Terry Gross

Biographer Nina Burleigh talks about Mary Pinochet Meyer who it is believed was a mistress of President John F. Kennedy. She was found shot and murdered a year after Kennedy's assassination. Burleigh has written about Meyer's life in "A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer. (Bantam)

Robert McCrum suffered a stroke in 1995 at the young age of 42. He has written in detail about his experience and his recovery. Terry Gross talks with McCrum and his wife Sarah Lyall who was key in his recovery. His new book is "My Year Off: Recovering Life After a Stroke."

Barry is best known for his play, "The Steward of Christendom," as well as for his commentaries on the troubles in Ireland for the The New York Times. He's written a new novel, "The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty" (Viking). It's about a naive Irishman who joins the British Merchant Navy during World War I, and then is blacklisted from his beloved hometown by the Royal Irish Constabulatory. A review from Kirkus Reviews says the book is "one of the best novels out of Ireland in many a year."