The Woman Upstairs
by Claire Messud (Knopf)
In the latest novel from Messud (“The Emperor’s Children”), 40-something would-be artist Nora Eldridge has settled. Instead of following her dream, she’s a third-grade teacher in Cambridge with no children and no husband. Enter the Shahid family, which moves in downstairs. Their young boy is in her class; the mother is an Italian artist; the father is an academic. As Nora and the family intertwine, she is happier with her life. But this is no happily-ever-after story.
Bunker Hill
A City, a Siege, a Revolution
by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking)
Boston is well acquainted with struggle. Now Philbrick, the best-selling author of “Mayflower” and “Why Read Moby-Dick?” details the June 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill — and events leading up to it, starting with the Tea Party 18 months before. Colonial Boston, the author explains, was a town of 15,000 residents living in just over a square mile. Nearly everyone knew patriot soldiers who fought in the bloody battle. And the author gives an on-the ground view of everyday Bostonians — who were both for and against the Revolution.
The Mouth That Roared
My Six Outspoken Decades in Baseball
by Dallas Green and Alan Maimon (Triumph Books)
Baseball lifer Dallas Green is one of four men who managed both the Yankees and the Mets — but is distinguished as the only one who failed to reach the World Series with at least one of the teams. And while his tales of battles with George Steinbrenner, and with Mets management, are certainly entertaining, it’s tragedy that makes this more than a typical baseball book. Green’s granddaughter, Christina-Taylor Green, was killed in the Arizona shooting that wounded Rep. Gabby Giffords. His telling of that is heartwrenching. They say there’s no crying in baseball. Not true.
The Prince of Paradise
The True Story of a Hotel Heir, His Seductive Wife, and a Ruthless Murder
by John Glatt (St. Martin’s Press)
Ben Novack Jr. grew up in the 1950s and ’60s in Miami’s fabled Fontainebleau Hotel — more specifically, the 16th-floor penthouse — befriending the likes of Sinatra, Elvis and Ann-Margret, who all performed there. His parents owned the place. But his life ended at another hotel: He was beaten to death at a Hilton in Westchester County. His ex-stripper wife, Narcy, and her brother were later convicted of his murder. Veteran crime scribe Glatt gives us all the atmosphere, characters and facts to make an engrossing thriller.
Someday, Someday, Maybe
by Lauren Graham (Ballantine Books)
On Lauren Graham’s résumé, we see “Gilmore Girls,” “Parenthood” and . . . novelist? Yep. The popular actress, a Barnard grad, writes, apparently, from her own experience: In January 1995, Franny Banks has six months left on her self-imposed deadline to become an actress. An ad for ugly sweaters and waiting tables do not count. Her roommates, pal Jane and would-be sci-fi wrtier Dan, support her, but she needs more to get a career like her idol Diane Keaton (who blurbs the book).