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Motherless Children Make Their Own Family In Ann Patchett's 'The Dutch House'

1:16pm September 23, 2019

by Heller McAlpin

Patchett's new novel is a story of paradise lost, dusted with fairy tale. It follows two siblings who bond after their mother leaves the family home — an ornate mansion she always hated.

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In Patchett's 'The Dutch House,' Siblings Reckon With Profound Loss

10:02am September 22, 2019

NPR's Melissa Block speaks to Ann Patchett about her new novel, "The Dutch House." The author talks about her fascination with family bonds and how she maps her intricate plots.

Hope Is Our Only Wing, by Rutendo Tavengerwei

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'Hope Is Our Only Wing' Tackles Tough Issues With Straightforward Style

10:00am September 22, 2019

by Caitlyn Paxson

Rutendo Tavengerwei's YA debut is a glimpse into the lives of two struggling teens: Shamiso, who moves to Zimbabwe after her father dies in a suspicious car accident, and cancer survivor Tanyaradzwa.

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A Boy And A Pup Come To One Another's Rescue In 'The Dog Who Lost His Bark'

8:31am September 22, 2019

by Samantha Balaban

The Dog Who Lost His Bark is a story in two halves, says author Eoin Colfer: "In the first half the boy heals the dog, and in the second half the dog heals the boy." It's illustrated by P.J. Lynch.

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Kick Off Fall With This Trio Of Innovative YA Graphic Novels

7:00am September 22, 2019

by Etelka Lehoczky

This month sees the arrival of a handful of bold new graphic novels aimed at young adult readers, with unexpected topics and settings from a contemporary Chinese American community to the Old West.

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Navigating Culture And Crushes In 'Frankly In Love'

7:46pm September 21, 2019

by Scott Simon

David Yoon's young adult debut follows Frank Li, a Korean American kid who concocts a plan to keep his strict parents from finding out that he's dating a non-Korean girl — what could go wrong?

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A Stitch In Time Saves A Life In 'A Single Thread'

10:00am September 21, 2019

by Denny S. Bryce

Tracy Chevalier's new novel follows a woman left alone after her fiance and brother died in World War I. She decides to make her mark on the world by joining a guild of embroiderers at a cathedral.

Books

'Show Won't Go On': Book Compiles Performers Who Died On Stage

7:46am September 21, 2019

NPR's Scott Simon interviews Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns about their new book: The Show Won't Go On: The Most Shocking, Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage.

A Cosmology of Monsters, by Shaun Hamill

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'A Cosmology Of Monsters' Blends Freaky Frights And Family Feels

7:00am September 21, 2019

by Jason Heller

Shaun Hamill's new novel uses the lens of horror to examine the ways we interact and fail to interact with each other, and the way a family can be held together by the very things that tear it apart.

They Will Have to Die Now: Mosul and the Fall of the Caliphate, by James Verini

'They Will Have To Die Now' Is A Bare-Knuckles Account Of The Fight Against ISIS

6:07pm September 20, 2019

by Tom Bowman

James Verini's book will stand up with some of the best war reporting, as he takes an unblinking look at the dirtiest kind of battle — urban combat — and the human wreckage it leaves in its wake.