Episodes
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Ep. 171 NHPR E.L. James: LAND OF GHOSTS and Zibby Owens on the Book Biz
E.L. James is the author of the global publishing phenomenon “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Her latest novel marks her debut as a YA author, a paranormal romance about a teen who moves to London after losing her family in a car crash, and falls in love with a ghost only she can see and hear. Book Biz:...
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Ep. 170 NHPR Eli McCann : STITCHED and Becca Freeman on the Book Biz
This debut novel brings us into the cozy but cutthroat world of competitive quilting. With a chance to finally beat their long-time rivals, a quilting circle welcomes two young gay men to their group as they bicker their way to an award-worthy entry. Book Biz: Becca Freeman, co-host of the…
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Ep. 169 NHPR Stephanie Soileau: Should The Waters Takes Us and Dwight Garner on The Book Biz
A sweeping four-century debut that travels from France to Acadia to the bayous of Southern Louisiana, a story of family resilience, environmental reckoning, and moral compromise on an epic scale. Book Biz: Dwight Garner of the New York Times on how the nation's top literary critic sees the…
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Ep. 168 NHPR Jessica Goldstein: RETRO and Travis Pollio from the Red Sox
In "Retro," an unemployed actress lands her dream job guiding wealthy clients on luxury time-travel tours through history—until she realizes the past might be about to wreck her present. If you were at the Red Sox game at Fenway Park on September 3, 2025, for "Fourth Wing Night," you witnessed…
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Ep. 167 NHPR: Sizzling Summer Recommendations
Some favorite authors offer their suggestions for summer reading, plus host Rachel Barenbaum has some books by New England authors to recommend.
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Ep. 166 NHPR Yu-Mei Balasingamchow: NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED and Katherine Center on the Book Biz
A debut novel about Ophir—not her real name—who starts a confessional podcast about her years on the run around the globe. Filled with danger and twists, it’s ultimately a story about immigration and belonging—one unlike any you’ve seen before. And on the Book Biz, Katherine Center talks about…
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Ep. 165 NHPR Portia Elan: HOMEBOUND + Rachel Kanter for the Book Biz
In this novel of friendship and hard-won hope, four lives are entangled across time by one story, saved to a floppy disk in the 1980s and destined to ripple across the centuries. For fans of punk rock, robots, 80’s nostalgia, and post-apocalyptic pirates. And on our Book Biz segment, bookseller...
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Ep. 164 NHPR Bar Fridman-Tell: HONEYSUCKLE + Ron Charlies on the Book Biz
This debut novel, based on a Welsh myth, explores the themes of autonomy and choice when a lonely boy has a magical playmate created for him. It’s a lush, unsettling tale blending romance, horror, and fairytale elements, with a nod to Frankenstein. And on our Book Biz segment, former Washington...
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Ep. 163 NHPR H.M. Wolfe: DAGGERMOUTH + Sarah MacLean on the Book Biz
A viral dark dystopian romance set in a corrupt surveillance state ruled by the masked elite, following a mercenary who botches the assassination of the president’s son and ends up forced to marry him. Plus, Sarah MacLean discusses romance as the engine of the book industry.
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Ep 162 NHPR Susan Donovan Bernhard: WESTERLY
In a saga of survival and the secrets that haunt us, one desperate decision creates a fault line that spans decades and threatens to break a family wide open.
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Ep. 161 NHPR Tolani Akinola: LEAVE YOUR MESS AT HOME + Laura B. McGrath discusses literary agents
In the wreckage of a fateful Thanksgiving reunion at their Nigerian-American family’s table, four siblings are forced to reckon with the past, take stock of what really matters, and find a way back to each other. On the Book Biz we talk with Laura McGrath, an English professor at Temple…
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Ep. 160 NHPR Stacia Stark: WE WHO WILL DIE
A young woman faces a deadly competition where survival depends on mastering forbidden powers she barely understands. As secrets about her past and the ruling powers emerge, Arvelle must decide whom to trust before the trials—and her enemies—claim her life.
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Ep. 159 NHPR Daniyal Mueenuddin : THIS IS WHERE THE SERPENT LIVES + Vauhini Vara Discusses AI
Through intertwining narratives set in both the U.S. and Pakistan, the novel reveals how class, power, and desire trap its characters in cycles of deception and emotional isolation. And on our segment, The Book Biz, journalist Vauhini Vara, author of "Searches; Selfhood in the Digital Age,"...
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Ep. 158 NHPR Judy Batalion: THE LAST WOMAN OF WARSAW + Rachel Kanter of Lovestruck Books
In 1938, Fanny Zelshinsky, is deciding whether or not to go through with her upcoming wedding. Meanwhile, Zosia Dror has fled her religious family to become part of a new youth movement. But when artist Wanda Petrovsky goes missing, this unlikely duo works together to find Wanda before it’s too...
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Ep. 157 NHPR Rebecca Lehman: THE BEHEADING GAME
We all know what happened to Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. But what if she woke up the day after her execution and took it upon herself to seek justice? A fantastical journey through the wilds of England and Tudor history, filled with danger and magic and steeped in Arthurian legend.
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Ep. 156 NHPR Claire Oshetsky & Rachel Kanter: EVIL GENIUS and Lovestruck Books
EVIL GENIUS is a darkly comedic, surreal noir novel set in 1974 San Francisco, following 19-year-old Celia Dent as she becomes obsessed with murder and desire after a co-worker's death, leading her to challenge her controlling husband and her mundane life. Also on the show we introduce a new...
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Ep. 155 NHPR Karan Mahajan: THE COMPLEX
THE COMPLEX moves between the U.S. and modern India to follow the illicit liaisons, real estate dramas, political ambitions and betrayals of a prominent Delhi family, unraveling in the shadow of a nation's transformation.
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Ep. 154 NHPR: Holiday Episode with Deesha Philyaw and Gwydion Suilebhan
A conversation with Deesha Philyaw and Gwydion Suilebhan from the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Foundation offering a behind-the-scenes look at what makes a book stand out—and their favorite books you might have missed.
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Ep. 153 NHPR Janet Rich Edwards: CANTICLE
Set in 13th-century Bruges, this historical debut centers on a young woman’s search for faith, agency, and love in a convent—and in a world that wants to silence her.
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Ep. 152 NHPR Eliana Ramage: TO THE MOON AND BACK
A sweeping, multi-generational story of a young woman obsessed with becoming an astronaut and escaping her complicated past, and the extraordinary lengths she will go to find space for herself.
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Ep. 151 NHPR Callie Hart: BRIMSTONE
The romantasy series that began with “Quicksilver” is back with “Brimstone.” Originally self-published, the series has been picked up by a traditional publisher and is back with more drama, higher stakes, and deadly consequences.
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Ep 150 NHPR Quiara Alegría Hudes: THE WHITE HOT
Told as a letter from mother to daughter, this luminous novel explores a moment of abandonment that stretches from ten days to ten years—and reshapes a family forever.
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Ep. 149 NHPR Katie Yee and Vanessa Lillie: Maggie or A Man and A Woman Walk Into A Bar and The Bone Thief
Maggie: Or A Man and A Woman Walk Into A Bar - When a young mother’s life unravels after a divorce and a cancer diagnosis, she spins her pain into sharp, comedic fiction that’s equal parts heartbreaking and hilarious. The Bone Thief - When a Native teenager vanishes from her small town, a place...
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Ep. 148 NHPR Rickey Fayne: THE DEVIL THREE TIMES
In this debut novel, eight generations of a Black family in West Tennessee are visited by the Devil himself, each offered a different kind of salvation—while he wonders if redemption is possible for him, too.
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Ep. 147 NHPR Addie E. Citchens: DOMINION
A Southern Black family drama unfolds as long-held secrets about a beloved son surface, shaking the foundation of a Mississippi town.
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Ep. 146 NHPR Xenobe Purvis: THE HOUNDING
Based on a strange historical anecdote, this novel tells the story of five sisters in18th-century England whose neighbors become convinced they’re turning into dogs.
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Ep. 145 NHPR Ruben Reyes and Zibby Owens: ARCHIVE OF UNKOWN UNIVERSES
With Ruben we see a genre-blending, speculative historical novel about revolution and empire, following two families across alternate timelines of the Salvadoran civil war. Plus, a look into the publishing world with Zibby Owens.
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Ep. 144 NHPR Jennifer L. Armentrout: THE PRIMAL OF BLOOD AND BONE
“Romantasy” titles from indie presses, along with their enormous fan bases on BookTok, are reshaping the publishing landscape. Jennifer Armentrout is proving that the next giant of fiction doesn’t need a giant publisher. This is the sixth book in the Blood and Ash series- all published by a tiny...
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Ep. 143 NHPR Maria Reva: ENDLING
Set in Ukraine, an eccentric scientist breeding rare snails crosses paths with sisters posing as members of the marriage industry. As Russia invades, they embark on a wild journey involving kidnapped bachelors and a last-of-its-kind snail.
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Ep. 142 NHPR Lucas Schaefer: THE SLIP
A novel about a missing teenage boy, cases of fluid and mistaken identity, and the transformative power of boxing.
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Ep. 141 NHPR Aaron John Curtis: OLD SCHOOL INDIAN
A coming-of-middle-age novel full of humor and grief. When Abe Jacobs is faced with an unthinkable diagnosis, he follows his fragile hope for a cure to the Mohawk Rez where he grew up. In his family’s hands, Abe just might find hope.
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Ep. 140 NHPR Rob Franklin: GREAT BLACK HOPE
A young Stanford graduate caught between worlds of race and class, glamour and tragedy, a friend’s mysterious death and his own arrest. Pulled into the court system and mandated treatment, he finds himself in an absurd but dangerous situation: his class protects him, but his race does not.
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Ep. 139 NHPR Emma Pattee: TILT
Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. All she can do is try to walk home. We follow her journey across a transformed city as she reflects on her life and re-considers hope for the future.
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Ep. 138 NHPR Jemima Wei: THE ORIGINAL DAUGHTER
In this debut novel, two sisters are betrayed and violently estranged. They must weigh the value of ambition versus familial love and home versus the outside world. An exploration of family bonds in a story of sisterhood in turn-of-the-millennium Singapore.
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Ep. 137 NHPR Colwill Brown: WE PRETTY PIECES OF FLESH
A coming of age novel about working-class female friendship, set in the schoolyards, nightclubs, and alleyways of a gritty, post-industrial town in Yorkshire, England. Three girls are inseparable, their friendship as indestructible as they are, but as they grow up and away from one another, a...
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Ep. 136 NHPR Sameer Pandya: OUR BEAUTIFUL BOYS
Three star players on a high school football team are accused of violence by another student. Their secrets, and the secrets of their parents, threaten to shatter their entire community in a novel of race, class, and privilege.
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Ep. 135 NHPR Tova Mirvis: WE WOULD NEVER
Inspired by a true story, “We Would Never” is a gripping murder mystery and an intimate family drama. It explores the issues of loyalty, betrayal, and the blurred line between protecting and forsaking the ones we love most.
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Ep. 134 NHPR Julie Iromuanya: SEASON OF LIGHT
When 276 schoolgirls are abducted from their school in Nigeria, a Florida-based lawyer and former POW of the Nigerian Civil War is consumed by memories of his younger sister who went missing during that conflict. “A Season of Light” explores the shaky promise of the immigrant American dream and a...
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Ep. 133 NHPR Callan Wink: BEARTOOTH
Two brothers are living off the grid on the edge of Yellowstone. In dire straits and desperate for money, they accept a dangerous proposition that permanently alters their lives and their relationship to each other.
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Ep. 132 NHPR Olivia Wolfgang-Smith: MUTUAL INTEREST
A novel about marriage and ambition, sexuality and secrecy, and the true costs of building an empire. “Mutual Interest” explores the lives of “three queer misfits turned business titans” during the Gilded Age with immersive period detail and compelling emotional stakes.
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Ep. 131 NHPR Karissa Chen: HOMESEEKING
“Homeseeking” follows Haiwen and Suchi, two separated lovers through six decades of Chinese history. War, famine, and opportunity take them from Hong Kong, to Taiwan, New York, and LA. This debut novel is a story of family, sacrifice, and loyalty, and of the power of love to endure beyond…
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Ep. 130 NHPR Alison Espach: THE WEDDING PEOPLE
It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn, the only guest who isn’t there for the big event. A novel about depression, love, the ways women make themselves small, and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.
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Ep. 129 NHPR Yael Van der Wouden: THE SAFEKEEP
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, this is a story of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961. An exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.
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Ep. 128 NHPR NH Librarians Recommend Their Favorite Books of 2024
A special Check This Out episode featuring three librarians from around the state chatting about their favorite books of the year and offering suggestions for this holiday reading season. We also discuss how librarians feel about audiobooks — does it count as reading? Plus, the explosion of…
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Ep. 127 NHPR Cherry Lou Sy: LOVE CAN'T FEED YOU
A beautiful, tender, yet searing debut novel about intergenerational fractures and coming of age, following a young woman who immigrates to the United States from the Philippines and finds herself adrift between familial expectations and her own desires.
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Ep. 126 NHPR Ferdia Lennon: GLORIOUS EXPLOITS
An unlikely production of Euripides in a prison quarry, set in ancient Greece with a contemporary Irish accent. As funny as it is moving, the novel is an ode to the power of art in a time of war and brotherhood in a time of enmity.
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Ep. 125 NHPR Elizabeth Gonzalez James: THE BULLET SWALLOWER
Based on (mostly) true events, "The Bullet Swallower" is a magical realism western about violence and revenge, a story that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.
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Ep. 124 NHPR Sarah Brooks: THE CAUTIOUS TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO THE WASTELANDS
In this historical fantasy novel, a group of passengers set out on the Trans-Siberian Express train, in a journey across a magical landscape known as “the Wastelands.” Can they trust each other even as the rules seem to be changing?
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Ep 123 NHPR Essie Chambers: SWIFT RIVER
The third season of in-depth author interviews continues with Essie Chambers, author of "Swift River." Longlisted for The Center for Fiction 2024 First Novel Prize, there’s a lot to unpack in this novel. Sixteen year old Diamond is the only Black person in the town of Swift River, stuck in a town...
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Ep. 122 NHPR Morgan Talty: FIRE EXIT
Set around Maine’s Penobscot Reservation, a novel about one man’s family, divided, like the river that separates him from his childhood home. The novel is about belonging, the shifting nature of memory - and bloodlines. Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction 2024 First Novel Prize.