Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
by Dubravka Ugresic
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Baba Yaga, the child-eating crone of Eastern European folklore, makes a major comeback in Dubravka Ugresic’s biting and profound new fairy tale, said Jessa Crispin in NPR.org. “The epitome of the nasty old hag” looms over all three sections of Ugresic’s new novel, each of which centers on a woman confronting old age. Ugresic restores for these women “what age has stripped away: sex, motherhood, visibility, and creativity.” As in the best folk tales, “every element has hidden meaning.”
The Poker Bride
by Christopher Corbett
(Atlantic Monthly Press, $24)
Journalist Christopher Corbett’s new book about a 19th-century immigrant bride “undoes generations of self-serving mythology” concerning the romance of the American West, said Dominique Browning in The New York Times. Polly Bemis was born in China and probably sold as a concubine before she was won in an Idaho poker game by a white farmer. Corbett at first struggles to connect her story to the dismal experience of other early Chinese immigrants. Ultimately, though, he turns a dark chapter in our history into compelling reading.
The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson
by Jerome Charyn
(Norton, $25)
Jerome Charyn’s clever novel attempts to add zest to the life of American poetry’s spinster queen, said Ron Charles in The Washington Post. Charyn “has a perfect ear for Dickinson’s ironic wit,” and he tosses his heroine into a series of invented but believable affairs of the heart, which help us see more clearly the real Dickinson’s playfulness and romantic allure. But profundity was one of Dickinson’s traits, too; Charyn has given us only the “flighty, unbalanced, and childish Emily.”
Mrs. Adams in Winter
by Michael O’Brien
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $27)
John Quincy Adams’ wife, Louisa, seems to have been unfairly overlooked, said Max Byrd in BarnesandNobleReview.com. Michael O’Brien’s exciting reconstruction of the future First Lady’s 1815 excursion from St. Petersburg, Russia, to war-torn Paris “ought to rescue her for good” from obscurity. Using his heroine’s unpublished memoirs, O’Brien creates a brilliant portrait of a complex woman. His Louisa Adams relishes autonomy, yet marshals all her talents simply to return to the side of an austere and indifferent husband.
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Crossword: August 27, 2025The Week's daily crossword
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August 27 editorial cartoonsCartoons Wednesday’s political cartoons include a KKK rebrand, Donald Trump vs. Gavin Newsom, and Ghislaine Maxwell as the new Celebrity Apprentice
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The mission to demine UkraineThe Explainer An estimated quarter of the nation – an area the size of England – is contaminated with landmines and unexploded shells from the war
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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.”