Some writers (and readers) prefer the sledgehammer to the scalpel.
I prefer the scalpel and find that Elizabeth Strout consistently wields her blade with skill, subtlety, and soul. As we travel with brothers Jim and Bob from NYC back to the small New England town of their childhood, Strout unravels mysteries that will feel familiar to everyone with siblings.
Their mission is to save their nephew – son of their sister Susan – who has been accused of a hate crime. I find realism a key ingredient in Strout’s writing. These characters are flawed, but that is what makes them relatable.
Families are not neat and clean. They’re messy. Everyone knows that. Stout never shies from it. It’s what kept me reading, this book and everything else she’s written.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “What truly makes Strout exceptional . . . is the perfect balance she achieves between the tides of story and depths of feeling.”—Chicago Tribune
This edition includes an original essay by Elizabeth Strout about the origins of The Burgess Boys.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • NPR • Good Housekeeping
Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a…
I never expected to enjoy Nadia Hashimi’s Sparks Like Stars as thoroughly as I did.
I had to read it because, as Master of Ceremonies of the 2023 Day of the Book Festival in Kensington, MD., I was going to be interviewing the author on stage. The novel surprised and delighted me, as Hashimi fills her pages with passion, insight, and authenticity. One aspect of Hashimi’s writing that stays with me still was her ability to capture the voice of Sitara, the young heroine in the story.
I enjoyed the stark truths explored in this book, which in the end is an inspiring story of survival and resilience.
"Suspenseful...emotionally compelling. I found myself eagerly following in a way I hadn't remembered for a long time, impatient for the next twist and turn of the story."-NPR
An Afghan American woman returns to Kabul to learn the truth about her family and the tragedy that destroyed their lives in this brilliant and compelling novel from the bestselling author of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, The House Without Windows, and When the Moon Is Low.
Kabul, 1978: The daughter of a prominent family, Sitara Zamani lives a privileged life in Afghanistan's thriving cosmopolitan capital. The 1970s are a time of…
As a daily print journalist for more than two decades, I know what goes into researching a complex story. For my money, no one does this as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson.
In Caste, Wilkerson dives deep, never settling for easy answers, and taking head on one of the most divisive issues that has plagued America. The questions she raises and explanations she offers – all rigorously and thoroughly researched and documented – are provocative as well as enlightening – for anyone willing to listen.
Changing the status quo begins with understanding, and, for me, this work unearths long-buried truths about the origins of America’s racial problems. If there were a national required reading list, this book would be in the top five.
THE TIME NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR | #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"Powerful and timely ... I cannot recommend it strongly enough" - Barack Obama
From one of America's most celebrated and insightful writers, the moving, eye-opening bestseller about what lies hidden under the surface of ordinary lives
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human…
A disgraced journalist stumbles on a story that will let him reclaim his career, but redemption comes with a price: he must place his faith in the racist senator he once exposed as a murderer.
Fast-rising star Dan Patragno is thinking Pulitzer until he violates one of journalism’s key tenets and winds up blackballed from the industry. As Dan struggles to accept his new station, a fateful note arrives from ex-Senator Mac McCauley offering a jailhouse interview. If the story McCauley offers is true, it will rock the political world and open Dan’s path back to the industry he loves.
Kirkus Reviews calls Pretender "haunting in today's political environment."
