Claire of the Sea Light
by Edwidge Danticat (Knopf)
In the fictional Haitian seaside town of Ville Rose, MacArthur Fellow Danticat (“Breath, Eyes, Memory”; “Brother, I’m Dying”) aims her lyrical prose at 7-year-old Claire and her poor fisherman father, Nozias. The girl’s mother died in childbirth, and every year on Claire’s birthday, they visit her grave. Nozias wonders if he should give his daughter to a local businesswoman who has lost her own daughter — to give Claire a better life. When he’s finally ready to go ahead, the girl disappears.
Kentucky Traveler
My Life in Music
by Ricky Skaggs (It Books)
If you’re looking for a sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll tell-all, move along. Skaggs is a bluegrass and country star who learned the mandolin at 5 — and took the stage with the great Bill Monroe a year later. Now, after a 50-year career — including playing with Ralph Stanley and a stint inEmmylou Harris’ Hot Band — Skaggs looks back at the music, and at the faith that plays an important part in his life.
Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives
Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense
edited by Sarah Weinman (Penguin)
Everyone knows where Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” went — to the top of the best-seller list. Now, crime-fiction expert Weinman’s new anthology shows us where books like that came from: a group of post-World War II writers grappling with their new societal roles. In these stories by Patricia Highsmith, Shirley Jackson and a dozen other talented dames, you’ll see the beginnings of the sort of frustrated women characters that are making books like “Gone Girl” and Maria Semple’s “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” into the new runaway hits. A book to escape into.
The Affairs of Others
by Amy Grace Loyd (Picador)
Anonymity is hard to come by — especially in Downtown Brooklyn. In Loyd’s debut novel, widow Celia Cassel has a simple request of the tenants of her brownstone: that they leave her alone. It works, until a sublessor arrives — to brew a cauldron of bouillabaisse in the courtyard and serve it up to the whole building. Boundaries soon crumble faster than terra-cotta plumbing in a row house. Bring your security deposit!
Grand Forks
A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews
by Marilyn Hagerty (Ecco)
Remember the hoopla over that 87-year-old North Dakota Restaurant critic and her earnest review of her local Olive Garden? Well, she’s back with a collection of her reviews. Hyper-micro-artisanal foodie types might cringe, but Hagerty’s food-world view is a delight. From her take on Subway (there are two along Grand Forks, ND’s Washington Avenue, she points out): “I saw my friend Stephanie Brodeur sitting there with her dad, Dave. Stephanie was starting school this week at Sacred Heart, so after talking to her about that, I moseyed up to the counter . . .”