A Secret Letter to the KGB Turned A Lost Family History Into a Novel

Journalist Sasha Vasilyuk’s debut novel Your Presence Is Mandatory is a poignant look at the reverberating effects of war through the story of a Ukrainian World War II veteran’s struggle to hide a damaging secret for the sake of his family.  Vasilyuk’s book begins with death—the first chapter featuring a family at the grave in […] The post A Secret Letter to the KGB Turned A Lost Family History Into a Novel appeared first on Electric Literature. Continue reading at 'Electric Literature'

[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-25 11:00:00 UTC ]

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In ‘Who Is Maud Dixon?,’ a Dream Job Leads to a Twisty Nightmare

Alexandra Andrews’s debut novel follows a Machiavellian aspiring writer who becomes entangled in her work for a best-selling fiction writer. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-03-03 11:00:00 UTC ]
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“Justine” Is a Coming-of-Age Novel for the Tamogotchi Set

Perhaps it’s not surprising that even the prose in illustrator Forsyth Harmon’s debut novel Justine is deeply imagistic. Reading this short, powerful story feels like wandering through a museum exhibit about teenage girlhood on Long Island in the summer of 1999. Narrator Ali and her friends feed... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-03-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
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We Can’t Believe Survivors’ Stories If We Never Hear Them

When we started sheltering in place at the beginning of the pandemic, in a burst of energy and optimism I haven’t experienced since, I started a social distance book club. I selected Lara Williams’s debut novel Supper Club, which I’d recently read, because I thought a book that centered on women... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-03-02 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Review: ‘Burnt Sugar,’ by Avni Doshi

“Burnt Sugar,” a debut novel by Avni Doshi, depicts a particularly intense mother-daughter relationship — from the tormented daughter’s point of view. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-03-02 10:00:08 UTC ]
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Hodder Studios pre-empts Bonner's 'brilliantly addictive' debut thriller

Hodder Studios has pre-empted two books from Sarah Bonner, including her debut novel Her Perfect Twin, described as an "original, compelling and propulsive" thriller.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-01 10:16:58 UTC ]
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Virago bags Sharma Taylor's 'deeply moving' debut

Virago has acquired the debut novel by Sharma Taylor, What a Mother’s Love Don’t Teach You, at auction as part of a two-book deal.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-01 03:02:12 UTC ]
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Sceptre takes two from 'stunning' Craig

Sceptre has landed a "stunning" short story collection and debut novel by Serpent's Tail assistant editor Leon Craig. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-28 15:58:25 UTC ]
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Lauren Oyler’s Narrator Is Unreliable, but So Are All of Us Online

Lauren Oyler’s debut novel brings the reader down a rabbit hole of endless, mindless scrolling, online identities, and conspiracy theories. Fake Accounts follows the journey of a young woman after she discovers that her boyfriend is running an Instagram account spouting dangerous conspiracies... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
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His Debut Novel Won the Pulitzer. Now It Has an Action-Packed Sequel.

In “The Committed,” a follow-up to “The Sympathizer,” Viet Thanh Nguyen’s nameless spy navigates a Paris underworld rife with drug deals, violence and colonialism’s ghosts. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-02-26 10:00:03 UTC ]
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An Argentinian Underworld Haunted by the Ghosts of the Disappeared

In Daniel Loedel’s haunting debut novel Hades, Argentina, Tomás Orilla returns to Buenos Aires—“a city made for forgetting as much for nostalgia”—ten years after fleeing the military dictatorship whose regime disappeared upwards of 30,000 thousand political opponents, including Isabel Aroztegui,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-25 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Nico Walker has seen the film adaptation of his book, and he’s not impressed.

The movie adaptation of Nico Walker’s Cherry—the best-selling debut novel about an Iraq veteran turned heroin addict turned bank robber—will be released in theaters in two days, directed by the Russo Brothers (who you might know from Avengers) and starring Tom Holland (who you might know from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-24 18:21:44 UTC ]
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A mother searches for the child she gave up as a teen in ‘The Kindest Lie’

Nancy Johnson’s debut novel “The Kindest Lie” is a well-crafted exploration of class, race, and culture; of motherhood; and of family ties. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-17 13:46:20 UTC ]
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A mother searches for the child she gave up as a teen in ‘The Kindest Lie’

Nancy Johnson’s debut novel “The Kindest Lie” is a well-crafted exploration of class, race, and culture; of motherhood; and of family ties. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-02-17 13:46:20 UTC ]
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Picador nets Baxter's New Animal

Picador has netted New Animal, a “sharp and witty” debut novel by poet and sculptor Ella Baxter. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-14 20:43:00 UTC ]
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7 Books About Break-Ups and Heartbreaks

The best way to get over a breakup is to throw yourself into art and experience the catharsis of observing someone else’s pain. For some, this might be listening to Fleetwood Mac’s album Rumours on repeat. For others, perhaps a double feature of  Lost in Translation and Her. For readers, the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-12 12:00:00 UTC ]
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How to Write About Kink Without Going Full “Fifty Shades”

It is hard to talk about sex and literature without making some sort of Fifty Shades of Grey reference. But where Fifty Shades shows a caricature of S&M, the new anthology Kink is a celebration of the range of human desires. From the power of control and the titillation of voyeurism, this... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-02-12 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Alan Johnson's debut novel pre-empted by Wildfire

Wildfire has pre-empted former Home Secretary and memoirist Alan Johnson’s debut novel, The Late Train to Gipsy Hill. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-10 23:51:47 UTC ]
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The Stories That Bind Us Together: On E. Lily Yu’s “On Fragile Waves”

DURING ONE KEY MOMENT, E. Lily Yu’s disquieting debut novel On Fragile Waves offers a kind of authorial self-critique regarding the representation of diasporic migrants. A character Yu calls “the writer” has traveled to Australia to interview asylum seekers in the Afghan migrant community there... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-06 16:00:46 UTC ]
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The Monthly Digest: February 2021

Today, as we have done in years past, LARB honors Black History Month by highlighting a series of reviews, essays, interviews, and exchanges of letters we published in January. Below you will find a poignant essay on the Compton Christmas Parade; a penetrating interview with Kiley Reid, author... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-01 13:30:13 UTC ]
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A Debut Novel Examines the Alluring Trap of Our Online Personas

“Fake Accounts,” Lauren Oyler’s debut novel, considers how social media has reconfigured our behavior, relationships and how we think of ourselves. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-02-01 10:00:02 UTC ]
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