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Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Rob Delaney, Marcel Theroux, Sandra Simonds, and more—that are publishing this week.
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A Heart that Works by Rob Delaney
Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about A Heart that Works: “Delaney (Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.), cocreator and costar of the sitcom Catastrophe, recounts the death of his toddler son, Henry, and the aftermath in this heartrending memoir. In 2014, Delaney and his wife, Leah, moved to London for his work; two years later, Henry was born. Toward the end of his first year, Henry underwent an MRI, and a brain surgeon discovered a tumor near his brain stem. Following a successful surgery to remove the tumor, Henry lost the ability to swallow and received a tracheostomy, and health complications kept him in the hospital for 14 months. After Henry finally went home, Delaney writes, he basked in the ‘unalloyed beauty of his personality.’ But it was a short-lived idyll: Henry’s cancer returned, and he died several months later, at home in Leah’s arms. Delaney is reflective (‘It physically pained me to sign the consent forms each time he got chemo’), and his raw emotionality captures the enormity of his loss (‘I was ready to love this boy forever’). Profound, crushing, and wrenching, this account of a father’s love takes the full measure of grief.”
The Sorcerer of Pyongyang by Marcel Theroux
Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about The Sorcerer of Pyongyang: “Theroux (The Secret Books) delivers a humorous yet insightful take on the lives of ordinary North Koreans with the story of a boy whose life is transformed by Dungeons & Dragons. In 1995 Wonsan, North Korea, 11-year-old Cho Jun-su discovers a copy of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, which cracks open a fantastical world for him. Later, while at university in Pyongyang, he develops a romance with the pretty and worldly Su-ok, who goes on to marry Kim Jimi, the supreme leader’s older son. In 2003, Jun-su is arrested and sent to a penal colony for playing D&D, and Su-ok secures his release via Jimi’s connections. Jun-su befriends Jimi (named after Jimi Hendrix), and through their friendship, as well as what he learns from the game, which he calls the ‘House of Possibility,’ Jun-su gains the courage to build a life on his own terms. As Jun-su, Su-ok, and Jimi strive to be more than mere ‘NPCs’ (non-player characters in D&D), they retain a belief in the state’s ideologies. It’s frustrating that Theroux never resolves this underlying tension, though continued references to the game shed light on Jun-su and his friends’ understanding of the world: ‘We are not real, but what we do to each other is real.’ Theroux’s newest entertains and edifies in equal measure.”
A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella
Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about A Quiet Life: “Three people navigate different kinds of grief in the sentimental latest from Joella (A Little Hope). Chuck Ayers, a Vietnam veteran and recent widower, dithers over whether to go alone on the annual trip he took with his wife, Cat, from Pennsylvania to Hilton Head, S.C., and replays in his mind a fight he’d had years ago with Cat involving his disapproval of her support for a young aspiring artist. Kirsten Bonato, whose father was murdered as a bystander during an armed robbery, works at an animal rescue and tries to sort out her crush on her boss, who’s going through an acrimonious divorce, and her pleasant, casual dating of a hunky coworker. Ella Burke delivers papers and works tedious shifts at a bridal store, trying to stay busy in hopes she’s ready if her eight-year-old daughter, Riley, who was kidnapped three months earlier by her ex-husband, is ever found. Turns out Kristen is a former student of Cat’s, and Chuck bumps into her while visiting the animal rescue where Kristen works. Later, Chuck impulsively gives Ella his second car after seeing her fall while she delivers his paper. The interconnections feel manufactured, though as the characters make small progress in their efforts to move on from their pain and dilemmas, Joella builds toward a convincing set of resolutions. Readers might feel like they’ve been here before, but it’s comforting nonetheless.”
Winterland by Rae Meadows
Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about Winterland: “Spanning two decades, this brooding mystery/bildungsroman from Meadows (I Will Send Rain) begins in Norilsk, Siberia, in 1973, with eight-year-old Anya Petrova’s acceptance into the Soviet gymnastics program. Anya’s father, pyrometallurgist Yuri, is relieved; now that the Motherland considers his daughter an asset, they will take care of her—something he’s felt increasingly unfit to do since his wife, Katerina, vanished three years earlier. Anya dreams of defying gravity, like Olympian Olga Korbut, and secretly hopes that if she makes the 1980 Moscow Olympics team, her mother will see her on television and come home. Katerina’s disillusionment with the Communist Party likely got her in trouble, but it’s also possible the former Bolshoi ballerina simply ran away to dance. Sections from the perspective of the Petrovas’ elderly neighbor, Vera Kuznetsova, detail her own decade in the gulag, as well as conversations Vera had with Katerina that contextualize her disappearance. Though Katerina isn’t the book’s focus, her absence looms large, informing Yuri and Anya’s every action. Meadows paints a poignant portrait of life behind the Iron Curtain, palpably conveying her vividly rendered characters’ deprivation, longing, and self-sacrifice. Fans of Megan Abbott’s You Will Know Me should take note.”
Also out this week: All the Broken Places by John Boyne and Triptychs by Sandra Simonds