New Books Network Podcast

Fantasy March 26, 2023

The Crane Husband

Kelly Barnhill

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Today I talked to Kelly Barnhill about her book The Crane Husband (Tordotcom, 2023). Our unnamed narrator, a fifteen-year-old girl, manages to care for her six-year-old brother and creative but irresponsible mother …

Literature March 26, 2023

A Tempest at Sea

Sherry Thomas

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

Sherry Thomas' latest book in her Lady Sherlock Series, A Tempest at Sea (Berkley, 2023), finds Charlotte Holmes in a dangerous investigation at set in the seventh book in this bestselling …

Military History March 26, 2023

Black Cloud Rising

A Novel

David Wright Faladé

Hosted by AJ Woodhams

By fall of 1863, Union forces had taken control of Tidewater Virginia, and established a toehold in eastern North Carolina, including along the Outer Banks. Thousands of freed slaves and …

Burned by Books March 24, 2023

Flux

Jinwoo Chong

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a …

Ukrainian Studies March 23, 2023

Dam Duchess

Svetlana Lavochkina

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

Svetlana Lavochkina's book Dam Duchess (Whiskey Tit, 2018) invites readers to take a surreal journey into the past: the construction of Dnipro Dam, the Stalinist regime, the fate of the aristocrats of …

American West March 22, 2023

Rim to River

Looking Into the Heart of Arizona

Tom Zoellner

Hosted by Daniel Moran

Tom Zoellner walked across the length of Arizona to come to terms with his home state. But the trip revealed more mountains behind the mountains. Rim to River: Looking …

Burned by Books March 21, 2023

American Mermaid

A Novel

Julia Langbein

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Broke English teacher Penelope Schleeman is as surprised as anyone when her feminist novel American Mermaid becomes a best-seller. Lured by the promise of a big payday, she quits teaching …

Literature March 21, 2023

The Field

Victoria Garza

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Victoria Garza begins her poetic memoir with her ten-year-old self learning that her little sister and cousin have died in a car accident. She painstakingly recalls lovely moments with her …

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 …

Taiwan on Air March 16, 2023

Human Glitches

A Discussion with Lin Hsin-hui

Lin Hsin-hui

Hosted by Taiwan on Air

In this episode, our podcast host, Ti-han Chang, invited Ms Lin Hsin-hui, a bourgeoning Taiwanese Sci-fi writer to talk about her award-winning short story collection, Human Glitches. Lin comments on …

Asian Review of Books March 16, 2023

On Java Road

A Novel

Lawrence Osborne

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

The star of On Java Road (Hogarth: 2022), the latest novel from Lawrence Osborne, is Adrian Gyle, a down-on-his-luck correspondent in Hong Kong, in the midst of its 2019 protests …

Literature March 14, 2023

Take What You Need

A Novel

Idra Novey

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Today I talked to Idra Novey about her new novel Take What You Need (Viking, 2023). Leah, her husband, and their little son are driving back to where she grew up …

Literature March 14, 2023

You Must Believe in Spring

Mohamed Tonsy

Hosted by Takeshi Morisato

You Must Believe in Spring (Hajar Press, 2022) is Mohamed Tonsy's "speculative fiction." It is about the future of Egypt when people's memory of the recent revolution is beginning to fade away …

Literature March 14, 2023

You Were Watching from the Sand

Juliana Lamy

Hosted by Kendall Dinniene

Playful, kinetic, and devastating in turn, You Were Watching from the Sand (Red Hen Press, 2023) is a collection in which Haitian men, women, and children who find their lives …

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 …

Burned by Books March 7, 2023

The Survivalists

A Novel

Kashana Cauley

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Kashana is the author of the novel The Survivalists, which was published in January 2023 by Soft Skull Press. She’s also a TV writer who has written for The Great …

Animal Studies March 4, 2023

What We Fed to the Manticore

Talia Lakshmi Kolluri

Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

Through nine emotionally vivid stories, all narrated from animal perspectives, Talia Lakshmi Kolluri’s debut collection explores themes of environmentalism, conservation, identity, belonging, loss, and family with resounding heart and deep …

Burned by Books March 3, 2023

The Critic's Daughter: A Memoir

Priscilla Gilman

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Growing up on the Upper West Side of New York City in the 1970s, in an apartment filled with dazzling literary and artistic characters, Priscilla Gilman worshiped her brilliant, adoring …