The Wives of Los Alamos
by TaraShea Nesbit (Bloomsbury, $25)
TaraShea Nesbit’s evocative atomic-era novel “raises questions that reverberate beyond its particular moment,” said Margaret Quamme in the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch. Narrated in the collective third person by the wives of the scientists who are secretly building the first atomic bomb, it becomes a study of a group being “swept along without thinking.” It’s all about the trivialities of daily life, but Nesbit’s risky strategy pays off because “the details of the time and place are so riveting.”
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The Daring Ladies of Lowell
by Kate Alcott (Doubleday, $26)
A 13-hour workday in a dust-choked room at first felt like freedom to the young women hired at America’s first mechanized textile factory, said Yvonne Zipp in CSMonitor.com. But Kate Alcott’s new novel stays with these mill girls as they awaken to their mistreatment and one of their most outspoken members is found dead. Alcott has thrown in a tacked-on romance, but the murder is based on history, and “when the novel stays focused on its ‘daring ladies,’ it’s a compelling read.”
The Queen’s Bed
by Anna Whitelock (Sarah Crichton, $28)
To be a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I was to occupy a position as demanding as it was coveted, said Moira Hodgson in The Wall Street Journal. Historian Anna Whitelock’s study of that inner circle is “filled with fascinating details” of court life. Elizabeth’s ladies-in-waiting dressed her, bathed her, ensured that she never slept alone, kept her secrets, and served as a last line of defense against would-be assassins. For most, it was an unbreakable lifetime commitment.
How It Feels to Be Free
by Ruth Feldstein (Oxford, $30)
Black female entertainers played an underappreciated role in advancing the civil rights movement, said Farah Jasmine Griffin in The New York Times. Ruth Feldstein’s important new book “brilliantly demonstrates” how Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, Cicely Tyson, and three other prominent performers pushed for change both behind the scenes and in their public bearing. Feldstein honors all six of these principled, effective women by refusing to portray any as having been ahead of her time.
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”