2020-04-01 Real Simple

Historical

fiction

In Karin Tanabe’s

A Hundred Suns,

Jessie has left 1930s

Paris for Hanoi so

her Michelin-heir

husband can join the

family business. She

falls in with expats

who tell her about

workers’ deplorable

conditions on Miche-

lin’s plantations—

and indulge her with

opium. While con-

fronting the source

of her wealth, Jessie

must parse what’s

real and what’s not.

Imaginative

tale

Ana, a whip-smart

woman who wants

to be a scholar and

writer, meets and

marries Jesus (yes,

that Jesus) in The

Book of Longings.

Sue Monk Kidd skips

historians’ 2,000-

year-old “Did Jesus

marry?” debate, imag-

ines he did, and asks,

“So what would his

wife have been like?”

Inserting Ana into

biblical stories, Kidd

crafts a surprising,

absorbing narrative.

Arresting debut

Elizabeth Wetmore’s

powerful first novel,

Valentine, recounts

the aftermath of a

brutal rape in a Texas

oil town in 1976. Via

shifting perspectives—

including those of

Gloria, the survivor,

and Mary Rose, the

housewife who finds

her the morning after—

Valentine explores the

women’s connections

and traces the gossip

and blame that follow

the crime.

Twisty thriller

Janelle Brown’s Pretty

Things is a page-

turner about scam-

mers and social

media. Swindler Nina

needs to score big—

her mom’s medical

bills are looming, and

she’s still waiting on

$72,000 from her

last con job. She and

her partner decide to

target their riskiest

mark yet: Vanessa,

a woman from Nina’s

past who is now an

Instagram influencer.

But there’s far more

to Vanessa than what

appears on her feed.

Moving memoir

In This Is Big, journal-

ist Marisa Meltzer

interweaves her per-

sonal dieting history

with a compelling

biography of Jean

Nidetch, the woman

who founded Weight

Watchers. As the

author chronicles her

own journey through

the popular program,

she describes how

Nidetch—despite

getting and staying

thin—struggled at

home and at work.

In the end, Meltzer

learns and grows in

unexpected ways.

For more book

recommendations,

visit realsimple.com/

newbooks.

What Should I Read Next?

The Short List

TOP PICKS FOR EVERY TASTE

By Elizabeth Sile

Photograph by Ted + Chelsea Cavanaugh

PROP STYLING BY HEATHER GREENE FOR HELLO ARTISTS

22 REAL SIMPLE APRIL 2020

WHAT WE LOVE

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