Time - USA (2020-11-30)

(Antfer) #1

110 Time November 30/December 7, 2020


Actress
ANNE ENRIGHT
A daughter attempts
to untangle the past
of her mother, a
revered star of the
stage and screen.
Enright undercuts the
glamour of postwar
Hollywood with the
darkness of 1970s
Dublin winters to
explore the ugly side
of fame.

KEY


Agency
WILLIAM GIBSON
Gibson’s sequel to
The Peripheral takes
place in both the
near future and a
distant one, where
all of what modern
society fears—
climate change,
pandemics, wars
over resources—has
slowly wiped out 80%
of humanity.

Afterlife
JULIA ALVAREZ
Retired and recently
widowed, a woman
is haunted by loss.
But her life takes
another dramatic turn
when the pregnant,
undocumented
girlfriend of a Mexican
laborer who works on
a neighboring farm
knocks on her door, in
need of help.

The City We
Became
N.K. JEMISIN
New York City
is under attack
from the Enemy, a
representation of
white supremacy.
Avatars for the five
boroughs must bond
together to fight,
making their diversity
their strength in the
face of sinister forces.


  1. The Vanishing
    Half
    BRIT BENNETT
    Twin sisters Stella
    and Desiree Vignes
    are Black but could
    pass as white, and
    when one makes
    the decision to
    do so, she sets
    generations of
    Vignes women
    on a complicated
    new path.
    3. The Mirror
    & the Light
    HILARY MANTEL
    The final
    installment in
    Mantel’s masterly
    trilogy on Thomas
    Cromwell finds
    the adviser to the
    mercurial King
    Henry VIII finally
    facing up to the
    consequences of
    his scheming.
    4. A Children’s
    Bible
    LYDIA MILLET
    After a storm
    pummels their
    vacation home, a
    group of children
    decide to flee, and
    their adventure
    story gives way
    to a distressing
    narrative about the
    burdens placed on
    young people.
    5. Homeland
    Elegies
    AYAD AKHTAR
    Akhtar employs
    details from his
    own life—his name,
    Pakistani heritage
    and more—to leave
    readers constantly
    questioning
    what is real as
    they consider
    what makes an
    American identity.
    6. I Hold a Wolf
    by the Ears
    LAURA VAN
    DEN BERG
    Van den Berg’s
    eerie short stories,
    each anchored
    by a woman
    who is slightly
    disconnected
    from her reality,
    offer glimpses of
    biting humor amid
    revelations of pain.

  2. Shuggie Bain
    DOUGLAS STUART
    In 1980s Glasgow,
    Shuggie is left
    to look after
    his struggling
    mother as she
    descends further
    into alcoholism,
    all while trying to
    make sense of his
    sexuality and place
    in the world.


THE 10 BEST FICTION BO OKS


Fiction
REALISTIC FICTION

SHORT STORIES

SUSPENSE + ALTERED WORLDS

Nonfiction
HISTORY + POLITICS

MEMOIR + ESSAYS

SOCIETY + SCIENCE
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