New books to read in November
November 1, 2024
Here’s our list of notable new releases
compiled by Sally Brewster
Time of the Child by Niall Williams
Dr. Jack Troy was born and raised in Faha, Ireland, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean he has always been set apart from the town. His eldest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father’s shadow and remains there, having missed one chance at love — and passed up another offer of marriage from an unsuitable man. But in the Advent season of 1962, as the town readies itself for Christmas, Ronnie and Dr. Troy’s lives are turned upside down when a baby is left in their care. As the winter passes, their lives and the understanding of their family and their role in their community are changed forever.
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
“Truth is not found in fixed stillness, but in ceaseless change/movement. Isn’t this the quintessential core of what stories are all about?” writes Haruki Murakami in the afterword to The City and Its Uncertain Walls. The long-awaited new novel from Murakami revisits a town his readers will remember, a place where a dream reader reviews dreams and where our shadows become untethered from ourselves. A love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, and a parable for these strange postpandemic times, The City and Its Uncertain Walls is a singular and towering achievement by one of modern literature’s most important writers.
The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri
Family secrets come to light as a young woman fights to save herself and others in a Nazi-run baby factory — a real-life Handmaid’s Tale — during World War II. In a sleepy German village, Allina’s life is idyllic: She works at the bookshop with her uncle, makes strudel with her aunt, and spends the weekends with her friends and fiance. But it’s 1939, and on one fateful night, her life changes forever. The Sunflower House is a meticulously-researched debut historical novel set at Hochland Home, part of the notorious Lebensborn Program in Nazi Germany. Women of “pure” blood resided there for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Aryan population, giving birth to thousands of babies. With her life on the line, Allina is forced to work as a nurse in Hochland Home. Her Jewish identity must remain a secret in order for her to survive, but when she discovers the neglect occurring within the home, she is determined not only to save herself but also the children in her care.
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
As Indigenous scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth — its abundance of sweet, juicy berries — to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”
Water, Water by Billy Collins
In this collection of 60 new poems, Billy Collins writes with more intimacy than ever before about the beauties and ironies of everyday experience. A poem is best, he feels, when it begins in clarity but ends with a whiff of mystery. In Water, Water, Collins combines his vigilant attention and respect for the peripheral to create moments of delight, while revealing more about himself as a poet than we’ve ever encountered. Common and uncommon events are captured here with equal fascination, be it a cat leaning to drink from a swimming pool, a nurse calling a name in a waiting room, or an astronaut reciting Emily Dickinson from outer space. With his trademark lyrical informality, Collins asks us to slow down and glimpse the elevated in the ordinary, the odd in the familiar. SP
Sally Brewster is the proprietor of Park Road Books, 4139 Park Rd.
