People USA – July 29, 2019

The Best New Books

The price of survival at a Jim Crow-era reform

school, a mother and daughter’s complicated

summer and a paleobotanist’s parenting nightmare

Edited by Kim Hubbard

The Nickel Boys

Colson Whitehead

NOVEL

Whitehead (The Underground Railroad) sets his searing

new novel at the Nickel Academy, where youths who

are sent to be “reformed” often wind up forgotten,

tortured, even dead. Sweet, naive Elwood Curtis, who’s

been unjustly incarcerated, struggles to stay alive so

he can expose the school’s grisly secrets. This is tough

stuff, for sure, but it’s a gripping read thanks to its

truths—both factual (it’s based on Florida’s real Dozier

School) and emotional, as the desperate boys cling to

hope and humanity in hideous circumstances.

The Need

NOVEL

If the challenges of

parenting young children

have ever driven you to

the brink, you’ll recognize

what’s happening to

Molly Nye—for about 10

pages. This fever dream

of a novel starts like a

thriller (someone’s in

the living room), morphs

into speculative sci-fi

(the intruder is from

a separate universe)

and ends up like nothing

you’ve ever read before.

In a good way.

novelist Zahid, he leaves

her with his standard

poodle, Princess, for the

summer. Back home in

tony Connecticut,

Rachel’s mother, recently

dumped by Rachel’s

father, falls for the dog.

When Zahid returns, a

sharply funny caper about

love, lust and literary

inspiration unfolds.

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40 July 29, 2019 PEOPLE CONTRIBUTORS BOOKS Mary Pols, Helen Rogan, Marion Winik MOVIES Samantha Miller MUSIC Eric Renner Brown

Beach Book

with our partners

at Lifetime

V.C. Andrews

Heaven

Sold by their diabolical

dad, Heaven and her

siblings fight to reunite.

New in Paperback

Catherine

Oxenberg

Captive

An actress’s

harrowing story

about rescuing

her daughter from

the notorious

NXIVM cult. Now

with an updated

afterword.

Caroline

Kepnes

Providence

True love foiled

by a kidnapping,

mysterious

deaths in Provi-

dence and a

troubled detec-

tive. It’s a spell-

binding stew.

Elyssa Friedland

The Floating

Feldmans

When Annette

Feldman decides

to celebrate her

70th birthday

with a family

cruise, drama—

and hilarity—

ensue.

A

THROWBACK

FOR YOUR

SUMMER

READING

LIST

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