March 29, 2025
Hebron, the Appalachian Trail, Hungary, London, and Berlin are some of the settings for our busy characters in this week’s five novels. Whether they are lost in a dense forest; navigating the borders of the Middle East conflict; globe-trotting in stories from a writer at the height of her career; players in a comedy of errors and manners rolled into one; or blown by the winds of fate, they all share a sense of dislocation. Some lose themselves in order to find themselves; all are shaped by the time and place in which they inhabit these extraordinary narratives.
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, The Center for Fiction Bookstore
Featured Books
-
.
Heartwood
By AMITY GAIGE
Published by SIMON & SCHUSTER
I was transfixed by this story, its structure, and the terrific writing. Gaige riffs on an actual event in which a hiker went missing in Maine on the Appalachian Trail. Three primary voices narrate the story: Valerie, a middle-aged woman who has almost finished the arduous hike when she goes astray. Bev Miller, a career game warden with a great track record for finding people; and Lena, wheelchair-bound in a nursing facility, who is following the story closely on the internet. All are fully imagined characters who evince the signature Down East wry tone, all slightly lost. The unforgiving yet beautiful forest comes alive as you root for Valerie to survive. Also, you’ll learn a lot about foraging (remember Into the Wild?).
-
.
The Human Scale
By LAWRENCE WRIGHT
Published by KNOPF
Pulitzer Prize-winner Wright (The Looming Tower) brings Israeli and Palestinian characters together in a fast-moving novel about an investigation into the grisly beheading of the Israeli chief of police. A Palestinian American FBI agent who was nearly killed in a recent bombing joins forces with a distinctly anti-Arab, tough-guy Israeli cop. Their dynamic reveals the many nuances of the conflict—the cruelty, betrayals, and detached acts of violence raising the question: who can you trust? The story traces the days leading up to the Hamas-led attack on October 7. Wright’s thriller is explosive, ruthless at times, deeply probing the psyches of his characters to bring the volatility of the Middle East into human scale.
.
-
.
Thrilled to Death
By LYNNE TILLMAN
Published by SOFT SKULL
A treat for fans and newcomers alike, Tillman’s sense of whimsy and humor permeates her fiction and astute essays. These forty-odd short stories were written over a period of thirty-five years, full evidence of Tillman’s singular talent. The author has arranged them by association instead of chronologically and covers enormous ground with themes from sex to politics. Their titles give a hint to her eccentric obsessions: “On the Small Act of Leaving the House,” “More Sex,” and “Tiny Struggles.” The first in the collection, “Come and Go,” follows three lost souls (“we are things bobbing in the water”) meeting by chance in the street and in rehab reminding us of the randomness of life.
-
.
Flesh
By DAVID SZALAY
Published by SCRIBNER
Szalay (Turbulence) once again uses short bursts of dialogue and encounters to build a rich character study. This novel was inspired by his own “underlying experience of being poised between two places and feeling not 100% at home in either of them” (Hungary and London). “That sort of grey zone interests me.” His protagonist, István, is marked by a childhood relationship with a neighbor woman with deleterious results. Once in London, after a stint in the Iraq war, István bounces around, becoming a driver for an upper-class family. In spare prose and plot the author exposes the challenges of overcoming early trauma—a tense, nail-biter of a novel.
.
-
.
Sister Europe
By NELL ZINK
Published by KNOPF
Step back from the disheartening news cycle and plunge into a gathering of literary types who come together for a celebration to honor a successful Arabic writer’s career. What if you planned a party and nobody came? The hostess, Princess Naema, is trapped in Switzerland but the show must go on in Berlin without her. With the help of the honoree, she assembles a decidedly ragtag group: odd friends of the celebrant; a former sex worker; a publisher who drags along an unreliable younger woman he met online; and some obligatory royalty—Naema’s stand-in is her useless rich grandson. Fun and cinematic, Zink (Avalon) has written a throwback to Wodehouse-ian social satire.
