BookPage October 2014

AMERICA’S BOOK REVIEW

DISCOVER YOUR NEXT GREAT BOOK

OCTOBER 2014

BOOks

to keep you up all night Anne Rice leads a haunted harvest

Plus: Jane Smiley . Garth Stein . Walter Mosley . Jodi Picoult

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paperback picks PENGUIN.COM

Command Authority

Storm Front

Standup Guy

Blowback

There’s a new strong man in Russia but his rise to power is based on a dark secret hidden decades in the past. The answer to the mystery lies with a most unexpected source, President Jack Ryan.

An ancient relic is unearthed during an archaeological dig. A college professor is keeping a secret that could change history as we know it. For Virgil Flowers, the link between the two is inescapable—and his investigation more dangerous than he can possibly imagine.

Several people are keenly interested in Stone Barrington’s most recent client’s activities—and some will stop at nothing to dig up the dirt. In this cutthroat contest of wills, Stone will need every bit of his cunning to be the last man standing.

Covert CIA ops officer Vanessa Pierson is finally close to capturing Bhoot, an international nuclear arms dealer.

Then her informant is killed. Now Pierson has two targets: Bhoot and his sniper. The manhunt forces Pierson to put her cover and career—and life—at risk.

9780425275139 • $9.99

9780425270240 • $9.99

9780451466877 • $9.99

9780451416810 • $9.99

Suspect

The Forgotten Girl

Rasputin’s Shadow

Mortal Bonds

LAPD cop Scott James is still reeling from the death of his partner when he is assigned to handle a canine named Maggie—just back from Afghanistan. Neither is fit for duty, but they may be the only ones who can solve his partner’s murder.

Jason Danvers’ sister disappears after dropping off her teenage daughter at his house. When a body is discovered in the woods, the mysteries of his sister’s life—and possible death—deepen. And family secrets come to light that shatter his once calm world...

Along with a Russian FSB agent, FBI agent Sean Reilly is assigned to investigate the delicate case of a Russian diplomat’s apparent suicide in New York. The two soon uncover a deadly search for a mysterious device that could devastate the entire world.

When a disgraced hedge fund manager commits suicide in prison, his family asks ex-con and ex-Wall Street trader, Jason Stafford to find his money. With billions of dollars floating around, plenty of people are looking for it—and they’re not nearly as polite as the Feds.

9780425278277 • $9.99

9780451417527 • $15.00

9780451468178 • $9.99

9780425270905 • $9.99

The stunning conclusion to the bestselling series that is “a sumptuous mix of danger and romance.”(Booklist) From J.R. Ward, the #1 New York Times bestselling author who has kept readers on the edge of their seats with her phenomenal Fallen Angels novels, gives fans the eagerly anticipated final chapter in that acclaimed series.

This is world where sin and salvation collide. A world where a cynical fallen angel struggles with the seven deadly sins and seven chosen souls. And with the spellbinding Immortal, the riveting series that “changed the face of paranormal romance” (Suite101.com) comes to an epic close as mankind’s reluctant savior faces his greatest challenge yet.

NEW IN HARDCOVER NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY 9780451241160 • $27.95

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contents

OCTOBER 2014 B O O K PA G E . C O M

features 12

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TASHA ALEXANDER Meet the author of The Counterfeit Heiress

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In the mood for some spine-tingling thrills?

We’ve got four extra-creepy horror novels just in time for Halloween.

INSPIRATIONAL FICTION Three new books take a look at the power of faith

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The award-winning author kicks off a new trilogy

reviews

GARTH STEIN

19 FICTION

MARLON JAMES Taking stock of Bob Marley’s historical ripple effect

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A.S. KING A teen’s bizarre glimpse into a sexist future

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MOLLY IDLE Meet the author-illustrator of Flora and the Penguin

R EADS from

Avon Romance

Cover image © Taylor Schena

JANE SMILEY

Secrets between fathers and sons

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On the cover

Novel

top pick:

The Wonder of All Things by Jason Mott

also reviewed:

Lila by Marilynne Robinson The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville Rooms by Lauren Oliver Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis Crooked River by Valerie Geary

24 NONFICTION

top pick:

The High Divide by Lin Enger Just Call Me Superhero

by Alina Bronsky Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie Wolf in White Van

by John Darnielle A Brief History of Seven Killings

by Marlon James

Internal Medicine by Terrence Holt

also reviewed:

Rebel Yell by S.C. Gwynne Fire Shut Up in My Bones

by Charles M. Blow A Deadly Wandering by Matt Richtel Even This I Get to Experience

by Norman Lear The Birds of Pandemonium

by Michele Raffin

columns 04 05 07 08 08 09 11 12

WELL READ LIBRARY READS WHODUNIT ROMANCE LIFESTYLES COOKING BOOK CLUBS AUDIO

28 TEEN top pick:

Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim The Prince of los Cocuyos

by Richard Blanco Being Mortal by Atul Gawande The Meaning of Human Existence

by Edward O. Wilson

30 CHILDREN’S Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

also reviewed:

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel

by Sara Farizan The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi Jackaby by William Ritter

top pick:

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

also reviewed:

The Iridescence of Birds

by Patricia MacLachlan Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers Draw! by Raúl Colón The Madman of Piney Woods

by Christopher Paul Curtis Arcady’s Goal by Eugene Yelchin

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EDITORIAL POLICY BookPage is a selection guide for new books. Our editors evaluate and select for review the best books published in a variety of categories.

Only books we highly recommend are featured. BookPage is editorially independent and never accepts payment for editorial coverage.

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columns

WELL READ

BY ROBERT WEIBEZAHL

Wilde thing: Courting celebrity on a coast-to-coast tour In our media-saturated Age of Celebrity, it can be hard to fathom that there was once a time when people were not famous merely for being famous. While today we think of Oscar Wilde as an eminent playwright and novelist, he was one of the first self-made public figures, who crafted his persona and gained widespread renown long before he had done anything of much note.

An early impetus behind his fame was a lecture tour he made to the United States in 1882, when he was only 27 years old and the author of one tepidly reviewed, self-published volume of verse.

David M. Friedman offers a lively account of Wilde’s tour from Boston to

San Francisco in Wilde in America: Oscar Wilde and the Invention of Modern Celebrity (Norton, $26.95, 320 pages, ISBN 9780393063172).

The young, self-promoting writer delivered lectures to everyone from New York’s social elite to farmers in Omaha and miners in Leadville, Colorado. Focusing on this brief but essential chapter in Wilde’s colorful life, Friedman reveals how clearly calculated the Irish writer’s rise to fame was, and how precedent-setting he was in manipulating his image in the press.

Wilde’s first lessons in creating a public persona came from his flamboyant mother, Lady Jane Wilde, a renowned Dublin hostess.

At Oxford, young Wilde adopted the extravagant garb and philosophy of “beauty above all” that established him as an Aesthete. With his wicked, epigram-laced wit, he soon ingratiated his way into London society as a welcome party guest,

but his true accomplishments were meager. In what would prove to be one of his fortes, Wilde turned a negative into a positive: Lampooned by Gilbert and Sullivan as the barely disguised main character in their smash hit operetta, Patience, Wilde embraced the Oscar Wilde took America notoriety.

Arriving in by storm, America— promoting Friedman finds himself like a no evidence, the way, that 19th-century by Wilde told a Kardashian. customs official he had nothing to declare but his genius—the future author of The Picture of Dorian Gray took the country by storm.

His lectures were generally well received and often sold out. He orchestrated meetings with Whitman and Longfellow, crossed swords with Henry James, sat for a carefully

staged photo shoot and gave more than 100 newspaper interviews.

It was all part of a brilliantly devised master plan, Friedman suggests, one of the first recorded public relations campaigns. It certainly proved one of the most successful of all time— even by contemporary standards.

Despite the flash, Friedman reminds us that Wilde was a highly intelligent, talented artist and critic, in many ways ahead of his time.

Reading this engaging book, one can’t help but wonder what Wilde would make of our own age of ubiquitous social media. Would the highbrow in him deem Facebook and Twitter déclassé? Or would this genius of self-promotion see them as necessary tools of the stardom trade? The latter seems most likely.

New York Times bestselling author

SHARON SALA delivers gripping suspense in a brand-new Forces of Nature novel.

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The final storm of the season could be their last…

“Sala gives readers a nonstop breath-holding adventure.”

—Publishers Weekly on Going Once All available now.

Pick up your copies today!

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

#1

A SUDDEN LIGHT by Garth Stein Simon & Schuster, $26.95, ISBN 9781439187036

A father and son confront their complex family history—and a ghost or two—in the latest from the author of The Art of Racing in the Rain. BookPage interview on page 18.

LEAVING TIME by Jodi Picoult

Ballantine, $28, ISBN 9780345544926 In Picoult’s new page-turner, a teen sets out to find her mother, who disappeared from the elephant sanctuary where she was doing research. BookPage review on page 19.

AS YOU WISH by Cary Elwes

Touchstone, $26, ISBN 9781476764023 Actor Elwes shares several inconceivable tales from the set of the 1980s cult classic The Princess Bride.

NOT MY FATHER’S SON by Alan Cumming

Dey Street, $26.99, ISBN 9780062225061 The “Good Wife” actor and Broadway star shares his life story in this revealing memoir.

SOME LUCK by Jane Smiley

Knopf, $26.95, ISBN 9780307700315 Smiley follows the Langdon family through three decades in her new novel, the first in a century-spanning trilogy.

BookPage interview on page 17.

BookPage calls Laura Lane McNeal

A Sassy New Southern Voice!

“McNeal’s witty prose and expertise on all things New Orleans will enrapture readers of The Help and Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood.”

— BookPage “This flavorful and enthralling novel brilliantly captures New Orleans during the civil rights era. It’s a deeply personal tale about growing up and searching for family as well as a provocative exploration of race and kinship.

I found it both thrilling and poignant.”

— Walter Isaacson New York Times best-selling author of Steve Jobs

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THE BOY WHO DREW MONSTERS by Keith Donohue

Picador, $26, ISBN 9781250057150 A young boy discovers the monsters he draws have a life beyond the page in this horrifying tale, set in an isolated town on the coast of Maine. BookPage review on page 14.

THE LIFE WE BURY by Allen Eskens

Seventh Street Books, $15.95, ISBN 9781616149987 A college student strikes up a friendship with an aging Vietnam veteran for a class project—and stumbles upon a decades-old mystery.

REUNION by Hannah Pittard

Grand Central, $25, ISBN 9781455553617 A dysfunctional clan reluctantly reunites to mourn their dead patriarch in this warm-hearted family drama.

MALICE by Keigo Higashino

Minotaur, $24.99, ISBN 9781250035608 When a best-selling novelist is found murdered in a locked room of his house, Police Detective Kyochiro Kaga is confronted with his toughest case ever.

MURDER AT THE BRIGHTWELL by Ashley Weaver

Minotaur, $24.99, ISBN 9781250046369 In this mystery set in 1932 England, a wealthy young woman becomes an unlikely sleuth when her former fiancé is accused of murder.

LibraryReads is a recommendation program that highlights librarians’ favorite books published this month. For more information, visit libraryreads.org.

LibraryReads Pick • Indie First Pick Library Journal Starred Review New York Post Must Read Novel

Visit www.lauralanemcneal.com to join the author’s reader list

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From Bestselling Author & Two-Time RITA Award–Winner

F

or three years, Kate Marshall has been mourning the loss of her husband and fouryear-old son in a boating accident. But when she spots a familiar-looking child on a mall escalator, she’s convinced it’s her son. With police skeptical of her story, she turns to PI Connor Sullivan for help. As the former Secret Service agent digs into the case, the boating “accident” begins to look more and more suspicious. But if Kate’s son is alive, someone is intent on keeping him hidden—and may go to lethal lengths to protect a sinister secret.

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“HANNON once again demonstrates her mastery at crafting spine-tingling romantic thrillers that, without graphic violence and language, utterly enthrall readers.”—BOOKLIST

IRENEH ANNON.COM

N AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD ALSO AVAILABLE IN e BOOK FORMAT

columns

WHODUNIT

BY BRUCE TIERNEY

Spy who went out into the cold Antaeus was the enemy. Antaeus is dead. MI6 agent Will Cochrane knows this, because he personally blew Antaeus’ car into smithereens. Yet, inexplicably, Antaeus has walked, very much alive, into the middle of Cochrane’s latest mission. In Matthew Dunn’s fourth Spymaster espionage thriller, Dark Spies (Morrow, $26.99, 384 pages, ISBN 9780062309464), what should have been a routine babysitting assignment—watching over a “friendly” CIA agent during a clandestine meeting with a Russian mole—turns into a bloodbath. The terse message from Cochrane’s handler is “don’t interfere.” But if he doesn’t, the woman he has been assigned to protect will be butchered by an elite team of enemy agents. So, against orders, Cochrane methodically takes out the hitmen, an act of disobedience nothing short of treason. Now he must go on the run, make his way into the States, expose a conspiracy that reaches into the highest ranks of the U.S. intelligence community and, with any luck, save his own neck. Cochrane’s character neatly splits the difference between Ian Fleming’s flamboyant James Bond and John le Carré’s taciturn George Smiley, undoubtedly a result of Dunn’s real-life experiences as an MI6 agent. He performed some 70 missions and lived to tell (and write) about it.

TROUBLESHOOTING Andrew Grant has been compared to Fleming and le Carré as well for his series featuring Brit intelligence officer David Trevellyan. This time, Grant returns with a standalone thriller (of the sort often referred to as “high-octane”), Run (Ballantine, $26, 288 pages, ISBN 9780345540720). To the casual observer, it would appear that software designer Marc Bowman has it all: lovely wife, check; six-figure income, check; young, clever, hip persona . . . check, check and check. Within 10 pages’

time, all of that changes, and not for the better: Bowman is fired and unceremoniously escorted out of the building; he gets dumped by his wife; and he is placed under intense scrutiny by good guys and bad guys alike, in part because of a very sensitive flash drive that he really should not have stolen from his workplace. Bowman is not an

entirely likable character; he is more than a little bit smug, and he plays fast and loose with things that do not belong to him. Still, he is definitely getting a raw deal, and you may find yourself grudgingly rooting for him to come out on top (but perhaps to get his hand slapped in the process). As with the Trevellyan books, Run is brilliantly crafted and lightning-paced.

STRIKING DISTANCE Even in violence-prone South Africa, you don’t expect a sunny weekend at a winery to end in multiple murders, but that is only the beginning of the carnage in Deon Meyer’s latest thriller, Cobra (Atlantic Monthly, $26, 384 pages, ISBN 9780802123244). The title refers to the nickname of a career hitman, whose crime scene signature is a shell casing bearing a carefully engraved Mozambique spitting cobra poised to strike. And, as you might surmise, some of these casings turn up at the aforementioned winery. A parallel narrative tracks the progress of a personable pickpocket who picks the wrong pocket. He is apprehended by the police and hauled in for questioning, during which time a lone gunman bursts into the interrogation room and shoots everyone in sight, save for the pickpocket, who barely escapes with his life. When the dust clears, on the floor there are several shell casings, each with the signature

engraved cobra image. Chapter by chapter these storylines weave together in a French braid of deception, espionage and murder. This is another first-rate read from the king of South African mysteries.

TOP PICK IN MYSTERY The cop is named Roger Frisk, a surname that detective Easy Rawlins finds pretty amusing. But Frisk is neither amusing nor amused. He has come to Rawlins with a proposition and a fat paycheck.

A college student, Rosemary Goldsmith, has been kidnapped.

Her father, a reclusive international munitions manufacturer, wields a lot of clout with the Los Angeles powers-that-be, and they in turn have a certain amount of clout with Easy Rawlins, who can provide entrée into L.A.’s black community, where the roots of the investigation

lie. Walter Mosley’s 13th Easy Rawlins novel, Rose Gold (Doubleday, $25.95, 320 pages, ISBN 9780385535977), is set in the late 1960s, a turbulent time throughout the U.S., but nowhere more so than in L.A., thanks to the Vietnam War, the activist counterculture, the drug scene and race issues. Mosley’s mysteries have propelled our hero through the 1950s and ’60s, to a place and time where he has acquired a family (and “acquired” is indeed the right word) and carved out a place for himself in a relentlessly shifting society. As much social commentary as a suspense novel, Rose Gold is an eminently worthy addition to what is perhaps the finest series of contemporary mysteries.

ANNE BYRN TO

RESCUE

Author of The Cake Mix Doctor® and Dinner Doctor® cookbooks—with over 4 million copies sold—Anne Byrn knows what every busy cook knows. There are endless recipes out there, but the right recipe, the recipe that always works, the recipe for when times are crazy— that’s priceless.

And now she shares 125 of them, each guaranteed to please, no matter what the occasion.

It’s your new go-to cookbook. available wherever books are sold! workman.com • cakemixdoctor.com

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LIFESTYLES

ROMANCE

BY JOANNA BRICHETTO

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

Taking care of business

Making wardrobe magic

Love is served up spicy in The Wedding Vow (Avon, $7.99, 400 pages, ISBN 9780062282354), the latest in Cara Connelly’s Save the Date series. Known for her pugnacious personality, attorney Maddie St. Clair can’t say no when she’s ordered by her boss to represent billionaire Adam LeCroix. Despite the fact that Maddie tried to bring the arrogant, gorgeous businessman to trial as an art thief five years prior, the financial strain of supporting her younger sister

Sewing maven Amy Barickman cleverly adjusts the arithmetic of the old saying, so that “a stitch well-fixed makes six.” The Magic Pattern Book (Workman, $22.95, 320 pages, ISBN 9780761171621) shows how just a half-dozen sewing patterns can be squared into 36 different styles, and then cubed into 216 unique looks. Detailed instructions, clear diagrams and attractive, playful photos make it easy to select which options will work best for you. Barickman

makes taking the case a necessity.

This time around, one of Adam’s own paintings has gone missing, and the insurance company refuses to pay up. Adam wants Maddie’s relentless personality in his corner . . . and her beautiful body in his bed. To get both, he keeps her close—first in his Manhattan penthouse, and then in his Italian villa. Though Maddie refuses to be impressed by his wealth, she can’t help the attraction she begins to feel for Adam as they unravel the mystery of his lost artwork. Can love overcome both their secrets and their strong wills? Beautiful people in beautiful locations make this a romance to remember.

ENCHANTING LOVE Shona Husk continues to build upon the well-detailed fairy world of her Court of Annwyn series in To Love a King (Sourcebooks, $7.99, 288 pages, ISBN 9781402280221). After seven years apart, the crown prince of Annwyn, Prince Felan, returns to the mortal realm to find the woman he loved and lost: the beautiful Jacqueline Ara. With the fate of both fairies and humans in jeopardy, Felan has two weeks to bring home a wife, and he has his sights set on Jacquie. But Jacquie feels betrayed by

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Felan, who broke her heart when he walked away from her years ago. Now older and wiser, she can’t even see how a human-fairy relationship would work. But Felan is persuasive—not only does he still love Jacquie, he knows she is the key to saving the denizens of both their worlds. There are no good choices here, only dangerous situations, and to be together, the lovers must be willing to risk everything—including their lives. This imaginative tale filled with poignancy and magic is sure to suit fans of paranormal romance.

TOP PICK IN ROMANCE A Scottish spinster finds all she didn’t know she wanted in The Prince Who Loved Me (Pocket, $7.99, 384 pages, ISBN 9781451685244), the first book in Karen Hawkins’ new Oxenburg Princes series. Bronwyn Murdoch is content to imagine a future in which she stays at home forever, helping her father, an inventor, and watching over her social-climbing stepsisters. That is, until a fateful encounter with Alexsey Romanovin, a visiting prince from Oxenburg. Alexsey is accompanied on his travels by his grandmother, who holds the key to his deepest desire: the crown of Romany. But she insists Alexsey marry before naming him as heir, and the flirtatious prince is determined to resist, even as he’s charmed by Bronwyn, who has never been tempted by love outside the pages of a book.

Alexsey decides to while away his little vacation with a brief seduction of the Scottish miss, then move on. When Bronwyn overhears his scheme, she’s determined to thwart him, but their hearts have a plan of their own. Sparkling dialogue, a feel-good secondary romance and charming characters make this historical romance a standout.

offers basic cuts for every component of your wardrobe—from tank tops to trench coats—and even covers fun accessories to round out any of your home-stitched looks. A little rusty or completely clueless when it comes to sewing basics?

Not to worry: A 30-page opener gives the finest introduction on “How to Make Magic” you could ever wish for. This book defines the economics of homemade clothes: The fewer resources you need, the more stuff you can do. That’s sew smart.

HIGH STYLE AT HOME With a playful jab at the famous title of Strunk and White’s literary handbook, Erin Gates’ Elements of Style (Simon & Schuster, $35, 336 pages, ISBN 9781476744872), based on her popular lifestyle blog of the same name, shows how you can be the author of your own home by drafting its outlines, establishing its tone and realizing all of its functions from basement to attic. Gates takes you on a conceptual grand tour: from a home’s entry, through the living room and kitchen, to the bedroom, bathroom and beyond—even into the closet and outdoor spaces. She has a knack for combining practical advice—on everything from choosing a sofa to arranging throw pillows

and hanging a perfectly imperfect gallery wall—with humorous reflection on mistakes and lessons learned over the course of her 10-year career as an interior designer, plus honest anecdotes from her personal life.

Fair warning: This book is intended for the well-heeled. (That means those who actually have space in the closet to shelve multiple pairs of high heels.) But regardless of your personal budget, Gates encourages readers to make their house a home by embracing and expressing their personal style throughout every square foot of space—however much you have to work with.

TOP PICK IN LIFESTYLES Whether you’re a diehard foodie or just hoping to feed your family well, Foods for Health (National Geographic, $22.95, 320 pages, ISBN 9781426212758) is a godsend. Co-authored by sustainability-focused chef Barton Seaver and Ivy League-trained expert in nutrition science P.K. Newby, this easy-to-follow encyclopedic guide gives a nutritional breakdown of 148 foods, beginning with vegetables and fruits, digging into proteins and whole grains and winding up at fats, oils and beverages. From the moment you turn the page to each entry—for instance, Brussels sprout, mango, black-eyed pea or coffee bean— you discover its place in different food cultures around the world, best use and storage, growth zone, seasonal peak and impact on the planet. With a finely tuned grocery shopping guide and mouthwatering sample menus, Seaver and Newby take the stress and confusion out of health- and earth-conscious eating. Want to feel both full and mindful at the dinner table?

This is the reference book for you.

COOKING

BY SYBIL PRATT

A new kind of fast food Even if you’re a certified ­chaos-coping, time-challenged clock jock, multitasking your way through a day that’s way too short on hours, you do have time to cook. Take it from Mark Bittman, the master food writer and cookbook author who’s become one of our prime public foodie intellectuals. His latest, How to Cook Everything Fast (HMH, $35, 1,056 pages, ISBN 9780470936306), is not his best-selling How to Cook Everything on steroids; it’s a reci-

pe-laden (2,000 all new) roadmap that follows the real-time rhythm of the kitchen with shortcuts galore and strategies that seamlessly merge prep and cooking, yielding maximum taste from real ingredients in minimum time. The skills you need for this revved-up ride are built into the recipes, and almost all of them (including salads, sandwiches, grains, veggies, beans and tofu) can be one-dish dinners.

Each is served with great ideas for variations, substitutions and “simultaneous sides” that easily fit into your cooking choreography—Provençal Chicken with Red Wine and Rosemary Quinoa, Warm Tabbouleh with Mussels with Crisp Seasoned Pita. It’s the best Bittman yet!

CULINARY CORRECTIONS Dana Cowin has been editor-in-chief of Food & Wine for 20 years, but her dirty little secret is just surfacing. Though she knows all about eating great food and talking to the best chefs in the world, Dana wasn’t comfortable cooking in her own kitchen and admits to messing up every kind of dish. In a moment of bravery, she decided to face her kitchen inadequacies, fess up and get help.

And what help she got—David Chang, Suzanne Goin, José Andrés,

Tom Colicchio and Jacques Pépin, to name just a few!

Cowin includes more than 100 recipes, from starters to desserts, each prefaced by her experiences, good and bad, in Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen (Ecco, $34.99, 320 pages, ISBN 9780062305909).

All of the 65 renowned chefs who came to the aid of this damsel in culinary distress have added their own “chef tips” and ideas about ingredients, equipment, quick fixes, checking for doneness, reheating and more, to make you a happier and better home cook. So, do a Dana, pay attention and learn from your mistakes.

TOP PICK IN COOKBOOKS A new wave of Ottolenghi fever (and fervor) is about to hit and, thank goodness, there’s no cure.

I suggest that you simply give in to it, replenish your spice pantry, gather your vegetables, grains and legumes and celebrate big-time.

Plenty More (Ten Speed, $35, 352 pages, ISBN 9781607746218) is Yotam Ottolenghi’s second ode to vegetarian cooking, this time with the emphasis on cooking techniques and on elevating ingredients in new ways, expanding their flavor domains and your meat-free repertoire. In 120 recipes and a dozen chapters organized by cooking method, Ottolenghi’s verve and brilliance, seasoned with ­Middle Eastern magic, are on display again—and, with his deftly detailed instructions, duplicable by ordinary home cooks (you and me). Read the recipes, gaze at the photos, then get into the kitchen and create the sublime, like Saffron, Date and Almond Rice, Taleggio and Spinach Roulade, Crushed Carrots with Harissa and Pistachios or Caramelized Fig, Orange and Feta Salad.

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columns

BOOK CLUBS

BY JULIE HALE

Fall into Great Reads

Love on Coney Island Set in New York in the early 1900s, Alice Hoffman’s hypnotic new novel, The Museum of Extraordinary Things (Scribner, $16, 384 pages, ISBN 9781451693577), is a classic love story with a few twists. Coralie Sardie’s father runs the Museum of Extraordinary Things, a sensational establishment on Coney Island that features rare creatures like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, the Goat Boy

and Coralie herself. Born with webbed fingers, she appears at the museum as The Mermaid. When Coralie meets a young photographer named Eddie Cohen, her life changes forever. A Russian immigrant who has turned his back on the past, Eddie photographs the aftermath of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire only to find himself entangled in a mystery involving a woman who has disappeared.

Hoffman brings old New York to vivid life, creating a cast of unforgettable characters who personify the era, including crooks, bums, bootleggers and, of course, lovers.

With the story of Eddie and Coralie, she takes readers on a magical trip into the past, spinning a beautifully crafted tale of romance, danger and suspense.

COMING TO AMERICA In his moving memoir, Little Failure (Random House, $16, 368 pages, ISBN 9780812982497), best-selling author Gary Shteyngart recounts his painful—and often hilarious—adjustment to American culture after his family immigrates to New York from the Soviet Union. Arriving in 1979 at the age of 7, with his engineer father and piano-teacher mother, the author finds himself in a world so perplexingly different from his native Leningrad that he’s forced

to take comfort in books and writing. A nervous, asthmatic lad, he’s referred to by his mother as Failurchka—Little Failure. Writing with wit, honesty and utter self-effacement, Shteyngart excavates painful memories on the page, providing anecdotes of his Hebrew school years, attempts at romance and awkward, ever-practical parents.

He also looks back at his time as a student at Oberlin College, when he sported long hair and flannel shirts and sampled many illegal substances, and at his development as a writer. Fans of Shteyngart’s acclaimed novels and new readers alike will find much to relish in this illuminating memoir.

Rosie “Aunty” Lee, the feisty widow and amateur sleuth, is back Another delectable, witty Singaporean mystery involving scandal and murder among the city’s elite

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train comes a novel of love, risk, and self-discovery.

“An unassumingly beautiful story of human relationships and self-discovery...the ideal page-turning light read, with a tremendous payoff.”

—People

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Now in paperback from the New York Times bestselling author of A Land More Kind Than Home

TOP PICK FOR BOOK CLUBS Nancy Horan follows her acclaimed novel Loving Frank (2007) with another beautifully rendered historical romance.

Under the Wide and Starry Sky (Ballantine, $16, 496 pages, ISBN 9780345516541) is the story of the love that blossomed between Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and the volatile American who became his wife, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. The pair meet for the first time at an artists’ colony in France. Ten years older than the writer, with two children and a no-good husband back in the States, Fanny is slow to respond to Stevenson’s attentions. But he wins her heart, and the two embark on a life filled with travel, fame and artistic exploration. Along the way, Fanny serves as Stevenson’s editor and caretaker—he suffers from lung problems—and Horan does a remarkable job of reconstructing their complex, intense relationship.

This splendid novel showcases Horan’s many gifts, including her knack for convincing dialogue and her ability to create rich interior lives for her characters.

“A terrific, moving and propulsive novel: Harper Lee by way of Elmore Leonard.”

—Jess Walter, bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins

The compelling final installment in New York Times bestselling author Kate Kerrigan’s sweeping immigrant trilogy “A delicious portrayal of the glamour of 1940s Hollywood, and a wonderful conclusion to the Ellis Island trilogy.”

—Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home

PERFECT FOR BOOK CLUBS @Morrow_PB

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William Morrow Paperbacks

Book Club Girl

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meet TASHA ALEXANDER columns the title of your new book?

Q: What’s

would you describe the book Q: Hinow one sentence?

hat’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your Q: W Victorian-era heroine, Lady Emily?

Of vines and vignerons Maximillian Potter was not an oenophile, or even a wine drinker, when he went to Burgundy for Vanity Fair to cover the attempted poisoning of vines at the globally venerated vineyards of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in a precious area of Burgundy called Le Côte D’Or. It’s a good true crime story with a clever perp and cleverer cops, and Potter paces it well. But, the real story in his new book, Shadows in the Vineyard: The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World’s Greatest Wine

you were a time-traveler transported back to the 1890s, what Q: If would be the best and worst parts of living in Victorian London?

Q: What are your three favorite obsessions?

Q: Words to live by?

(Hachette Audio, $25.98, 8.5 hours, ISBN 9781611132038), is about his immersion into the rarified world of extravagantly expensive wines, the people who make them and the terroir, that mystical fusion of soil and microclimate, that gives a wine its character and quality. Through Potter’s fresh eyes, we meet Aubert de Villaine, the charming, dedicated Grand Patron and proprietor of the famed Domaine, and his not-always-charming partners and extended family. And we learn the history of Burgundian wines and vineyards. If only the audio came with a sample to sip and sigh over. Donald Corren reads well but could have used another week at Berlitz.

HUNGERS AND VOWS THE COUNTERFEIT HEIRESS The ninth book in Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series, The Counterfeit Heiress (Minotaur, $25.99, 304 pages, ISBN 9781250024695), finds Emily and husband Colin crossing the English Channel as their search for a missing heiress leads them to Paris. Alexander, who launched the popular Lady Emily series in 2005, and her husband, novelist Andrew Grant, divide their time between Chicago and the U.K.

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AUDIO

BY SUKEY HOWARD

A true Parisienne, 20-year-old Lisette and her adoring husband, André, relocate to the Provençal village of Roussillon to care for his aging grandfather, Pascal. Lisette struggles with small-town life, missing the Paris cafés but, even more, the art galleries she had yearned to work in. But Pascal, a former salesman of Provençal ochre pigments, had his own life in art. He had befriended Pissarro and Cézanne, trading frames for paintings and collecting unique

memories.

As Lisette grows to love Pascal, she begins a list of “hungers and vows,” her must-do life list.

Susan Vreeland, whose spécialité is twining her novels around art and artists, sets Lisette’s List (Random House Audio, $45, 12 hours, ISBN 9780553399578), performed with Gallic finesse by Kim Bubbs, in the years just before and after WWII. André enlists early and is lost early.

He hid Pascal’s paintings from the Germans before he left and finding them becomes Lisette’s quest—a quest that leads her to new love, forgiveness and the deepest regard for great art.

TOP PICK IN AUDIO Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has retired from the Sûreté du Québec to the healing peace and happy quiet of Three Pines, but, as he knows so well, danger, darkness and murder are never far off. When his dear friend—and now famed painter— Clara Morrow tells him that her husband, Peter, has not returned as promised on the one-year anniversary of their separation, he and Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his former second-in command, know they must help. The Long Way Home (Macmillan Audio, $39.99, 12 hours, ISBN 9781427244291), Louise Penny’s 10th Gamache novel, follows their search—deep into Clara and Peter’s past and into the mystery of what makes one artist great, another mediocre and another envious enough to kill. This is Penny-perfect: A crime with tantalizing twists, superbly drawn characters, keenly conjured settings and, now, she lets us hear the muffled heartbeat of artistic expression. With Ralph Cosham’s consummate narration, the whole is far more than the sum of its parts.

Captivating Listening read by jane carr read by robert petkoff read by henry leyva

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The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free

“This is Atul Gawande’s most powerful—and moving—book.” —Malcolm Gladwell

read by the author

read by jay snyder

read by susan bennett

read by maggie hoffman

“Beautiful work. . . Robinson’s words have a spiritual force that’s very rare in contemporary fiction.”

—James Wood, The New York Times Book Review on Gilead

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read by jeff woodman

“Hank Phillippi Ryan weaves a taut web of suspense in Truth Be Told.” —Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award–winning author

listen to excerpts at www.macmillanaudio.com

cover story The freaks are out tonight

riage. Her one bright spot is her baby boy, but shadows threaten even this. Legend has it Rebecca’s he horror, the horror—oh, how we love the mother bartered an hour of her life to save baby Rebecca’s. Could horror. Creepy children, bloodlust and white Rebecca do the same for her son if specters dominate the best novels for sending he were in danger? chills down your spine this Halloween.

Adcock’s insights into marital guilt and anger are precise, and her More than a decade ago, Anne descriptions of parents’ love for ambition, and she’s absolutely Rice walked away from the vampire delivered. their children—and vice versa—are mythology that helped make her a — M A T T H E W J A C K S O N spot-on. German folklore lends a best-selling icon, and though she’s touch of magical realism, weavwritten plenty of other novels since, THE SPECTER OF DOUBT ing in dark fairy-tale themes of many fans have longed for a return.

Siobhan Adcock’s creepy debut, children in peril, bargaining and Prince Lestat (Knopf, $28.95, 480 The Barter (Dutton, $26.95, 320 exchange. New moms should conpages, ISBN 9780307962522, on pages, ISBN 9780525954224), is a nect with Bridget’s and Rebecca’s sale Oct. 28), the 11th novel in good, old-fashioned ghost story doubts: Have they given too much Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series, that will make you jump when your of themselves to work, their husis that comeback, but because it’s walls creak. But it’s really about bands, their kids? Or not enough? been so long since Rice has walked motherhood—the fierce love and Some of Adcock’s plot strands in this realm, she has made this the plaguing ambivalence. Looking come a bit loose by the end, but more than just another installment.

Prince Lestat is an ambitious new story, yes, but it’s also an attempt to reacquaint all of us with the characters we’ve loved for years. Rice knows it’s been a while, and she crafts a tone that feels simultaneously like greeting an old friend and meeting a new one.

From the very first page, it’s clear Rice never lost touch with the exuberant, often witty and always fearless voice of irrepressible vam- closely at the uncertainties women her thoughtful story will keep readpire Lestat de Lioncourt. When we wade through when their roles ers reflecting on its themes once meet Lestat this time, both he and change, Adcock plumbs marital the shivers have passed. the world of the vampires are in discord and the ways fear and self—SHERI BODOH shambles. Nothing has been quite doubt manifest in families.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE the same since the original vamBridget, a successful Texas atpire Akasha was struck down at the torney, didn’t go back to work after Keith Donohue’s The Boy Who maternity leave. Now, as she cares end of The Queen of the Damned, Drew Monsters (Picador, $26, 288 and the immortals long for a new for her 10-month-old daughter, she pages, ISBN 9781250057150) has all leader. Many think Lestat should still wonders if she made the right the ingredients of a classic horror choice. Missing her workaholic novel: an isolated town, a young be that leader, but Lestat himself husband, Bridget is also troubled boy paralyzed by agoraphobia and isn’t so sure.

The story jumps through time by thoughts of her loved ones’ ina home that transforms itself from evitable deaths. One night, Bridget a dream into a nightmare. and around the globe as Lestat Donohue transports readers to sees a strange white form enter the searches for redemption and tries a Maine seaside town, home to the to find his place in this chaotic nursery, lurching toward her and Keenan family. Tim Keenan is the the baby. Now Bridget’s days and world of blood drinkers. We meet primary caretaker of his emotionnights are filled with dread and new characters and revisit old favorites. We see exotic locales the smell of dank earth as she tries ally fragile 10-year-old son, Jip. Tim’s wife, Holly, is convinced that to stay a step ahead of the ghost, and contemplate the darkest her out-of-control son needs to alone. part of Rice’s vampire lore. In the be committed. Since a near-fatal end, though the familiar parts of Alternating chapters with accident three years prior, Jip has this saga are here, it’s clear that Bridget’s story is that of Rebecca never been the same and now reMueller, a German Texan who in Rice isn’t content to rest on past bestsellers. This is, at its heart, a 1902 prepares to marry a man she’s fuses to leave the house. Recently, book about the new vampire order, not sure she loves. A wedding night Jip’s behavior has turned violent, and his latest obsession is drawing filled with hostility and dashed about a new status quo. Rice has monsters. One evening, as Tim hopes sets the tone for their maroffered us a tale of tremendous

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HALLOWEEN drives home Jip’s only friend, Nick, Tim nearly runs over a white figure that looks to be half man and half beast. Nick denies having seen anything, but only because he is too petrified: The monstrous figure is identical to one of Jip’s drawings.

Soon, Holly begins to hear noises around the house and Tim finds icy wet footprints left in their hallway.

But at the end of the day, only Jip knows the true explanation behind his parents’ hauntings, and only he can save or destroy his family.

With a mind-bending final twist, The Boy Who Drew Monsters— much in the tradition of the classic The Turn of the Screw—will leave readers shaking in their boots.

—MEGAN FISHMANN

HIGH ON LIFE In traditional vampire tales, superhuman creatures lust for the blood of ordinary mortals. Chase Novak’s Brood (Mulholland, $26, 320 pages, ISBN 9780316228008) reverses this formula: In 21st-century New York, affluent thrill-seekers pay big bucks to drink the blood of teenage mutants. The kids providing this elixir are the product of an experimental fertility treatment that turned their parents into monstrous beings with an unspeakable hunger for raw flesh.

As the offspring reach adolescence, they too start to change: They’re abnormally fast and strong, but also prone to murderous rages.

Brood (the sequel to 2012’s Breed) takes up the story of 12-year-old Adam and Alice. Two years after their parents’ violent deaths, the twins have been adopted by their aunt Cynthia.

She hopes her love can help them forget the horrors of their past, but nothing is that simple. Terrified by the changes taking place within their bodies, the pair are starving themselves to stave off puberty.

Meanwhile, a ragtag collective of feral teens is making a living selling blood, and they want the twins to join the pack.

As Adam and Alice fight for their lives, age-old terrors of adolescence merge with uniquely 21st-century fears in this gruesome and grimly funny tale.

— E M I LY B A R T L E T T H I N E S

An extraordinary gift. An impossible cost.

From the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of

The Returned comes a spellbinding tale of first love, sacrifice and the power of miracles.

AD “A creative yet haunting rendering of the mixed blessings of so-called miracles. Lyrically written, thought-provoking and emotionally searing, the book asks some unsettling questions about love, death, responsibility and sacrifice.”

—Kirkus Reviews on THE WONDER OF ALL THINGS

“Exceptional…. Riveting.”

“A crackling page-turner.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on THE RETURNED

—People magazine Pick on THE RETURNED

On sale now.

Pick up your copy today.

www.MIRABooks.com • www.JasonMottAuthor.com

features

INSPIRATIONAL FICTION

BY ARLENE MCKANIC

Three new books explore the power of belief

R

eligion is a motivating force in the lives of millions of people, for good or for ill. In these three books, characters’ religious beliefs spur the action, influence major life decisions—or leave them with at least a shred of dignity under dire circumstances.

FBI-trained forensic artist Carrie Stuart Parks’ suspenseful novel, A Cry from the Dust (Thomas Nelson, $15.99, 386 pages, ISBN 9781401690434), is inspired by a dark moment in history: the 1857 Mountain Meadows massacre, where a posse of renegade Mormons slaughtered a group of pioneers and tried to blame it on the Indians.

Gwen Marcey has no idea what she’s in for when she agrees to sculpt the death masks of three victims of the massacre. The forensic artist has taken the job at the Mountain Meadows Interpretive Center to pave the way for a return

to a normal life after beating cancer.

Mother of a stroppy teenager, exwife of a narcissistic best-selling author, owner of a pony-sized Great Pyrenees, Gwen is also intelligent, talented and amazingly perceptive.

She will need all of her gifts to survive the mess she will soon find herself in: A remnant of a secret Mormon sect holds a grudge over the long-ago incident, and they

The Time of Sorrows is long past.

The future of Selah and her people is shrouded in mystery.

And the clock is ticking.

Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games!

BonnieCalhoun.com

n

Available Wherever Books Are Sold Also Available in e book

want something from Gwen badly enough to kill.

Fortunately, our heroine is lucky

even in her misfortune. As her Spock-like friend Beth says, “Everything happens for a reason.” Case in point: The ravages brought by Gwen’s cancer treatments—double mastectomy and hair loss—help her disguise herself during one of many close calls.

Besides having a resourceful and likable heroine, the book also features that rarest of characters: a villain you don’t see coming, but whom you hate with relish.

Moreover, you think said villain’s crazy plans for world domination just might work. Let’s just say it’s amazing what some people think they can do with Semtex.

A Cry from the Dust will keep you hoping, praying and guessing till the end.

HOPE AND CHANGE Philip Gulley’s latest novel, A Place Called Hope (Center Street, $22, 256 pages, ISBN 9781455519804), begins propitiously. You’re about six pages in when you realize there are about a half dozen characters you want to smack. This might even include the lovable protagonist, Quaker minister Sam Gardner. That’s because everyone in his small town is pleased to walk all over him, from his wife to his secretary to the church elders.

Sam seems content to tolerate

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the abuse, until he isn’t. The last straw comes when, as a favor to another minister, Sam presides over a same-sex wedding at the Unitarian church. It gives his church elders the excuse to fire him that they’ve been looking for. It’s no wonder that he fantasizes, for a hot second, about writing a novel about a pastor who slaughters the elders of his church and stows their carcasses in a freezer.

But no matter—Sam finds another meeting to pastor, even though it does only have 12 members. Why, when it used to have more than 100, is one of the mysteries Sam needs to suss out.

Gentle and humorous, A Place Called Hope strikes the reader as a sort of extended episode of “Leave it to Beaver” with email and smartphones. That, by the way, is a compliment.

HISTORY’S LESSONS Though much has been written about World War II, the fight against Japan is often overshadowed by stories of Nazi brutality.

This novel changes the balance. A little more than halfway through Sigmund Brouwer’s heartrending Thief of Glory (WaterBrook, $14.99, 336 pages, ISBN 9780307446497), the sadistic director of a Japanese concentration camp in what was then Dutch East India demands that every girl over the age of 16 be turned over to him as a concubine. The women decide to refuse, knowing it may cost them their lives. Then, they break into “Amazing Grace.”

Though this is the most overtly religious scene in Brouwer’s book, faith pervades the narrative of this Empire of the Sun-like tale of Jeremiah Prins’ childhood in a Jappenkamp. We see it in the piety of the Prins family before they are torn asunder by the occupation. We see it in Jeremiah’s repudiation of his faith after he’s lost everything, and his struggle to get it back.

The author of more than 30 novels, Brouwer based this novel partly on his father’s own experiences in Indonesia during WWII. Not just a book about faith, Thief of Glory is also about redemption and forgiveness.

interviews

JANE SMILEY

One family’s destiny, year by year

T

he question that will burn in a reader’s mind when she finishes Some Luck, Jane Smiley’s marvelous new novel, is: How long do I have to wait to read the second volume in The Last Hundred Years trilogy?

Jane Smiley laughs heartily when asked. “Well, that’s up to Knopf,” she says during a call to her home in Carmel Valley, California. Smiley is the author of such best-selling novels as Moo and the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Thousand Acres, as well as five works of nonfiction.

She says she has already completed all of the volumes in the trilogy, which covers 100 years in the life of one family, with each chapter focusing on a single year.

Smiley is emphatic in her desire that “all three [volumes] come out as soon as possible. I really do feel that it’s one thing, and it’s important for volumes one and two to be in the reader’s mind when he or she is reading volume three.”

Some Luck opens in 1920 with Walter Langdon, on the eve of his 25th birthday, walking the fence lines of his barely-making-it farm near Denby, Iowa. He is thinking about the vicissitudes of farming; the admonishments of his strict father, a more successful and established farmer who lives down the road; his love for his 20-yearold, self-possessed and talkative

SOME LUCK

By Jane Smiley

Knopf, $26.95, 416 pages ISBN 9780307700315, audio, eBook available

HISTORICAL FICTION

wife Rosanna; and his five-monthold son, Frank—the first of five children who grow into memorable individuals over the course of the novel, and, presumably, go on in the next two novels to great and less great things. Some Luck closes in 1953, with the Langdon fami“I really ly—responding wanted to to social and take these economic forces characters arising from the Great Depresand follow sion and World them from War II—having babyhood to mostly abandeath.” doned their hometown and moved to the far ends of the country, as so many other Americans did in that era.

The Langdon family diaspora promises much for Smiley’s exploration of 20th-century American culture and politics in future volumes of the trilogy. But in Some Luck, the family is largely homebound. Only Walter and Rosanna’s final child, Claire, for example, is born in a hospital; the rest are born, sometimes excruciatingly, at home. So, with her vivid, tactile depiction of isolated, rural Iowa farm life, Smiley has imaginatively recaptured the dangers and rewards, the play of good luck and bad luck, in a lost way of life.

“I really wanted to take these characters and follow them from babyhood to death,” Smiley says.

“And I want the reader to be reminded that there’s so much that we don’t remember, that there’s so much that we don’t know.”

Smiley lived in Iowa for about 24 years as a student and professor and ended up living for a while in a sort of abandoned farmhouse.

“I used to take long walks in the countryside, and I used to think a lot about farming. It became an interest and continued to be an in-

terest as I stayed in Iowa. How we get our food, who grows the food and what the food is made of is central to any culture. . . .

The Langdons love the farm, but they hate the farm. They are suspicious of soybeans, but they love oats. It’s an incredible amount of work, yet they feel a great sense of accomplishment. It was a very great pleasure to write about that.”

Smiley describes in some detail the research that went into creating her trilogy—the stacks of books on her office floor and her gratitude to Wikipedia, “which is great for a novelist because it’s OK—in fact it’s better—for your knowledge of something to be partial.” Remarkably, that research is completely subsumed in the consciousness and conversations of her characters.

As a result, Some Luck moves swiftly and assuredly through just over 33 years of the Langford clan’s experiences. Smiley says the novel’s velocity arises from the quirky year-by-year approach she deploys throughout the trilogy.

“Most trilogies are groups of stories that include some of the same characters and then don’t,” she says. “I wanted to write a book about a family, but I wanted it to progress evenly for 100 years. I didn’t know of anybody who had done that before and thought it would be fun to try. That’s the nerdy side of me. I wanted each volume to cover 33 1⁄3 years and each chapter to be a certain number of pages. The only way I can justify that is that, in a novel with a plot, the plot gives you a form, but in a book that progresses through time, then something as simple as

ELENA SEIBERT

BY ALDEN MUDGE

the divisions of the book give you form. I had to do a lot of research, but the energy that was inherent in that form really carried me along.”

Some Luck ends up being a quiet, almost self-effacing, Midwestern tour de force. Smiley writes about farm life, family life and, suggestively, near the end, national political life. There are farming scenes, sex scenes, combat scenes and table-talk scenes.

Smiley says she began with the concept of the trilogy but ended up being swept away by the trajectories of her characters.

“There are three boys and two girls born over the course of 19 years. I wanted to be able to freely enter into everybody’s mind. So I had to be open to their most likely experiences. Frank at his age obviously is going to go off to the Second World War. So I have to be open to male experiences. And there is Lillian, who is the darling child—I’m really quite fond of Lillian—who realizes as she enters high school that she isn’t going to be everybody’s darling.

“I really did want to enter into the minds of the male characters, the female characters, the teenagers, the 20-year olds, the 40-year olds, and that meant I had to go everywhere that they might go.”

Wherever Smiley goes in Some Luck, most readers will willingly follow. Then wait, with bated breath, for her next steps.

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interviews

GARTH STEIN

Finding ghosts in the family closet

J

ust a minute,” Garth Stein says when he answers the phone at his Seattle home. “The kids are kicking soccer balls at me—I’ve got to get out of the line of fire.”

It’s understandable that his three boys—ages 17, 15 and 7—are craving their dad’s attention. With an international phenomenon already under his belt (2008’s The Art of Racing in the Rain, which has sold 4 million copies) and a new book about to hit shelves, Stein is frequently on the road these days.

He has just returned from a trip to West Virginia, where he did a reading at the famously elegant Greenbrier.

“It’s creepy!” he declares of the historic hotel in the Allegheny Mountains. “It’s totally haunted.”

Funny, coming from the author of a stunning new book in which a spooky house figures prominently.

A Sudden Light is based on a play Stein wrote, Brother Jones, which was produced in 2005.

When 14-year-old Trevor Riddell travels with his father, Jones, to the family’s legendary home overlooking Puget Sound, he expects a rundown shack based on Jones’ description. Instead, he finds that Riddell House is a hulking mansion made almost entirely of logs. It’s a fitting home for the Riddell family, which made its fortune clear-cut-

A SUDDEN LIGHT

By Garth Stein

Simon & Schuster, $26.95, 416 pages ISBN 9781439187036, audio, eBook available

FICTION

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ting forests to fuel the nation’s insatiable need for timber at the turn of the century.

But the guilt stemming from their opportunistic way of life flows through generations. Many “I wanted of Trevor’s the house to ancestors met be an actual untimely and tragic ends that character. some in the That’s really family feel are where it all reparation. started.”

Jones left the family home abruptly when he was a teenager, not to return until the summer of 1990, when he and Trevor go back to convince Jones’ father, Samuel, to sell the property. Joining them in this endeavor is Serena, Jones’ beautiful younger sister, who has been caring for Samuel all these years as the house rots around them. Their reasons for wanting to sell are different—Jones needs the cash to get out of debt and save his faltering marriage, Serena needs freedom—but the two siblings set about convincing their aging but stubborn father to sell the land to a developer.

Meanwhile, a bored and lonely Trevor begins wandering through the vast house, uncovering artifacts of another era and meeting some interesting beings along the way.

The longer Trevor and Jones stay at Riddell House, the more Trevor learns about the family’s past and yearns to make it right by letting the property return to nature. He and his dad clash, their anger escalating until it culminates in a heartbreaking but inevitable outcome.

“What do you do when you’re 14 years old?” Stein asks, speaking with the wisdom of a father of three boys. “You fight with your father. They challenge you—their little antler buds come out, and everything is a fight. Trevor sees for the first time that his father hasn’t

even figured himself out yet.”

It isn’t lost on Stein that the book is likely shaped by his experiences with his own father.

“My father died five years ago,” he says.

“I’d been working on the book, was early on in the formative moments of the book, and my father ups and dies. I don’t do psycho­ therapy, but I’m sure if I did, my therapist would have something to say about that.”

A Sudden Light is the best of many genres: a ghost story, a love story, historical fiction. What makes it a truly killer read is the way Stein brings the house to life, almost literally: its rickety basement staircases groaning; its patriarch staring down from an eight-foot-tall portrait; “a world that smelled of decay, heavy with moist, thick air, which floated in the rooms like an invisible fog.”

“I wanted the house to be an actual character that interacts with other characters,” Stein says.

“That’s really where it all started.”

Stein found inspiration in an old book that depicted a University of Washington forestry building built of some of the finest old-growth trees. He couldn’t shake the notion of someone feeling powerful enough to fell trees that had been alive for centuries “They went out and found trees that were perfect specimens, and cut them down. It was stunning,” Stein recalls. “I thought, ‘That’s my house.’ ” After 18 years in New York, Stein moved his young family to his

PAUL STUART

BY AMY SCRIBNER

hometown of Seattle several years ago to secure naturopathic care for one of his sons. (“I enjoyed it,” he says of New York. “I just decided, I’m a writer now, and I didn’t need to be there anymore.”)

He has become fully immersed in the rainy city’s literary scene, which he calls “a very fertile place.” He serves on the board of Seattle­7Writers, a group dedicated to promoting local literacy efforts through grants and events. (Its membership reads like a who’s who of Pacific Northwest authors: Tara Conklin, Erik Larson, Jim Lynch and Rebecca Wells, to name a few.)

A Sudden Light is a bold, poignant book about wealth, family ties and the power—and f­ allacy— of memory. The story is told by adult Trevor recalling the trip to Riddell House as a 14-year-old. It’s a middle-aged man reflecting on himself as a teen and his tenuous relationship with his father from the distance of many years, and it adds a rich layer of mysteriousness and pathos to the story.

“When we read a book, we all read it differently,” Stein says.

“We all view it through our own experiences. I like the unreliability of narrators. I want readers to say occasionally, ‘Did that really happen?’ ”

reviews THE WONDER OF ALL THINGS

FICTION

A teen ponders the price of power REVIEW BY KAREN ANN CULLOTTA

Jason Mott’s second novel, The Wonder of All Things, is equal parts supernatural thriller and coming-of-age tale as 13-year-old Ava and her best friend, Wash, bravely attempt to navigate their small-town world in the wake of a public disaster. When a beloved local stunt pilot crashes his plane into a crowd of spectators at a festival, Wash is critically injured. When word travels that Ava’s simple act of placing her hands over her friend has healed his wounds, the once quiet town of Stone Temple is soon swarming with folks who are desperate to cure their own loved ones, or themselves.

The resulting mass hysteria is aptly depicted by Mott, in a way that is not entirely unsympathetic to the crowds imploring Ava to share her gift. For Ava, this discovery aggravates an already chronic case of adolescent angst, and it also comes at a steep price: After each healing,

By Jason Mott Ava is stricken by debilitating ailments and visions of her late mother, MIRA, $24.95, 304 pages whose suicide continues to haunt her and her father, town sheriff MaISBN 9780778316527, audio, eBook available con Campbell. Can she continue? But how can she stop?

POPULAR FICTION Like Mott’s first bestseller, The Returned, which was adapted for television this spring, The Wonder of All Things has a premise that lies outside the realm of possibility. Still, readers who are willing to suspend reality will be captivated by this poignant story of loss and love—and rewarded with a rich cast of characters.

LILA

By Marilynne Robinson

FSG $26, 272 pages ISBN 9780374187613 Audio, eBook available

LITERARY FICTION

This luminous novel is only Robinson’s fourth in a writing career that has spanned nearly as many decades—which makes each one of her works all the more precious.

In Lila, we revisit the Iowa town of Gilead, setting of the eponymous Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and of Home. This time, Robinson tells the story of a young woman who was neglected as a child and rescued by a kind-hearted, fiercely loyal drifter called Doll. Lila grows up traveling with Doll and a downon-their-luck group who find work where they can along backcountry roads.

Lila is barely surviving when she lands in Gilead, seeking shelter

from the rain in a church. She finds herself drawn to the local pastor, a soft-spoken man whom Robinson fans will recognize. But after a lifetime of abandonment, uncertainty and poverty, Lila wrestles with lingering mistrust of the world, and doubts her newfound security as the pastor’s wife and a mother-tobe.

“Even now, thinking of the man who called himself her husband, what if he turned away from her?”

Robinson writes. “It would be nothing. What if the child was no child?

There would be an evening and a morning. The quiet of the world was terrible to her, like mockery.

She had hoped to put an end to these thoughts, but they returned to her, and she returned to them.”

As Lila begins to come to grips with her past, she must decide whether her future is in Gilead.

She slowly begins to see what she can offer to her new family and her community, while honoring the transient family of her youth.

In her gorgeous, unadorned prose, Robinson returns to both a place (Gilead) and a theme (keep-

ing faith in a world that can be unbearably harsh and beautiful) that have proven to be so fertile. Lila is a stunning and moving exploration of family and faith, and how to find one’s place in the world.

—AMY SCRIBNER

THE PLOUGHMEN

By Kim Zupan

Holt $26, 272 pages ISBN 9780805099515 Audio, eBook available

now facing the prospect of a prison sentence. Millimaki is an underling in the Copper County sheriff’s department, whose marriage was splintering even before he drew the night shift. The unlikely pair develop a friendship that takes an unexpected turn as an act of violence leaves the two tied together by the secrets they share and the rugged country they love.

It would be too simple to say The Ploughmen centers on the idea of good and evil; it is not so black and white as that. The story is perpetually gray, with pockets of light and dark, not just in its morality but in its scenery. Despite their obvious differences, Millimaki and Gload share a kind of nostalgia for a past Montana, and their futures are connected by their choices.

Zupan is a native Montanan who for 25 years made a living as a carpenter while pursuing his writing. In The Ploughmen, he uses cadence and rich language to pull readers through the narrative, and despite a tendency toward long sentences, he writes with a kind of straightforwardness reminiscent of Kerouac. This memorable debut is at times strikingly beautiful, while at others quite bleak, but it is always poignant.

—HALEY HERFURTH

LEAVING TIME

By Jodi Picoult

Ballantine $28, 416 pages ISBN 9780345544926 Audio, eBook available

POPULAR FICTION

DEBUT FICTION

When Valentine Millimaki, a troubled young sheriff’s deputy, begins spending long hours at the county jail talking from opposite sides of prison bars with a career killer, he doesn’t expect to see a reflection of himself in the murderer’s own complicated past. At 77, John Gload has spent a lifetime working as a gun-for-hire, and is so adept at his craft that he is only

As a longtime Picoult fan, I was anxious to devour her latest novel, Leaving Time. And she doesn’t disappoint: Once again, Picoult has masterfully woven what appear to be incongruous events and people together into one captivating and emotional story. This time around, the author’s extensive research on elephants and their surprisingly human emotions are a highlight.

But wait, there’s more: She has also included a down-on-her-luck

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reviews psychic, a spunky teen and a haunting murder.

Thirteen-year-old Jenna Metcalf is consumed with memories of her mother, Alice, a scientist who studied grief and other emotions among elephants. Alice vanished after a tragic accident at the New Hampshire elephant sanctuary that she, her husband and Jenna once called home. Using Alice’s research journals as well as a psychic and the detective who originally investigated the disappearance of her mother, Jenna tries to piece together why her family was ripped apart.

Picoult explores the mother-daughter bond from a unique vantage point. Using both elephants and human beings, she asks, are we that much different from our pachyderm friends when it comes to processing emotion?

Leaving Time is an emotional study of what mothers will do for their young—and in true Picoult form, the author delivers an ending that even her biggest fans won’t be able to predict.

FICTION her adult caretakers. Krysta uses elements of fairy stories to explain her father’s increasingly tortured mental state and the bizarre world in which she finds herself. As Granville gradually unveils the chilling details—which her innocent narrator does not fully understand—we readers recognize the true terror of her situation.

The second story, told in alternate chapters, takes place in the late 19th century. Josef Breuer, a psychoanalyst of some renown, becomes fascinated by a nameless, beautiful woman claiming to be a machine. She’s in search of a monster, she tells him, who must be destroyed before he spawns more monsters just like himself. Breuer is determined to discover who she is and why she bears a smudged tattoo of numbers on her forearm.

This combination of history, mystery and fairy tale makes for engrossing and irresistible reading—right up to the ultimately redemptive final twist.

—MARIANNE PETERS

—ELISABETH ATWOOD

GRETEL AND THE DARK

By Eliza Granville Riverhead $27.95, 352 pages ISBN 9781594632556 Audio, eBook available

ROOMS

By Lauren Oliver Ecco $25.99, 320 pages ISBN 9780062223197 Audio, eBook available

POPULAR FICTION

HISTORICAL FICTION

Eliza Granville’s suspenseful novel hearkens back to the fairy tales we remember from childhood— but not the sanitized Disney versions. These are the darker tales about witches, ovens and children lost in the deep woods, fleeing for their lives.

Gretel and the Dark tells two stories that eventually connect, revealing the mystery at the heart of the novel. The first concerns Krysta, a young girl in Nazi-controlled Germany whose widowed father works at an infirmary with an ominous mission. Granville reveals this world through the eyes of Krysta, a spirited and stubborn girl who seems to delight in confounding

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Like all good scary stories, Rooms begins with a death. When Richard Walker passes away, his estranged family must return to the erstwhile family home to sift through a household—and lifetime—of memories and belongings. But Richard’s ex-wife Caroline and troubled children, Trenton and Minna, are not alone as they work to rid the house of the traces of the man who once lived there: Their actions and emotions are acutely observed by two former residents of the home, Alice and Sandra, each so different from the other, yet both bound to the house by dreadful tragedies.

Although death has sought to rob the two women of their voices, they

manage to subtly communicate beyond the grave through the house itself, from the creak of a floorboard to the rattling of the shutters. As both the living and dead struggle to carry the burdens of the past, long-buried secrets are brought to light and the barriers between the two worlds begin to soften, resulting in explosive consequences.

Although author Lauren Oliver has had success as a YA novelist, it can be tricky making the transition to an older audience. But Rooms is written with grace and confidence, and packs the emotional wallop of someone unafraid of tackling difficult and delicate issues. Rooms doesn’t scare so much as haunt, and for a tale narrated in part by ghosts, it is remarkably full of life.

Utterly captivating and electric, this richly atmospheric ghost story is excellent reading.

—STEPHENIE HARRISON

NORA WEBSTER

By Colm Tóibín

Scribner $27, 384 pages ISBN 9781439138335 Audio, eBook available

LITERARY FICTION

Colm Tóibín’s new novel, Nora Webster, never strays from the quiet, deceptive simplicity of its storytelling, and yet this persuasive portrait of a compelling woman blossoms into something greater than the sum of its parts. Set in a small town in County Wexford, Ireland, in the early 1970s, it is the story of a mother navigating the first, tentative days and months of a premature widowhood.

Only in her early 40s, Nora has been left with four children—two daughters away at school and two younger sons still at home—after the untimely death of her beloved husband Maurice. She is a fiercely independent, intelligent and private woman, who pushes against the narrow margins of the nosy, hidebound town where she has lived most of her life. She must make some tough choices, both

practical and emotional: whether to sell the family’s beloved cottage; whether to return to work at the suffocating office where she was employed before she married; how best to raise the children, particularly her visibly troubled son, Donal, who has grown asocial and developed a stammer since his father’s death. Suffering no fools gladly, Nora must nonetheless coexist with her parochial neighbors and interfering relatives as she attempts to figure out her next move in a time and culture where women had a prescribed “proper” place.

While she sometimes fails to acknowledge her own sorrow, Nora never wallows in self-pity, and while she may long for the love and protection she had with Maurice, her momentum is forward-facing, both due to her temperament and by necessity.

On the surface a domestic novel, Nora Webster also touches on the politics of Ireland during the Troubles, as well as the country’s firm, if complicated, relationship with Catholicism. With understated grace, Tóibín—who has been shortlisted three times for the Man Booker Prize—has turned a seemingly straightforward story of one woman’s widowhood into a wider exploration of family, community and country.

—ROBERT WEIBEZAHL

THE BETRAYERS

By David Bezmozgis

Little, Brown $26, 240 pages ISBN 9780316284332 Audio, eBook available

LITERARY FICTION

Anyone who thinks the compact novel of ideas is dead would do well to turn to Canadian writer David Bezmozgis’ second novel, The Betrayers. In scarcely more than 200 pages, this tension-packed story explores themes of betrayal, forgiveness, moral courage and its opposite that are both contemporary and timeless.

FICTION The action takes place in the present day, over a period of 24 hours, in the Crimean resort town of Yalta. Baruch Kotler, an Israeli politician, has fled there with his aide and lover Leora after their affair is exposed by his political opponents. But what’s more intriguing than his current embarrassment is his encounter with Chaim Tankilevich, a former friend whose denunciation some A disgraced four decades politician earlier had confronts his condemned Kotler, a Soviet checkered Jewish dispast in this compact novel sident, to 13 years in the of ideas.

Gulag. The aged and ailing Tankilevich has enacted a sort of penance for that act in the form of the painful three-hour bus ride he takes each Saturday to attend the slowly dying Jewish Sabbath service in the town of Simferopol.

In a series of emotionally fraught conversations, Bezmozgis skillfully manipulates the tension between the two men and Tankilevich’s wife, Svetlana, embittered by the straitened circumstances in which she and her husband live as a result of his long-ago treachery.

Tankilevich offers a plausible, if self-serving, justification for that choice, while Kotler coolly withholds the absolution the couple desperately demands. “I gave, but I was forced,” Tankilevich responds to Kotler’s condemnation. “Everyone was forced. Some nevertheless managed to resist,” replies his former friend. Kotler’s apparent perch atop the moral high ground is compromised by his own infidelity and his response to his son’s conscience-stricken refusal to obey IDF officers’ orders to eject Israeli settlers from their homes.

Bezmozgis refuses to pass judgment on these characters, almost daring us to do so. There are no saints, and perhaps no sinners, in the bleak world he so meticulously creates, only flawed human beings struggling to navigate a moral universe painted here in shades of gray.

—HARVEY FREEDENBERG

From New York Times bestselling author

CROOKED RIVER

By Valerie Geary Morrow $25.99, 336 pages ISBN 9780062326591 eBook available

DEBUT FICTION

One might describe Oregon as a mélange of Haight-Ashbury, Appalachia and Yankee nouveau riche.

Valerie Geary’s first novel, Crooked River, follows this interplay between the state’s radicals, rednecks and arrivistes. It begins when a journalist with the WASP-y name of Taylor Bellweather drowns. And the prime suspect is a beekeeper with a beard and a penchant for whiskey.

The beekeeper is father to Sam and Ollie, girls mourning the recent death of their mother. Sam discovers the victim but fears that the police will implicate her father.

The police implicate him anyway, because witnesses have him arguing with Taylor in a bar on the night of her disappearance. So Sam sets out like Nancy Drew to prove her father’s innocence.

Given the setting and the crime, Crooked River pays homage to Snow Falling on Cedars. But Geary is not one to labor over language.

So while her novel is a swift and beguiling read, it sometimes resembles an episode of “Murder, She Wrote.” Given that two youngsters are its narrators, it even flirts with the young adult genre.

Not to say that Sam isn’t a compelling character. She is finely drawn, an update on Harper Lee’s Scout.

When the local detective tells Sam that it’s not her job to protect her father, Sam makes a fair bid to join the great orphans of literature.

The problem with the back-tonature ethos of the 1960s is that nature can be primal and nasty.

The Summer of Love begat an Autumn of Discontent. Put another way, it’s all fun and games until a girl named Taylor gets whacked.

Geary isn’t explicit about it, but her novel undoes some of the more recent idealizations of that grand Pacific Northwest state. It

comes a feel-good new romance in her charming Blue Heron series.

Can what starts out as an impulsive weekend getaway to deceive former exes turn into a love that’s worth more than just dreaming about…?

Pick up your copy today! “[Higgins] only gets better with each book.”

—New York Times

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reviews may, as the current motto goes, “love dreamers,” but there’s a dark earthiness to it still. Or as Sam says, “trees made better friends than people did.”

—KENNETH CHAMPEON

THE HIGH DIVIDE

By Lin Enger

Algonquin $24.95, 352 pages ISBN 9781616203757 Audio, eBook available

HISTORICAL FICTION

FICTION number of the vanishing bison— paradoxically, to stuff and preserve them for future generations.

Though the reader gradually learns the facts behind Ulysses’ disappearance, his ultimate search is for forgiveness for his part in what he now knows is the decimation of the Cheyenne, Crow, Lakota and Blackfeet tribes that were part of the land on which he was raised.

Enger’s gripping story is a marvelous blend of strong characters and a brilliant depiction of a land and time now lost.

—DEBORAH DONOVAN

JUST CALL ME SUPERHERO Lin Enger’s moving and enlightening second novel resonates emotionally and intellectually on several levels: as an homage to the vanished American bison, a reflection on the forceful removal of Northern Plains Indians from their homelands and an engaging family saga peopled with characters who could have been this Midwestern author’s own ancestors.

The High Divide opens in the summer of 1886, when Ulysses Pope, husband to Norwegian-born Gretta and father to Eli, 16, and younger son Danny, abruptly disappears from their western Minnesota home. Shortly thereafter, Eli finds a letter to his father from a woman in Bismarck—so he and Danny hop a freight train west, following their only clue to their father’s whereabouts. Gretta, in turn, embarks on her own journey, “with two dollars left in her purse and not a single blood relative in all the North American continent—aside from her own two sons, whose whereabouts were unknown to her.” She instead heads east to St. Paul, the home of Ulysses’ sister, who shares details of her brother’s military years that were unknown to Gretta—and which may somehow be connected to his disappearance now, nearly two decades later.

Enger entwines Ulysses’ odyssey with the actual Hornaday Expedition of 1886, during which the curator of the National Museum in Washington, D.C., now the Smithsonian, sought to kill a large

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er and the half-brother he barely knows, Marek faces a gauntlet of challenges to his self-absorption.

Through this, he begins his journey to self-acceptance.

A twist ending comes out of left field, but the sum of Just Call Me Superhero is greater than its disparate plot parts: Bronsky’s sharp humor, her deftly painted characters and Marek’s strong narrative voice are all it needs. A painful, tender, very funny bildungsroman void of sentimentality, Bronsky’s book captures contemporary European adolescence in one delicious swoop. Adults and teens should enjoy it equally.

—SHERI BODOH

By Alina Bronsky Europa Editions $16, 240 pages ISBN 9781609452292 eBook available

WORLD LITERATURE

GUTENBERG’S APPRENTICE

By Alix Christie

Harper $27.99, 416 pages ISBN 9780062336019 Audio, eBook available

HISTORICAL FICTION

Russian-born Alina Bronsky made a splash with 2011’s The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, with praise from sources as varied as The Daily Beast and the Financial Times. She’s back with a third novel, Just Call Me Superhero, serving up more biting wit and a no-frills style that readers can eat up in big, satisfying chunks.

It’s been a year since Marek, a 17-year-old from Berlin, was mauled by a Rottweiler. Perpetually hidden behind sunglasses, he avoids mirrors and most people, struggling with their shocked reactions to the sight of his face. It takes a trick by his mother, no-nonsense divorce lawyer Claudia, to get him to a support group, but one look at the beautiful wheelchair-bound Janne keeps him at the meeting.

Though he despises his other new cohorts and their leader, dubbed “the Guru,” his longing for the icecold Janne keeps him coming back.

A trip to the countryside tests his maturity and puts him at odds with the group, but when a family emergency calls him away, he finds he might need those “cripples” more than he realized. Whisked off to the home of his young stepmoth-

Gutenberg’s Apprentice is, in large part, a depiction of the creative process. It highlights the ingenuity, patience and skill that often shape seemingly lifeless mechanisms, but it also examines the interdependent and often rocky relationships that exist between individuals involved in collaborative, creative activities.

Those with ideas, skill and funding all depend upon each other to make their vision a reality—which makes betrayal all the more brutal, as the novel shows.

Letterpress printer Alix Christie’s debut novel also asks profound questions. How do we determine whether the work we’re doing is good or evil? Is a greater dissemination of knowledge through mass production worth the creative touches and soulful variations it often loses? Gutenberg’s Apprentice is an imaginative recounting of history that, despite a 15th-century setting, reflects many of today’s chief matters of concern. It is a mustread for anyone interested in the ever-changing art of publishing.

—STEPHANIE KIRKLAND

Peter Schoeffer has no choice.

Johann Fust raised him as his own son, and Peter owes him everything—even if that means he must do the work of the devil.

This is how Peter feels about Fust’s request that Peter abandon his promising career as a scribe to apprentice to Johann Gutenberg. The cunning inventor’s rote technique of making books seems blasphemous to all who learn of it.

Anxious that the Church will feel the same, Gutenberg and his financial backer Fust vow to keep their press a secret until they complete a massive undertaking: the printing and binding of nearly 200 copies of the Holy Bible, a book with well over a thousand pages.

At first, the clandestine workshop in Strasbourg is just as Peter imagined it would be—a brutal, spirit-crushing, suffocating place full of molten metal and jet-black sludge. But as Peter devotes all his waking hours to the task of printing with movable type, he slowly discovers printing’s beauty, its power and its art.

WOLF IN WHITE VAN

By John Darnielle FSG $24, 224 pages ISBN 9780374292089 Audio, eBook available

DEBUT FICTION

Who is Sean Phillips? And how did he end up like this?

That’s the central conceit of John Darnielle’s Wolf in White Van, a compact but wide-ranging novel that follows S ­ ean’s development from unpopular teenager to reclusive adult.

Sean is the founder of Focus Games, and while he has several works to his credit, he’s best known for Trace Italian. The concept for the game came to him while he was hospitalized after suffering a gunshot wound as a teen. The noise surrounding Sean—both in his head and coming from an

q&a

—CARLA JEAN WHITLEY

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS

By Marlon James Riverhead $28.95, 704 pages ISBN 9781594486005 Audio, eBook available

LITERARY FICTION

In December 1976, two days before the Smile Jamaica concert to promote political unity, armed gunmen walked into reggae star Bob Marley’s house at 56 Hope Road in Kingston and began shooting. Marley sustained injuries in his arm and chest; his wife, Rita, was hit as she raced to protect their children; and his manager, Don Taylor, was also injured. In Marlon James’ powerful new novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, the

attack is the centerpiece of a blistering commentary on Jamaica in the 1970s and its inextricable links both to Cold War politics and to the drug wars of the following decade.

Marley, here called “The Singer,” may be at the center of the story, but A Brief History of Seven Killings is a tapestry, not a portrait.

James created an extensive cast of characters—gang leaders, CIA operatives, rogue agents, girlfriends, drug dealers, reporters and even a ghost or two—to tell this story of a country whose political instability was exploited by American interests, a tale that pulsates and spreads over three decades, traveling from Kingston to New York and back again.

Jamaican gang leaders Papa Lo, the head or “Don” of Copenhagen City, a slum area of Kingston, and his successor and sometime-rival Josey Wales, together with their enforcer, Weeper, dominate illegal activity on the island. When their younger associates ramp up the violence, the gangs are drawn into an even more dangerous world, one with ties to drug trafficking and, ultimately, the crack houses of New York and other American cities.

This is not an easy book. It’s complicated and bloody; the dialogue harsh and often profane.

However, James—who won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Minnesota Book Award for The Book of Night Women, a clear-eyed and often brutal look at slavery in 18th-century Jamaica—is a superb craftsman, managing multiple characters and storylines with an elegance that is almost at odds with the gritty content. Behind the thuggery and carnage lies a belief that deliverance can be achieved through knowledge and self-awareness, which is very much in keeping with Marley’s legacy.

As the singer said in “Redemption Song,” the true cost of political freedom requires us to “emancipate yourself from mental slavery/ none but ourselves can free our minds.” In A Brief History, James’ willingness to look squarely at his country’s difficult past makes this an important book—and a remarkable one.

—LAUREN BUFFERD

BY LAUREN BUFFERD

Jamaican lament

T

he failed 1976 assassination attempt on Bob Marley is the centerpiece of prizewinning author Marlon James’ groundbreaking new novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings.

JEFFREY SKEMP

endless stream of doctors, social workers and his well-meaning parents—was difficult to block out. To escape, Sean retreated into himself, envisioning a desolate Midwestern landscape and a treasure that beckons.

Upon leaving the hospital, Sean creates a roleplay-by-mail game, which allows him a livelihood even while he hides his disfigured face from the world. Players select their moves and send Sean directives in letters, carefully considering their options even as they become increasingly entangled in the fictional world of his imagination.

Fans of other game-oriented novels, such as Ready Player One, may be drawn to this intriguing tale, as it too focuses on an enthralling game and how it affects both its players and creator. But the parallels stop there. Perhaps mimicking Trace Italian, first-time novelist and musician Darnielle (Mountain Goats) carries readers through a labyrinthine unveiling of events. As he writes, Darnielle peels back layers to reveal Sean’s character, the game’s play and the storylines that have developed around his game. The result is a tale as complex as the songs for which Darnielle is loved.

MARLON JAMES

You were 6 when Marley was shot—do you remember it at all?

I do remember it as a kind of seminal event. [Y]ou could hear it in the tone of adults around you that a line had been crossed. The event [took] the sense of security from everyone, even Jamaicans who never had to think about that before. If neither money nor celebrity could protect him, what was going to happen to us?

What kind of research did you do for this novel?

Tons. Over the four years it took to write this novel I had four researchers helping me. There were so many things, people, events, etc., to learn about. The Cold War. The history of the CIA. Third-world politics. I went through back issues of High Times, Ramparts, Playboy, Penthouse (for research!) and Rolling Stone. Bob Marley books.

Artillery specs. 1970s slang. Manuals on how to disappear and build a new identity. Interviews with actual drug users so as to distinguish between a heroin and a cocaine high. Had the FBI subpoenaed my laptop, I would have had some serious explaining to do.

Your previous novel took place in the 18th century. What are the differences in writing a novel that takes place within living memory?

The problem with writing about an event that you were a part of is that your experience is still only one person’s point of view. Other viewpoints, other perspectives, become crucial. Especially if it turns out that the event was something that you have no firsthand knowledge of. And given that I was 6 in 1976, that’s pretty much everything.

This story is told by gang leaders, agents, reporters, politicians, girlfriends—yet we never hear from Marley. Why not?

Even before his death, Bob Marley’s presence in Jamaican life was symbolic. One argument was that this was exactly what made him dangerous, that he represented an ideal for independence, self-assertion, even nationhood. It was very important that I kept that in the novel, that even on a day-to-day level, Marley was a symbol, almost an allegory. In that sense he had to disappear. Also, we’re talking Bob Marley. He could have easily stolen the show in a book that is not really about him.

Marley’s music continues to motivate disenfranchised people around the world. Why do you think that is?

I think people hear a simplicity in the message of freedom, self-determination and triumph after struggle. That said, it’s also because of these things that people miss just how sly and inventive he was.

“Kinky Reggae” is as libidinous as any Stones song about sex. “We and Them” nailed class hypocrisy years before rich kids started to buy the Legend album. But most of us are here for the message and the grooves, and next to Marvin Gaye, Marley was the only artist who figured out how to make hard messages go down sweet.

A Brief History is so intense and so brutal—what did you do to relax while you were writing it?

Visit BookPage.com to read an I read Jo Nesbø.

extended version of this Q&A.

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reviews

NONFICTION FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES

By Charles M. Blow

INTERNAL MEDICINE

Confronting a doctor’s dilemmas

MEMOIR

REVIEW BY ALICE CARY

Let me confess: I’m a medical book junkie. That said, Terrence Holt’s Internal Medicine: A Doctor’s Stories is my new favorite, both in terms of literary merit and intriguing medical details and drama.

Holt is uniquely qualified, having earned an M.F.A. in creative writing and a Ph.D. in English before turning to the study of medicine.

Early on, he decided he wanted to write about the process of becoming a doctor. He eventually concluded that the best way to capture the essence of his journey without violating patient confidentiality was to write a series of “parables” that drew on his own experiences.

Whether or not you classify this collection of nine stories as nonfiction, they ring true in both details and spirit, starting with a doctor’s evolution from the first night on call as an intern and ending with ethical questions that a physician ponders 40 months later, his residency

By Terrence Holt complete.

Liveright, $24.95, 288 pages Holt describes telling a young woman that her death was imminent: ISBN 9780871408754, eBook available “I’d like to say that I held her, or said soothing words. But I don’t hold feESSAYS male patients, even when they cry, and I had no soothing words. I knelt there and I watched her, and struggled to comprehend what I saw.”

Each account is equally compelling and thought-provoking. The narrator faces a dying woman who needs oxygen but finds the mask claustrophobic; an artist whose mouth and jaw have been eaten away by cancer; a mental patient whose mysterious but horrifying self-inflicted pain needs to be identified; and a young woman who arrives in the ER but has already, as it turns out, begun the act of suicide.

How can a doctor help patients such as these? What should or shouldn’t a physician do? How do doctors feel when confronted with such daily dilemmas and myriad personalities?

Dr. Holt never settles for easy answers, and the questions he poses—reflecting the frequent uncertainties of doctors and patients alike—will leave readers thinking long after the final page is turned. the Summer Moon, casts Jackson as a human being, not as a bronze figure towering over a battlefield.

By S.C. Gwynne Readers will come away from RebScribner el Yell with an understanding of the $35, 688 pages man that goes beyond his military ISBN 9781451673289 exploits.

Audio, eBook available Gwynne is obligated to cover BIOGRAPHY familiar territory, as when Thomas Jackson earned his nickname by standing his ground against superior Union forces at the First Battle Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is of Manassas. A fellow Confederate general shouted, “Yonder stands such an iconic military figure that he is legendary to Civil War scholJackson like a stone wall,” and the ars and schoolchildren alike. So it’s rest, as they say, is history. hard to imagine an author breaking Jackson’s military prowess is new ground with another Jackimpressive, but it is glimpses of Stonewall off the battlefield that son biography. But S.C. G ­ wynne does just that in Rebel Yell, which are more fascinating. We learn that Jackson was a complex character deserves comparisons to Shelby Foote’s three-volume The Civil with any number of quirks and tics.

War for its depth of knowledge and He was deeply religious and placed graceful narrative. ­Gwynne, a 2011 his fate in the hands of God. Thus, while he lived by the Sixth ComPulitzer Prize finalist for Empire of

REBEL YELL

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HMH $27, 240 pages ISBN 9780544228047 Audio, eBook available

mandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” once the South declared war, he pledged his loyalty and felt that any death he caused was God’s will.

Formerly a professor at the Virginia Military Institute, Jackson was introverted and soft-spoken, yet in the heat of battle, his eyes became fiery and his demeanor decisive as he barked out orders. He was consumed by his health, and a bad stomach propelled him to a diet of stale bread and buttermilk. Despite these peculiarities, Jackson rose to become one of the South’s fiercest and most beloved generals, so relied upon that his early death left Confederates wondering whether the war’s outcome might have been different if he had survived.

Gwynne’s masterful storytelling makes Rebel Yell an absorbing choice for general readers and Civil War buffs alike.

—J O H N T. S L A N I A

Fire Shut Up in My Bones is a stunning coming-of-age story that tracks New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow’s rise from a poverty-stricken childhood in Louisiana to the respected journalist he is today. An introspective and poetic memoir about race, masculinity and sexuality, it also reckons with the impact of childhood sexual abuse on the core of his identity.

The youngest of four sons, Blow is devoted to his mother, who struggles to support the boys on her salary as a home economics teacher. Her commitment to education and newspaper reading is a positive influence on young Blow, a corrective to his father’s drinking and emotional manipulation. The summer Blow is 7, his older cousin comes to stay with the family, and offers at first the attention the child is hungry for, an attention that swiftly turns abusive.

Blow’s portrait of the psychic and spiritual aftermath of that abuse is intensely honest. He describes the severing of body and spirit, the self-blame and self-doubt. As he grows older, he shows how the experience lay behind his drive to become invincible, a popular boy.

But the legacy of abuse is subtle and pernicious, and in his role as fraternity president at college, Blow presides over hazing rituals, which are no less sadistic for being traditional. The moral conflict he experiences and choices he makes offer him a first step toward untangling his childhood experiences and moving into his future.

Blow nests his story within the life stories of other men and boys he knew, gay African Americans who challenged the culture of masculinity and bravado simply by existing, and who were met with community rejection or violence. Their untold

NONFICTION stories, reflected in Blow’s, make Fire Shut Up in My Bones an essential work of autobiography.

—CATHERINE HOLLIS

When does wandering attention cross the line? When do each of us become, against our better judgment, dangerous?

— K E L LY B L E W E T T

A DEADLY WANDERING

By Matt Richtel

Morrow $28.99, 416 pages ISBN 9780062284068 Audio, eBook available

TECHNOLOGY

After closing New York Times reporter Matt Richtel’s compelling book A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention, I couldn’t help but think of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Both chronicle the story of a crime. If you’ve ever read In Cold Blood, you know how the story builds with palpable suspense.

The same is true here. The crime, though, isn’t coldblooded murder, but something seemingly more mundane: a car accident on a hillside in Utah that killed two rocket scientists and was caused by a careless teenager. The alleged crime is negligent homicide, because the teenager, Reggie, may have been texting just before the crash.

The accident occurred in 2006, when there was no state law against texting and driving. And in the immediate aftermath of the crash, Reggie vehemently denies being on his phone. But soon law enforcement officers aren’t so sure they believe him. What follows is a detailed reporting of the ensuing legal battle—and the effects it has on the key players on both sides.

Along the way, Richtel makes a sinister suggestion: This accident could have happened to anyone.

By meeting with neuroscientists who study the science of distraction, Richtel provides a powerful backdrop that explains the significance of Reggie’s accident.

It is important not only for the people involved and the driving laws in Utah, but also for all of us out in the everyday world with our phones, those tiny devices constantly demanding attention.

EVEN THIS I GET TO EXPERIENCE

By Norman Lear

Penguin Press $32.95, 464 pages ISBN 9781594205729 Audio, eBook available

MEMOIR

Norman Lear wants to show you his scrapbook, and—after 92 years—it’s a pretty thick one.

Although he established himself as a comedy writer at the dawn of television in 1950, writing for Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Lear didn’t really become a public figure until the 1970s. During that golden decade, he revolutionized TV with such socially conscious sitcoms as “All in the Family,” “Sanford and Son,” “Maude,” “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons” and “One Day at a Time.” Unlike the comedies that preceded them, these series explored such touchy subjects as racism, ethnic prejudices, homophobia, women’s rights, abortion, sex education and single parenthood.

In recounting how he built these cultural landmarks, Lear also provides glimpses of the actors who brought the episodes to life.

Carroll O’Connor, who played the iconic bigot Archie Bunker, fought with Lear over every script but was so perfect for the role that Lear has nothing but praise for his acting skills. Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker) and Bea Arthur (Maude) were dreams to work with, as was Rob Reiner (Archie’s “meathead” son-in-law, Mike), whom Lear had known since he was a 9-year-old next-door neighbor. Lear would later back Reiner in the classic “rockumentary,” This Is Spinal Tap. Born into a lower-middle-class family in New Haven, Connecticut, Lear recalls being sent to live with relatives when his father served time in prison for a financial scam.

Clearly, Lear has spent much of his

life trying to justify his worth to his largely self-centered parents. He speaks frankly here about his three marriages and his weaknesses as a husband and father. And he explains how his political bent led him to found the liberal lobbying group, People For the American Way. Age has not diminished Lear’s gifts as a storyteller.

—EDWARD MORRIS

THE BIRDS OF PANDEMONIUM

By Michele Raffin Algonquin $24.95, 240 pages ISBN 9781616201364 Audio, eBook available

NATURE

rescuing and caring for birds, they realize that their charges require ever more specialized knowledge and care. Slowly but surely, and not without some heartbreaking setbacks, Raffin takes her place in the rarefied world of aviculture.

Her sanctuary is now known for its success in breeding vulnerable species such as the lovely blue Victoria crowned pigeon of New Guinea.

Packed with dramatic incidents and unforgettable characters, both avian and human, The Birds of Pandemonium is the engaging story of one woman’s journey and her commitment to conservation.

—DEBORAH HOPKINSON

WITHOUT YOU, THERE IS NO US

By Suki Kim

Michele Raffin was a suburban California mom who’d finally signed up to join a gym when, to her dismay, her personal trainer was extremely late for their session.

When he finally arrived, he had a good reason for the delay: He’d come across a wounded bird by the side of the freeway. In what would become a life-changing moment, Raffin met that dove and tried to save it. And though it didn’t survive, she found herself a few days later responding to a newspaper ad seeking someone to rescue another dove. Her course in life was set.

Today Pandemonium Aviaries (her kids chose the name) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to breeding bird species that hover on the edge of extinction. Through Raffin’s fascinating account, we get a glimpse of the challenges of breeding wild birds in captivity.

We follow her story of how one bird led to another, and another, and we learn what it takes to bear the responsibility for hundreds of living creatures.

Along the way, we meet some endearing personalities including Sweetie, a tiny quail left in a paper bag at a supermarket on its way to become someone’s dinner, and Oscar, a flightless Lady Gouldian finch with an indomitable will to survive.

As Raffin (and her family) become increasingly committed to

Crown $24, 304 pages ISBN 9780307720658 eBook available

MEMOIR

Suki Kim, author of the highly regarded novel The Interpreter, went to North Korea to teach English under doubly false pretenses. Her fellow instructors at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) were evangelical Christians pretending to be nonreligious teachers. (“North Korea was the evangelical Christian Holy Grail, the hardest place to crack in the whole world,” she writes.) To be accepted into the program, Kim pretended to

The Choir Boy: Why I Turned to a Life of Crime

by Eric Schneider Satoris Literary Group • $19.95 ISBN 9780991374519

Child abuse leads victim to life of crime... and then redemption by helping others

25

reviews be an evangelical pretending to be a nonreligious teacher. She feared exposure on all sides.

Maybe that fear explains the sharpness of her observations in Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite. Her nuanced account is loosely chronological, covering the two semesters she taught at PUST between July and December 2011, based on secret journals she kept with great care, and informed by the heartrending stories of her family members split asunder by the Korean War. Readers will find her experiences and reactions surprising in many ways.

Kim’s 19- and 20-year-old students, all male, came from the elite families of North Korea, one of the most opaque societies on earth.

Sharing three meals a day, classes and endless, if sometimes awkward, conversations with her students, Kim developed a strong affection for them, and they for her.

At the same time, she was “struck by their astounding lack of general knowledge about the world.” Her subtle attempts to expand their awareness often backfired, her students withdrawing into a rote formulation of their nation’s superiority. Kim’s book illuminates “the inherent contradiction of a country backed into a corner, not wanting to open up, but needing to move toward engagement to survive.”

—ALDEN MUDGE

THE PRINCE OF LOS COCUYOS

By Richard Blanco Ecco $25.99, 272 pages ISBN 9780062313768 eBook available

MEMOIR

Most non-poetry-reading Americans first encountered Richard Blanco in 2013, when he was the presidential inauguration poet.

On that occasion, his moving poem “One Today” made passing reference to his Spanish-speaking mother who rang up groceries for 20 years and his father who cut

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NONFICTION sugarcane so Richard could move ahead in the family’s new country.

Blanco, a gay Latino from Miami’s Cuban community, has now beautifully repaid that debt with The Prince of los Cocuyos, a loving memoir of his boyhood among exiles.

We follow young “Riqui” from his childhood into the larger world of school and El Cocuyito (The Little Firefly), the grocery store where he worked. His tone is fond but clear-eyed: As a boy who loved fairy princesses, he was a puzzle to his relatives. His grandmother was particularly harsh, always badgering him to be more masculine.

She was frightened of what might happen to him otherwise.

Indeed, the fear that comes with an unfamiliar language and culture is a running theme: his aggressive abuela flummoxed in a Winn-Dixie; his proud parents treated with contempt during a traffic stop.

And Riqui himself was initially frightened by his sexuality. He only slowly integrated his personality— gay, Cuban, American—with the help of fellow Cubans, straight and gay, and an elderly Jewish woman who taught him that living among different worlds could be great fun.

Blanco used the same material in his first poetry collection, City of a Hundred Fires, and he approaches the memoir as a creative artist who shapes his narrative, making clear that it is “not necessarily or entirely factual,” with memories “embroidered.” It doesn’t matter: Blanco’s touching reminiscence has a deep emotional truth.

—ANNE BARTLETT

BEING MORTAL

By Atul Gawande Metropolitan $26, 304 pages ISBN 9780805095159 Audio, eBook available

HEALTH

In 1985, Alice Hobson, 77, lived independently, still mowing her own yard, fixing her own plumbing and driving her big Chevrolet

Impala, often delivering mealson-wheels to others. Seven years later, at age 84, Hobson still lived on her own, doing her shopping, going to the gym and taking care of her house. Later that year, though, she fell several times and began to experience mental lapses. Her children then faced an increasingly common dilemma: to move Hobson to a facility that could take care of her physical needs but rob her of her autonomy, or allow her to live on her own, or with them, where she would retain autonomy but face physical challenges.

Hobson’s story is one of many that New Yorker writer and surgeon Atul Gawande relates in Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, a compelling account of modern medicine’s failures to deal humanely and Gawande’s wisely with agbook should ing and dying. be required As he points out, “the wanreading for ing days of our anyone who lives are given deals with over to treataging. ments that addle our brains and sap our bodies for a sliver’s chance of benefit. They are spent in institutions—nursing home and intensive care units—where regimented, anonymous routines cut us off from all the things that matter to us in life.”

Gawande interviews geriatricians, hospice workers and innovators in the assisted living movement and discovers that while a growing number of individuals and institutions provide places where the aging can live out a life filled with meaning, change comes slowly. In the end, he says, we must “recognize that the aging have priorities beyond merely living longer and that giving them the chance to shape their story is essential to sustaining meaning in life.”

Nothing short of a manifesto, Gawande’s book should be on the shelf of every health care professional as well as required reading for anyone—which is to say, most of us—facing the prospect of providing for an aging family member.

At the age of 85, Edward O. Wilson, one of our foremost evolutionary biologists (and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner), has written a provocative book that is so fascinating it nearly lives up to the stunning ambition of its title.

Wilson’s project is partly to inspire “a new Enlightenment” through a closer collaboration between science and the humanities.

The need for such a collaboration is urgent, Wilson argues, because “we are entering an era of volitional evolution,” a time when advances in biotechnology mean we are no longer subject to the processes of natural selection, while at the same time our species is running roughshod over the intricate web of interrelationships among life forms on Earth, with unknown consequences to the survival of life on Earth. “Exalted we are,” Wilson writes, “but we are still part of Earth’s flora and fauna, bound to it by emotion, physiology and, not least, deep history.” A union of science and the humanities, he suggests, will put “pride and humility in better balance.”

Wilson is always a beguiling writer, illustrating his points with captivating examples from his field work and his broad knowledge of biodiversity and evolutionary history. For example, he devotes a wide-ranging, joyously detailed section of this book to comparing our species to other life forms on Earth, “to demonstrate how bizarre we are as a species, and why.”

The point for Wilson is that the history we need to understand for our survival is biological and cultural. “We are not predestined to reach any goal,” he writes. “Only wisdom based on self-understanding, not piety, will save us.”

—HENRY L. CARRIGAN JR.

—ALDEN MUDGE

THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

By Edward O. Wilson

Liveright $23.95, 208 pages ISBN 9780871401007 eBook available

SCIENCE

interviews

A.S. KING

Someday this will all be yours

F

rom the brilliantly bizarre mind of A.S. King comes a haunting look at a bleak future—not only for teenager Glory O’Brien, but for all women.

Glory is having a rough senior year. High school graduation is nigh and, unlike her self-assured, college-bound peers, she’s uncertain about what’s next. Actually, she wonders if there will even be a next, because the sad legacy of her mother’s suicide 13 years ago still weighs so heavily upon her.

Then there’s her longtime friend Ellie, whose frenemy tendencies have been tolerable—but lately, Glory’s been thinking their relationship is no longer worthwhile.

Even more ominous are the visions Glory and Ellie begin having after a strange, fateful night. After ingesting the remains of a dead bat, the girls start to receive “transmissions” from other people’s past or future across infinite generations. Glory’s visions are harbingers of a second Civil War that brings with it violence, misogyny, boundless danger and sorrow.

So, yeah . . . the teen protagonist of Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future has a lot going on. King tells Glory’s complicated story with skill and grace, via her trademark

GLORY O’BRIEN’S HISTORY OF THE FUTURE

By A.S. King

Little, Brown, $18, 320 pages ISBN 9780316222723, audio, eBook available Ages 15 and up

FICTION

method of melding reality with the otherworldly—a sort of matter-offact magical realism. For example, when the transmissions begin, the characters are stunned and confused, but accepting. Their jarring visual interludes are woven right into the narrative. (No reason to slow down for marveling and wondering; there’s a story to be told!)

That mix of magic and mundane, intellectual and fantastical, has long worked for King. Her first novel, The Dust of 100 Dogs, was a 2009 ALA Best Book for Young Adults; Please Ignore Vera Dietz was a 2011 Printz Honor book; and Ask the Passengers won the 2013 L.A. Times Book Prize and was a Lambda Award finalist.

Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future is King’s sixth YA novel, and it’s a story that’s close to her notone-for-following-the-traditionallife-path heart. “We put so much pressure on 16-year-olds—What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?” King says. “That goes with Glory, who feels like she’s not allowed to be lost anymore.”

The author can relate: “High school wasn’t for me. Traditional college was also not for me. Art school I excelled at, and that was great.” Also, the Pennsylvania native and her Irish husband lived for a decade in Tipperary, Ireland, renovating a decrepit farmhouse, living self-sufficiently and raising chickens. She also taught adult literacy and wrote, wrote, wrote.

“When we moved back [to Pennsylvania in 2005], I had seven or eight novels under my belt,” King says. “I didn’t know anything about publishing, which was fine.

It meant I got to grow as a writer without caring about getting published.”

Her growth as a writer began long before, though. King kept journals as a child, and in college at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, where she studied photography

and archival printing, “I secretly wrote little essays about the pictures I took. . . . No one ever saw them. I was always a closet writer.”

Just as King emerged from her writerly cocoon (though she still favors “an office where I can close the door and do whatever I want with my brain”), Glory’s growing awareness—of her parents’ past, her own talents, the near and far future—is a transformation that begins in her late mother’s closet-like darkroom, where she sifts through photos, journals and other flotsam and jetsam of a creative, troubled mind.

Glory’s nerve grows, too, and she faces the transmissions head-on by creating a History of the Future that warns others about the coming war. The catalyst? A loophole in the future Fair Pay Act: If states make it illegal for women to work, they can forgo equal pay. The subsequent Family Protection Act sparks ever-worsening misogyny.

Women and girls suffer immensely, and citizens start fighting back.

While extreme, it’s a future that doesn’t sound entirely preposterous, with current social media campaigns of young women proclaiming “We don’t need feminism” and the proliferation of so-called men’s rights groups. King says, “Being on the farm and out of touch for so long in Ireland, I wasn’t here [in the U.S.] for the whole reversal of what a feminist was. I was confused to come back and hear the word being used for other things . . . like someone changed the word while I was gone.”

She goes on, “It’s also just the culture: I have two girls, and it’s

KRISTA SCHUMOW

BY LINDA M. CASTELLITTO

hard to navigate anything from Internet to TV to ads without constantly seeing women being objectified.”

Thanks to her parents, King grew up in a household where gender stereotypes were not promoted nor enforced. “Chores had to get done, so I might be the one up in a tree sawing off a mimosa limb, and I collected the trash . . . whereas in a lot of houses those were only boys’ jobs. That was strange to me, because the only boy around was my dad, and he had other stuff to do.”

Those values are integral to Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future, as is the notion that asking questions, while sometimes scary, is worthwhile. Young people must be fearless in standing up for themselves, whether against a frenemy or a discriminatory social norm. “The bottom line is, equal rights are important,” King says. “I don’t think it’s politics, I just think everybody’s equal.”

She adds, “When it comes to feminism, there’s still a simple definition. . . . I’ll look in my old high school dictionary. . . . ‘The advocacy of political, social and economic equivalency of men and women.’ I don’t see a problem with that, and I don’t see why anyone else would.”

Put simply, she says with a laugh, “The world is full of assholes. What are you doing to make sure you’re not one of them? In a way, that’s what every book [I’ve written] is about. It’s a call to arms!”

27

reviews BELZHAR

TEEN

Out of a bad dream REVIEW BY DEBORAH HOPKINSON

Following the success of her best-selling adult novel The Interestings, Meg Wolitzer brings her considerable talents to her first young adult title, Belzhar. Wolitzer returns to a subject that occupied her as a senior in college, when she was completing her first novel: the poet Sylvia Plath.

“Big changes happen to young people when no adults are around,” notes Wolitzer, and that is certainly true for Jam Gallahue and the other students in Mrs. Quenell’s Special Topics in English class at The Wooden Barn, a boarding school for “emotionally fragile and highly intelligent teens.” It’s a last resort for Jam, who fiercely loved British exchange student Reeve Maxfield for 41 days, and has been unable to recover from his death.

By Meg Wolitzer Jam and the other students don’t know why they’ve been selected for Dutton, $17.99, 272 pages Mrs. Quenell’s class. And they certainly don’t know what to make of the ISBN 9780525423058, audio, eBook available antique journals she hands out, along with the assignment to write in Ages 14 and up them twice a week. Even more puzzling is their teacher’s instruction to “look out for one another.” But soon after beginning her journal, Jam FICTION has no choice but to turn to her classmates for support, because what she experiences while writing is both frightening and exciting. The journals have the power to transport them into a world of the past—a world they call Belzhar, after Plath’s most famous work, The Bell Jar. Enlivened by humor, memorable characters and a page-turning mystery only revealed in its final pages, Belzhar explores the role of trauma in young lives. Fans of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars need wait no longer for another novel to capture their hearts and minds.

TELL ME AGAIN HOW A CRUSH SHOULD FEEL

By Sara Farizan

Algonquin $16.95, 304 pages ISBN 9781616202842 Audio, eBook available Ages 14 and up

FICTION

Sara Farizan’s debut, If You Could Be Mine, told a wrenching tale of young love lost to the complications of growing up and growing apart. The stakes in Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel are slightly lower, making for pure rom-com pleasure.

Leila keeps a low profile at her private high school. She likes girls, but that’s not something she’s ready to make public. When new girl Saskia transfers in mid-semester, Leila quickly becomes smitten: “It’s like finding a magical unicorn in a high school full of cattle.”

28

While trying to get to know Saskia, Leila tests the waters, coming out to friends and family, though not always as planned. Leila fears rejection by her family, who are Americans but hold Persian values.

Nevertheless, her parents are wonderful, embarrassingly square and touching in their concern, despite not understanding what’s wrong.

Farizan’s second novel is sweet, tough, sexy and ultimately hopeful.

—HEATHER SEGGEL

THE DOUBT FACTORY

By Paolo Bacigalupi

Little, Brown $18, 486 pages ISBN 9780316220750 Audio, eBook available Ages 15 and up

THRILLER

Set in the wealthy fictional town of Haverport, New York, The Doubt

protect the inalienable right of free speech.

In this incredible thriller, unexpected plot twists occur as often as every page turn, and morality and rightness oscillate within a gray area. National Book Award finalist Paolo Bacigalupi’s smart and honest approach to critiquing the PR industry is rare and refreshing.

—J U S T I N B A R I S I C H

JACKABY

By William Ritter Algonquin $16.95, 304 pages ISBN 9781616203535 Audio, eBook available Ages 12 and up

MYSTERY

Paranormal investigator R.F. Jackaby sees what no one else can—banshees, leprechauns, even monsters. If they’re wreaking havoc in New Fiddleham, Jackaby is on the case. What he can’t manage to do is keep an assistant—until he meets the spunky Abigail Rook.

Adventurous and keenly observant, Abigail has fled her wealthy British Factory is the story of one teen’s upbringing to make her own way determination to fight society’s in 19th-century New England.

During their first murder investimost overlooked evil—the public relations industry that covers up gation, Abigail’s eye for detail proand spins corporate atrocities, vides Jackaby with clues he would even if the worst firm happens to have overlooked. Together they be headed by her own father. discover the victim is Arthur Bragg, Alix Banks attends the prestia local reporter who had been ingious and exclusive Seitz Academy, vestigating a serial killer—one who where affluent parents pay to have may or may not be human. their children taught by the best Like Sherlock Holmes, Jackaby is and to be insulated from the evils eccentric, arrogant and blunt—but of the outside world. However, the he also has a zany quality. After school’s charade of security comes all, he lives with a beautiful young crashing to the ground when ghost and a duck who does his Moses Cruz, the leader of a radical bookkeeping. Narrator Abigail crew of teen activists, assaults the plays the role of Dr. Watson, helpprincipal and vandalizes a school ing Jackaby maneuver the societal building. During the fray, Moses norms he seems to disregard. Very grabs Alix and suggests that her fa- few girls in 1892 would steal tuition ther is much more than he appears. money and cross an ocean for When Alix starts monitoring her adventure, but perhaps that’s what father’s behavior, she is confronted makes her especially appealing to by the darkest sides of Big Brother, contemporary readers. the radicals who fight the unseen Jackaby is a slow build of clue Man, conspiracy theories and the gathering and a-ha moments, all illusions of safety and privacy in a leading to the hour of discovery. country that claims to uphold and — K I M B E R LY G I A R R A T A N O

R AV E R E V I E W S for R A I N R E I G N by A N N M . M A R T I N

★ “Newbery Honor author Martin crafts a skillful tale . . . EACH WORD SINGS and each scene counts.”

—Kirkus Reviews

★ “READERS WILL BE MOVED. . . a strong story told in a highly accessible way.”

—Booklist

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★ “A FIRST purchase.” —School Library Journal

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★ “Martin is EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL in capturing Rose’s perspective and personality.”

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children’s publishing group

reviews RAIN REIGN

CHILDREN’S

Breaking all the rules REVIEW BY SHARON VERBETEN

Most people don’t think much about homonyms or prime numbers.

But most people aren’t 12-year-old Rose Howard, whose every waking moment is spent thinking about just those things. So it’s especially good luck that both her name (Rose/rows) and her dog’s (Rain/reign) are homonyms.

Few people understand Rose, whose OCD and Asperger syndrome make her the odd girl out at school and at home. Her mother left when she was young, so Rose lives with her father, an angry man who can’t deal with her eccentricities. Fortunately, her caring Uncle Weldon is her saving grace throughout the entire story. When Rain goes missing after a storm, Rose’s life changes dramatically. Her routine is disrupted, and her focus must shift to finding him.

Rain Reign is a triumph reminiscent of Sharon Draper’s Out of My Mind, another excellent novel that illustrates what it’s like to live with

By Ann M. Martin special needs. Rose’s first-person narration is spot-on, relaying the Feiwel & Friends, $16.99, 240 pages repetition of her thoughts, her mind and the rules that guide her life.

ISBN 9780312643003, audio, eBook available Readers should note the use of the word “retard” by Rose’s fellow stuAges 9 to 12 dents, but the context is appropriate and accurate.

MIDDLE GRADE It’s hard to imagine a more concise depiction of Rose’s Asperger syndrome, a more powerful portrayal of her father or a more heart-­ tugging story of love, loss and triumph. This poignant novel may very well bring Ann M. Martin her second Newbery Honor (after A Corner of the Universe in 2003) or, better yet, the Newbery Medal itself.

THE IRIDESCENCE OF BIRDS

By Patricia MacLachlan

Illustrated by Hadley Hooper Roaring Brook $17.99, 40 pages ISBN 9781596439481 Ages 4 to 8

PICTURE BOOK

In what has to be the bestnamed picture book of the year, Newbery Medalist Patricia Mac­ Lachlan brings readers the story of the young Henri Matisse and his childhood inspirations, with eye-catching illustrations from Hadley Hooper.

There are any number of ways MacLachlan could have described the creativity surrounding the boy Matisse, but the manner she chooses is thoroughly engaging.

The text is essentially one very long conditional sentence: “If you were a boy named Henri Matisse . . .”

It’s an inviting way to bring to

30

life the creative presences of his childhood, while also prompting children to ponder the inspiration in their own lives.

Matisse was born into a “dreary town in northern France where the skies were gray / And the days were cold.” He longed for color and light and sun. Here, Hooper brings us lots of grays and shadows. On the next spread, it’s as if a light has been turned on and cast through a prism, as Matisse’s mother brought life and color to his world. She painted plates; she put out paints for mixing; and she let the boy arrange fruits and flowers. In this way, the book is not only a celebration of color and art and everyday objects that bring inspiration, but ultimately a celebration of motherhood. And it’s simply resplendent: the writing; Hooper’s relief prints, which reflect the varied and intriguing patterns, textures, shapes, colors and layers Matisse’s mother brought to his life; and the way the art and words work together to tell this tale.

Closing author and illustrator notes are followed by suggested reading for those who want to learn more. Well crafted on every level, this is one of the year’s most beautiful books.

—J U L I E D A N I E L S O N

ONCE UPON AN ALPHABET

By Oliver Jeffers Philomel $26.99, 112 pages ISBN 9780399167911 eBook available Ages 3 to 5

PICTURE BOOK

It’s one thing to learn your ABCs. It’s quite another when Oliver Jeffers is in charge. His new picture book, Once Upon an Alphabet, contains 26 very short stories, beginning with “An Astronaut” and ending with “Zeppelin.” Preschoolers and beginning readers will delight in these vignettes featuring everything from a lumberjack who

repeatedly gets struck by lightning to, of all things, a puzzled parsnip.

Jeffers (The Day the Crayons Quit) uses comical illustrations and sophisticated humor throughout, sometimes linking several stories. “An Enigma” asks how many elephants can fit inside an envelope, and readers must go to “N” for the answer. Kids will eat up Jeffers’ wacky wickedness, such as in “Half a House,” in which poor Helen lives in the remains of a house on the edge of a seaside cliff.

(The rest collapsed during a hurricane.) One day, alas, Helen rolls out of the wrong side of the bed.

Jeffers knows how to catch the attention of his young audience while challenging their imagination, intellect and vocabulary. This whimsical exploration of letters and language begs to be read over and over again.

—ALICE CARY

DRAW!

By Raúl Colón

Simon & Schuster / Paula Wiseman $17.99, 40 pages ISBN 9781442494923 eBook available Ages 4 to 8

PICTURE BOOK

Numerous legendary author-­ illustrators have likened picture books to film, as both mediums tell their stories through visible action.

Some illustrators construct their stories in ways similar to film in even more creative and dramatic ways, as Raúl Colón does in his dynamic new picture book, Draw!

A young boy sits in his room, sketchbook nearby, while reading a giant book about Africa. By the next spread, we see he’s been inspired; his sketchbook is now in hand, and he’s drawing. In a series of drawings emanating from near the boy’s head, he imagines himself heading to a safari with his paints and easel in hand. We are treated to multiple spreads of the boy’s fantasy: He’s painting various safari animals, from elephants to zebras to majestic lions, and every scene pops with color and action.

In the end, we’re drawn back (in

CHILDREN’S more ways than one) to the boy’s room, and at the book’s close we see him sharing his drawings with his classmates.

Colón puts to good use perspective, compelling page turns and cinematic techniques. In one spread, we’re treated to two illustrations similar in many ways, yet one is suddenly closer to the reader. Another illustration is divided into panels, showing an encroaching, angry rhino. These successive pictures and dramatic cuts mimic film and make Draw! a magnetic tale.

One go-around on this safari, and you’ll want to immediately return.

—J U L I E D A N I E L S O N

THE MADMAN OF PINEY WOODS

By Christopher Paul Curtis

Scholastic $16.99, 384 pages ISBN 9780545156646 Audio, eBook available Ages 8 to 12

MIDDLE GRADE

In this standalone companion to the Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning Elijah of Buxton, author Christopher Paul Curtis returns to the Canadian town founded in the 1860s by former African-American slaves.

Although few of the original settlers still live in Buxton in 1901, one of their descendants, Benji Alston, stands out. An aspiring newspaper reporter, Benji understands the power of the written word and enters an apprenticeship with Miss Cary, the daughter of real-life Mary Ann Camberton Shadd, an abolitionist and journalist in neighboring Chatham. Also residing in Chatham is Alvin “Red” Stockard, who is often mistreated by his bitter and racist grandmother, who suffered during the Irish immigration to Canada during “The Great Hunger.”

Benji and Red alternate as narrators, incorporating historical details and fun antics from the first book. As they become fast friends, they realize they’ve both

heard tales of the Madman of Piney Woods, who is rumored to be an escaped slave from the U.S. and may even be a potential murderer.

When the boys face a shocking encounter with the Madman, each begins in his own way to understand the nature of fear and heroism. Countering heartbreak with humor, Curtis gives middle-grade readers another fine novel to ponder the wonders of humanity.

—ANGELA LEEPER

ARCADY’S GOAL

meet MOLLY IDLE the title of your Q: What’s

new book?

would you describe Q: How

the book?

has been the biggest influence on your work?

Q: Who

By Eugene Yelchin Holt $15.99, 240 pages ISBN 9780805098440 Audio, eBook available Ages 9 to 12

was your favorite subject in school? Why? Q: What

MIDDLE GRADE

“I’m a risk taker.” With that short sentence, readers are introduced to Arcady, a goal-scoring, wisecracking soccer star. However, very few people know just how good Arcady is at soccer. Arcady is a resident of an orphanage in Soviet Russia intended for children of enemies of the Soviet state. Instead of fame and fortune, Arcady plays for stolen rations and survival.

This all looks to change when a group of inspectors comes to the orphanage. Bribed by the director of the orphanage, Arcady participates in a series of soccer competitions against larger and stronger boys, with the intention of entertaining the inspectors. But a few days later, one of the inspectors returns to adopt Arcady. Although Arcady is freed from the confines of the orphanage, this does not mean his life will be easier.

Arcady’s Goal, the latest novel by Newbery Honor-winning author Eugene Yelchin, is a sparse book that carries great weight. A companion to Breaking Stalin’s Nose, it brings to light many of the struggles faced by children who did nothing wrong but were punished solely because of what their parents believed. Both haunting and laugh-out-loud funny, Arcady’s Goal will score big with readers.

— KEVIN DELECKI

was your childhood hero?

Q: Who

books did you enjoy as a child?

Q: What

one thing would you like to learn to do?

Q: What

message would you like to send to young readers?

Q: What

FLORA AND THE PENGUIN Molly Idle won a Caldecott Honor for her innovative wordless picture book Flora and the Flamingo (2013).

Young Flora returns for another dance with an unexpected friend, this time on ice, in Flora and the Penguin (Chronicle, $16.99, 40 pages, ISBN 9781452128917, ages 3 to 5). Paper flaps reveal all the grace and joy of this effortless, slippery duet. Idle lives in Tempe, Arizona.

31

WORDNOOK

BY THE EDITORS OF MERRIAM-WEBSTER

SEEING RED

on the practice field, the ineligibles wear red shirts—hence the name.

Dear Editor: Could you please tell me where the term redshirting originated in its football use?

G. G. Berwick, Pennsylvania

BY THE BOOK

Exactly where the term originated isn’t clear. Our evidence goes back as far as 1950, when red shirt appeared as a verb in the Birmingham News. The practice of redshirting no doubt predates the application of the term to it.

Redshirting is a strategy employed by college athletic teams, whereby a player slows to a five-year undergraduate program. Doing so allows the athlete to take a year off from playing, during which time he or she can practice with the team and presumably gain strength, ability and maturity.

The basic etymology of redshirting is clear enough. To distinguish the players in their noncompeting year from eligible varsity players

Dear Editor: Why do we call stories published in book form novels? Doesn’t novel mean “new”?

E. M. Brookfield, Wisconsin You’re right that novel is synonymous with new, but this adjective is the newer of the two homographs, having first appeared in English in the 15th century. English acquired the adjective novel from Middle French, which in turn took it from Latin novellus, the diminutive of novus, meaning “new.”

The noun novel, on the other hand, is borrowed from Italian.

Italian novella, meaning literally “item of news,” came to be applied in the 13th century to the short tales or fables that were becoming a popular literary form.

Since similar tales were also

becoming popular in England, English borrowed the word as novel in the 17th century. During the 18th century, the novel matured as a literary form, presenting psychologically developed characters in an extended, complex plot. At the end of the 19th century, English borrowed the Italian word novella to refer specifically to the medieval Italian stories of authors such as Boccaccio, and to refer to a work of fiction intermediate in length between a short story and a novel.

SOLDIER BOY

Dear Editor: I’m curious about the word doughboy, which is used in reference to World War I infantrymen.

Can you tell me anything about it?

H. C. Bakersfield, California Though doughboy is most closely connected with World War I, the word dates back to before the 20th century. No one is certain how the

term came to describe soldiers, but there are a couple of theories we can share with you.

In its oldest sense, doughboy, an alteration of dough ball, means “a dumpling of raised dough.”

One widely accepted explanation for the military sense of doughboy holds that it was first applied humorously to the Federal infantry by the cavalry during the Civil War, because the globular brass buttons on the uniforms of the foot soldiers reminded cavalrymen of doughboys (that is, dumplings). Another wartime story relates the word to the adobe huts in which the infantry were frequently quartered during the Mexican War. Adobe, meaning “sun-dried clay,” is often pronounced doe-bee; hence the name doughboy, according to this version.

Send correspondence regarding Word Nook to:

Language Research Service P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102

Test Your Mental Mettle with Puzzles from The Little Book of Big Mind Benders go figure

Puzzle TYPe: NuMber coMPleTIoN:

DIffIculTY: TIMe: ___________

if you multiply the ages of

sHape count

Puzzle TYPe: sPATIAl coMPleTIoN:

DIffIculTY: TIMe: ___________

How many squares of any size are in this grid?

my three kids, you get 24.

The sum of their ages is 11.

What are their three ages?

HINT: Squares come in four sizes.

HINT: For instance, the ages 1, 2, and 12 multiply to 24 but add to 15.

squares + 9 two-by-two squares + 4 three-by-three squares + 1 four-by-four square = 30 squares

ANswer: The three ages are 1, 4, and 6, which multiply to 24 and add to 11.

ANswer: 16 one-by-one

unscramble the letters in each word pair to make two new words with opposite meanings, like “on vs. off.”

Puzzle TYPe: worD coMPleTIoN:

DIffIculTY: TIMe: _____

TIDY HANG = ___________ vs. ___________ ONLY DOUG = ___________ vs. ___________ WRONG STEAK = ___________ vs. ___________ ISSUED EDITION = ___________ vs. ___________ ANswer: night vs. day; young vs. old; strong vs. weak; inside vs. outside

out of orDer

workman.com

Workman is a registered trademark of Workman Publishing Co., Inc.

HINT: time, age, power, location