Books

Francis Spufford's novel imagines a 1920s city in which Native Americans still hold territory and political power, and the "color line" doesn't exist — until a grisly murder disrupts everything.

Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! is very much its own creation, but you might think of it as an Iranian American spin on John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces — wedded to Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch.

Maureen Corrigan, is a longtime admirer of Stephen McCauley's comic novels. She says his latest one, "You Only Call When You're In Trouble," couldn't have been published at a better time of year.

Most of the characters in Paul Lynch's Booker Prize-winning novel don't want to believe that tyranny is taking shape before their eyes, even as power is cut off and democratic freedoms evaporate.

Christian Wiman's new book is called "Zero At The Bone: 50 Entries Against Despair." He teaches at Yale Divinity School and the Yale School of Sacred Music.

Maureen Corrigan shares her list of the 10 best books of 2023.

In her book, Prequel, Maddow describes ultra-right plots to overthrow the government in the days leading up to WWII — a subject she covered in her podcast Ultra. Originally broadcast Dec. 15, 2022.

Maureen Corrigan reviewed two new mystery novels: "Here In The Dark" by Alexis Soloski and "The Mystery Guest" by Nita Prose

Stephanie Land's new memoir, Class, picks up where her 2019 memoir, Maid, left off. Maid, which inspired a 10-part Netflix series, chronicled Land's life as a young single mother living below the poverty line, struggling with housing insecurity and an abusive relationship, and cleaning houses to support herself and her daughter.

In Class, Land is in her mid-30s at the University of Montana, desperately trying to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer, while juggling classes, working to pay for childcare and rent, and experiencing the loneliness of being a single mother.

Critics and fellow writers have used terms like one of the greatest and perfect to refer to Claire Keegan and her writing. Our book critic, Maureen Corrigan, says the only flaw she sees with Keegan's work is that there isn't enough of it. Here's her review of "So Late In The Day," a newly published collection of three of Keegan's short stories.