Books

Chanelle Benz On 'The Gone Dead'

Chanelle Benz's new novel is a story that swells with Mississippi swelter, blood oaths, old grudges, conspiracy theories and everlasting mysteries. Scott Simon talks with her about the book.

2 Fractured Halves Make A Whole In 'Evvie Drake'

The debut novel from NPR's own Linda Holmes follows a suddenly widowed (and not all that grief-stricken) woman and her new lodger — a former major league ballplayer who's lost his ability to pitch.

Why We're Reading Beowulf In The Bathtub

NPR's new kids' fiction column — by Juanita Giles, founder of the Virginia Children's Book Festival — kicks off with an explanation of why the epic poem Beowulf is the perfect bathtime read.