Today I talked to Laurie R. King about her new novel Back to the Garden: A Novel (Bantam, 2022).
Inspector Raquel Liang of the San Francisco Police Department has reached a crossroads in her career. A recent incident ended with her transfer to the Cold Cases Unit and instructions to do everything by the book from now on if she wants to keep her job as the SF ... Show More
Nov 12
Maren Halvorsen, "The Bailiff’s Wife" (Cuidono Press, 2025)
Despite the long-held perception that medieval and early modern women were as quiet, pious, and obedient as society expected them to be, the truth is more complex. The Bailiff’s Wife (Cuidono Press, 2025) builds on a historical event recorded in a seventeenth-century English broa ... Show More
38m 15s
Oct 29
William Cooper, "The Trial of Donald H. Rumsfeld" (Dlnp, 2025)
Donald Rumsfeld was a major player in American history. In this riveting alternative history, he's put on trial for his role in the United States 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Trial of Donald H. Rumsfeld (Dlnp, 2025) charts Rumsfeld's rise to fame and power, the fight with President ... Show More
23m 11s
Oct 4
Katie Tietjen, "Murder in Miniature" (Crooked Lane Books, 2025)
When we meet Maple Bishop in the first book in her series, Death in the Details, she is reeling from a series of life-changing circumstances. Rural Vermont in 1946 doesn’t have much use for a childless widow with limited means of support and even less interest in knitting, baking ... Show More
32m 42s
Feb 2021
Chang-rae Lee on His New Novel: ‘It’s Kind of a Crazy Book.’
<p>Chang-rae Lee’s new novel, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/books/review/chang-rae-lee-my-year-abroad.html" target="_blank">“My Year Abroad,”</a> is his sixth. On this week’s podcast, Lee says that his readers might be surprised by it.</p><p>“It’s kind of a crazy bo ... Show More
1h 7m
Mar 2023
Ep. 134: Deborah Goodrich Royce (Author of Reef Road) + Book Recommendations
<p><strong>In today's episode, Deborah Goodrich Royce joins me to talk about her latest book, <a href= "https://amzn.to/3jV6naQ">Reef Road</a>. We discuss the personal story behind her book and the role of generational trauma in her writing niche, which she calls "Identity Thrill ... Show More
51m 24s
Jul 2021
A Heartbreaking Novel About Mothers, Daughters and Secrets
<p>The latest pick for Group Text, our monthly column for readers and book clubs, is Esther Freud's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/13/books/i-couldnt-love-you-more-esther-freud-group-text.html" target="_blank">“I Couldn’t Love You More,”</a> a novel about three generati ... Show More
56m 44s
Nov 2021
Ross Douthat on Dealing With Lyme Disease
<p>The New York Times columnist Ross Douthat is used to writing about politics and ideas at play in the broader world, but with his new book, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/books/review/the-deep-places-ross-douthat.html" target="_blank">“The Deep Places,”</a> he has ... Show More
56m 4s
May 2021
A Desperate Writer Steals 'The Plot'
<p>Jake Bonner, the protagonist of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/10/books/the-plot-jean-hanff-korelitz-group-text.html" target="_blank">Jean Hanff Korelitz’s “The Plot,”</a> writes a novel based on someone else’s idea. The book becomes a big hit, but Jake has a hard ti ... Show More
1h 4m