WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE C3
book world
Go ahead and clutch that pumpkin
spice latte in one hand, but leave the
other free for a book. This fall brings
new titles from literary heavy-hitters,
plus long-awaited sequels and spooky
reads to get you in the mood for
Halloween. Here are some to look
forward to this season.
‘Slay,’ by Brittney Morris (Simon
Pulse/Simon & Schuster, Sept. 24)
Morris wrote her snappy YA debut in
just 11 days after a transformative
experience watching “Black Panther.”
It’s about a feisty black teen who must
defend the popular online gaming
community she’s created from racist,
violent trolls — without revealing her
identity as the creator.
‘Rusty Brown,’ by Chris Ware
(Pantheon, Sept. 2 4)
The cartoonist Ware spent nearly two
decades on this graphic novel set in a
Nebraska parochial school in the ’70s.
“Rusty Brown,” the first of a two-volume
series, promises to showcase Ware’s
sublime artistic vision, blending his
trademark drawings with a lyrical
exploration of weighty themes.
‘Imaginary Friend,’ by Stephen
Chbosky (Grand Central, Oct. 1)
Twenty years later, the author of “The
Perks of Being a Wallflower” delivers
his long-awaited second novel — and
it’s a departure, to put it mildly. In this
epic horror story, Chbosky introduces a
young boy who vanishes into the woods
for six days and, upon return, is thrust
into a good-vs.-evil battle that plays out
over 700-plus pages.
‘The Topeka School,’ by Ben Lerner
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Oct. 1)
Adam Gordon, a champion high
school debater in To peka, Kan., is the
protagonist in this layered examination
of toxic masculinity, politics, free
speech and identity in Middle America.
It’s the third novel from Lerner, the
“10:04” author noted for blurring the
line between fiction and autobiography.
‘Ninth House,’ by Leigh Bardugo
(Flatiron, Oct. 8)
Bardugo, whose YA fantasy series
include “Shadow and Bone” and “Six of
Crows,” delivers a spooky adult debut
that’s perfect for October. A high school
dropout heads to Yale with a specific
assignment: spying on its secret
societies. Expect a clever blend of dark
magic, ancient mysteries, murder and
plenty of ghosts.
‘How We Fight for Our Lives,’ by
Saeed Jones (Simon & Schuster,
Oct. 8)
Jones, a prizewinning poet and
BuzzFeed staffer, reflects on his
experiences as a gay black man from
the South in this slim, poignant
memoir. He grapples with coming out
and coming of age against a backdrop
of homophobia and racism.
‘The Giver of Stars,’ by Jojo Moyes
(Pamela Dorman/Viking, Oct. 8)
During the Great Depression,
horseback librarians hauled loads of
books for hundreds of miles to remote
areas of Kentucky. “Me Before You”
author Moyes brings five of these
women to life in an adventure-driven
historical fiction novel already slated to
become a movie.
‘Celestial Bodies,’ by Jokha
Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth
(Catapult, Oct. 15)
This family saga — about three
sisters grappling with their country’s
past — is the first Arabic novel to win
the Man Booker International Prize.
‘Find Me,’ by André Aciman
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Oct. 29)
In late 2017, the film adaptation of
Aciman’s 2007 novel “Call Me by Yo ur
Name” was released to much fanfare —
which ballooned when he announced
he was writing a sequel. “Find Me”
promises to check in with Elio and
Oliver years after the fateful ’80ssummer they spent together.
‘Astro Poets: Your Guides to the
Zodiac,’ by Alex Dimitrov and
Dorothea Lasky (Flatiron, Oct. 29)
If you’re even marginally curious
what the stars have in store for you this
fall, call in the Twitter-favorite Astro
Poets, who have more than 500,000
followers. They’ve crafted a fun, pop-
culture-heavy guide to the cosmos that’s
full of original poetry and might help
you make sense of the world.
‘Nothing to See Here,’ by Kevin
Wilson (Ecco, Oct. 29)
Madison’s new stepkids have an
interesting affliction: They burst into
flames whenever they’re agitated. Her
politician husband’s public can’t find
out, so despite a decade-old falling out,
she seeks help from her college
roommate Lillian. It’s a darkly funny
look at friendship and forgiveness.
‘Get a Life, Chloe Brown,’ by Talia
Hibbert (Avon, Nov. 5)
Hibbert’s sweet rom-com features a
refreshingly real set of characters.
Chloe, who suffers from chronic pain,
almost dies, so she decides to shake
things up by making a “get a life” list:
go camping, ride a motorcycle, do
something bad. When her tattooed,
motorcycle-riding landlord agrees to
help, sparks fly.
‘The Family Upstairs,’ by Lisa
Jewell (Atria, Nov. 5)
When 25-year-old Libby suddenly
inherits a house in London, she learnsit belonged to the family she never
knew — and it’s where she was found as
a baby, beside the corpses of her
parents. Jewell’s chilling psychological
thriller follows Libby as she uncovers
the dark, twisty secrets of her family’s
past.
‘Little Weirds,’ by Jenny Slate
(Little, Brown, Nov. 5)
Slate’s collection of nonfiction
vignettes — sprinkled with magical
realism — explore the actor-comedian’s
emotions and world view, plus death,
honeysuckle, rabbits and
electromagnetic energy fields. Some are
funny; others sad — expect equal parts
whimsy, wisdom and wistfulness.
‘The Book of Eating: Adventures in
Professional Gluttony,’ by Adam Platt
(Ecco, Nov. 12)
Platt, New York magazine’s
restaurant critic, has eaten his way
around the globe — and learned that
the worst meals often make the best
stories. Foodies will appreciate this
intimate glimpse into the restaurant
world.
‘Twenty-One Truths About Love,’ by
Matthew Dicks (St. Martin’s, Nov. 19)
What to know about this novel: 1) It’s
written entirely in lists. 2) It’s about an
anxious man struggling with family and
financial issues. And 3) It’s an
unconventional, endearing tale of
impending fatherhood.
‘Mary Toft; or, The Rabbit Queen,’
by Dexter Palmer (Pantheon, Nov. 19)
In 1726 in small-town England, Mary
To ft gave birth to 17 rabbits — or so she
told the bewildered medical
community. The real-life events provide
the premise for Palmer’s dark novel
about a group of Brits who have to
figure out if they’re dealing with a
miracle or hoax.
‘Children of Virtue and Vengeance,’
by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt, Dec. 3)
The Legacy of Orïsha trilogy
continues with this sequel to 2018’s
Black Lives Matter-inspired young
adult fantasy “Children of Blood and
Bone.” As a civil war looms,
protagonists Zélie and Amari must
protect the kingdom from devastating
ruin.
[email protected]Angela Haupt is a freelance writer and full-
time health editor in D.C.Literary Calendar
THURSDAY | 7 P.M. Jacqueline Woodson
will discuss “Red at the Bone” with Lynn
Neary at Politics and Prose, 5015
Connecticut Ave. NW. 202-364-1919.FALL BOOKS
by Angela HauptBY CAROL MEMMOTT
Constance Kopp takes on the military
establishment in “Kopp Sisters on the
March,” the fifth in Amy Stewart’s enter-
taining series about three fiercely femi-
nist sisters who refuse to believe that
men are meant to rule the world.
The fictional Con-
stance and her sisters,
Norma and Fleurette,
are based on the real
Kopp sisters, who
gained celebrity after
Constance became one
of the first female dep-
uty sheriffs in the
United States. Weav-
ing fact and fiction,
Stewart’s latest tale of
the sisterhood finds Constance strug-
gling with the loss of that job, an insult
that took place in last year’s “Miss Kopp
Just Won’t Quit.”
The sisters’ financial woes and the
United States’ looming participation in
World War I give this novel a more
serious tone than its predecessors. It’s
based less on the real-life sisters and
more on Stewart’s imagining of their life
as the country moves toward the verge of
the war. There may be less humor this
time, but the story is ultimately more
gripping and satisfying as it makes abun-
dantly clear the continuing societal dis-
missal of women’s worth, even when the
fate of the world is at stake.
In 1917, with their lives at loose ends,
the fictional sisters sign up for a six-week
“A rmy camp for girls,” an actual national
service program set up to train women to
do their part for the war effort. Military
leaders were adamant that “there is no
intention of producing a modern Amazo-
nian corps,” but they hadn’t yet met the
Kopps.
Stewart places
them at a real-life
camp in Chevy Chase,
Md., that opened in- The action-
loving sisters are
quickly disenchanted,
spending their days
“learning the skills
most women are suit-
ed for who wish to be
intelligently useful in
times of national
stress.” But bandage
rolling and bedmak-
ing don’t quite cut it
for the Kopps, who
are reminded by one
of the camp’s driving
forces that women’s
involvement in the
war effort must start small. “No one woke
up one morning and decided that women
should train just as men do — w ell no one
of the male persuasion woke up and
thought that,” a female member of the
War Department warns them.
A handful of disgruntled women go
rogue, clandestinely learning hand-to-
hand combat and marksmanship. Their
goal: learn self-defense and travel to
France to drive ambulances and tend the
wounded. Norma, meanwhile, is trying
to convince the army that pigeons are the
best way for the military to communicate
during wartime (history later proved
that these birds were indispensable mes-
sage carriers), and Fleurette, a budding
actress, is organizing entertainment for
the troops.
Life in the camp provides a meaty
story, but Stewart dishes up another
savory drama based on another histori-
cal figure: Beulah Binford, who, like the
Kopps, never attended army camps. She
was, however, a woman hated by the
American public for her involvement in a
murder case in Richmond — she was
unfairly vilified because a man who
killed his wife was obsessed with her.
Beulah’s story adds a grimness to the
novel as Stewart writes of how Beulah
was abused by men since childhood and
then dragged through the mud by the
media for years. In “Kopp Sisters on the
March,” a desperate Beulah arrives at the
camp under an assumed identity, hoping
to use her training as a way to escape
America and get lost in war-torn France.
Beulah and Constance couldn’t have
foreseen that they would have to reckon
with their past at the women’s camp, but
they come out of this story more power-
ful and self-confident. As one character
sums it up: “If we set about doing what
we know, in our hearts and minds, must
be done, then we will be impossible to
ignore. We w ill take our place at t he table
because it belongs to us.”
[email protected]
Carol Memmott, a freelance book critic,
lives in Northern Virginia.KOPP SISTERS
ON THE MARCH
By Amy Stewart
Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt.
368 pp. $26.As war nears,
plucky sisters
demand place
in the world
decision epitomizes Noah’s tough real-
ism. Confronted with the challenge of
filling unscheduled days in New York
City, he decides to jump-start his new life
with a trip to Nice, France, for the annual
Carnival. There, he plans to celebrate his
80th birthday and reconnect with his
hometown, a place he hasn’t seen since
he was shipped off to America as a child
to escape the Nazis.
Donoghue steeps the opening chapter
in nostalgia. Noah may keep a stiff upper
lip, but he regards his life as something
behind him. He still carries on ironic
conversations with his late wife. And he’s
become fascinated by a collection of
mysterious photographs taken by his
mother in the early 1940s in Nice. Per-
haps while he’s there, he thinks, he can
identify the places and people in these
long-forgotten snapshots.
But Donoghue disrupts Noah’s retro-
spective plans in the first 10 pages. Just
days before he’s set to leave, he receives a
call from the New York office of Children’s
Services. The news is so unexpected that
it’s practically incomprehensible to him:
Due to tragic deaths and incarcerations
involving people he barely knows, Noah
is the only relative available to provide
shelter to an 11-year-old grandnephew
named Michael. Guilted into taking tem-
porary custody of this sullen urchin and
unwilling to delay his trip, Noah decides
to take the boy along to France.
BOOK WORLD FROM C1 Yes, this odd-couple situation is con-
trived, but it’s also continuously charm-
ing. A lifetime of scientific research and
high culture have done nothing to equip
Noah to care for a sixth-grader. “It was
exhausting,” Noah thinks, “having to
translate almost every word into vocabu-
lary he imagined an eleven-year-old
would know.” H e’s distressed by Michael’s
bloody video games, his constant swear-
ing, his horrendous grammar. And what
on earth will he feed him — s tuffed olives
or marcona almonds dusted with rose-
mary?
Donoghue, a mother herself, has a
perfect ear for the exasperated sighs of
preteens. Noah can’t understand why
Michael would rather stare at his phone
than enjoy one of the world’s m ost beauti-
ful cities. All his attempts at c onversation
are hilariously awkward, an excruciating
transcript of impatience, misunder-
standings, missed intentions:
“Do you skateboard?”
“Skate.”
“Oh, you prefer skating? Ice or roller?”
“It’s called skating, dude.”
“No, but I’m just asking whether you
do it on ice or dry land.”
Every little breakthrough of friendli-
ness is quickly followed by another argu-
ment, a spat of defiance, an embarrassing
display of rudeness. Never having raised
a child, Noah finds all this drama con-
stantly bewildering. The phrase on Mi-
chael’s T-shirt — “Winter Is Coming” —
seems belated in February, but Noah
gradually learns to choose his battles.
“How could anyone bear to be a parent?”
he wonders. “Like contracting to love a
werewolf.”
For his part, Michael regards his new
guardian as a dinosaur, hopelessly igno-
rant of anything that matters, like tennis
shoes or selfies. When he asks Noah,
“What’s your Wi-Fi?” the old man starts
rambling on about his wife.
There’s a lot of this comedy at an old
fogy’s expense. But Donoghue doesn’t
just play it for laughs — o r sentimentality.
Part of caring for Michael, which Noah is
determined to do, is trying to understand
the boy’s b ackground. And that challenge
draws Noah into a world of poverty, drug
use and police corruption that are totally
alien to his privileged life as a university
professor. Before long, Noah begins to
realize just how remarkable this boy’s
resilience is. “Behind the braggadocio,”
he thinks, “such grief.” Michael may not
know anything about prawns or cheese,
but he’s knowledgeable about realms of
experience that Noah didn’t even know
existed — a nd suddenly the oppression of
a previous century feels distressingly
fresh again.
“A kin” offers little in the way of plot —
certainly nothing like the terror of
“Room” or the boisterous adventures of
Donoghue’s 2014 novel, “Frog Music.”
Instead, “A kin” is true to the quiet invest-
ment of time needed to win a child’s t rust.
The movement here is the slow accrual of
affection. Noah and Michael wanderaround Nice, annoying French waiters
and suppressing their irritation with
each other with varying degrees of suc-
cess. For us, the reward stems from
Donoghue’s ability to wring moments of
tenderness and comedy from this mis-
matched pair of relatives who never
crossed paths in their own country.
At first, they can’t appreciate their
shared passion for photography, but that
gradually becomes the novel’s abiding
concern. Michael uses his selfie stick to
snap pictures of himself all over Nice;
Noah, meanwhile, keeps trying to find
the buildings and people captured in his
mother’s old photos. In their own ways,
they’re both looking for something essen-
tial in these images. Michael wants to
create an identity, while Noah hopes to
confirm his past. But as the old professor
searches into the darkest corners of
France’s wartime trauma, he’ll find his
young charge more helpful than he ever
expected.
Early in the novel, when the social
worker first calls with her outlandish
proposition to save this stranded child,
Noah wonders, “In what sense could you
really be kin to someone you’d never
met?” B y the end, he knows the answer to
that question. Michael’s life isn’t the only
one being saved here.
[email protected]Ron Charles writes about books for The
Washington Post and hosts
TotallyHipVideoBookReview.com.New worldviews for unlikely travel partners
PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARGARET LONERGAN/LITTLE, BROWN
Amy Stewart