be. Alone among the people who visit him, Jamie understands and accepts this truth. She offers him old movies, origami, and the comfort that comes from having already faced death. At the same time, she realizes David is a situational friend—once he’s well enough to leave the hospital, he’ll return to the high school where he’s king and she’s nobody. David’s desire for some degree of normality leads them into a wholly believable, tender tragedy. Told in alternate first-person voices, the novel is extraordinary for its unflinching look at both depression and chronic illness. Without sugarcoating, sentimentalizing, or trivializing either, it never slips into pathos. The depiction of mental health struggles is profoundly accurate and understanding. Major characters are white.

A gift to readers. (Fiction. 14-18)

NAMELESS QUEEN

McLaughlin, Rebecca Crown (352 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-5247-0026-3

A teen from the lowest social class is selected as the new queen.

Seriden’s population consists of Royals, Legals, and the Nameless, deprived of basic rights—even wearing clothing belonging to another caste is a potentially execution-worthy offense. Seriden’s ruled by a sovereign who, on their deathbed, names an heir, transferring the royal magic and a crown tattoo. A Nameless grifter who calls herself Coin panics when the king dies and the crown tattoo shows up on her arm, putting her in mortal danger from Royals wishing to usurp her. First seeking simple survival, Coin, by trial and error, figures out what power she has to improve things while also trying to determine how a Nameless could be named heir and why Nameless have been disappearing. Some world mechanics are eventually explained, but the worldbuilding tends toward |

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You’ve written for both adults and a YA audience. How is the writing different for YA readers?

I write in a quick pace—quick chapters, so they can feel like they’re making progress. I want a sense of momentum, with interesting leads and good kickers. People have short attention spans these days. Maybe an adult could see this as a book they could read too. And there are so many interesting photos from the Olympic Games. I wanted to place readers in the stories through my writing and through pictures as well.

JUST BREATHE

flimsy. Racial descriptors are largely absent; the focus is on class divisions. The lack of a romantic storyline strengthens the platonic relationships the themes depend on; as outcast Coin weaves a new interpersonal network and explores her ability to belong to society and her obligation to improve it, the result is an empowerment narrative and an appealing family-of-choice focus. While the plot carries a few surprises, it’s marred by a too-obvious villain and too-easy solutions. The strength lies in the characters’ emotional inner lives that help ground the themes which have strong ties to our reality.

Despite underbaked elements, a socially conscious fantasy with appealing themes and tensions. (Fantasy. 12-adult)

ONE OF US IS NEXT

McManus, Karen M. Delacorte (384 pp.) $19.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-525-70796-7 Series: One of Us is Lying, 2 A dangerous texting game comes to Bayview High in this sequel to One of Us Is Lying (2017).

Last year in a San Diego suburb, a gossip app led to a death and inspired weak copycats. Now an anonymous person is sending Truth or Dare messages to the students of Bayview High, and this time no one is safe. If you choose truth (or don’t respond), one of your secrets is revealed. Complete a dare and you’ve passed. The game mostly causes an entertaining stir—until a student winds up dead. Was it an accident, or was it murder? High school juniors Maeve, Phoebe, and Knox find themselves caught up in the mystery of who’s behind the texts. The Bayview Four make appearances, but the compelling heart of the story is the three main characters’ family drama and personal struggles. Maeve thinks she’s having a leukemia relapse, Phoebe slept with her sister’s boyfriend, and Knox interns at a legal aid firm whose staff members are receiving death threats. Shifting perspectives keep the pace steady while McManus (Two Can Keep a Secret, 2019, etc.) deftly weaves in commentary on the justice system, bullying, and slut shaming. Plenty of secrets and surprises will keep readers captivated until the satisfying end. Knox and Phoebe are white, Maeve has Colombian ancestry, and Bayview is a diverse community.

A can’t-put-down read. (Thriller. 14-18)

BEYOND THE SHADOWED EARTH

Meyer, Joanna Ruth Page Street (400 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-62414-820-0

Eda has given up everything to become empress, but making a deal with a god is dangerous, especially one as clever as Tuer.

After the death of the emperor, Eda was made empress of Enduena, much to the chagrin of her (much older) advisers, who continually attempt to undermine her authority. Her first order of business was to bring back religious practices that the previous emperor abolished and reconstruct a temple in Tuer’s name: She made a promise to him that if she failed to do so, she would forfeit the life of her best friend, Niren. Wracked with guilt over gambling with Niren’s life, Eda is hit with another surprise when a new suitor arrives for her, Prince Ileem of Denlahn, her country’s greatest enemy.

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Coming-of-age can happen even when you’re dead and bitter. layoverland

temple and save Niren? This ambitious book attempts to cover a lot of ground but struggles with pacing and character development. While the world is well built, with clear rituals, rules, and beliefs, the first part drags, readers will likely anticipate the ending, and characters’ behavior at times feels inconsistent.

However, the second half of the book sees Eda’s growth, more action, and some exciting magic. Whiteness is situated as the norm; the Denlahns are brown-skinned, and Niren has bronze skin.

Overall, a solid and enjoyable book. (Fantasy. 13-18)

LAYOVERLAND

Noone, Gabby Razorbill/Penguin (320 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-1-9848-3612-0

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Reintgen, Scott Crown (368 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 21, 2020 978-0-593-11917-4 A dystopian flip of colonialism mixes with horses on fire.

In the Empire, the dark-skinned Ashlords are a minority but have all the power. Each year they stage a spectacular multiday race on phoenixes—horses that rise from ashes at dawn only to die in flames each night.

Pippa, the teen daughter of former winners, is this year’s favorite, but she’s challenged by Adrian, a tough Longhand cowboy from an oppressed group of rebels, and Imelda, the lone Dividian given free entry into the contest. The light-skinned Dividian were invaders who failed to conquer and who now live subject to the Ashlords (who credit their superiority to the intervention of their many gods). Phoenixes can have magical

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Coming-of-age can happen even when you’re dead and bitter.

Bea Fox dies in a car accident while crying about a fight with her sister (who is also her best friend), listening to a song she hates, and wearing jeans she doesn’t like. She wakes up in an airplane heading to Layoverland, an in-limbo place for heaven-bound souls with emotional baggage or secrets to clean up before they can depart for the Pearly Gates. Bitter, pessimistic, argumentative Bea is recruited into the Memory Experience Department and can’t move on until she helps a certain number of befuddled souls clear their minds (including a guy who is supercute—and responsible for her death. Awkward). And who knew that orange would be the go-to palette for the in-between afterlife? Bea is a terrific antihero, as if the naysaying comic relief in a teen movie got the spotlight instead of the pretty ingenue. But her acid tongue and eye rolls aren’t two-dimensional or one-note; layers to her pre-Layoverland life are interspersed to give depth. The fantasy and comedy make the narrative buoyant even while bullying, tragic deaths, class struggles, and reproductive rights are faced head-on. Bea and her family are white and working class, and the majority of the cast also seems to be white save for biracial (Mexican/white) love interest Caleb and brown-skinned Layoverland mentor Sadie.

A story about death that leans toward the light. (Fiction.

13-17)

ASHLORDS

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High-stakes emotionalism alongside a politically charged premise. infinity son

powers, depending on what you add to their ashes. It’s a lot of stuff crammed into one novel. Reintgen (Saving Fable, 2019, etc.) fits it all in, mostly (the gods never do make sense), with economical, crisp writing, at the expense of character development and overall clarity. The most well-developed relationship, between Imelda and her friend Farian, is abandoned after the first chapters. The worldbuilding falters, too: They have sophisticated computerized technology, including holograms and video streaming, but rely on horses and carriages for all transportation. It requires close reading to understand that the pale, invading Dividian majority are oppressed; the facts are told piecemeal without the analysis that might have given readers insights into our own world’s history of colonialism Too much hat, not enough cowboy. (Fantasy. 13-18)

STARSIGHT

Sanderson, Brandon Delacorte (480 pp.) $19.99 | Nov. 26, 2019 978-0-399-55581-7 Series: Skyward, 2 As if the threat of huge, raging monsters from hyperspace isn’t scary enough, hotshot fighter pilot Spensa Nightshade becomes embroiled in an alien empire’s politics.

On a desperate mission to steal hyperdrive technology from the crablike invading Krell who are threatening to destroy her beleaguered home colony on Detritus, Spensa, who is white, holographically disguises herself as a violet-skinned UrDail and slips into a Krell pilot training program for “lesser species.” The discovery that she’s being secretly trained not to fight planetdestroying delvers but to exterminate humans, who are (with some justification, having kindled three interstellar wars in past centuries) regarded in certain quarters as an irrationally aggressive species, is just one in a string of revelations as, in between numerous near-death experiences on practice flights, she struggles to understand both her own eerie abilities and the strange multispecies society in which she finds herself. There are so many characters besides Spensa searching for self-identity— notably her comic-relief sidekick AI M-Bot, troubled human friend Jorgen back on Detritus, and Morriumur, member of a species whose color-marked sexes create trial offspring—that even with a plot that defaults to hot action and escalating intrigue the pacing has a stop and start quality. Still, Spensa’s habitual over-the-top recklessness adds a rousing spark, and the author folds in plenty of banter as well as a colorful supporting cast.

Not quite the wild ride of Skyward (2018) but still great fun. (Science fiction. 12-15)

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INFINITY SON

Silvera, Adam HarperTeen (368 pp.) $18.99 | Jan. 14, 2020 978-0-06-245782-0 Series: Infinity Cycle, 1 Magic goes viral in Silvera’s (contributor: Color Outside the Lines, 2019, etc.) fantasy debut. But can it win a war?

For brothers Brighton and Emil, their 18th birthday is “off to a rough start.” The two dream of being celestials (people with magic abilities) but are reminded yet again that they’re “painfully ordinary.” Or are they? When potions dealers attack the brothers, Emil discovers that he has phoenix fire within. Brighton uploads a video of the fight online, propelling Emil—whom the celestial-obsessed dub “Fire-Wing”—to superstardom. The brothers find themselves caught in the crossfire between the heroic Spell Walkers, who fight for the end of celestial persecution, and the power-hungry Blood Casters, who gain magic by stealing it from creatures. With its raw, complex characters, Silvera’s latest packs his signature high-stakes emotionalism alongside a politically charged premise. The alternate New York City setting mixes current tech (e.g., virtual reality and Instagram) with magical tech (e.g., wands and gem-grenades) to create a richly contemporary urban landscape. Though Silvera mostly switches between Emil’s and Brighton’s strong, first person, present-tense narration, the perspectives of a Spell Walker and a Blood Caster are also magnified. The cast primarily consists of people of color, several of whom are also queer (including Emil, who is gay).

A bright spark of a promising series. (Fantasy. 12-adult)

ALL THE DAYS PAST, ALL THE DAYS TO COME

Taylor, Mildred D. Viking (496 pp.) $18.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-0-399-25730-8

A heart-stopping plot about a character whose life has always been defined by her family and their land.

Readers who have followed Cassie Logan since Song of the Trees (1975) will feel the paradigm shift as she moves first to Ohio and then California and Colorado, where she still suffers racism, although different from that in Mississippi. In California, after Cassie miscarries, then gains and loses the love of her life, grief becomes her constant companion. Later, as a successful lawyer and the only Negro in a Boston firm, she remains dedicated to her family and their values, using her legal skills to advance civil rights, initially reluctantly but then willingly when injustice visits a close friend. Not surprisingly, Mama, Papa, Big Ma, and Uncle Hammer figure prominently in this novel, and when

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Cassie falls for a white colleague, several family members blatantly object to the relationship. This novel places the Logans’ struggles amid historical events: Opening in 1944, it includes the integration of Ole Miss, the murders of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers, and the impacts of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Taylor (The Land, 2001, etc.) refers frequently to episodes from her other novels, but this story also gives readers an up-close and personal view of key events of the civil rights movement. In this Logan swan song, Taylor is at her best.

Surely the crown jewel of the Logan family saga. (His­ torical fiction. 12-18)

CHOSEN

White, Kiersten Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $18.99 | Jan. 7, 2020 978-1-5344-0498-4 Series: Slayer, 2

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Are we in the post-spoiler era?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was known for its shocking plot twists, and it led to a whole generation of TV shows filled with constant surprises. So fans of the series will be on alert when they read this companion novel. Spoiler warning: In the previous book (Slayer, 2019), a character named Leo died. The main character in this entry, a Slayer called Nina, is always bringing up his name. After the 10th time, readers may actually be disappointed if Leo doesn’t come back from the dead. White (The Guinevere Deception, 2019, etc.) is smart enough to comment, right in the text, on readers’ expectations.

Fortunately, the story isn’t centered around its plot twists; the focus is always on the characters. Nina is both a slayer and a trained doctor, and, touchingly, she keeps struggling over whether to kill her enemies or save them. The best jokes also emerge from the characterizations. One character is—sweetly and hilariously—distraught when he doesn’t get to name a kitten. The author rarely describes the characters’ races, but most of the central figures are white. There are two same-sex couples.

Too many of the plot twists are predictable, but for this generation of fans, predicting them will be part of the fun.

Another solid entry for Buffy fans. (Paranormal adventure.

14-adult)

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Sh e lf Space A Q&A with Leah Koch, Co-owner of the Ripped Bodice, Culver City, California

By Karen Schechner

Jenn LeBlanc

One of only two romanceonly bookstores in the United States, the Ripped Bodice was the dream of sisters Leah and Bea Koch. They raised $91,000 via Kickstarter and opened the Culver City, California, store in 2016. They haven’t been idle.

In 2017, they were named the Steffie Walker Booksellers of the Year by the Romance Writers of America; in 2018, the Koch sisters signed a deal with Sony StuLeah & Bea Koch dios; and this year, they announced that they will launch the Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romance Fiction. We talk with Leah Koch about the sex-positive glory of the romance genre as well as its ongoing diversity problem.

If the Ripped Bodice were a religion, what would be its icons and tenets?

I’m going to make it a cult because I’m an atheist (but it’s a chill, nice cult).

In order to be a member of the cult you have to show your membership card proving you are a sex-positive, intersectional feminist. And you have to promise that you will uphold our principles that “love is love” and “happily-ever-after is for everyone.”

Our flag (and/or mandatory tattoo) would be a Victorian style heart with HEA inside of it (for happily-ever-after). We would buy some crumbling castle in the English countryside, and the biggest disagreements would be what flavor scones would be served that day at afternoon tea. It would be a very nice cult to be a member of.

Can you tell us about the origins and results of the Ripped Bodice’s Diversity Report?

After we had been open for about a half a year, we started to think seriously about what we could do to contribute to the ongoing efforts to make romance publishing less racist. There were already so many incredible authors and readers working so hard on advocacy, so we really wanted to contribute something that didn’t exist yet and that we were in a position to provide. We noticed that due to the lack of hard data, publishers were still claiming 124

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that they were working on the issue and improving. Now that hard numbers are available, it is much harder for publishers to lie about how well their company is doing—so we feel that we have been very successful in that regard.

2019 will be the fourth year of the report so far. There has been very little industrywide change, which of course is disheartening, but we do hope that eventually we will start to see some real change in the numbers.

What are the Ripped Bodice Awards?

The Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romantic Fiction are a new venture for us. We have assembled an incredible committee of judges, and on Valentine’s Day 2020, we will announce the books they have selected as the absolute best romance novels published in 2019. Each honored author will receive a cash prize of $1,000.

Can you tell us about the deal you signed with Sony Pictures TV? Yes! We work with Sony Studios to help them identify romances that would make good television shows. It’s pretty much a dream partnership. We have been at it for a little over a year now and have two books currently in development. We can’t tell you what they are yet but hopefully soon.

What are your current favorite handsells?

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary and Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore.

Anything else you’d like to add about the romance genre?

A lot of people have some serious misconceptions about romance, and I would urge readers to really consider why they haven’t given romance a chance yet (if they haven’t). Once we start talking with people, they pretty quickly come to the realization that whatever they have been told/internalized about romance is generally coming from a place of misogyny and sexism. Once they are free to come to their own conclusions, many people find they love stories that are rooted in love and hope.

Additionally, the romance genre has historically not been a very inclusive place when it comes to people from marginalized communities. If you are one of those people, just know that we see you, and you are welcome here. Romance still has a long way to go in terms of making its author pool representative of the world we live in, but things are getting better.

Karen Schechner is the vice president of Kirkus Indie.

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indie COUNT IT ALL JOY

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Allen, Mitchell Booklocker.com (308 pp.) $18.99 paper | $4.99 e-book Jun. 21, 2019 978-1-64438-863-1

THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS by Amy Andrews.....................126 IN SEARCH OF AL HOWIE by Jared Beasley...................................128 THE J HOROSCOPE by Sharon Chmielarz....................................... 130 THE SPIRIT OF THE WAYNES by Ethan Cooper.............................. 131 THERE YOU ARE by Mathea Morais............................................... 140

THERE YOU ARE

Morais, Mathea Amberjack Publishing (304 pp.) $24.99 paper | $11.49 e-book $24.50 audiobook Oct. 22, 2019 978-1-948705-58-5

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A Texas boy wracked by constant anxiety and sadness matures into a directionless adult in this debut novel.

Six-year-old Luke Butler is being raised by his grandparents in a small Texas town in the mid-1980s. While he has no idea what has happened to his parents, he realizes that he dreads going to church and school, becoming so nervous that he can feel it in his gut. His grandparents are kind, if somewhat emotionless, people who offer stability and support but have no cure for his loneliness and worries. In a story that regularly skips ahead five years, Luke finds solace in the garden of his neighbor Mrs. Bergeron. He eventually becomes a gardener in his own backyard, as the varied responsibilities give him a much needed sense of calm. He flirts with other activities, such as baseball, but very little grabs his interest, and he is averse to connecting with other people. Childhood memories are raw: “I remembered feeling like the walls moved behind me and how it felt like my brain turned upside down in my skull when I tried to make sense of things.” In college, there is an (almost) girlfriend who tries to bring Luke out of his shell. Then there is a job at Premier Home Center, a soul-destroying superstore, that pays the bills but does little to enthuse an increasingly nihilistic man.

He is lost, aimless, alone, seeing no point in life and wishing for it to end. Finally, though, there is a plan, one that should bring him a brief amount of happiness as he hurtles toward an uncertain future. The structure of Allen’s insightful novel, divided into five-year increments that finish in 2020, keeps the story intriguing and mostly prevents it from becoming a downer. It is an affecting tale, one that creates genuine feelings for the protagonist but also questions life choices by parents and how they can seriously impact others. While there is kindness around Luke, wrongdoing surfaces as well. These transgressions, which become magnified as he spends more years at the superstore, are portrayed in scenes that offer a razor-sharp indictment of contemporary workplaces and pay scales. Unfortunately, the methodical narrative mostly avoids attempts at a deep analysis of Luke’s fragile psyche, which hinders the story’s development.

A perceptive, sensitive tale about the hopelessness of a disaffected young man.

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under pressure THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS

Books about the treatment and study of human illnesses and injuries have always held readers in thrall—Oliver Sacks’ Awakenings, Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Mala­ dies, Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of In­ sight. In these nonfiction Indie books, medical practitioners recount the details and challenges of caring for others in various settings—a burn unit, a war zone, and on the side of a highway.

In From Cinders to Butterflies, Richard B. Fratianne, founder of the burn center at Cleveland’s MetroHealth Medical Center, recalls the psychological toll of treating burn victims.

Part of the treatment, which led Fratianne to nearly quit the profession, included counseling patients who agonized at the thought of returning to their routines with scars and deformities. Our reviewer says that the author blends “autobiography and spiritual manifesto…revealing how transforming the lives of others became possible by using what he calls the ‘supernatural gifts’ of faith, hope, and love.”

Sarah Z. Mitić, a Belgrade-born Serbian physician, writes about tending to soldiers and civilians on the battlefront in the 1990s Balkan wars. In her memoir, Life as Trauma, the author describes leaving a comfortable life for a war zone to save Croatian children, countless anguished soldiers, a suicidal young mother. “Readers interested in the strife and unrest of the Balkan region…and the plights of its refugees will find Mitić’s narrative illuminating,” notes our reviewer.

Kurtis Bell started his medical career as an Army medic. He trained to become a registered nurse and, adept at emergency care, became a flight nurse in an air ambulance. In his debut memoir, Aid From Above, Bell recounts the day-to-day adventures of a crew contending with grisly multicar wrecks, hikers lost in the wilderness, and more. The memoir “effectively combines dramatic tension with the detachment of a veteran emergency flight nurse.” —K.S.

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Andrews, Amy Entangled: Amara (400 pp.) $7.99 paper | $7.99 e-book | Sep. 24, 2019 978-1-64063-819-8 Fake relationships, art forgery, and tacky decorations abound in this smalltown Christmas romance.

War hero and rancher Joshua Grady— known as “Grady” to his friends and family—is notorious in Credence, Colorado, for his grouchy demeanor, which increases tenfold at Christmastime. His feisty new tenant, Suzanne St. Michelle, is a born-and-bred New Yorker who’s taking a breather from reproducing paintings for museums and collectors; unlike her affluent art-world parents, she’s a big fan of the Christmas holiday. She doesn’t like Grady’s sour attitude, but she finds that her long-dormant muse has been awakened by his perfect face and physique.

When Suzanne’s parents decide to spend the holidays in Credence to revive their marriage, she makes a deal with Grady; Suzanne will give him every painting that she’s made of him if Grady pretends to be her boyfriend—who loves Christmas.

He’s eager to possess the artworks, which he considers embarrassing, and intrigued by Suzanne’s beauty and grit, so he reluctantly agrees to her terms. As Grady and Suzanne’s mutual attraction flares and their false romance becomes reality, both rancher and artist wonder if their relationship will last after the holiday decorations come down. Via alternating third-person perspectives, Andrews gives Grady and Suzanne nuances, motivations, and backstories that clearly explain their characteristics and choices. Both are likable and frustrating, by turns, giving them a feeling of humanity that one doesn’t always find in holiday-themed romances, and their chemistry is both sexy and sweet. Scenes depicting acts of love and sex—everything from a simple, closed-mouth kiss to full-on intercourse—are vivid and sensuous, with occasional moments of silliness that keep the story grounded. Andrews has clearly done research on art reproduction, and Suzanne’s struggle to prove her worth to her sculptor mother is the novel’s most compelling subplot. The ending will generate holiday spirit in even the most Scrooge-like reader.

A fun yet poignant story whose main characters are realistic and relatable.

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VIEWS FROM GOLD MOUNTAIN History, Memory, Voices

APPENDICES PULLED FROM A STUDY ON LIGHT

Babbitt, Geoffrey Spuyten Duyvil (90 pp.) $25.00 paper | Feb. 1, 2018 978-1-944682-89-7

Aston, Richard CreateSpace (740 pp.) $24.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Jan. 10, 2019 978-1-72032-736-3

Chinese migrants weather war, revolution, and discrimination in America in this sweeping historical meditation.

Aston combines third-person narrative, personal recollections, and interviews into a multifaceted look at Chinese people at home and abroad. Episodes from Chinese history provide background, starting with the 19th-century Opium Wars and other Western incursions, the nationalist revolution of 1911 and the troubled rule of Chiang Kai-Shek’s Guomindang Party, Japan’s invasion during World War II, and the 1949 victory of Mao Zedong’s Communist Party during the Chinese civil war. These upheavals, along with persistent poverty and periodic famines, sent millions of people abroad seeking better lives. The author weaves in the saga of diaspora Chinese, particularly Chinese Americans, exploring their endurance of hard labor and racial bigotry and their evasions of exclusionary American immigration laws. (Many came to the country as “paper sons,” arranging to be falsely claimed as children of Chinese American citizens.) The book also looks at the political rivalries that roiled the Chinese American community.

Aston enriches the history with first-person reminiscences of life in San Francisco’s Chinatown by his two Chinese American spouses and their extended families—a colorful bunch who included a professional-gambler father-in-law who was an associate of Chinese criminal gangs and two uncles-in-law who were prominent Communist Party figures with voluminous FBI files. He also throws in recollections of his own extensive travels to Asia—as a sailor on freighters in the 1950s, as a State Department employee in the ’60s, and on his own time in 1986.

Aston’s lengthy, often disjointed text goes off on many tangents, including a discussion of black-lung disease among British coal miners and the mechanics of shipboard smuggling. Fortunately, he keeps these excursions engaging with his wide-ranging curiosity, erudition, and evocative prose; for example, he observes that, in Calcutta, “files of dark, scrawny Bengali longshoremen, clad only in a scrap of dhoti around their loins and a sweat rag around their neck, unload upcountry boats” while “vultures gorge on the carcass of a cow.” Readers with a casual interest in China will enjoy browsing this book, and scholars will find a trove of information on immigrant lives.

An overstuffed but often absorbing journey through the Chinese experience.

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The impact of light on the human spirit is examined from religious, philosophical, and poetic perspectives in this debut literary meditation.

Babbitt (English/Hobart and William Smith Coll.), a coeditor of Seneca Review, arranges this text around a series of essays on books of hours—a genre of medieval Catholic illuminated manuscripts containing prayers, Bible excerpts, and sacred calendars. His loose-limbed commentaries explore the devotional content of the books and their tangible artistic features, including the feel of the parchment pages. (Babbitt also includes gorgeous color photographs of manuscript illustrations.) Threading through these essays is the story of Ireland’s Saint Columba, who illicitly copied a psalter belonging to St. Finnian—an ethical lapse that seemed blessed by God when Columba’s fingers started glowing with light. Babbitt takes this legend as a celebration of the divine union of light and language in “illuminated” religious literature. The essays, and especially their marginalia, wander into tangents, such as Babbitt’s boyhood memories of serving as a Catholic altar boy; the Norse god Odin’s quest for secret knowledge; and an anecdote about a British scholar who got so excited at deciphering an ancient Sumerian account of the Great Flood that he ecstatically tore off his clothes. Apart from a few lapses into academic jargon—“Scripture is the Lacanian symbolic. God is the Lacanian real”—these meanderings are erudite and engaging.

Babbitt fleshes out the prose with separate poems. Some of these have religious themes, inspired by the canon of the books of hours. There are also landscapes, vignettes about birds and dogs, and intimate looks at relationships. Light imagery features prominently in most of them. The poetry is heavy going—dense with allusions, obscure asides, and untranslated Latin and Greek. Occasionally, as in “De Sanctissima Trinitate,” a stanza gels into a well-shaped poetic proposition, in this case about the mystery of the Holy Trinity: “some mysterious, reasoning thing / puts forth the mouldings / of its features from behind / an unreasoning mask.” More often, poems unfold in disjointed sprays of impressionistic imagery. In “All Along the Reservoir Road,” these form a coherent tableau to catch a traveler’s eye: “pile of bones, bag o’ bones / sun bleached scattered / progress is a winter / and no one planted the flowers growing in the lawn.”

But sometimes, as in “Ad Laudes,” the jumble is so cryptic as to defy parsing: “something is a light—sun helps us / somewhere by taking / the eye’s capacity—quo ferrea primum / desinet ac toto surget gens aurea mundo— / he might even constitute / the abyss—tuus iam regnat Apollo—.” One notion Babbitt discusses in a prose section is that, rather than light’s existing to illuminate objects, objects exist to register the efflorescence of light. One may be tempted to take an analogous 127

Beasley achieves a fluid narrative that makes the pages fly by, like the miles beneath Howie’s feet. in search of al howie

BEHIND THE MIRROR Book One

approach to much of his poetry here—basking in the washes of vividly visual language without worrying overly much about what mere things it may signify.

Rapturous rumination that’s sometimes dazzling and at other times, dimmed.

Blossman, Bon Self (217 pp.) $2.99 e-book | Sep. 25, 2019

A teenage girl and her friends cross into a parallel world in this fantasy adventure from Blossman (The Noxhelm Murders, 2017, etc.).

Seventeen-year-old Ella Simmons lives with her strict father in the small town of Branford Falls. Her wealthy best friend Finley Poe’s dad recently bought her an antique mirror for $10,000. When Ella, Finley, and their new friend, Diane Brooke, try to see their future in the looking glass, they find they can pass through it. The world beyond is an alternate version of Branford Falls, full of destitution, violence, and even casual murder. They manage to escape back to their own reality, but Ella finds that being in the “Dark World,” as she calls it, made her feel good. It also made the strange birthmark on her shoulder glow and awakened strange powers within her. It turns out that whenever someone from her own world passes into the Dark World, a doppelgänger from that reality travels in the other direction—and Finley’s double has wreaked havoc in her absence. Also, Finley’s delinquent brother Fallon followed them into the mirror; he’s now trapped in the Dark World, replaced in his own by an even more aggressive sociopath. In the midst of all this, Ella finds out that she was adopted. What is her true connection to the Dark World? Blossman establishes a fast pace from the outset, confronting Ella in every chapter with problems, mysteries, dangers, and doubts. The author has Ella tackle these with a teenager’s resilience and a breezy insouciance—and the latter trait is shared by superficial socialite Finley.

Ella consistently grasps the gravity of her situation but doesn’t excessively dwell on her inner turmoil. This is a wise stylistic choice on Blossman’s part, as it keeps the tone of the adventure light. The dialogue, too, has a reassuring staginess that acts as a buffer for particularly unpleasant plot points. Throughout, the protagonist’s appealing narration offers an array of breathless fantasy twists.

A pleasant dose of alternate-universe excitement.

IN SEARCH OF AL HOWIE

Beasley, Jared Rocky Mountain Books (272 pp.) $25.00 paper | $12.99 e-book Oct. 8, 2019 978-1-77160-338-6 An energetic work that chases the legend and captures the life story of premier Canadian extreme-distance runner Al Howie.

In an eccentric sport, Howie stood out. He would run hundreds or thousands of miles cross-country to the starting lines of multiday races—and then run to the next. Like a tour guide, Beasley (The Black Sheep, 2016) explores the cloistered world of extreme-distance running—involving races longer than standard 26.2-mile marathons—where Howie became an icon but never a household name. In 2014, the author found Howie, a silent shell of his former self, at a group home for the mentally ill. During the runner’s final two years, Beasley teased out recollections while tracking down documentary evidence and Howie’s friends and relatives, charting a path through memories and mythology. Howie, a native Scot, grew up in a hiking family and later enjoyed a hippie lifestyle before leaving his drug-addicted wife with their preschool-age son. He moved to Canada, where he was “on the run” long before his first race, which took place after he was 30. His stamina, flowing hair, and penchant for hydrating with beer defined him. In 1989, he became first to finish the 1,300-mile “Impossibility Race”—in 17 days, nine hours. In 1991, he ran 7,295 kilometers across Canada in 72 days, 10 hours—still the record—and two weeks later, broke his own 1,300-mile record. The book also reveals the relationships, personal demons, and twists of fate that shaped Howie, rendering the legend fully human—fearful and driven, flawed but likable.

Beasley, an actor, director, and screenwriter, writes in a cinematic fashion, interspersing flashbacks between chapters with third-person snapshots of Howie’s signature trans-Canada run.

He also seamlessly shifts focus from wide-angle settings to character close-ups, packs details into scenes without slowing the pace, and uses the colorful runners’ vernacular that christens a competitor a “manimal,” “alien,” or “freak.” Some may find the style hyperbolic, but they’d likely concede that if the author described a smoke-filled bar, they’d smell it. He achieves a fluid narrative that makes the pages fly by, like the miles beneath Howie’s feet.

A quirky, captivating biography.

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HEY ADMISSIONSMOM Real Talk From Reddit

THE SOUND OF SPRING Chen, G.X. Back Bay Press (170 pp.) $1.99 e-book | Oct. 15, 2019

Caplan, Carolyn Allison Admissions Mom (394 pp.) $28.99 | $15.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Aug. 30, 2019 978-1-73376-411-7 978-1-73376-410-0 paper A debut guide offers advice about the college admissions process.

The college admissions odyssey in recent years has become so intensely, overwhelmingly competitive that it’s turned into a source of stress for parents as well as aspiring young applicants. There are so many variables, and at times it seems like every one of them is crucial to getting accepted at the first-choice dream school. It’s probably no surprise, then, that a lively discussion exists online, including, of course, on Reddit: the r/ApplyingToCollege subreddit, where young people and their parents ask some of the multitudes of questions they encounter along the way. Caplan has long called herself “AdmissionsMom” on that subreddit, and in this book, she seeks to “smooth those admissions-ruffled feathers and help many of you relax about your college admissions journey.” The author was a teacher for 30 years before opening a private college counseling practice.

In these pages, she dispenses advice on such subjects as preparing for college interviews, dealing with admissions-process anxiety, visiting campuses, handling rejection, and living in the limbo of being wait-listed or having your admission deferred.

“Colleges want to see who you are and what you have to offer,” Caplan writes, and she delivers clear, detailed tips on how to deal with that process while emphasizing mental health.

“Learn more about meditation, mindfulness, or yoga,” she advises. “Get outside and walk or run. Listen to music.” But she’s also tough and realistic, laying out facts about the hypercompetitive world she’s describing. “In the end,” she writes, “there are far more students with fantastic test scores applying to the most highly selective schools than there are spots.” Parents also get plenty of useful counsel, such as this tidbit about financial aid forms: “It’s crucial to turn the CSS Profile and the FAFSA in on time. Please don’t get lazy with that stuff.”

A one-stop manual for the college admissions world; essential reading for everybody from high school juniors to military veterans.

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A young woman in Shanghai experiences romance and anguish during the Cultural Revolution in this historical novel.

At the start of 1976, Du Chun Ming is already a woman wholeheartedly in love. The 22-year-old first met Fang Si Jun four years ago on the first day of her factory job. Chun Ming lives with her parents, including her engineer father, Jing Zi, who works so much that he aggravates his high blood pressure and heart disease. His job often entails updating Chinese technology, putting him at odds with the ongoing Cultural Revolution that deems modernization as a sign of capitalism. Si Jun’s stance on China’s current sociopolitical state is essentially to keep one’s head down and stay mum. He expresses concern over apparent anti–Cultural Revolution comments Chun Ming’s beloved cousin, Jian Hua, and his girlfriend, Lin Nan, have made. Such statements are especially dangerous when the government is searching for individuals spreading “political rumors.” Jing Zi disapproves of Si Jun’s attitude, as the young man is seemingly only invested in self-preservation. But when the government designates people close to Chun Ming as counterrevolutionaries, lives could be ruined or even lost, and anyone linked by mere association is, in the public’s eyes, equally guilty. Chen’s (Back Bay Investigation, 2019, etc.) love story in a country of social and political unrest is, perhaps unsurprisingly, often dour. Chun Ming, for example, is incessantly distressed about Jian Hua and Lin Nan’s safety; her father’s worsening illness; and whether Jing Zi will support her relationship with Si Jun. Likewise, the Cultural Revolution is an imposing presence, as characters are under constant threat of accusations or someone’s misinterpreting a humble utterance or act. The author retains a simplicity that benefits the story, which centers on the political upheaval adversely affecting the protagonist and the relatively few people surrounding her. Concise prose further aids the narrative’s consistent momentum, as the Cultural Revolution, even near its end, continues to devastate citizens’ lives.

An engrossing, taut story that skillfully incorporates a real-life Chinese sociopolitical movement.

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THE J HOROSCOPE

NICKEL DIME TOWN

Chmielarz, Sharon Brighthorse Books (100 pp.) $14.99 paper | Jul. 1, 2019 978-1-944467-17-3

Clark, Jack Manuscript

A contemporary novel chronicles the escapades of a Chicago private investigator.

Clark’s (Back Door to LA, 2016, etc.) narrative follows Nick Acropolis, a rugged, Sam Spade–type gumshoe on the payroll of Chicago attorney Shelly Micholowski, who predominantly represents the local police force. An ex–homicide detective who is thriving in a vibrant, gritty city filled with “plenty of murders but few arrests,” Nick is now on a Police Board case involving a traffic stop and an errant cop who stole his ex-girlfriend’s car while wearing a disguise. Also renting space in Nick’s frequently frazzled mind is beautiful local photographer Kate Daniels, whom he meets accidentally and becomes instantly smitten with. As part of a messy marriage and a convoluted entanglement springing from the sudden, mysterious death of her police officer husband, Billy, she retains Nick’s services.

Kate wants him to find out whether her spouse was actually unfaithful or something more sinister was taking place. Hardly a grieving widow, she is now involved with her husband’s field partner, Tommy, but secrets seem to surround the entire sordid affair. Nick soon discovers that Billy was a sketchy cop and that Tommy, growing violent because of the dedicated PI’s digging, definitely harbors something nefarious. The case swiftly morphs into a murder investigation. Developments in Clark’s dual plots come fast and furious as Nick’s investigative spadework produces some complex twists, incriminatory videotapes, missing witnesses, angry villains, an enlightening trip to Paris, and a shocking arrest. The author’s rousing, dialogue-driven detective tale is engrossing mainly because Nick is an instantly likable and humorous private eye who is unafraid to sink deeper into each dangerous case. After a few confusing opening chapters, the narrative pieces fall into place and the resulting noir mystery sets in motion plenty of suspenseful action sequences and beguiling character sketches. Though keeping track of both cases can be challenging for readers at times, the author skillfully establishes Chicago as a bustling, crime-ridden, yet much adored location and offers a serpentine series of events that keep things sharp and gripping. Readers should find themselves fully invested in Nick’s slickly written adventures and the openended conclusion that promises future installments.

A brazen, intriguing, and cleverly conceived mystery that features a tough yet vulnerable detective.

These collected poems imaginatively take the viewpoint of J, one of four writers of the Bible’s book of Genesis.

Chmielarz (Little Eternities: Poems, 2017, etc.), an accomplished poet, initially published several of these poems in literary magazines, including Commonweal and The Hudson Review. This collection focuses on connections between contemporary experiences and those recorded in ancient biblical texts. According to the epigraph from the 1990 work The Book of J by David Rosenberg and Harold Bloom, a hypothetical biblical writer called J was so named “for her intense interest in Yahweh’s character,” who was also called “Jahweh.” These poems are intensely interested in the stories that J allegedly collected and wrote down. They’re connected by 13 “intersections”—poems in italics that comment on or relate to the others. In “Intersection #1,” for example, the speaker considers mangoes, specifically their color and sweetness: “We danced to mango / close like lovers. Mango’s / sweetness melted us into life.” But experience can be bitter as well as sweet, as shown in the poem that follows, “Yahweh the Stork re the Family.” The narrating stork says, “I’ve seen it all—the father who killed his son, / the sons who threw their brother down a well”; nevertheless, “The next day I deliver another baby, a bundle / of trust”— trust being the first, and first forgotten, “contract with the world.”

Other poems are based on specific biblical episodes, such as Lot’s transformation into a pillar of salt, Noah’s Ark, Joseph’s betrayal, and prophetic dreams, while others touch on primal experiences, such as giving birth or experiencing a death in the family.

Several poems breathe freshness into old tales by centering on a woman’s point of view. In “The Boatman’s Wife,” for example, Noah’s long-suffering spouse wishes that she could fly away from “this whole mess”; her husband finds prophecy in raindrops and lets his beard get scraggly while she’s “corralling / the stupid hens.” Yet her practical nature finds release, with the poem ending in possibility: “At least she could save the birds. // At least, this one dove—.” The dove becomes a potent symbol not just of hope, but of freedom—saved by the wife’s longing to escape the ark and fly up into the wild sky. Several poems speak of loss, which was the focus of Chmielarz’s 2015 collection, The Widow’s House. The six lines of “Where One Becomes Two” are haikulike in their concise linkage of image to consciousness: “The old fox has died. / Now his mate is alone. / Now she must cross the river alone. // Look. / In the water. / Two foxes.” “Look” in the fourth line echoes the book’s epigraph, which begins “Look. A woman is writing on parchment,” which, in turn, calls to mind the more familiar translation, “Behold.” These connections, and the poem’s spare, stripped-down quality, demand that readers pay attention to the numinous link between spirit and body, so beautifully captured in the piece’s final line.

Thoughtful, bold, humorous, earthy, and humane—a superb collection.

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This keenly observed memoir delicately balances humor and heartache while signaling the importance of each passing moment. why didn’t i notice her before?

THE SPIRIT OF THE WAYNES

Cooper, Ethan CreateSpace (314 pp.) $14.00 paper | $2.99 e-book Jun. 2, 2015 978-1-5123-8409-3 In Cooper’s (Smooth in Meetings, 2014, etc.) novel, an unemployed, middle-aged man with a possible drinking problem must persuade his nonagenarian father

to give up driving.

Wriston Wayne, the retired chairman of the Boreal Bancorporation, lives in Florida with his second wife, Cindy. Charlie, his 50-something middle son and a real estate expert, has been unexpectedly laid off from TBF Bank in New York City. While he and his wife, Jane, are visiting Wriston and Cindy, the older man loses control of his Cadillac in the parking garage of their condo building. Charlie fears that a serious accident could be in Wriston’s future, but running errands in the car is one of the few deep pleasures that the old man has left. The dynamic between the father and son is thrown into stark relief: Wriston loves Charlie, but he’s disappointed that he didn’t make it to the top of the heap in his chosen field (“Charlie never emerged from the pack,” he reflects). Charlie, meanwhile, agonizes over whether to stop Wriston from driving, but it’s taken out of his hands when the elderly man’s health declines precipitously in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, Charlie’s late-night wine drinking persists. The focus and interiority of this novel are truly wonderful, and Cooper takes his time exploring what goes through his characters’ minds—principally Charlie’s, but also Wriston’s as he carefully navigates his beloved Caddy from his home to the Publix supermarket. Cooper has the old man note every turn and every lane change; it should be maddeningly boring, but instead, it gives readers a painful appreciation of a person who knows that he must be careful because his freedom is so tenuous. Interestingly, readers later get the same view of Charlie running errands himself as he wrestles with painful issues regarding his dad.

A poignant exploration of the complicated dynamic of fathers and sons.

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nurse practitioner examined a bump on the author’s pelvis and quickly handed her a slip to get an urgent CT scan, as though it were a baton in a “relay race.” She was later told that she had a “fourteen-centimeter tumor” and that she must undergo surgery to remove “the big mass…the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, all of it,” and then receive chemotherapy. The memoir describes how Cramer, a New York film editor; her husband, Todd; and their young son, Noah, came to terms with the news.

She describes all aspects of her treatment, from awaiting surgery to having a port inserted in her chest for infusions. She also poses penetrating questions—one chapter, for example, is titled “Should I Fight?”—and approaches the act of wig shopping with wickedly mordant wit: “I sit down in the wig barber’s chair looking like my two-year-old-self refusing to wear underwear because it is itchy.” The book goes on to explore how the author’s cancer diagnosis has changed her outlook on life, asking “will an illness as serious as this teach me that I no longer need to fix things, and can I finally release my grip and get on with living?” Cramer’s writing is characterized by an eagle-eyed search for positivity: “Fuck it. I want to live my life not spend time making legacy boxes of my unfinished one.” For the author, this statement is an act of personal catharsis, but her message has an inspirational universality. Some readers may flinch at her bluntness, but for most, her writing will offer revitalizing guidance: “I’m told death is close, it is imperative that I take initiative to go any direction away from stuck.” Overall, this keenly observed memoir delicately balances humor and heartache while signaling the importance of each passing moment.

A profoundly moving remembrance that’s alternately sad and uplifting.

THE FACE OF THE SEAL

Cumiskey, Jennifer Bowker Identifier Services (350 pp.) $13.95 paper | $4.99 e-book Jul. 19, 2019 978-1-73324-781-8 A Chinese artifact sits at the center of an international theft and murder case in this debut thriller.

William Blackwell IV, the inheritor of an extensive fortune, owns a massive collection of Chinese art. He receives a mysterious letter demanding the return of a certain Empress Seal from the imperial Qing Dynasty to its rightful owner. Up to this point, William hadn’t even realized that he possessed the ruby-faced seal, but now that he does, he’s reluctant to give it up. He sends a colleague to contact Gerel Garnier, a Paris jewelry designer, about fashioning a replica of the seal. Gerel knows she should be excited by the prestige such a job will bring her, but she’s bothered by the secrecy surrounding it. Three months later, William is found murdered in a New York apartment, and Detective Tony Ryan is assigned to figure out what happened.

Ryan’s investigation quickly leads him to Gerel, though she has since learned things about the seal that she isn’t quite ready to

WHY DIDN’T I NOTICE HER BEFORE?

Cramer, Beth Time Tunnel Media (238 pp.) $9.99 paper | $7.99 e-book | Aug. 1, 2019 978-1-73337-520-7 A New York City–based film editor confronts a diagnosis of terminal cancer in this debut memoir.

In August 2017, Cramer was told that she had stage 4 ovarian cancer. During a routine medical appointment, a |

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Reuben “Tihi” Hayslett A WRITER AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST SHINES A LIGHT ON SOCIETY’S DARK CORNERS WITH HIS DEBUT COLLECTION

By Rhett Morgan When did your passion for writing begin?

Most of my life, I’ve kind of like cycled back and forth between activism and writing. I felt like I always wanted to be a writer. Growing up people would say, “OK, you want to be a writer, but what’s the other thing you’re going to do?” Activism was the second passion that came to me. I went to grad school to study creative writing, but I started working in politics. I like making a good impact….

Why did you decide to release this collection now?

The Trump election hit me really hard as someone who was doing a lot of digital support for progressive candidates. I decided to take time off and just focus on what was really important to me. And the thing that really gets me going, the thing that is my passion, is short stories and fiction. I had written half of it already in grad school, but within one week, I finished my manuscript. Writing it was very cathartic.

Did your political experience have a big impact on the collection?

I feel like there’s a political angle in every single story that’s in the collection. All human beings are political creatures.

We’re all affected by politics whether or not we’re conscious of it. So the question then becomes: How do you get it into the work in a way that makes sense for the character and in a way that makes sense for the plot and for the story to go forward?

Reuben “Tihi” Hayslett has already made a career for himself in progressive politics, working as a campaign manager, a fundraiser, and, most recently, a consumer advocate for Demand Progress, where he focuses on issues of surveillance and human rights. In the political climate of the last three years, however, Hayslett felt compelled to express himself through his first passion: writing. His debut collection of short stories, Dark Corners, which earned a Kirkus Star, focuses on minorities, children, queer people, and others who feel politically powerless or vulnerable. The subjects of his eerie stories range from germ warfare to a mother who may be turning into a vampire. He spoke with us about his off-kilter view into the lives of underrepresented characters.

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As a queer writer, what do you wish you saw more of in fiction?

I think one of the things that kind of bugs me is the assumption of heterosexuality within so many of the stories we digest in the media. What I see is an eventual progression away from the standard stories about queer charac-

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ters, which are almost always their coming-out story or the story around their first sexual experience. I look forward to the time when we can have a young adult fantasy series about a young lesbian black girl who fights dragons.

What do you hope readers take away from Dark Corners?

The original idea was thinking about intersectionality. I was thinking about the kinds of people that you meet in a dark corner, the kinds of worlds that intersect with each other that aren’t seen. So they’re a little bit more obscure.

What are the things that are more possible in those spaces without light? Sometimes those stories aren’t always super happy, but they have the potential to be great, and they have the potential to be more informative and more illuminating even though they’re in the dark. I hope that, in reading the stories, readers can start to understand the more subterranean parts of themselves.

give up. Namely, that the seal’s origins are tied to the secret history of Gerel’s own family. As a homicide investigation unfolds in Europe and America, the true nature of the seal—both the replica and the original—reveals itself, lending some credence to the old curse that whoever possesses the prize will meet a tragic death. Cumiskey’s prose manages to evoke the grandeur and intrigue of the long-gone imperial court. “I think I owed it to myself to learn more of what really happened during that period,” says Gerel, recalling her visit to the Forbidden City, “a time when court jewelry designs of the East and West influenced one another, and different cultures came together—or clashed.” The novel jumps back and forth between two timelines—one before William’s death and one after—making for a clever means for dispensing information. In the basics of its plot, the book does not offer much that readers of this genre have not seen before. But the author is a capable storyteller, and her characters are distinct enough in their backgrounds and motivations to keep readers engaged to the end.

An entertaining contemporary art world mystery involving the treasures of imperial China.

Rhett Morgan is a writer and translator based in Paris. Dark Corners received a starred review in the Aug. 1, 2019, issue.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF PARIS

Davidson, Cynthia F. Time Tunnel Media (690 pp.) $5.49 e-book | Jun. 21, 2019

In this debut memoir, an American corporate trainer moves to Paris in search of a Lebanese beauty queen who may help her write a book.

Davidson, who was born Cynthia Fetterolf, had a unique upbringing in Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Lebanon that left her culturally aware, well traveled, and able to speak three languages. She became familiar with Arabic culture, and as an adult, she began a successful career as a cross-cultural trainer for corporate executives in New York City. But in 1970s Beirut, she experienced great trauma when her father was kidnapped twice and her younger sister narrowly survived a shooting. While on a 10-day trip to Paris in 1984, she was researching a novel—“an Arab version of Gone With the Wind,” as she puts it—based on the life of Georgina Rizk, a former Miss Lebanon and Miss Universe, who was widowed when her husband was killed by a car bomb. She hoped that talking to the pageant winner would help her understand her own past better. Rizk proved elusive, but the author’s fling with an Iraqi art dealer and her desire to write her book made her settle in Paris. She began to revisit key events in her past, and a new romance with a shadowy Tunisian driver named Omar gave her concerns about her future. Davidson’s belief that historical knowledge is the key to understanding contemporary problems results in a well-told, jet-setting memoir that spans decades and continents. The book is rather lengthy, but its seamless digressions will keep readers’ interest as Davidson recalls important years in her journey toward psychological and spiritual well-being. A vibrant parade of people moved in and out of her life, and her |

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REMEMBERING YOU Until God Whispers My Name

stories range in tone from joyful to harrowing. She also offers considerable cultural and political insight, and a little bit of romance, along the way as well as an intriguing take on Paris as a place of refuge and healing.

A richly told memoir that’s steeped in history.

Duncan, Marilyn R. FriesenPress (156 pp.) $25.99 | $13.99 paper | $4.99 e-book Jun. 7, 2018 978-1-5255-1810-2 978-1-5255-1811-9 paper

HEATHCLIFF The Lost Years

A memoirist pays tribute to a beloved parent and offers advice on how to live with loss.

In her new book, Duncan (Mom, Twice a Child, 2015) returns to the subject of her mother, Jeannette Sealey—this time focusing on her long struggle with dementia and her death in 2016 at the age of 95. “I felt I had been saying goodbye for the past 12 years as she slowly slipped away,” the author writes, and she structures the concise chapters of the book’s first section around the overwhelming emotions she experienced. She investigates the guilt that she felt when she placed her mother in a long-term care facility, her “anticipatory grief ” as her mother’s condition worsened, and, lastly, her tremendous sense of loss.

In the second part, Duncan reveals more about her family by revisiting memories of childhood and discussing other health problems that they faced; her father had lived with cancer and her sister, with multiple sclerosis. In the third section, the author offers gentle but straightforward advice to people in mourning and those trying to comfort them. She expands her observations of her own experiences to write about self-care and communicating with family members, especially children.

Throughout all three sections, Duncan keeps her prose short and to the point. Each chapter feels like a contained vignette, giving readers a brief glimpse into the author’s life, her thoughts, and her grieving process. The short poems that she includes (such as “You Were the First”) are often sweet, and her advice in the third section offers very practical insights. However, in the first section, when she focuses on her mother’s last days, she evokes something much more emotional and profound.

A general exploration of grief, elevated by succinct and deeply personal prose.

Drum, David Burning Books Press (392 pp.) $16.95 paper | $4.95 e-book Sep. 30, 2019 978-0-9911857-7-1

A debut historical novel fills a mysterious three-year gap in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.

As a young, Roma-looking orphan, Heathcliff is adopted by Old Earnshaw and taken to live with his family at their estate, Wuthering Heights. In this first section, Drum closely follows Brontë’s description of events: Heathcliff becomes nearly inseparable from Old Earnshaw’s daughter, Catherine, but is abused and eventually forced into a servant’s role by his son, Hindley. Years pass, and one night Heathcliff overhears Cathy claiming that it would “degrade” her to marry him; distraught, he flees the estate and vows that he’ll make himself into a rich gentleman worthy of the woman he loves. From there, the book imagines what might have occurred over the next three years, which remain curiously unexplored in the classic novel. The author offers the possibility that Heathcliff finds work as a sailor in the Atlantic triangle trade, voyaging from the western coast of Africa to Jamaica and back to England.

Along the way, Heathcliff experiences the rough conditions of a life at sea, the allures and hazards of exotic cultures, and the horrors of the slave trade. He witnesses the greed and malice of powerful men and stays true to his own values as a consequence.

But upon his return to England, he preoccupies himself with exterior matters, hoping to transform into a fashionable society man. It’s a credit to the author that direct lines and scenes from Wuthering Heights fit seamlessly into the overall narrative. Each locale is vibrantly rendered, from the ship’s tight quarters to the sprawl and seduction of Victorian London. Heathcliff himself appears somewhat less vivid, partly due to the tale’s detached tone and its focus on adventure over interiority. In some ways, the book openly depicts brutality, as in an effective scene where slaves are branded. But it also shies away from hints of Heathcliff ’s personal cruelty, instead envisioning him as blandly compassionate, naïve, and heroic. As a result, 19th- and 21st-century framings coexist in ways both successful and distracting.

A diffident but ultimately entertaining exploration of a famous literary lacuna.

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THE BINDWEED BROTHERS The Story of a Morning-Glory Family

Glenn, Carrie Illus. by the author Apologue Press

Four Bindweed brothers travel, meet other plants, and encounter a hoe-wielding farmer in this illustrated children’s book.

Many weeds grow along a roadside ditch, among them the Bindweeds. Four of the bell-shaped white flowers are brothers who decide to embark on an adventure; if anything gets in their way, they figure they’ll just grow over it and keep going. In a pasture, they meet a plant with large white blossoms: a thornapple. |

Hitz employs a simple but descriptive prose style that captures his human and animal characters’ simplified worldviews. squirrels in the wall

The plant is unfriendly (“You’re no kin of mine! My flowers are the flowers of angels!”) so the brothers move on. They rest with some hospitable dock weeds, observe a meadow of flowers, and are astonished to discover a field where plants grow in regular rows. The field plants warn the brothers about weed-chopping farmers. Continuing on the road, the brothers are amazed again when they encounter their cousins, huge blue flowers on a vine climbing high. The siblings address their cousins with awe: “Blues of great fame….You truly are the glories of the morn!”

Flattered, the morning glories invite the Bindweeds to stay awhile. Unfortunately, just as the field plants warned, a farmer comes with his hoe and chops out the Bindweeds, leaving them on the roadside—but the tough plants root themselves again, crowing: “Ha! We’ve outwitted the hoe! We’re unstoppable!”

Glenn (Pandora, 2018, etc.), a former flower arranger at the famous Chez Panisse restaurant in California, again shows her blend of storytelling magic and lovely illustrations. The journey motif is classic, and the Bindweeds (as is traditional) gain experience as they lose their innocence. The dialogue has a touch of strangeness that feels just right for talking plants. Yet the story doesn’t overly anthropomorphize them; it remains centered on the plant world, taking account of each one’s particular habits of growth and, by extension, personality. For example, the plants growing by the Bindweeds’ original roadside include “Radishes, who were known to be wild” and “the persistent Docks, thought to be coarse.” Still, the author’s watercolor images are the book’s stars, capturing the delicacy but also the toughness of flowering weeds.

A magical testament to perseverance.

of witnesses who track his growth from boyhood to manhood on the shores of Pike Lake include Barney’s dog, Herzie; his brother, Charlie; and his sister, Pookie. Hitz employs a simple but descriptive prose style that captures his human and animal characters’ simplified worldviews: “Was he the only toad in the world? Perhaps the toad-eaters had gone on a rampage over the winter and eaten every toad but himself....What good was it to be alive if no one else was?” Not every story lands, and some conceits work better than others. However, the cumulative effect of the tales is fairly powerful. The many different perspectives present a view of boyhood that’s alternately destructive and innocent. Even more notably, the book reveals the obvious and hidden ways that one is shaped by one’s environment.

An imaginative coming-of-age narrative that explores the natural world.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN AMERICAN ORPHAN

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James, Walter Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency (268 pp.) $31.50 | $15.95 paper | $9.99 e-book Aug. 25, 2009 978-1-60693-911-6 978-1-60860-097-7 paper A debut memoir reconstructs the complex and volatile world of an orphanage in 1950s New York City.

At just 4 years old, James and five of his siblings were hurled into the Mount Loretto Staten Island orphanage. Instead of their unstable mother, the kids would now have a series of adult caretakers who alternated wildly among violence, exasperation, and kindness toward the screaming masses of children in their charge. James’ childhood was spent passing from one “house” to the next with each new birthday. His days were filled with rock fights, boxing matches, and futile attempts to escape the cruel torture of older “junior counselor” boys. James would also often venture into the city to see his older sister, June, and their mother. At one point, June even surprised him and his brother David by introducing them to their father. (“It never occurred to me whether I had a father or not,” James writes.) But no one in this family ever provided a real path to a more stable life. Even after leaving the city to live with his older brother Richard in Wyoming, James eventually found his way back to Mount Loretto and the grim realities of an impoverished existence in ’50s New York that awaited the orphanage’s former residents. Overall, James’ memoir focuses most on daily life in the orphanage. He concentrates on the interactions between children, delivering countless scenes of harrowing abuse as well as smaller moments, as when the siblings collectively dream of being rescued by a rich family even though they “all knew it was just a bunch of lies.” In this way, James renders Mount Loretto as a complicated and intriguing place; each adult and all the children introduced by name offer nearly equal moments of both tenderness and savagery. But the world outside the orphanage

SQUIRRELS IN THE WALL

Hitz, Henry SparkPress (320 pp.) $16.95 paper | $9.95 e-book Oct. 29, 2019 978-1-68463-022-6

Hitz (White Knight, 2016) explores themes of childhood and family in stories of a lake and the creatures who live around it in this linked collection.

In these tales, set around the edge of Wisconsin’s Pike Lake, all manner of animals—including a few humans—learn about the world and one another through confusing, sometimesfearful interactions. In “Frank and Stein,” a young field mouse gets caught in a trap while searching for food and finds herself caged up with a brainwashed lab mouse; both are now the pets of an 8-year-old boy who enjoys destroying stuffed animals. In “Life Cycle of a Toad,” a curious toad—a singer of melancholy songs—discovers a “green earthen lake” at the edge of the forest only to be captured by a monster. The ghost of a doctor/sculptor/inventor in “Death Masks” continues to haunt his old studio, where his grandson and namesake frequently goes to vent his frustrations about his father—the ghost’s son. The boy at the center of all of these stories is Barney Blatz, an emotional child who collects animals and throws temper tantrums. The chorus |

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never feels as well developed. James offers glimpses of his postorphanage life in ’50s Brooklyn and Spanish Harlem—but there is certainly a lot of room for him to further explore beyond Mount Loretto and its lasting effects.

A riveting view of a truly tragic childhood that will leave readers wanting more of the author’s story.

years. When she’s older, the girl tries solutions that don’t work, such as drinking, painting, yoga, and praying. But the repetitive thoughts remain stuck in her head. Hearing of a specialist who might help her, she goes to see him. The specialist explains that she has Glue Brain, in which some half-dozen thoughts are stuck, such as “I can’t do it,” “I’ll never get what I want,” and “No one wants to be near me.” He suggests a thought transplant, sticking new thoughts over the old. These new thoughts could be, for example, “I can do it” or “I love my ideas, and I’m excited to share them.” When the girl tries this method, she feels happier, finds that she can help others, and discovers that “New thoughts really do create new experiences!” In this book for ages 10+, Kane (Feed It to the Worms, 2019, etc.) takes techniques familiar from treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy and distills them to an elegant form that a broad range of readers can understand and use. The story is greatly aided by the author’s appealing, pared-down illustrations of a diverse cast in a palette mainly featuring ochre yellow, brown, and red shades.

When the girl starts practicing her new thoughts, the palette enlivens the tale, as with a grocery store filled with multicolored bright fruit and a floor of deep, calming blue. While the clean line drawings are minimal, they express much. For example, to show how the girl’s thoughts persist over time, an image depicts younger to older versions of the character, each holding identical phones connected by a curly cord.

A beautifully illustrated guide to replacing negative thoughts with life-affirming messages.

KEEKEE’S BIG ADVENTURES IN LONDON, ENGLAND

Jones, Shannon Illus. by Uhelski, Casey Calithumpian Press (40 pp.)

Nov. 19, 2019 978-0-9990661-6-4

A peripatetic calico cat visits London in this fifth picture book in a series.

KeeKee is a feline who travels the world by balloon, seeing such famous cities as Paris, Rome, and, now, London. The cat starts out with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, where Will, a ram, makes her feel welcome. He offers to show her around, and they travel by double-decker bus and the Underground, visiting such tourist landmarks as Piccadilly Circus and the ravens at the Tower of London. After a pub lunch, they watch the changing of the Queen’s Horse Guard and are invited to tea by the corgi queen. KeeKee and Will look around the palace, then have a delicious tea. A London guide, glossary, and maps are included, plus links for KeeKee fans. Jones (KeeKee’s Big Adventures in Athens, Greece, 2014, etc.) provides a good beginner’s introduction to London that will be especially helpful for children visiting for the first time and needing orientation regarding lingo, food, and popular sights. Adults will enjoy in-jokes, such as the queen’s being represented by a corgi, the real-life queen’s favorite canine. Returning illustrator Uhelski’s illustrations are a huge plus, doing much to set the stage by depicting detailed landmarks and capturing KeeKee’s friendly personality.

A charming, beautifully illustrated guide to the English capital for kids.

A KNIGHT WITHOUT A CASTLE A Story of Resilience and Hope Katende, Robert Made For Success Publishing (220 pp.) $17.00 paper | $15.29 audiobook Nov. 12, 2019 978-1-64146-377-5

A touching debut memoir about a young Ugandan man who escapes poverty and becomes a mentor for others.

Katende writes that he was abandoned by his parents as an infant and spent his early years with his grandmother, wandering from village to village in search of food. To make matters worse, a terrifying insurrection against the country’s president sent them into hiding. After the war, Katende’s mother returned to live with them but then died of breast cancer in the late 1980s. The author considered ending his life with rat poison when he was in elementary school, but he didn’t have enough money to buy it. Instead, he persevered and began to excel at school and in sports. He eventually earned a scholarship to pursue an engineering degree at Kyambogo University in Kampala, Uganda. Katende credits much of his success to an accomplished soccer player and mentor he met there—Aloysius Kyazze, who fostered his Christian faith and encouraged him to play sports. In turn, the author says, he was inspired to help others succeed, and he founded SOM Chess

THE GIRL WHO WAS BORN WITH GLUE IN HER BRAIN

Kane, Jessica Laurel Illus. by the author YMMSBILYA Press (48 pp.) $15.00 | $2.99 e-book | Oct. 4, 2019 978-1-73286-823-6 In this picture book/memoir, a girl learns to replace thoughts that keep her unhappy with better ones.

From birth, a girl is “born with glue in her brain,” meaning that certain thoughts seem to get stuck in her head even when she’s trying to focus on activities like sports. Other children notice, too: “We’re in gym class, not daydreaming 101!” says an annoyed soccer player. The girl is too embarrassed to tell anyone about her problem, which becomes very tiring over the 136

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Academy. His most notable protégé was the Ugandan chess champion Phiona Mutesi, whose story was portrayed in a 2012 book by the American journalist Tim Crothers and the 2016 Disney film Queen of Katwe. The first half of this fast-paced account includes commentary within stories of Katende’s early struggles. For example, an anecdote about his grandmother’s creative search for food is coupled with an account of chess strategy. Despite the author’s hardships throughout his life, the slim book’s tone is upbeat, and the second half—written with research partner and debut author Nathan Kiwere—presents heartfelt testimonies from Katende’s students. The author’s smooth-flowing prose is laced with poignant details; for example, in order to get hungry kids to come to the chess club, Katende says that he offered free bowls of porridge. There are several memorable people in these stories, as well, such as Sharif Wasswa Mbazira, who didn’t let severe disabilities affecting his limbs stop him from competing in chess tournaments in the United States.

A quick, inspirational story of overcoming adversity.

develops supporting characters through Judith’s eyes. (Judith’s eventual friendship with Elliot’s second wife and her reactions to Seth, her philandering first husband, are easily some of the narrative’s most memorable and captivating moments.) While the pace of the book’s second half slows down considerably as the two lovers move into old age and toward the bittersweet conclusion of their long journey, Klasson fills every scene she can with thought-provoking reflections on the nature of love, family, and romance.

A surprisingly complex and realistic love story delicately narrated by an endearing protagonist.

FINN & BOTTS Double Trouble at the Museum

LOVE IS A REBELLIOUS BIRD

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Knight, Stew Illus. by Meyers, Mark Dreamwell Press (116 pp.) $8.99 paper | $5.99 e-book | Jul. 25, 2019 978-1-73360-921-0 An overnight elementary school field trip to the local museum turns into a mystery-solving adventure in Knight’s (Finn & Botts: Curse of the Cornfield Ghost, 2019, etc.) second chapter book in a series.

Best friends Finn and Botts are caught up in another spooky mystery—this time, during a sleepover with their classmates in the Dinosaur Gallery at the Kealstal City Museum. Why are bones missing from the new dinosaur exhibit? Where does the trail of grayish, oddly sparkly dust lead? Who’s responsible for the secret tunnel in the museum that Finn and Botts discover, and who’s sneaking around in raptor costumes? Knight weaves a smattering of information about minerals and gems into this lively adventure as well as numerous dinosaur facts. Along the way, his colorful main characters and their supportive friend Tess tour the exhibits, eat pizza, and identify the dinosaurs on the museum director’s scavenger hunt list. Knight’s atmospheric descriptions of the exhibits at night and of behind-the-scenes locations (including a security office with a bank of video screens) will give readers an enjoyable sense of what it’s like to be in a museum after dark. In the humorous, full-page, grayscale illustrations that complement each chapter, artist Meyers (The Baltimore Bandit, 2019, etc.) again depicts the characters as pigs, albeit ones that are completely human in appearance and behavior. (There’s one visual head-scratcher, however: The caveman masks that Finn and Botts wear at one point have human, not porcine, features.) The mystery that the main characters stumble upon and solve comes to an eventful conclusion, and the book ends with a word puzzle for readers to complete themselves, with answers that they can find throughout the story.

A promising series continues with a deft mix of suspense, relatable characters, and well-integrated educational entertainment.

Klasson, Elayne She Writes Press (336 pp.) $16.95 paper | $9.95 e-book Nov. 12, 2019 978-1-63152-604-6

A debut novel follows a girl’s crush as it evolves into a lifelong tale of obsession and passion.

Judith first met Elliot as a fifth grader who had recently moved to Chicago’s North Side in the mid-1950s. Then, he was just a little boy with torn trousers, but over the course of the next 60 years, Elliot would become Judith’s lover, friend, and permanent addiction. “Our relationship was a cocktail mix of rivalry and loyalty—shaken with a strong dose of passion and resentment,” Judith writes of their time as academically competitive sixth graders, which would set the tone for the decades to come. Following the suicide of Elliot’s mother, Judith consoles him while being overjoyed at their relationship’s shift into teenage romance, but college abruptly ends her dreams of a happily-ever-after. Instead, they pursue different paths, with Elliot transforming into a high-powered New York attorney and Judith becoming a divorced social worker in California.

Through letters and cross-country trips, they remain in each other’s lives. But Judith always follows their unsaid agreement that she not talk about her love for him. Throughout children, divorces, and even deaths, Klasson brings the two characters together again and again with the same devastating result for Judith, who never gives up on the “man by which I had measured all other loves.” Written in the first person and addressed directly to Elliot, the novel’s prose is strikingly elegant and intimate. What could easily slide into a melodramatic tale of long-lost love turns into a realistic and psychological study of one woman’s deepest thoughts. The author also cleverly |

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The tale has eccentric charm, many moments of bravery and heroism, and humor. legend of the white cockroach

A PLACE OF SHADOWS

white, sapient, and wants to be accepted by humans. When he glimpses a human house across the intervening Jungle of Insects, Tuodi is sure that living there would be marvelous.

Other roaches warn him that “humans hate us,” but Tuodi sings to himself: “I’m gonna be a pet, not a pest. I will lose the letter s.” Tuodi makes a very dangerous journey through the jungle, which is controlled by powerful ant factions. In the House of Humans, Tuodi is almost killed, but Jay Anderson, an 11-year-old boy, wants to keep him, never having seen a white roach before.

When Tuodi shows off his intelligence, Jay’s parents alert the government, which subjects the roach to painful testing. He survives, becoming “more powerful and wiser than all other insects.” Devoted to the Andersons, Tuodi is helpful around the house (finding keys, removing splinters, carrying notes); he also brokers a peace agreement with other insects. As the story ends, Tuodi has become a great insect leader, but more importantly, he has become a pet. In his book (appropriate for all ages), McCants has a tough sell in trying to make a roach, even one as special as Tuodi, an appealing companion animal. As Tuodi’s kin Mooko sings, “We’re pests, we’re pests. We can make an awful mess.” And it seems paradoxical, even unhealthy, that Tuodi would dream of being “perfect in all human ways.” Why should he not want to be perfect in all roach ways? They’re an enormously successful species. That aside, the tale has eccentric charm, many moments of bravery and heroism, and humor, as when Mr. Anderson tries to alert an indifferent Department of Agriculture: “Sir, would you be interested if I said I was planning to raise thirty million of them for pets?”

An amusingly quirky hero’s journey—though few will be convinced that roaches belong inside the house.

Lafferty, David BookBaby (466 pp.) $18.99 paper | $2.99 e-book Dec. 21, 2018 978-1-5439-5125-7

A debut YA mystery weaves together threads of family and ghosts.

Ben Wolf has always been special, possessing empathic and clairvoyant abilities. Innate knowledge of the emotions of people around him as well as the locations of lost items and the facts of events he hasn’t seen has helped him out plenty in the past. But this talent has been hidden from everyone but his mother, as many might see it as freakish or frightening. The story is told from Ben’s point of view, and his matterof-fact voice carries the early exposition and sets up the story effectively. As the narrative tension grows, readers also get a strong sense of his emotions as well as a feeling of immediacy that drives home some of the stranger happenings. Secrecy has allowed Ben to help people avoid disasters more than once, but secrets can also be dangerous or even deadly. When Ben’s distant Aunt Claire dies and leaves him and his mom a house in rural Windward Cove, California, their simple life is uprooted in more ways than one. At first, Ben is mostly concerned about starting high school in a new town, and he has little interest in his family ties to Windward Cove’s founding. But strange things soon start happening: cold spots, sudden feelings of depression and emptiness, odd laughter or strange voices. Ben needs every bit of his gift to find out why, and fast. Because, worst of all, his happy, outgoing, creative mom seems to be drawn to these haunting occurrences even more than he is, and the more time passes, the more they seem to take from her, until her very life is in jeopardy. Investigating the history of a place is a familiar trope for horror fans, but Ben’s powers and his family’s connection to the town put a novel spin on this idea and raise the emotional stakes. With solid, action-focused prose to drive Lafferty’s story forward, the pages keep turning and the mystery continues to unfold, offering readers of all ages a genuinely engrossing yarn.

Wistful and intriguing, this tale dips its toes in horror but feels like a dream more than a nightmare.

THE POOR AND THE HAUNTED

McKissen, Dustin Black Rose Writing (152 pp.) $15.95 paper | $5.99 e-book Oct. 31, 2019 978-1-68433-364-6

A novel examines the impact of a father’s suicide on his son.

Jimmy Lansford had a hard childhood in rural Oklahoma, but he seems to have come out well. He has a well-paying job, and he and his wife, Jill, and their children, Jonathan and Jessica, live in an upper-class neighborhood near Phoenix. Yet Jimmy is a haunted man, scarred by his past. His father, Ronnie, killed himself when Jimmy was 15 years old and his sister, Kelly, was 12. They were left living with their meth addict mother until Jimmy escaped to college. It’s slowly revealed that Kelly wasn’t as lucky. Strange things start to happen to Jimmy when Jessica is about to turn 12. First, on a business trip, he spies someone in his room through a window, but there’s no trace of anyone there when he races back. Then, at Jessica’s birthday party, he senses a presence with him in his bathroom. Jimmy reaches his breaking point when he finds muddy, inexplicable footprints in his bedroom. This leads the former cross-country star to sneak out

LEGEND OF THE WHITE COCKROACH

McCants, Bruce C. Time Tunnel Media (120 pp.) $19.95 paper | $4.99 e-book May 26, 2018 978-1-983002-20-5

A white cockroach aspires to gain acceptance by humans and become a pet, not a pest, in this debut children’s book.

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his bedroom window and nearly run himself to death, ending up hospitalized with dehydration. Jimmy thinks he’s possessed.

Those around him want to chalk up his behavior to survivor’s guilt. The truth lies somewhere in between. McKissen (The Civil War at Home, 2018) paints a well-conceived portrait of a troubled man, utilizing Jimmy’s journey through life. The author cleverly alternates between the present and Jimmy’s formative years, slowly unreeling the protagonist’s past so that readers can understand why such a good man is struggling despite his circumstances. Kelly hangs over the entire tale, as Jimmy blames himself for her tragic fate, thinking his departure ultimately doomed her. His intriguing backstory is a tale of missed opportunities. Things would have been different if Jimmy had been willing to reach out more fervently to Mike Carlisle, the cop who had taken an interest in the Lansford siblings after Ronnie’s suicide. The effective ending involves Jimmy’s informing his family about the hurt he’s carried all these years.

This thought-provoking tale makes a strong argument for letting go of past pain.

Although the book’s target audience is women over 40, and portions focus on female-centric issues, such as menopause, anyone in a similar age range will glean something of value from Mead’s outlook.

Sound, empowering advice for the middle-aged.

TROVE A Woman’s Search for Truth and Buried Treasure Miller, Sandra A. Brown Paper Press (220 pp.) $16.99 paper | $10.99 e-book Sep. 19, 2019 978-1-941932-12-4

PILOTING YOUR LIFE Take the Controls and Be the Pilot in Your Own Life Mead, Terri Hanson Time Tunnel Media (266 pp.) $19.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Sep. 1, 2019 978-1-08-647192-2

A debut author’s guide to charting a “flight plan” for midlife.

Mead, a commercially licensed helicopter pilot, writes that she didn’t learn to fly until she was almost 40. When someone asked her why she chose to fly helicopters instead of planes, her reply was “because anyone can fly an airplane”—and this willingness to try new and different things informs the book. Many other self-help works focus on a singular aspect of midlife, but this one covers a lot of territory, including physical health, relationships, sex, parenting, friends, mental health, and money. Generational differences come up for discussion, as well, early on. Overall, she maintains a consistent stance that midlife “shouldn’t happen on autopilot” and that it should be seen as “a journey, not a pivot.” She includes extensive references to other books on middle-aged living, and although these are helpful, they occasionally distract from the power of her own platform. Throughout, she invites reader involvement with reflective questions and briefing notes at the end of each chapter. Accounts from the author’s piloting experiences further heighten readability; a standout passage, in which she compares a nerve-wracking midair challenge to leaving one’s comfort zone, drives her message home.

Mead also devotes three chapters to “eliminating drag”—a vital step, whether one is flying a plane or sorting out one’s daily life.

Indeed, more flying anecdotes would have been welcome. Overall, her book often feels like advice from an old friend, as when she writes, “Don’t go full anarchist. Just remember it’s your life.” |

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A writer recounts her playful search for buried treasure and a more serious hunt for some emotional meaning that she struggles to define.

At the age of 46, debut author Miller had what most would consider an enviable life: a vibrant career as a writer and “parttime college English teacher,” a loving husband, and “two madcap kids,” not to mention no shortage of friends. But she still felt profoundly discontent, as if she was “made of longing”: “What is missing that will make me feel whole, and why, when I’m teetering on the brink of fifty, can I still not find it?” She channeled her questing energy into a gamesome “armchair treasure hunt,” an organized competition in which the contestants interpreted clues in order to track down $10,000 in coins buried somewhere in New York City. She became increasingly obsessed with the search and developed an unhealthy crush on her treasure hunt partner, David, who stimulated “unbidden longing” in her. She spent so much time driving back and forth between her home in Boston and New York, her marriage to her husband, Mark, began to suffer. When pressed why precisely she felt such an urgent compulsion to find the treasure, she was exasperatingly incapable of articulating an answer. The author poignantly documents, in sometimes-painful vignettes of retrospection, the dysfunctional childhood that surely was the principal source of her midlife crisis. Miller recounts that she grew up in an emotionally arid home: Her mother was coldly angry and her father, distant and uncommunicative at best and mercurially violent on his worst days. Her prose is both playfully anecdotal and openhandedly confessional—the author achieves an impressive balance between lighthearted banter and heartache. The chief preoccupation of the remembrance—the author’s amorphous but devastating dissatisfaction at approaching 50—is not exactly new literary ground, and the symbolism of the treasure hunt, if that search weren’t real, would read as a clumsily obvious metaphor. But her writing style is so unpretentiously candid and her childhood so grimly remarkable that readers are unlikely to mind. This is a moving recollection brimming with emotional insights.

A stirring memoir that beautifully and humorously captures the pain of unresolved loss.

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Morais conjures a very specific milieu—urban St. Louis in the 1980s and ’90s—in a way that makes it feel lived-in, and she populates the setting with a panoply of rich characters. there you are

SWEETIEBETTER

THERE YOU ARE

Minchow-Proffitt, Terry Illus. by Proffitt-Allee, Hannah Middle Island Press (114 pp.) $18.00 paper | May 10, 2019 978-1-73359-793-7

Morais, Mathea Amberjack Publishing (304 pp.) $24.99 paper | $11.49 e-book $24.50 audiobook Oct. 22, 2019 978-1-948705-58-5

Minchow-Proffitt (Chicken Train, 2016, etc.) shuttles deftly between the particular and the universal in this accomplished third volume of verse.

A poet’s trustiest tool is his or her willingness to look—to see details that the rest of us miss and then pin them down with words. Minchow-Proffitt has a particularly keen eye for such details; in this collection, he’s alive to the soft growl of a toddler doing his best tiger impression (“Holding My Own”) or the plaintive tone of a cashier’s laugh (“Valentine’s Day”). But the author’s skill is not merely to point out these small touches, but to make them fulcrums on which entire poems might balance and spin. Readers see one such point in the fine poem “Signs,” in which the meaning revolves around a single letter “S.” The piece lists phrases on church signs along a highway near the speaker’s home: “One church brags: / Our lifeguard walks on water. / Another up the road advises: / To be lifted up / go down / on your knees […]

Then, at the church / just past Bull’s Eye Sports and Shooting Range— / God still storms.” As the speaker drives on, he sees, from a distance, a man at a flea market strike a young girl, and he pulls over to gather himself before continuing. The next morning, a young pastor returns to that last sign with an “early edit: / God stills storms.” So much rests on that added letter—not least of which is God’s role in the world and the ways in which human responsibilities hinge on it. MinchowProffitt is a retired pastor, so many of his poems address such spiritual themes, but his tone usually resembles that of “Signs”: inquisitive, humble, delicate. If God storms, then the poet speaks in more hushed tones. Although he’s still actively involved in ministry, his retirement gives him more time to write, and readers are all the better for it. Illustrator Proffitt-Allee’s (Flashbulb Danger, 2018) understated but elegant black-and-white line drawings develop or enhance the poet’s themes. These accents are subtle, but they round out the collection in surprisingly effective ways.

Finely wrought poetry on both mundane and divine subjects.

Two St. Louis residents, united by music and a local record store, fall in love in Morais’ nostalgic debut novel.

Although it opens in 2014, most of this story unfolds during the 1980s and ’90s as it follows Octavian Munroe and Mina Rose during their childhood and teenage years. Octavian, the African American son of a professor and a poet, comes from a more stable household, although the death of his mother from cancer and his brother Francis’ issues with drug dependency cause complications. Mina, the daughter of an attorney who’s as eccentric as she is formidable, has a less stable home life, but she has the unquestionable advantage of being white in a city that’s rife with race-related issues. Octavian and Mina’s first meeting is in the fifth grade; later, they bond with friends at Rahsaan’s Records, where they later work, and they form a friendship that not even the tidal forces of their lives can tear apart. Morais conjures a very specific milieu—urban St. Louis in the 1980s and ’90s—in a way that makes it feel lived-in, and she populates the setting with a panoply of rich characters who express themselves with varying degrees of forthrightness.

Although readers of the main characters’ generation may relate to the novel more than others due to its many specific cultural references, Morais gives it universality as well as specificity— particularly in her depiction of Octavian and Mina’s believable, multidimensional relationship. They talk, argue, reconcile, and razz friends in language that’s heightened but never strained or unrealistic. Readers who have a low tolerance for nostalgia may want to look elsewhere, but for readers who enjoy a story of the robustness and fragility of love, Morais’ work is a must-read.

A novel that effectively intertwines ruminations on race, music, romance, and history.

KOTIMAA Homeland

Munger, Mark Cloquet River Press (363 pp.) $20.00 paper | $9.99 e-book Jun. 25, 2018 978-1-73244-340-2 Munger (Boomtown, 2016, etc.) concludes his Finnish American trilogy with a novel that hops between a modern assassination plot and an early-20th-century immigration experience.

Anders Alhömaki grows up planning to inherit his stepfather’s farm in Finland’s Kainuu region. After a failed relationship with a Kale woman, however, Anders leaves his homeland

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THE MARRIAGE OF SPACE AND TIME

behind and finds work in Norway’s copper mines. Here he gains a reputation as a boxer, though one whose head is already across the sea: “Aren’t you the one who’s always dreaming of America?” His travels eventually bring him to the mines of Michigan and Minnesota, where many Finns have settled, looking for a better life. Anders is given the opportunity to be his own man—and perhaps to find love in the roiling, immigrant-filled Upper Midwest. Anders’ story is offset by another occurring in 2017. Dr. Janine Tanninen, the daughter of an African-American father and a Finnish American mother from Anders’ Upper Midwest milieu, has married a Finnish man and moved to Finland to assist the resettlement of Syrian refugees. Meanwhile, a disgruntled man plots the assassination of Assistant Director of Immigration for Refugees and Migration Tarja Saariaho. Saariaho, he believes, in her role of resettling Muslim immigrants in Finland, is working to erase the country’s Christian identity. “And now I hear she’s considering a run for fucking president!” he fumes. “That woman has as much right to lead Finland as a drunk sleeping in...downtown Stockholm has to be crowned king of Sweden!” With the roles reversed—Finland an importer rather than an exporter of those looking for a better life—the story of the Alhömakis comes to a startling conclusion.

Munger’s prose capably summons the stark landscapes of the novel, which embody both melancholy and understated beauty: “Across the bleak land, a lantern twinkled in a window. He moved quickly; the rhythm of skiing as innate as walking to a young boy of the north.” It’s a sprawling novel, as one would expect from the third volume in a multigenerational immigrant saga, but Munger demonstrates an impressive amount of control as he toggles between the historical (sections 1 and 3) and the contemporary (sections 2 and 4).

There is quite a bit of coincidence at work, but perhaps that is par for this genre, which usually seeks to reveal continuities between people and across time. The Anders sections, in particular, manage to evoke the deliberative naturalism of Upton Sinclair and Theodore Dreiser, and Munger effectively maintains this strategy even into the sections set in 2017. His attempts to grapple with current immigration issues, including Syrian refugees in Europe and the election of Donald Trump, make for a complex yet appropriate end to a series that is essentially a long meditation on leaving home and building another life somewhere else. Fans of thoughtful, probing historical fiction should enjoy this final volume, which stands well enough on its own.

A detailed, wide-lens historical novel of Finnish Americans then and now.

Myers, Jed Moonpath Press (114 pp.) $16.00 paper | Feb. 28, 2019 978-1-936657-42-1

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A poetry collection explores life’s delicate equation.

Divided into three sections, Myers’ (Between Dream and Flesh, 2018, etc.) latest volume is both cataclysmic and comforting, offering free verse poems that take a long look at time and the universe alongside the mise-en-scène of daily life. The first section, “Space,” opens with a part-whimsical, part-ominous late-night conversation the speaker has with the forces of an inanimate bedroom. “So, sleep, dream, as you know / the meeting is never over. Enter / the dark with us, animal,” it ends, shifting the tone seamlessly in a way that seems emblematic of the author’s brief poems that plumb the depths of the collective unconscious. Frequently, quotidian tasks give way to metaphysical musings, as in “Dirge for Wanderers,” about a trip to the market, or “Morning Rush,” about commuting to work. The middle section, entitled “Time,” looks at the fourth dimension in terms of the eternity of earthliness and the fluctuations in interpersonal relationships, as in poems like “Yahrzeit” and “Seasonal.” Among Myers’ strongest pieces in that section are poems about the passage of time and loved ones. In “After Parking at Starbucks,” the speaker describes going for coffee with an aging parent. The author writes: “Something fine / and brittle might break as I lift it / away from its place, like that china / cup I fumbled,” drawing a line from the frailty of the speaker’s mother to her inherited china set. Details like these can be read with a bit of relief. But the focus on the speaker’s self and its interconnectedness with the rest of life can, at times, render other characters decorative and one-dimensional, as happens to the young woman a writer meets in “After the Master Class,” who is invited up to a hotel room. The final section, “Union,” is a bittersweet ode to what’s come before, prefaced by a quote from mathematician Hermann Minkowski that warns that “space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows.” Poems like “I’ll See Her Turning” and “Catch” examine the banalities of life and death and are especially effective for their humanity. In over 40 poems, Myers manages to be both brief and expansive.

Ambitious poems that deftly tackle big ideas.

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THE BOOK OF “TWELFTH NIGHT, OR WHAT YOU WILL” Musings on Shakespeare’s Most Wonderful (and Erotic) Play

It’s the “darkly sexual” element of Twelfth Night, the author notes, that’s often sacrificed for box office success. Myers concludes with several brief but well-supported chapters that explore how productions have used sea motifs and the debate regarding the date of the very first production of Twelfth Night. A casual reader may find this study to be overwhelming aside from a chapter that aims to refresh the reader’s memory about the play’s plot and a discussion of Shakespeare’s inspirations. However, the book’s many references to act and scene numbers, as well as specific performances, actors, and venues, will make this a compelling read for dedicated Shakespeare theater buffs.

A detailed critique of Shakespeare for fans and scholars that’s supported by plentiful references.

Myers, Wayne Wheatmark (197 pp.) $14.95 paper 978-1-60494-412-9

Authoritative commentaries on the treatment of William Shakespeare’s early-17th-century play Twelfth Night, or

What You Will.

In his debut, Myers, the former features editor for the Oneida (New York) Daily Dispatch, makes a compelling case for an interpretation of Twelfth Night that’s darker, more nuanced, and more erotic than many productions achieve. He begins by disproving the notion that the work is merely a “formulaic throwback to earlier Shakespearean comedy,” as asserted by some theater historians. Myers argues such a view is “disastrous…spawning novelty and ‘funny’ Twelfth Nights” that miss the actual humor of the plot, which he asserts is driven by eroticism and duality. Throughout, the author refers to various theatrical productions and their critical reviews to support his opinions. A selection of photographs from several of those performances effectively complements Myers’ references and enlivens the text. Each of the play’s central characters receives a chapter in which the author discusses how well different adaptations capture his or her essence, particularly regarding sexuality. Myers also draws parallels to other Shakespeare plays, particularly Troilus and Cressida and Othello.

THE DIVINE PROPORTIONS OF LUCA PACIOLI

Parker, W.A.W. Barbera Foundation (238 pp.) $14.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Sep. 26, 2019 978-1-947431-27-0

A fictional recounting of the life of a Renaissance mathematician and cleric.

Parker’s debut novel, part of the Mentoris Project of historical novels and biographies celebrating notable Italians, tells the story of Luca Pacioli, who combined mathematics and religion in 15th- and 16th-century Italy. After growing up in the town of Sansepolcro, Pacioli is apprenticed to a merchant who doesn’t appreciate his enthusiasm for Arabic numerals. He finds a more supportive mentor in artist Piero della Francesca, and this association leads Pacioli to new connections and collaborations as he develops his skills and Italy goes through religious and political turmoil. He’s ordained as a friar, publishes several books on mathematics and related topics, and works with various artists, including Leonardo da Vinci (“We made an odd couple, surely, one atheist and one devout friar”). Throughout his career, he draws connections between math and religion, particularly in his investigation of the divine proportion of the book’s title—a ratio that appears throughout the natural world. This novel hews closely to its subject’s documented history, and Parker does an excellent job of imagining the rest, including cameos by historical figures, such as Martin Luther.

Some stylistic choices add to the book’s feeling of uniqueness; for instance, each chapter ends with a number in the famous Fibonacci mathematical sequence. The narrative is also presented as a memoir that Pacioli is dictating to a young scribe, who leaves occasional footnotes throughout the text. Parker ably explains Pacioli’s theological approach to math and balances the book’s spiritual and historical elements. However, Luca’s frequent asides to the reader (“I want to make sure you understand this reference since it’s important you grasp my sense of humor and the type of playful banter Guiliano and I had with one another”) can break the novel’s flow at times.

Although some readers may be unsatisfied with the novel’s

This Issue’s Contributors # ADULT Colleen Abel • Maude Adjarian • Paul Allen • Poornima Apte • Mark Athitakis • Colette Bancroft Joseph Barbato • Amy Boaz • Catherine Cardno • Kristin Centorcelli • May-lee Chai • Carin Clevidence • Devon Crowe • Dave DeChristopher • Kathleen Devereaux • Bobbi Dumas • Daniel Dyer Chelsea Ennen • Kristen Evans • Mia Franz • Marcie Geffner • Amy Goldschlager • Michael Griffith • Janice Harayda • Katrina Niidas Holm • Natalia Holtzman • Laura Jenkins • Jessica Jernigan Tom Lavoie • Louise Leetch • Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner • Michael Magras • Don McLeese Gregory McNamee • Clayton Moore • Karen Montgomery Moore • Sarah Morgan • Molly Muldoon Christopher Navratil • Liza Nelson • Mike Newirth • Mike Oppenheim • Jim Piechota • Margaret Quamme • Amy Reiter • Michele Ross • Leslie Safford • Bob Sanchez • Rosanne Simeone • Linda Simon • Margot E. Spangenberg • Bill Thompson • Claire Trazenfeld • Jessica Miller • George Weaver Laura H. Wimberley • Kerry Winfrey • Marion Winik CHILDREN’S & TEEN Autumn Allen • Kazia Berkley-Cramer • Marcie Bovetz • Ann Childs • Alec B. Chunn • Amanda Chuong • Tamar Cimenian • Jeannie Coutant • Elise DeGuiseppi • Luisana Duarte Armendáriz Eiyana Favers • Sally Campbell Galman • Laurel Gardner • Judith Gire • Carol Goldman • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Darlene Sigda Ivy • Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan • Megan Dowd Lambert • Angela Leeper Wendy Lukehart • Kyle Lukoff • Meredith Madyda • Joan Malewitz • Kathie Meizner • J. Elizabeth Mills • Lisa Moore • Katrina Nye • Tori Ann Ogawa • Hal Patnott • Deb Paulson • John Edward Peters Asata Radcliffe • Kristy Raffensberger • Amy B. Reyes • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Amy Robinson Leslie L. Rounds • Katie Scherrer • Dean Schneider • John W. Shannon • Rita Soltan • Jennifer Sweeney • Renee Ting • Christina Vortia • Michaela Whatnall INDIE Kent Armstrong • Julie Buffaloe-Yoder • Darren Carlaw • Michael Deagler • Sam DiBella • Stephanie Dobler Cerra • Steve Donoghue • Jacob Edwards • Eric F. Frazier • Lynne Heffley • Jennifer Helinek Ivan Kenneally • Dale McGarrigle • Alana Mohamed • Rhett Morgan • Stacey Morin • Brandon Nolta Joshua T. Pederson • Jim Piechota • Alicia Power • Matt Rauscher • Sarah Rettger • Darlene Ricker Jerome Shea • Lauren Emily Whalen

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A violent novel that’s full of grim joking between comrades and terrible crimes that give the book a hard edge. stranger rituals

LAST STOP, RONKONKOMA

deliberately open-ended resolution, many are likely to appreciate the intriguing history and well-rounded characters.

A well-imagined celebration of Pacioli’s life and philosophy.

Schneider, Fred J. Glimmerglass Publishing (302 pp.)

Sep. 30, 2019 978-1-73295-185-3 978-1-73295-186-0 paper

STRANGER RITUALS

In Schmidt’s (Cold & Blood, 2019, etc.) dark-fantasy series starter, an exiled blood mage returns to her home country to carry out a divinely commanded assassination—and, possibly, to find revenge.

When Scarko Kadezska was young, her family members were murdered for heresy in Warskia, where magic-using is considered blasphemous. She escaped to the Vrakans’ Order of Saints, where her talents with “blood magic”—“her ability to make bones do what she willed with her blood, to use her blood as a literal weapon, a poison that burned, that killed”—make her a unique addition to their force. Other members can control fire, ice, wind, and shadow. The Order’s leader, Vojtech, becomes a father figure to the orphaned Scarko; as a bone-eating demon, he intimately understands her appetite for blood. The Order wants to restore magic to Warskia, and when Vojtech receives a vision from their gods, he sees the Order’s chance to strike. He tells Scarko to return to Warskia to kill Zephir Crista, a fighter who’s immune to the effects of magic. Obediently, she sets out for the city of Kezda to find him, but she wonders if she can find time, during her assignment, to exact vengeance on the Warskian Praeminister, who traumatized her in captivity. Scarko isn’t the best strategist, so Zephir quickly picks her out of a crowd during one of his matches. After he corners her, she realizes that they have more in common than she thought. This is a violent novel that’s full of grim joking between comrades and terrible crimes that give the book a hard edge.

(Readers should also be warned that Scarko has a complicated relationship with self-harm.) Schmidt brings the country of Warskia to life with a smattering of fantasy language that gives it the feel of a dark, snowy Eastern European land. As this novel is the first in a series, the story is weighed down by background material, but the author excels in describing the sharp tensions between her characters: “Scarko watched him leave, wondering as she felt the warmth of the bird skull close to her chest, what his bones would look like with her blood on them.”

A bloody, gothic tale that sings when it’s not busy setting its stage.

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A young boy becomes caught between two parental prophecies involving the priesthood and major league baseball in this novel.

After the Brooklyn Dodgers defect to Los Angeles, Harry Sisler, an obsessive fan, feels compelled to vacate New York City as well, and he moves his family to Ronkonkoma, a sleepy hamlet in the “hinterlands” of Long Island. Harry seems lost more than ever and becomes convinced, based on his bizarrely creative and aggressively heretical readings of the Bible, that he will die by the age of 50. At the time of this morbid prophecy, he’s 37, leaving him 13 years to accomplish something worthwhile, relieving him from a life of quiet disappointment. But Harry doesn’t plan on dying without purpose—when his second son, Tristram, is born, he announces another prophecy: It is his boy’s destiny to become a professional baseball player, one who is twice as good as Joe DiMaggio.

With maniacal and relentless intent—and often against both Tristram’s wishes and any sign of precocious athletic talent— Harry attempts to rob the boy’s life of any distraction that could compete with his focus on the sport. Meanwhile, Harry’s wife, Agatha, has her own grand designs for Tristram—she decides, shortly after he is born, that his purpose in life is to become a Roman Catholic priest based on a hilariously self-assured interpretation of an ambiguous “mark” on the boy. Schneider (Pig in Flight, 2019), in this endearingly humorous tale of frustrated aspirations, chronicles Tristram’s unenviable role as a kind of filial wishbone, caught between the competing but equally intractable futures assigned to him by his parents. The author’s prose is crisply game, and he manages to combine a farcically fantastical tale with a sober portrayal of an authentic emotional drama. Harry is not merely a psychotically clownish alcoholic, but also a common man who struggles profoundly with his ordinariness and his failure to capitalize on talent and opportunity when they present themselves. And Tristram’s heartbreaking plight—wanting to be free of his father’s despotic control while yearning to become closer to him—is effectively depicted.

A comically inventive but tenderly poignant family tale, both funny and moving.

Schmidt, Kali Rose Time Tunnel Media (320 pp.) $21.99 | $12.99 paper | $4.99 e-book Jul. 9, 2019 978-1-9994916-4-2 978-1-9994916-2-8 paper

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tennis ball-sized heel crater.” Some readers may find the writing shockingly blunt whereas others will see the matter-of-fact approach as a reflection of the realities of nursing. The memoir is given an extra dimension with a chapter entitled “Zero to Ten”; its opening considers a patient’s perspective: “The moment your butt hits the hospital bed, normal life disappears.”

The result is a multitextured memoir that evokes a spectrum of emotions. Furthermore, this book gives those considering a career in nursing a strong sense of whether the profession is truly for them.

A revealing look at hospital life written with affection and clarity.

Turnage, Susan Dog Ear Publishing (218 pp.) $24.99 | $14.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Jun. 10, 2019 978-1-4575-6742-1 978-1-4575-7064-3 paper A Philadelphia-based nurse recalls her day-to-day life tending to the sick and dying in this unflinchingly honest debut memoir by Turnage.

In 1969, 17-year-old Susan Turnage was given her first task as a student nurse: to bathe a male patient. The words of her intimidatingly strict instructor rang in her ears: “Make sure you wash the groin area.” Once behind the bedside curtain, she confessed to her patient that she had never seen a man naked before. Her patient was equally embarrassed about having someone other than his wife bathe him.

The two made a pact: “I do the pits, he does the parts.” Over the course of her career, Turnage collected a satchel full of stories about her interactions with patients. When working at a correctional facility, one of her first jobs was to provide advice on how to deal with an inmate who had a showerhead stuck in his rectum. Many stories are truly heartbreaking, such as that of Connie, a 15-year-old patient who had become pregnant after being sexually abused by her uncle, leading to a home-induced abortion using cola and lye that went horribly wrong. Turnage’s writing displays an effervescent, almost slapstick humor. When a patient jokes that she is spilling a bedpan, Turnage has the last laugh: “I opened my eyes wide and headed right for him, feigning a stumble and saying, ‘Woah, look out! I am carrying a big load.’ ” Turnage never holds back when describing a patient’s condition, and the results can be gruesome. When describing a wound on a patient’s foot, she writes: “maggots swarmed in the

SIMON SEEKER

Wallace, Frank iUniverse (330 pp.) $31.99 | $20.99 paper | $3.99 e-book May 10, 2019 978-1-5320-7205-5 978-1-5320-7204-8 paper A boy watches the only life he’s ever known burn to the ground in this novel.

In this coming-of-age tale, 12-yearold Simon Seeker is no ordinary boy. Up until the fire, he had lived with his recluse father, a free-thinking former children’s novelist, on a vast farm.

Their main interaction with the outside world came in the form of monthly visits from his father’s childhood friend Roger, a city-dwelling lawyer who often had little patience for Simon.

When his father is diagnosed with cancer, Simon becomes his caretaker, executing his final wishes—or most of them, anyway.

On the night Simon’s home burns with his father in it, the boy is supposed to stay and wait for Roger, now his guardian. He will shepherd Simon to Wind Lake School, an experimental farming school where Roger and the boy’s father first met. Instead, Simon sets out on his own, and his journeys, along with Roger’s subsequent search for him, bring together an unlikely crew, including a kindly trucker named Ben Pyle and maternal figure Jenna, a sex worker he meets while staying in what he doesn’t quite realize is a brothel. In Boston, where Simon settles, his knowledge of plants and animals astounds a popular TV host who interviews him, transforming Simon into a new star of the ecological movement (“The Stardust Kid”). Roger’s vaguely nefarious scheme to whisk Simon away from his new friends and off to boarding school eventually reveals the attorney’s own complex notions of love, companionship, and home, though his arc could be made more explicit. Wallace’s (The Starlight Medal­ lions, 2010, etc.) Simon is an otherworldly enough combination of wise and naïve (“I saw his soul go up among the stars” is how he describes watching his father’s body burn) for readers to suspend disbelief at certain fantastical series of events. The stirring story will move the audience along its many twists and will manage to charm along the way.

An uplifting adventure as charismatic as its precocious protagonist.

K I R K US M E DI A L L C # Chairman H E R B E RT S I M O N President & Publisher M A RC W I N K E L M A N Chief Executive Officer M E G L A B O R D E KU E H N # Copyright 2019 by Kirkus Media LLC. KIRKUS REVIEWS (ISSN 1948- 7428) is published semimonthly by Kirkus Media LLC, 2600Via Fortuna, Suite 130, Austin, TX 78746.

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Westover’s prose is wonderfully detailed, capturing the lushness and grit of his superstition-ruled setting. the winter sisters

THE WINTER SISTERS

Solid writing and strong characters buoy this examination of a captivating moment in American history when old beliefs encountered the new.

An enthralling, cozy tale set in an era when folklore reigned over science.

Westover, Tim QW Publishers (322 pp.) $12.95 paper | $2.99 e-book | Aug. 7, 2019 978-0-9849748-9-4 A historical novel spins a yarn of a skeptical doctor and a trio of folk healers who team up to try to save a Georgia town from a deadly disease.

North Georgia, 1822. Savannah doctor Aubrey Waycross has been invited to the remote town of Lawrenceville to provide the locals with proper medical care—and, in his mind, to dispel some of their backward superstitions, such as a ghost panther stalking the hills. But the citizens of Lawrenceville already know where to get their healing. A few miles outside of town in Hope Hollow, three sisters—Rebecca, Sarah, and Effie Winter—are renowned for their cures for everything from sneezes to rheumatism. Some regard the sisters as witches— Pastor Boatwright insists the panther is their familiar—but Waycross assumes they are merely frauds. Charlatans, of course, can still be dangerous. “What if this supposed panther…put its teeth into human flesh?” worries Waycross.

“What if, in their benightedness, the afflicted went to the Winter sisters for treatment? These so-called witches might spread the contagion with some superstition about pouring out blood at a crossroads.” Yet Waycross must admit that the Winters have a knack for unexplained healings, and there does seem to be some sort of big cat in the woods. The physician can’t help but become increasingly fascinated by the sisters, whose ways are as old as the mountains. As Waycross contends with his own ether addiction, Lawrenceville is in danger of a rabies outbreak, and the doctor alone may not be enough to save it. As the pastor preaches his own brand of unscientific cures, Waycross will have to rely on these mysterious “colleagues” if he wants to save the people of Lawrenceville from a terrible fate.

Westover’s (The Old Weird South, 2012, etc.) prose is wonderfully detailed, capturing the lushness and grit of his superstition-ruled setting: “The odor was not pleasant. It smelled of too many herbs all at once, basil and rosemary mixed with an overpowering lavender, as well as the spiciness of rhododendron, the sharp tang of pine, and the musk of something decocted from a toadstool.” Readers will be intrigued right from the book’s atmospheric opening, when Waycross’ reluctant carriage driver warns him of all the dangers that haunt Lawrenceville. The story is ultimately less of a gothic fantasy than a slow-moving, slightly magical realist novel that takes as its subject the denizens of a colorful little town. The time and place—antebellum rural Georgia, equally distant from the Revolutionary and Civil wars—feel refreshingly unexplored. There are moments when the story dawdles, but the author has created such an attractive world to inhabit that its conservative pace is not much cause for concern. Westover manages to stick the landing, bringing his doctor’s unlikely investigation into miracles to a wise and affecting conclusion. |

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Fi e l d No t e s Grep Hoax

Ben McCanna-Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

By Megan Labrise

“I like writing about home, because I feel like I have a sense of it. The only reason I set Rizzoli & Isles in Boston is because we don’t have the crime rate here—I couldn’t be realistic about having a large homicide unit and serial killers. Although one Maine state detective told me, ‘Oh, we’ve had serial killers in Maine! But they usually come from away.’”

—Poet and author Patricia Lockwood (Priestdaddy) on John Updike’s Rabbit novels in the London Review of Books

—Crime novelist Tess Gerritsen, author of The Shape of Night, in Down East magazine

“Writing is good for my ego. You know, people tell you all the time ‘This is so good’ or ‘This is so funny’ or ‘I wish I could do that’....It makes you feel bigheaded. So, writing is good for my ego. Teaching was good for my heart.

I just felt important without anyone having to tell me I was important.”

Josh Huskin

“They continue to be speedily readable—the present tense works on Updike the way boutique transfusions of young blood work on billionaires—and perfectly replicate the experience of eating a hot dog in quasi-wartime on a lush crew-cut lawn that has been invisibly poisoned by industry, while men argue politics in the background and a Nice Ass lurks somewhere on the horizon, like the presence of God.”

—Shea Serrano, journalist, former teacher, and author of Movies (and Other Things) in the San Antonio Current

John Reilly

“I’m not trying to be the archenemy of Marie Kondo, but perhaps we’ve gone a little bit too far with throwing away our things.”

—Meik Wiking, “happiness expert” and author of The Art of Making Memories, on Virgin Media Television Submissions for Field Notes?

Email fieldnotes@kirkus.com.

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“It wasn’t like I bought my friends Cadillacs and flew to Memphis for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The money was a modest influx. The biggest thing for me was finally gaining a wider readership. For a long time, I’d thought many more people might enjoy my work if they were aware of its existence, and that turned out to be true. I’m hoping that continues but you never can tell.”

—Author Carol Anshaw discussing her new novel, Right After the Weather, at Chicago’s Newcity Lit

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Appreciations: Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate at 30

B Y G RE G O RY MC NA MEE

James Leynse-Corbis via Getty Images

There are matters of the heart, and there are matters of the stomach. Both heart and stomach experience pleasure and pain, and both are intimately related, with love serving sometimes as condiment and sometimes as the main course alongside such culinary treasures as quail in roses and an oxtail soup infused with fiery chiles.

Love and food are the grand subjects of Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate, a masterpiece of magical realism first published in her native Mexico in 1989 and appearing in English translation three years later. The setting is a borderlands ranch in a place where rural tradition prevails. In the case of Tita de la Garza, that tradition has forbidden her from accepting their neighbor Pedro’s proposal of marriage, for as the youngest daughter, Tita is responsible for caring for her mother, Mama Elena, and keeping the ranch going.

y o u n g a d u lt

There’s an option, though, as Mama Elena explains: Pedro can always marry Tita’s older sister Rosaura. Pedro thinks it over and agrees, incurring the anger of his father, who asks his son why he’s forgotten his vow of love for Tita.

Replies Pedro, “When you’re told there’s no way you can marry the woman you love and your only hope of being near her is to marry her sister, wouldn’t you do the same?”

That’s a recipe, of course, for a particular kind of unhappiness. Pedro and Rosaura wed while Tita retreats into the kitchen, building on the considerable skills of Nacha, the ranch cook, a quiet but constant presence throughout the story even after her death. Tita has a sixth sense for all things food-related, knowing exactly what to cook and exactly when to do it. She is also imbued with what the Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno called the tragic sense of life. Unamuno wrote, “There is no true love save in suffering, and in this world we have to choose either love, which is suffering, or happiness.” Tita lives up to the apothegm, serving up sensory wonders while bursting into tears without any apparent reason. “For her,” writes Esquivel, “laughing was a form of crying.”

So when Pedro brings her roses, she goes out onto the patio, catches half a dozen quail, and cooks them up in rose sauce. Life goes on, with all its complications and twists.

Rosaura, for her part, develops both an unfortunate problem with flatulence and a “voluminous, gelatinous body.” Such a condition can’t be maintained forever, and when it ends as it must, Tita and Pedro are free to confess their love, a love that burns so ardently that the whole ranch is consumed in fire, sparing only a cookbook in the mountain of ashes.

Fans of Mexican country cooking will revel in the YouTube series “De Mi Rancho a Tu Cocina” (“From My Ranch to Your Kitchen”), in which a cheerful abuelita serves up such wonders as squash with roast pork and quesadillas with freshly ground chiles and tomatoes. Watch a few episodes, cook yourself something delicious, read or reread Like Water for Chocolate, and revel in the splendor of love, heart, and innards alike. |

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New from the New York Times bestselling author of

Refugee

A L A N G R AT Z «““Excellent...a fast-paced, entertaining read.”

—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

«““A tour de force of war fiction.”

—Booklist, starred review

«““A tautly paced and multifaceted portrait of the D–Day invasion.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

«“Nothing short

Also by ALAN GRATZ

of brilliant.”

«“Impossible to

—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

put down.”

“Unflinching and sympathetic.”

—Booklist, starred review

«“Suspenseful.”

—The New York Times

Over 70 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list

—Horn Book, starred review

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