It’s been almost four years since 16-year-old Marcus Azure last saw his parents, who never returned from a journey to the Northern Lands. Their absence haunts his waking moments and leaves him feeling unmoored. The patches of lighter skin on his hands and around one eye lead some to call him “the Sun Cursed child.” […]
This month’s buzziest literary fiction is coming out swinging. Modern master Annie Proulx has a short story collection, people contend with grief and generational curses, and women on a sinking island right off the coast of Bangladesh find their voice. I dare you to read a few of these and keep your eyes dry. The […]
Modestly describing his book as “a series of fan’s notes,” biographer Taylor examines “various aspects of Tolkien’s life, work and personality.” He includes some personal experiences in his engaging investigations of the renowned author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. His wide-ranging references situate Tolkien, the outsider, against a constellation of other […]
Set in 1964 at the height of the Cold War, the novel opens in Santa Monica, where Gabriel Dax meets with the elderly poet F.T. Falkner, a one-time member of British intelligence. The old poet knows that a former colleague from Bletchley Park peddled secrets to the Soviets during World War II. In this third […]
Poppy Sterling is used to interviewing the rich and famous in her job as a celebrity journalist in London. She stakes out the red carpet and even hosts her own interview show, making her a bit of a celeb in her own right. But there’s one person who can get under her skin: Rory Wallace, […]
English actor, director, and motion-capture pioneer Serkis is a thrill-seeker in life—he writes here of his successful “solo assault” on the Matterhorn—and also in his art. His attitude is distilled in his initial response to being asked to play Ulysses Klaue in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015): “Charismatic South African villain who gets his […]
“The world does not need another parenting book,” writes Grimm in her own parenting book, where she likewise notes that parenting can be so exhausting and baffling that it can use all the advice manuals it can get. “Every day of parenting is Saigon in 1975,” she writes. “It is often defeating, sometimes humiliating, and […]
The latest novel by de Waal (My Name Is Leon, 2016) was published in the U.K. last year as The Best of Everything. It reaches these shores with a new, more memorable title that underscores the story’s folksy tenderness. “My Sweet Pea” is what Paulette’s grandmother called her as a girl on St. Kitts, raising […]
It’s 1979, and Bonnet Shores is slowly knitting itself back together after last summer’s rash of home invasions. The perpetrators were caught, and while alarm systems now protect windows such as 15-year-old Maddie Grove’s, she’s happy to once again have the freedom to stay out late with her friends, and have her crush visit her […]
“Throughout history, rulers of humankind narrowly defined the world’s center to be their own corner of the world,” writes Stoffer. From the Babylonians and Romans to the Zhou dynasty and the Aztecs, imperial civilizations have made dramatic claims about their importance and exceptionalism. In this work, Stoffer argues that our history is more accurately defined […]