books

Just published this week: A portrait of the lucrative drug-treatment industry; a memoir of a female firefighter; debut fiction from an Emmy-winning TV writer; and a brand new Karin Slaughter thriller.

An oral history of the atomic bomb detonations 80 years ago leads this week's list of publishing highlights, which also includes a handful of novels by authors including Louis Sachar and Jason Mott.

The prize is one of the most prestigious awards in literature. This year's crop of nominees includes two debut novelists going up against a previous Booker Prize winner.

Updates on the stabbing of 11 people at a Walmart in Traverse City on Saturday. Also, the last surviving member of a widely-known family of quadruplets from Lansing has died. Then, a native Michigan author's latest book traverses parallel dimensions as the characters contend with the variants of life.

Helen Whybrow's memoir, The Salt Stones, is a closely-observed account of her life as a shepherd. In A Marriage at Sea, Sophie Elmhirst tells the true story of a couple adrift on a rubber raft.

It’s bookclub Friday here on Stateside! Today we re-aired conversations with three Michigan authors whose stories grew out of the real-life histories of our state.

Kegan Gill narrowly escaped from a fighter jet traveling 695 miles per hour, approaching the speed of sound. He spoke with Stateside about his recovery and the lasting mental and physical effects.

Sometimes all it takes to make your day a little brighter is to remind yourself just how dark life can get. Here are four dark novels and a true crime tale.

Publishing this week: new fiction from Susan Choi, essays from Evan Osnos and memoir from Molly Jong-Fast. Plus, Melissa Febos reflects on her year of abstinence.

Holly Gibney is back in King's thriller, Never Flinch. The Stalker follows a manipulative man. Happily ever after is evasive in Consider Yourself Kissed. Plus, new work from Tash Aw and Etgar Keret.