THE GHOSTS OF ROME, by Joseph O’Connor The Irish novelist Joseph O’Connor is best known for “Star of the Sea” (2002) and its loose sequel, “Redemption...
HEAVEN AND HELL, by Jon Kalman Stefansson; translated by Philip Roughton. “Every great and original writer,” wrote William Wordsworth, “must himself create the taste by which...
GLIFF, by Ali Smith A “glyph” is a character — the alphabetical kind. “Gliff,” the title of Ali Smith’s new novel, isn’t just a variant spelling;...
“Absolutely riveting” and “compelling.” “A must-read” and “a tour de force.” Blurbs, those haiku-length endorsements on every book jacket, are a ubiquitous part of the literary...
Maybe we all got fed up at the same time. Last week, Sean Manning, the publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint, announced that it would...
A MATTER OF COMPLEXION: The Life and Fictions of Charles W. Chesnutt, by Tess Chakkalakal On Nov. 10, 1898, thousands of armed white supremacists stormed the...
THREE DAYS IN JUNE, by Anne Tyler Hail, hail, Baltimore, the only city whose N.F.L. team is named after a poem. Baltimore has given us, as...
THE AGE OF CHOICE: A History of Freedom in Modern Life, by Sophia Rosenfeld For centuries the right to choose for oneself in virtually all the...
Marion Wiesel, who translated many books written by her husband, Elie Wiesel, including the final edition of his magnum opus, “Night,” and who encouraged him to...
A strong sense of place can deeply influence a story, and in some cases, the setting can even feel like a character itself. This week’s literary...
