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United States history, Politics and government, General non-fiction
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"[R]evelatory…Deeply researched and masterfully told." —Brian Goldstone, New York Times Book Review The explosive account of the arson wave that…
hit the Bronx and other American cities in the 1970s—and its legacy today. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning!" That legendary and apocryphal phrase, allegedly uttered by announcers during the 1977 World Series as flames rose above Yankee Stadium, seemed to encapsulate an entire era in this nation’s urban history. Across that decade, a wave of arson coursed through American cities, destroying entire neighborhoods home to poor communities of color. Yet as historian Bench Ansfield demonstrates in Born in Flames, the most destructive of the fires were not set by residents, as is commonly assumed, but by landlords looking to collect insurance payouts. Driven by perverse incentives—new government-sponsored insurance combined with tanking property values—landlords hired "torches," mostly Black and Brown youth, to set fires in the buildings, sometimes with people still living in them. Tens of thousands of families lost their homes to these blazes, yet for much of the 1970s, tenant vandalism and welfare fraud stood as the prevailing explanations for the arson wave, effectively indemnifying landlords. Ansfield’s book, based on a decade of research, introduces the term "brownlining" for the destructive insurance practices imposed on poor communities of color under the guise of racial redress. Ansfield shows that as the FIRE industries—finance, insurance, and real estate— eclipsed manufacturing in the 1970s, they began profoundly reshaping Black and Brown neighborhoods, seeing them as easy sources of profit. At every step, Ansfield charts the tenant-led resistance movements that sprung up in the Bronx and elsewhere, as well as the explosion of popular culture around the fires, from iconic movies like The Towering Inferno to hit songs such as "Disco Inferno." Ultimately, they show how similarly pernicious dynamics around insurance and race are still at play in our own era, especially in regions most at risk of climate shocks.
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Literature biography, European history, Criticism
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Poor boy. Spy. Transgressor. Genius. In repressive Elizabethan England, artists are frightened into dull conventionality; foreigners are suspect; popular entertainment…
largely consists of coarse spectacles, animal fights, and hangings. Into this crude world of government censorship and religious authoritarianism comes an ambitious cobbler’s son from Canterbury with a daring desire to be known—and an uncanny ear for Latin poetry. A torment for most schoolboys, yet for a few, like Christopher Marlowe, a secret portal to beauty, visionary imagination, transgressive desire, and dangerous skepticism. What Marlowe seizes in his rare opportunity for a classical education, and what he does with it, brings about a spectacular explosion of English literature, language, and culture. His astonishing literary success will, in turn, nourish the talent of a collaborator and rival, William Shakespeare. Dark Renaissance illuminates both Marlowe’s times and the origins and significance of his work—from his erotic translations of Ovid to his portrayal of unfettered ambition in a triumphant Tamburlaine to Doctor Faustus, his unforgettable masterpiece about making a pact with the devil in exchange for knowledge. Introducing us to Marlowe’s transgressive genius in the form of a thrilling page-turner, Stephen Greenblatt brings a penetrating understanding of the literary work to reveal the inner world of the author, bringing to life a homosexual atheist who was tormented by his own compromises, who refused to toe the party line, and who was murdered just when he had found love. Meanwhile, he explores how the people Marlowe knew, and the transformations they wrought, gave birth to the economic, scientific, and cultural power of the modern world including Faustian bargains with which we reckon still.
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United States history, Politics and government
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On the 250th anniversary of America's founding - a landmark history of the US Constitution for a troubling new era.…
The US Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world - and one of the most difficult to amend. Although nearly twelve thousand amendments have been proposed since 1789, only twenty-seven have ever been ratified. Tellingly, the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971. Without amendment, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential power. Leading Harvard historian Jill Lepore captures the stories of generations of ordinary people who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights, hoping to mend their nation. Recounting the history of America through centuries of efforts to realize the promise of the Constitution, we witness how nearly all those bids have failed.We the People is the sweeping account of a struggle, arguing that the Constitution was never intended to be preserved, but was expected to be gradually altered. At a time when the risk of political violence is all too real, it hints at the prospects for a better, amended America.
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Fantasy, Romance
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A whimsical and heartwarming novel about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers—and her life—back…
on track, from the national bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.Sera Swan used to be one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild. Now she (slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps Jasmine run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep said talking fox in check, and longs for the future that seems lost to her. But then she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring her power…Enter Luke Larsen, handsome and icy magical historian, who arrives on a dark winter evening and just might know how to unlock the spell&’s secrets. Luke has absolutely no interest in getting involved in the madcap goings-on of the inn and is definitely not about to let a certain bewitching innkeeper past his walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he agrees to help Sera with her spell. Worse, he might actually be thawing.Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera Swan is about to discover that she doesn&’t have to do it alone...and that the weird, wonderful family she&’s made might be the best magic of all.
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History
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&“[An] astonishing story…Powerful…Harrowing…Absorbing and lucid…You would have to harden your heart to be unmoved by the Abuelas&’ quest.&” —Jennifer Szalai,…
The New York Times &“Inspiring…A triumphant saga of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the face of pure malevolence.&” —Hampton Sides • &“Enthralling…Written with the nail-biting verve of a thriller.&” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) • &“Extraordinary...A harrowing and timely reminder of what happens when democracy succumbs to despotism.&” —Adam Higginbotham • &“A heartbreaking and humane story of devotion and moral courage.&” —Robert Kolker • &“Piercing, emotional...Will resonate for generations.&” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A remarkable new talent in narrative nonfiction delivers the epic true story of a group of courageous grandmothers who fought to find their grandchildren who were stolen.In the early hours of March 24, 1976, the streets of Buenos Aires rumble with tanks as soldiers seize the presidential palace and topple Argentina&’s leader. The country is now under the control of a military junta, with army chief Jorge Rafael Videla at the helm. With quiet support from the United States and tacit approval from much of Argentina&’s people, who are tired of constant bombings and gunfights, the junta swiftly launches the National Reorganization Process or El Proceso—a bland name masking their ruthless campaign to crush the political left and instill the country with &“Western, Christian&” values. The junta holds power until 1983 and decimates a generation. One of the military&’s most diabolical acts is kidnapping hundreds of pregnant women. After giving birth in captivity, the women are &“disappeared,&” and their babies secretly given to other families—many of them headed by police or military officers. For mothers of pregnant daughters and daughters-in-law, the source of their grief is twofold—the disappearances of their children, and the theft of their grandchildren. A group of fierce grandmothers forms the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, dedicated to finding the stolen infants and seeking justice from a nation that betrayed them. At a time when speaking out could mean death, the Abuelas confront military officers and launch protests to reach international diplomats and journalists. They become detectives, adopting disguises to observe suspected grandchildren, and even work alongside a renowned American scientist to pioneer groundbreaking genetic tests. A Flower Traveled in My Blood is the rarest of nonfiction that reads like a novel and puts your heart in your throat. It is the product of years of extensive archival research and meticulous, original reporting. It marks the arrival of a blazing new talent in narrative journalism. In these pages, a regime tries to terrorize a country, but love prevails. The grandmothers&’ stunning stories reveal new truths about memory, identity, and family.
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War stories, Serious and literary fiction, Ghost and horror stories
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The critically acclaimed author of the &“crazily enjoyable&” (The New York Times) Whalefall returns with an immersive, cinematic novel about…
five World War I soldiers who stumble upon a fallen angel that could hold the key to ending the war.Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of the Great War through his wits and deception, swindling fellow soldiers at every opportunity. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four other grunts are given a deadly mission: venture into the perilous No Man&’s Land to euthanize a wounded comrade. What they find amid the ruined battlefield, however, is not a man in need of mercy but a fallen angel, seemingly struck down by artillery fire. This celestial being may hold the key to ending the brutal conflict, but only if the soldiers can suppress their individual desires and work together. As jealousy, greed, and paranoia take hold, the group is torn apart by their inner demons, threatening to turn their angelic encounter into a descent into hell. Angel Down plunges you into the heart of World War I and weaves a polyphonic tale of survival, supernatural wonder, and moral conflict.
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General fiction, Serious and literary fictionFamily and relationships
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Luster meets The Idiot in this riveting debut novel about a volatile friendship between two outsiders who escape their bleak childhoods and enter the…
glamorous early '90s art world in New York City, where only one of them can make it. Ruth, an only child of recent immigrants to New England, lives in an emotionally cold home and attends the local Catholic girl&’s school on a scholarship. Maria, a beautiful orphan whose Panamanian mother dies by suicide and is taken care of by an ill, unloving aunt, is one of the only other students attending the school on a scholarship. Ruth is drawn forcefully into Maria&’s orbit, and they fall into an easy, yet intense, friendship. Her devotion to her charming and bright new friend opens up her previously sheltered world. While Maria, charismatic and aware of her ability to influence others, eases into her full self, embracing her sexuality and her desire to be an artist, Ruth is mostly content to follow her around: to college and then into the early-nineties art world of New York City. There, ambition and competition threaten to rupture their friendship, while strong and unspoken forces pull them together over the years. Whereas Maria finds early success in New York City as an artist, Ruth stumbles along the fringes of the art world, pulled toward a quieter life of work and marriage. As their lives converge and diverge, they meet in one final and fateful confrontation. Ruth and Maria's decades-long friendship interrogates the nature of intimacy, desire, class and time. What does it mean to be an artist and to be true to oneself? What does it mean to give up on an obsession? Marking the arrival of a sensational new literary talent, Lonely Crowds challenges us to reckon honestly with our own ambitions and the lives we hope to lead.
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General fiction, Mysteries and crime stories, Women sleuths, Suspense and thrillers
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In this provocative mystery from beloved crime writer Denise Mina, new evidence in an old murder case forces one woman…
to make an impossible choice.WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO TELL THE TRUTH WHEN YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON A LIE? A year ago, a father and his fiancée were brutally murdered in their opulent London townhouse, sparking the most high-profile murder investigation in recent history. Blood spatter expert Doctor Claudia O&’Sheil&’s evidence put the killer behind bars—or so everyone believes. But since the trial, Claudia&’s learned a horrific truth: her evidence and her testimony were wrong. And someone she knows made sure of it. Now, as she takes the stage to give a career-defining speech before London&’s elite, Claudia faces a devastating choice. Protect her children and her career with her continued complicity, or blow the whole conspiracy apart and reveal the truth: not only is the real murderer still out there, but they&’re in the audience. As Claudia steps toward the microphone, she revisits that fateful night. What really happened? And what will Claudia say?
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General fiction, Romance, Contemporary romance
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From the author of The Art of Scandal comes a small town romance about the visibility of Black women&’s voices…
in country music, for readers of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. Every Thursday night, former country music heartthrob Luke Randall has to sing &“Another Love Song.&” God, he hates that song. But performing his lone hit at an interstate motel lounge is the only regular money he still has. Following another lackluster performance at the rock bottom of his career, Luke receives the opportunity of his dreams, opening for his childhood idol—90&’s era Black country music star, JoJo Lane, who&’s being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. But the concert is in Arcadia, Arkansas, the small hometown he swore he&’d never see again. Going back means facing a painful past of abuse and neglect. It also means facing JoJo&’s daughter, August Lane—the woman who wrote the lyrics he&’s always claimed as his own. August also hates that song. But she hates Luke Randall even more. When he shows up ten years too late to apologize for his betrayal, she isn&’t interested in making amends. Instead, she threatens to expose his lies unless he co-writes a new song with her and performs it at the concert, something she hopes will launch her out of her mother's shadow and into a songwriting career of her own. Desperate to keep his secret, Luke agrees to put on the rogue performance, despite the risk of losing his shot at a new record deal. When Luke&’s guitar reunites with August&’s soulful alto, neither can deny that the passionate bond they formed as teenagers is still there. As the concert nears, August will have to choose between an overdue public reckoning with the boy who betrayed her, or trusting the man he&’s become to write a different love song.
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Family stories, Serious and literary fiction
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Summer&’s Best Beach Reads by The New York Times • Books You Should Read This July by New York magazine…
• Books We&’re Most Excited About by Today • Best Beach Reads by Harper&’s Bazaar • Best Books of Summer by ELLE • Most Anticipated Books of the Summer by Time • Best Summer Reads by Oprah Daily • Books to Read this Summer by The Washington Post &“Yee transforms life&’s most brutal bombshells into spectacular fireworks.&” —Oprah Daily &“A hilarious and life-affirming spin on the divorce novel.&” —New York magazine &“This book is like a boat you get on to drift into magical waters, full of heart and heartbreak, teeming with feeling.&” —Delia Ephron A Chinese American woman spins tragedy into comedy when her life falls apart in a taut, wry debut novel that grapples with grief, motherhood, and myths—perfect for fans of Joan Is Okay and Crying in H Mart.A man and a woman walk into a restaurant. The woman expects a lovely night filled with endless plates of samosas. Instead, she finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie. A short while after, her chest starts to ache. She walks into an examination room, where she finds out the pain in her breast isn&’t just heartbreak—it&’s cancer. She decides to call the tumor Maggie. Unfolding in fragments over the course of the ensuing months, Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar follows the narrator as she embarks on a journey of grief, healing, and reclamation. She starts talking to Maggie (the tumor), getting acquainted with her body&’s new inhabitant. She overgenerously creates a &“Guide to My Husband: A User&’s Manual&” for Maggie (the other woman), hoping to ease the process of discovering her ex-husband&’s whims and quirks. She turns her children&’s bedtime stories into retellings of Chinese folklore passed down by her own mother, in an attempt to make them fall in love with their shared culture—and to maybe save herself in the process. In the style of Jenny Offill and the tradition of Nora Ephron&’s hilarious and devastating writing on heartbreak and womanhood, Maggie is a master class in transforming personal tragedy into a form of defiant comedy.
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United States history, Lifestyle
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A sweeping chronicle of four tumultuous years in 1980s New York that changed the city forever—and anticipated the forces that…
would soon divide the nation—from the bestselling author of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning&“A rip-roaring, sweeping, essential work of history . . . a deeply reported and brilliantly observed account of how the modern city was born and why all of us continue to live with the results.&”—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of King: A LifeNew York entered 1986 as a city reborn. Record profits on Wall Street sent waves of money splashing across Manhattan, bringing a battered city roaring back to life.But it also entered 1986 as a city whose foundation was beginning to crack. Thousands of New Yorkers were sleeping in the streets, addicted to drugs, dying of AIDS, or suffering from mental illnesses. Nearly one-third of the city&’s Black and Hispanic residents were living below the federal poverty line. Long-simmering racial tensions threatened to boil over.The events of the next four years would split the city open. Howard Beach. Black Monday. Tawana Brawley. The crack epidemic. The birth of ACT UP. The Central Park jogger. The release of Do the Right Thing. And a cast of outsized characters—Ed Koch, Donald Trump, Al Sharpton, Spike Lee, Rudy Giuliani, Larry Kramer—would compete to shape the city&’s future while building their own mythologies.The Gods of New York is a kaleidoscopic and deeply immersive portrait of a city whose identity was suddenly up for grabs: Could it be both the great working-class city that lifted up immigrants from around the world and the money-soaked capital of global finance? Could it retain a civic culture—a common idea of what it meant to be a New Yorker—when the rich were building a city of their own and vast swaths of its citizens were losing faith in the systems meant to protect them? New York City was one thing at the dawn of 1986; it would be something very different as 1989 came to a close. This is the story of how that happened.
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Fantasy, Ghost and horror stories, Romantic suspense, General fiction, Serious and literary fiction
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Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York…
Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul—perhaps at the cost of their own. Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek: The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld. Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality: her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world. That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault. Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams…. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion. With nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don’t even like. But Hell is not like the storybooks say, Magick isn’t always the answer, and there’s something in Alice and Peter’s past that could forge them into the perfect allies… or lead to their doom. New York Times Bestseller
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Environment, Science and technology
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A "soulful tribute" (New York Times) that shows how rethinking our relationships with other species can help us reimagine the…
future of humankind In the woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa, sometime deep in our species&’ past, something strange happened: a bird called out, not to warn others of human presence, but to call attention to herself. Having found a beehive, that bird—a honeyguide—sought human aid to break in. The behavior can seem almost miraculous: How would a bird come to think that people could help her? Isn&’t life simply bloodier than that? As Rob Dunn argues in The Call of the Honeyguide, it isn&’t. Nature is red in tooth and claw, but in equal measure, life works together. Cells host even smaller life, wrapped in a web of mutual interdependence. Ants might go to war, but they also tend fungi, aphids, and even trees. And we humans work not just with honeyguides but with yeast, crops, and pets. Ecologists call these beneficial relationships mutualisms. And they might be the most important forces in the evolution of life. We humans often act as though we are all alone, independent from the rest of life. As The Call of the Honeyguide shows, we are not. It is a call to action for a more beneficent, less lonely future.
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Politics and government biography, Asian history, History
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From the author of the acclaimed international bestseller Lawrence in Arabia, a stunningly revelatory narrative history of one of the most…
momentous events in modern times and the dawn of the age of religious nationalism.On November 16th, 1977, at a state dinner in the White House, President Jimmy Carter toasted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, King of Kings, Light of the Aryans, Shadow of God on Earth, praising his &“enlightened leadership&” and extolling Iran as &“a stabilizing influence in that part of the world.&” Iran had the world&’s fifth largest army and was awash in billions of dollars in oil revenues. Construction cranes dotted the skyline of its booming capital, Tehran. The regime&’s feared secret police force SAVAK had crushed communist opposition, and the Shah had bought off the conservative Muslim clergy inside the country. He seemed invulnerable, and invaluable to the United States as an ally in the Cold War. Fourteen months later the Shah fled Iran into exile, forced from the throne by a volcanic religious revolution led by a fiery cleric named Ayatollah Khomeini. How could the United States (and other Western allies), which had one of the largest CIA stations in the world and thousands of military personnel in Iran, have been so blind? The spellbinding story Scott Anderson weaves is one of a dictator oblivious to the disdain of his subjects and a superpower blundering into disaster. The Shah emerges as a fascinating, Shakespearean character – a wannabe Richard III unaware of the depth of dissent to his rule, indecisive like Hamlet when action was called for, and at the end Lear-like as he raged against his fate. The Americans made terrible decisions at almost every juncture, from a secret pact designed by Kissinger and Nixon, to dismissing reports from the one diplomat who saw how hated the Shah was by the Iranian people (unlike almost all his colleagues, he spoke Farsi), to Jimmy Carter allowing the Shah to come to America for medical treatment, which set off the hostage crisis which forever damaged American influence in the world. Scott Anderson tells this astonishing tale with the narrative brio, mordant wit, and keen analysis that made his bestselling Lawrence in Arabia one of the key texts in understanding the modern Middle East. Based on voluminous research and dozens of interviews, King of Kings is driven by penetrating portraits of the people involved – the Iranian-American doctor who convinced American officials Khomeini was a moderate; the American teacher who learned of Khomeini&’s influence long before the cleric was even mentioned in official reports; the Shah&’s court minister who kept a detailed diary of all their interactions; the Shah&’s wife Farah who still mourns her lost kingdom; the hypocritical and misguided Jimmy Carter; and the implacable Khomeini who outmaneuvered his foes at every turn. The Iranian Revolution, Anderson convincingly argues, was as world-shattering an event as the French and Russian revolutions. In the Middle East, in India, in Southeast Asia, in Europe, and the United States, the hatred of economically-marginalized, religiously-fervent masses for a wealthy secular elite has led to violence and upheaval – and Iran was the template. King of Kings is a bravura work of history, and a warning.
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Literature biography, Journals and memoirs, Women biography
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Finalist for the Kirkus Prize A raw and deeply moving memoir from the legendary author of The God of Small…
Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness that traces the complex relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, a fierce and formidable force who shaped Arundhati&’s life both as a woman and a writer.Mother Mary Comes to Me, Arundhati Roy&’s first work of memoir, is a soaring account, both intimate and inspirational, of how the author became the person and the writer she is, shaped by circumstance, but above all by her complex relationship to the extraordinary, singular mother she describes as &“my shelter and my storm.&” &“Heart-smashed&” by her mother Mary&’s death in September 2022 yet puzzled and &“more than a little ashamed&” by the intensity of her response, Roy began to write, to make sense of her feelings about the mother she ran from at age eighteen, &“not because I didn&’t love her, but in order to be able to continue to love her.&” And so begins this astonishing, sometimes disturbing, and surprisingly funny memoir of the author&’s journey from her childhood in Kerala, India, where her single mother founded a school, to the writing of her prizewinning novels and essays, through today. With the scale, sweep, and depth of her novels, The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, and the passion, political clarity, and warmth of her essays, Mother Mary Comes to Me is an ode to freedom, a tribute to thorny love and savage grace—a memoir like no other.
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Multi-cultural fiction, Family stories, Legal stories
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The only Asian American partner at a prestigious law firm sees his professional and personal life demolished when he is…
put on trial for murder. Three decades later, his children reunite to uncover the truth and try to salvage what remains of their family.Thirty years ago, John Lo was acquitted of the murder of an employee he was having an affair with. The repercussions of that long-ago event still haunt his adult children. Brennan, a lawyer following in her father&’s footsteps in more ways than one, has always maintained that the trial got it right. Hunter, a disgruntled war correspondent whose similarities to his father run more than skin-deep, believes their father got away with murder. Their opposing convictions have pushed them apart. Now, spurred by their mother&’s failing health, the estranged siblings decide to reconcile their differences by reinvestigating the murder to come to a definitive conclusion.Told in a dual timeline that moves between John&’s perspective thirty years prior and Brennan and Hunter&’s present-day investigation, Hollow Spaces is a moving portrait of a flawed man&’s shocking fall from grace and a gripping exploration of race in corporate America, filial loyalty, ambition, and the fallout of a sensational trial for those caught in its wake.
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Poetry
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From the award-winning poet at the height of his career, a book of personal and American experiences, both beautiful and…
troubling, touching on the generative cycle of loss and renewalFollowing on his exquisite Stones, Kevin Young&’s new collection, written over the span of sixteen years, shapes stories of loss and legacy, inspired in part by other lives. After starting in the bayous of his family's Louisiana, Young journeys to further states of mind in &“All Souls,&” evoking &“The whale / who finds the shore / & our poor prayers.&” Another central sequence, &“The Two-Headed Nightingale,&” is spoken by Millie-Christine McCoy, the famous conjoined African American &“Carolina Twins.&” Born into enslavement, stolen, and then displayed by P. T. Barnum and others, the twins later toured the world as free women, their alto and soprano voices harmonizing their own way. Young&’s poem explores their evolving philosophical selfhood and pluralities: &“As one we sang, /we spake— / She was the body / I the soul / Without one / Perishes the whole.&” In &“Darkling,&” a cycle of poems inspired by Dante&’s Divine Comedy, Young expands and embroiders the circles of Hell, drawing a cosmology of both loneliness and accompaniment, where &“the dead don&’t know / what to do / with themselves.&” Young writes of grief and hope as familiar yet surprising states: &“It&’s like a language, / loss—,&” he writes, &“learnt only / by living—there—.&” Evoking the history of poetry, from the darkling thrush to the darkling plain, Young is defiant and playful on the way through purgatory to a kind of paradise. When he goes, he warns, &“don't dare sing Amazing Grace&”—that &“National / Anthem of Suffering.&” Instead, he suggests, &“When I Fly Away, / Don't dare hold no vigil . . . Just burn the whole / Town on down.&” This collection will stand as one of Young&’s best—his voice shaping sorrow with music, wisdom, heartache, and wit.
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Food and drink
Human-narrated audio
'A fascinating, sometimes shocking, eye-opener that is also brilliantly funny' CLAUDIA RODEN'Brilliant. I couldn't put it down' RUKMINI IYER'Completely dazzling'…
JIMI FAMUREWA'Endlessly inspirational' NIGEL SLATERThe iconic New Yorker and Vittles food writer asks: Why do we eat the way we eat now?Being into food - following and making it, queuing for it and discussing it - is no longer a subculture. It's become mass culture.The food landscape is more expansive and dizzying by the day. Recipes, once passed from hand to hand, now flood newspaper supplements and social media. Our tastes are engineered in food factories, hacked by supermarkets and influenced by Instagram reels.Ruby Tandoh's startlingly original analysis traces this extraordinary transformation over the past seventy-five years, making sense of this electrifying new era by examining the social, economic, and technologicalforces shaping the foods we hunger for today.Exploring the evolution of the cookbook and light-speed growth of bubble tea, the advent of TikTok critics and absurdities of the perfect dinner party, Tandoh's laser-sharp investigation leaves her questioning: how much are our tastes, in fact, our own?Discover All Consuming Bubble Tea | Critics | Recipes | Martha Stewart | Mob | Fast food | Hype queues | Nara Smith | Tiktok | Viennetta | Weekend supplements | Wife Guys | Cookbooks | Lobster | Influencers | Wellness elixirs| Entertaining | Keith Lee | Wimpy with Ruby Tandoh this autumn.
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Biography, Family and relationships, General non-fiction
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The heartrending story of twin sisters torn apart by China&’s one-child policy and the rise of international adoption—from the author…
of the National Book Award finalist Nothing to Envy&“Excellent . . . entrancing and disturbing . . . [Demick] is one of our finest chroniclers of East Asia. . . . [Her] characters are richly drawn, and her stories, often reported over a span of years, deliver a rare emotional wallop.&”—The New York TimesOn a warm day in September 2000, a woman named Zanhua gave birth to twin girls in a small hut behind her brother&’s home in China&’s Hunan province. The twins, Fangfang and Shuangjie, were welcome additions to her family but also not her first children. Living under the shadow of China&’s notorious one-child policy, Zanhua and her husband decided to leave one twin in the care of relatives, hoping each toddler on their own might stay under the radar. But, in 2002, Fangfang was violently snatched away. The family worried they would never see her again, but they didn&’t imagine she could be sent as far as the United States. She might as well have been sent to another world.Following stories she wrote as the Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, Barbara Demick embarks on a journey that encompasses the origins, shocking cruelty, and long-term impact of China&’s one-child rule; the rise of international adoption and the religious currents that buoyed it; and the exceedingly rare phenomenon of twin separation. Today, Esther—formerly Fangfang—lives in Texas, and Demick brings to vivid life the Christian family that felt called to adopt her, unaware that she had been kidnapped. Through Demick&’s indefatigable reporting, will the long-lost sisters finally reunite—and will they feel whole again?A remarkable window into the volatile, constantly changing China of the last half century and the long-reaching legacy of the country&’s most infamous law, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove is also the moving story of two sisters torn apart by the forces of history and brought together again by their families&’ determination and one reporter&’s dogged work.
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Historical fiction, Humourous fiction
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How to Dodge a Cannonball is a razor-sharp satire that dives into the heart of the Civil War, hilariously questioning…
the essence of the fight, not just for territory, but for the soul of America.How to Dodge a Cannonball is funnier than the Civil War should ever be. It follows Anders, a teenage idealist who enlists and reenlists to shape the American Future—as soon as he figures out what that is, who it includes, and why everyone wants him to die for it. Escaping his violently insane mother is a bonus.Anders finds honor as a proud Union flag twirler—until he’s captured. Then he tries life as a diehard Confederate—until fate asks him to die hard for the Confederacy at Gettysburg. Barely alive, Anders limps into a Black Union regiment in a stolen uniform. While visibly white, he claims to be an octoroon, and they claim to believe him. Only then does his life get truly strange.His new brothers are even stranger, including a science-fiction playwright, a Haitian double agent, and a former slave feuding with God. Despite his best efforts, Anders starts seeing the war through their eyes, sparking ill-timed questions about who gets to be American or exploit the theater of war. Dennard Dayle’s satire spares no one as doomed charges, draft riots, gleeful arms dealers, and native suppression campaigns test everyone’s definition of loyalty.Uproariously funny and revelatory, How to Dodge a Cannonball asks if America is worth fighting for. And then answers loudly. Read it while it’s still legal.