BooksAkinIN HER CELEBRATED
novels, Emma Dono-
ghue has embodied
everything from an
18th-century prosti-
tute (Slammerkin)
to a young ascetic
starving herself for
God (The Wonder)—
and most memorably,
perhaps, a preco-
cious 5-year-old born
in captivity (Room).
The two main char-
acters in Akin are,
despite the title,
essentially strangers:
a widowed professor
and his half-orphaned
grandnephew, flung
together on a trip
to Nice to trace a
relative’s possible
long-ago involvement
in the French Resis-
tance. Donoghue
draws a vivid picture,
but Akin never quite
gels, either in its
central relationship
or its underdrawn
myster y. B —LGThe Secrets
We KeptIF BIOLOGY IS DESTINY,
maybe biography
is too; Lara Prescott’s
parents named her
for the heroine
of Boris Pasternak’s
Doctor Zhivago, and
now she’s centered
her crackling debut
around the covert
Cold War efforts
to alternately halt (on
the Soviet side) and
help (on America’s)
its publication. Unlike
Prescott's namesake,
though, women live
fully at the center of
Secrets: mistresses,
secretaries, and
agents who may have
seemed invisible
but saw everything.
The result is a sort
of proto-feminist Mad
Men transposed to
the world of interna-
tional espionage—all
midcentury style and
intrigue set against
real, indelible history.
A– —Leah GreenblattAUTHOR
Lara Prescott
PAGES
368A Door in
the EarthA SENIOR AT BERKELEY
drifting in the wake
of her mother’s death,
Parveen Shamsa
finds sudden purpose
in the best-selling
memoir of Gideon
Crane—an American
doctor whose work in
a remote Afghan
village prompts her to
uproot everything and
follow his path.
But the warm glow of
good deeds quickly
meets cold reality
when she realizes
that Crane’s clinic is
essentially unstaffed
and the locals are,
at best, nonplussed
by her presence.
Though Parveen stays
credulous far longer
than she should, Amy
Waldman (a longtime
journalist) writes
about the clash of
cultures and ideals
with clean-lined grace
and quiet eye-level
empathy. B+ —LGAUTHOR
Amy Waldman
PAGES
400AUTHOR
Emma Donoghue
PAGES
352Fiction
Revıews
BOOKS GET OPTIONED ALL THE TIME.
WE BREAK DOWN WHY THIS PARTICULAR
TITLE DESERVES THE HOLLYWOOD
TREATMENT NOW. BY SEIJA RANKIN
THE BOOK
Heaven,
My Home
By Attica Locke
The sequel in Locke’s award-winning
Highway 59 mystery series finds Texas
Ranger Darren Matthews tracking down
a missing boy from a white supremacist
family, forcing the officer to confront
Texas’ history of racial turmoil.WHY IT’S READY FOR ITS CLOSE-UP
Optioned by FX, the series smartly
mixes hot-button issues with
suspenseful drama. And Locke has
Hollywood cred: She wrote for Ava
DuVernay’s (below) Emmy-nominated
When They See Us and will coexecutive-
produce Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere
adaptation.IF WE WERE CASTING...
Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight) exudes
the commanding physicality and the
sensitivity required for Matthews. And
wouldn’t it be great if Locke and DuVernay
made prestige-TV magic again?ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (ISSN 1049-0434) (SEPTEMBER 2019) (#1572/1573) IS PUBLISHED 12 TIMES A YEAR, WITH 10 DOUBLE ISSUES AND SINGLES IN APRIL AND JULY, BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY INC., A SUBSIDIARY OF MEREDITH CORPORATION, PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 225 LIBERTY ST., NEW YORK, NY 10281-1008. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT NEW YORK, NY AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ALL UAA TO CFS. (SEE DMM 507.1.5.2); NON-
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