New Books Network Podcast

Jewish Studies May 26, 2023

Undesirables

A Holocaust Journey to North Africa

Aomar Boum

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In the lead-up to World War II, the rising tide of fascism and antisemitism in Europe foreshadowed Hitler's genocidal campaign against Jews. But the horrors of the Holocaust were not …

Historical Fiction May 9, 2023

Out of Ireland

Marian O'Shea Wernicke

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

Today I talked to Marian O’Shea Wernicke about her new novel Out of Ireland (She Writes Press, 2023). Most people have heard of the Irish famine in 1848 and of the resistance movement …

Literature May 7, 2023

The World and All That It Holds

A Novel

Aleksandar Hemon

Hosted by AJ Woodhams

Today I talked to Aleksandar Hemon about his new novel The World and All That It Holds (MCD, 2023). As the Archduke Franz Ferdinand arrives in Sarajevo one June day in 1914 …

Literature April 25, 2023

The Great Reclamation

A Novel

Rachel Heng

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

In the 1940s, Singapore was controlled by the British occupied by the Japanese and comprised of rubber plantations and decrepit fishing villages. A timid little boy is the only one …

Historical Fiction April 17, 2023

Who Cries for the Lost

C. S. Harris

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

Fans of Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, know that the individual tales that form his saga combine complex, fast-paced, often political mysteries with a series of revelations about his family’s history …

Human Rights April 3, 2023

The Memory Seeker

Ronald Niezen

Hosted by Rine Vieth

The Memory Seeker is a novel that, drawing upon Professor Ronald Niezen's background in researching human rights, takes on the experiences of war violence and its aftermath, the vagaries of memory, and …

Historical Fiction March 21, 2023

The White Lady

Jacqueline Winspear

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

It’s just after World War II, and Elinor White (born Elinor de Witt, which also means “white”), a single woman in her mid-forties, lives as a recluse in a village …

Literature March 18, 2023

Traces

Patricia L. Hudson

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

An early American adage proclaimed, "The frontier was heaven for men and dogs―hell for women and mules." Since the 1700s, when his name first appeared in print, Daniel Boone has …

Jewish Studies March 10, 2023

The Butterfly and the Axe

Omer Bartov

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Spring 1944. A Jewish family is murdered in a remote Ukrainian village. Who were they? Who were the killers? Three generations later, an Israeli woman and a British man of …

Historical Fiction March 8, 2023

Marvelous

Molly Greeley

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

Once in a while, a novel comes along that is both different and special. Marvelous (William Morrow, 2023) is such a book. Retellings of fairy tales are not unusual, and …

Literature February 21, 2023

In the Fall They Leave

A Novel of the First World War

Joanna Higgins

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Today I talked to Joanna Higgins about her new book In the Fall They Leave: a Novel of the First World War (Regal House Publishing, 2023). Nineteen-year-old pianist Marie-Thérèse has dropped …

Historical Fiction February 19, 2023

The Woman with the Cure

Lynn Cullen

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

The essential contribution of The Woman with the Cure (Berkley Books, 2023) can be summarized in one sentence: like most of its future readers (I assume), I had never before heard …

Literature January 31, 2023

Song of the Storyteller

Book 5 of 5: Songs of Steppe & Forest

C. P. Lesley

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Today I talked to C. P. Lesley about Song of the Storyteller (Five Directions Press, 2023). It’s 1546, and Ivan the Terrible is about to be coronated and married off. Government …

Historical Fiction January 17, 2023

Pandora

A Novel

Susan Stokes-Chapman

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

It is the very end of the eighteenth century, and Pandora Blake—known as Dora—lives at the edge of London society. Despite the opposition of her obnoxious uncle Hezekiah and his …

Asian Review of Books December 15, 2022

Lost in the Long March

Michael X. Wang

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

In 1934, tens of thousands of Communist guerillas fled Jiangxi, in an extended retreat through hazardous terrain to Shaanxi in the north, while under fire from their Nationalist enemies. The …

Historical Fiction December 8, 2022

The American Adventuress

A Novel

C. W. Gortner

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

From Lucrezia Borgia to Marlene Dietrich, Empress Marie Fyodorovna of Russia, and most recently the actress Sarah Bernhardt, C. W. Gortner has made a career out of finding strong, fascinating, real-life …

Historical Fiction November 21, 2022

The Winter Garden

Nicola Cornick

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

In her novels, Nicola Cornick blends a modern perspective with a historical mystery and a paranormal connection between the two. The Winter Garden (Graydon House Books, 2022) revolves around the …

Literature November 15, 2022

The Lindbergh Nanny

A Novel

Mariah Fredericks

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Today I talked to Mariah Fredericks about her new novel The Lindbergh Nanny (Minotaur Books, 2022). The kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh, Jr in 1932 shocked the country and made international headlines …

Literature November 8, 2022

Under a Veiled Moon

Karen Odden

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Today I talked to Karen Odden about her new book Under a Veiled Moon (Crooked Lane Books, 2022). When the Princess Alice pleasure boat collides with a huge iron-hulled cargo ship …

Historical Fiction November 2, 2022

The Poison Machine

Robert J. Lloyd

Hosted by Michael Morales

London, 1679. Combining the color and adventure of Alexandre Dumas and the thrills of Frederick Forsyth, early scientists Harry Hunt and Robert Hooke of the Royal Society stumble onto a …