It took Audrey Niffenegger, the bestselling author of The Time Traveler's Wife, nearly 15 years to finish its sequel, Life Out of Order, which drops on Tuesday. Our profile of Niffenegger (below) shines light on the winding paths that led her to the finished product.
Our editor's picks this week—two novels and a graphic work—walk similarly winding paths. One follows two estranged brothers on a road trip to preserve their late father's remains; one charts a Texas teen's bumpy coming-of-age in the 1980s; one finds humor in the mess of cooking at home in NYC. Together, they form a formidable ode to the pleasures and pitfalls of fumbling through life in hopes of someday striking gold.
Meanwhile, as the ever-busy fall season ramps up, we're bursting at the seams with new profiles and Q&As about noteworthy titles. As always, happy reading!
—Conner Reed
Starred Reviews Releasing Next WeekCheck out all the books to receive starred PW reviews that are hitting shelves next week. more
Audrey Niffenegger Goes Back to the FutureThe author returns with Life Out of Order, a sequel to The Time Traveler’s Wife. more
T. Geronimo Johnson Isn’t Buying Happy EndingsIn his latest novel, the bestselling author challenges ideas about race and the American dream. more
Darcie Little Badger on Heritage and Hope The Newbery Honor author pushes to bring Native representation to young readers in her forthcoming graphic novel, Children of Owl. more
Jasper Fforde Has Series BusinessWith the final novel in his surreal Thursday Next series, the author vows to never be boring: "If I have any skill, it's imagination." more
The New Manhattan Project: PW Talks with Kevin RooseIn The AGI Chronicles, the journalist tracks the race to develop artificial intelligence that can match or surpass human capabilities. more
‘We’re Still on That Hurtling Train’: PW Talks with Nathaniel PhilbrickThe historian’s The Rush examines the California gold rush’s impact on American society from the Civil War to today. more
Bad Behavior: PW Talks with Nafissa Thompson-SpiresA womanizing bootlegger’s mysterious death sparks tall tales among the residents of his all-Black Oklahoma town in the PEN Open Book Award winner’s latest novel, The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford. more
Untranslatable: PW Talks with Kuzhali ManickavelThe debut novelist’s A Compendium of Supernatural Entities Found in the Government Girls Higher Secondary School infuses a subtle coming-of-age tale with the paranormal. more
How Fair Ones by Lydia Millet Got MadeAn inside look at the publication process for the bestselling author’s latest novel. more
By Adam Wilson (Soho)
Not only have I never read a road novel about transporting a cryogenically frozen corpse, but I don’t think I’ve read a road novel that digs this deep into the long silences and “mutual discomfort” of a drive with a family member who you don’t really like. That’s what’s going on in Wilson’s funny and moving narrative of two estranged brothers united by a determination to fulfill their late father’s wish to keep his body on ice, in the event that he can one day be revived. Wilson’s writing on family and filial piety is funny and moving, and he’s equally good at sending up the stereotypes that fuel America’s cultural and political divisions, as when the narrator worries his N95 mask–wearing brother will get them clocked in red states as “blue-pilled soft boys out to repo their assault rifles, raise the capital gains tax, and put Joe Rogan in a public stockade.” —David Varno, literary fiction reviews editor
By Libba Bray (Scholastic Press)
Love, drugs, and rock 'n' roll provide the backdrop against which Bray's cheeky, 1980s–set contemporary YA novel unfolds. After taking the fall for his crush's latest stunt, Bowie is roped into volunteering at a dying local radio station. Music enthusiasts and hopeless romantics will relate to Bowie's plight, particularly as he finds his voice, confronts his fears about an uncertain future, and maybe even gets the girl. —Amanda Ramirez, middle grade and young adult reviews editor
By Roz Chast and Jason Adam Katzenstein (Bloomsbury)
Like all New Yorkers—or I should caveat, as someone who moved here 20 years ago and is now raising native New Yorkers, whom I am expected to cook for—I certainly have had a vexed relationship to the kitchen. The inimitable Chast and her New Yorker cartoonist colleague Katzenstein embrace the weirdness and wonders of the places we attempt to prep our meals (or eat take out over the sink) in this treat-filled collaboration of gags and anecdotes and retold disasters over the stove. Leave it to these perfectly paired wits to fricassee a topic that might seem banal into a deliciously funny dish. —Meg Lemke, comics and graphic novels reviews editor
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