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Daniel H. Wilson is a frequent New York Times bestseller with a long bibliography that spans speculative fiction, techno-thrillers, and science satire. Wilson’s work is informed by his education and research background, including a Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. Early standouts include How to Survive a Robot Uprising (2005) and How to Build a Robot Army (2007), humorous but fact-based guides about the dangers of robotics and AI. Wilson may be best known to many for his documentary-style doomsday novel Robopocalypse (2011) and its sequel Robogenesis (2014). Subsequent work includes The Clockwork Dynasty (2017), an historical fantasy about a secret, immortal race of biological automatons whose existence has quietly shaped human history, and The Andromeda Evolution (2019), an authorized sequel to the Michael Crichton classic The Andromeda Strain. Wilson’s latest novel, Hole in the Sky, is an alien encounter story inspired by the author’s own Cherokee background. Notes The Seattle Times: “Wilson reimagines first contact through an Indigenous lens, fusing Cherokee cosmology with cutting-edge science and creeping cosmic horror.”The post Club Book Episode 203 Daniel H. Wilson first appeared on Club Book.

Cleyvis Natera is a Dominican-American novelist and a poignant chronicler of the modern immigrant experience. Her award-winning literary debut, Neruda on the Park (2023), follows a grassroots push to stop gentrification in a predominantly Dominican neighborhood of New York City. Community organizer Eusebia’s campaign is made more complicated when her daughter, Luz, becomes romantically involved with a handsome developer at the company her family so vehemently opposes. Neruda on the Park earned Natera an International Latino Book Award and was selected by Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai for her Literati Book Club. Themes of home, identify, immigration, and inequality also feature heavily in Natera’s literary follow up. The Grand Paloma Resort (2025) is a thriller set at a tony Dominican resort for the ultra-rich. National Book Award finalist Alejandro Varela praises: “The Grand Paloma Resort is a literary ‘The White Lotus.’ … Natera has written a sexy, sinister, and intricate tale that serves as an indictment of the ‘haves’ at the expense of the ‘have-nots’.”The post Club Book Episode 202 Cleyvis Natera first appeared on Club Book.

Sara Hashem is best known to readers for the chart-topping The Scorched Throne romantasy series, an Egyptian-inspired duology comprising The Jasad Heir (2023) and The Jasad Crown (2025). The Jasad Heir is set a decade after a devastating war between the militaristic nation of Nizahl and Jasad, a kingdom of magic and prosperity obliterated by the Nizahli after a treacherous betrayal. Sylvia, fugitive queen of the lost realm, lives in hiding – until a chance encounter forces her to reveal her survival to Arin, the Nizahl heir apparent. Paste Magazine praised the book as “A summer fantasy banger… A compelling fantasy saga that’s one part political treatise, one part slow-burn ‘enemies-to-lovers’ romance, and one part survival competition.” It charted high on both the USA Today and Sunday Times bestseller lists. Hashem’s latest, Where No Shadow Stays, is her first foray into young adult fiction. After a visit to her family’s ancestral mansion in El Agamy, Egypt, high schooler Mina returns to her California home with an unwelcome souvenir: a sinister entity bent on claiming a generational blood debt.The post Club Book Episode 201 Sara Hashem first appeared on Club Book.

With more than 60 books to her name, Tessa Bailey is one of the most prolific and best loved names in contemporary romance. Bailey has a book for every lover of the genre, with series focusing on law enforcement (Line of Duty), artists (Broke and Beautiful), factory workers (Made in Jersey), construction contractors (Hot and Hammered), lifeguards (Beach Kingdom), and of course sexy vampires (Phenomenal Fate). She solidified her standing in the modern romance canon in 2021 with It Happened One Summer. A juggernaut #1 New York Times bestseller often likened to Schitt’s Creek, this first entry in the Bellinger Sister duology brings together a gruff fisherman and fun-loving socialite. Bailey’s current series, Big Shots, turns the spotlight to professional sports. The fifth and latest entry hits shelves in January. Catch Her If You Can is a play on the “marriage for convenience” trope and pairs New York Yankees pitcher Madden Donahue with high school friend Eve Mitchell – whose vocation as a burlesque club owner is sure to do nothing for Madden’s professional prospects.The post Club Book Episode 200 Tessa Bailey first appeared on Club Book.

In five short years Carley Fortune has established herself as a #1 New York Times bestselling novelist and a leading light in fiction’s international romance boom. Her four books have been translated into 30 languages and sold more than three million copies. Fortune’s first novel, Every Summer After (2022), is a nostalgic tale of love and life choices told over the course of six years. Set in the picturesque Ontario hamlet of Barry’s Bay, this chart-topping literary debut introduced readers to Fortune’s hallmark: the magic of Canadian cottage country and lake life’s unique ability to foster second-chance romance. Fortune’s follow-ups, Meet Me at the Lake (2023) and This Summer Will Be Different (2024), perfected the model. Fortune’s latest novel, One Golden Summer (2025), returns to Barry’s Bay and centers Charlie Floek, a fan-favorite side character from Every Summer After. In a glowing review, E! News summarized: “Fans have been begging [Fortune] to give Charlie his happily ever after for years—and she’s fully delivered with a sweet, summer love story.”The post Club Book Episode 199 Carley Fortune first appeared on Club Book.

Literary wunderkind Nathan Harris is the author behind the instant New York Times bestseller The Sweetness of Water (2021), “a historical page-turner about social friction so powerful it ignites a whole town” (NPR). Set in the waning days of the U.S. Civil War and turbulent aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation, Harris’s debut follows the unlikely partnership and budding friendship between eccentric homesteader George Walker and newly freed Prentiss and Landry. The Sweetness of Water became an Oprah’s Book Club selection and was longlisted for both the Mann Booker Prize and Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction – a rare of honors for any writer, particularly a first-time author still in his twenties. Harris’s anticipated follow-up returns to the Reconstruction era and a South determined to return its Black citizens to bondage. In Amity, Louisiana freedman Coleman treks to Mexico in pursuit of his sister and their former enslaver. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews commends Amity as “a smartly imagined Western with a different sort of hero… with twists and turns from beginning to end.”The post Club Book Episode 198 Nathan Harris first appeared on Club Book.

Pulitzer Prize finalist Lee Hawkins is an acclaimed journalist, memoirist, and podcaster. Over nearly two decades with The Wall Street Journal, Hawkins honed his skill and voice as an investigative journalist, news editor, and on-camera reporter. He gained a following with The Business of Celebrity with Lee Hawkins, a recurring series with Hollywood superstars, sports icons, and business legends that explored the entrepreneurial and financial aspects of fame. Later in his career, Hawkins pivoted to coverage of race, equity, and education, with strong emphasis on the enduring impacts of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. These are subjects with deep personal resonance for him. Hawkins explores centuries of oppression and trauma in his own lineage in I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free. I Am Nobody’s Slave is a potent blend of memoir, history, social commentary, investigative reporting, and cutting-edge genealogical science. In a glowing review, Forbes summarizes: “Hawkins confronts the lingering effects of intergenerational trauma, showing that healing is an act of defiance in itself.”The post Club Book Episode 197 Lee Hawkins first appeared on Club Book.

Thomas Maltman defies genre classification, but the award-winning author’s four novels to date each offer a grounded, unflinching look at rural and small-town life in the Upper Midwest. His first, The Night Birds, vividly captures the devastating U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 as seen through the eyes and reminiscences of German immigrants who lived alongside the Wahpekute Dakota. It amassed top literary honors from sources as varied as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and the Western Writers of America. Maltman’s follow ups, Little Wolves (2013) and The Land (2020), return to the sweeping Minnesota prairie and cement the author’s reputation as a master of the Midwestern Gothic. His latest, Ashes to Ashes, is a worthy addition to this corpus. In it, the sleepy town of Andwhen is rocked by two impossible mysteries. At the local Ash Wednesday service, ashes applied to parishioners’ foreheads refuse to rub off. Equally baffling, local teens uncover the centuries-old remains of a Viking explorer improbably buried in a nearby meadow.The post Club Book Episode 196 Thomas Maltman first appeared on Club Book.

Nigerian-British novelist Oyinkan Braithwaite burst onto the literary scene in 2018 with her propulsive debut thriller My Sister, the Serial Killer. Ayoola, the book’s title character, is beautiful and charming but impulsive and ruthless – as evidenced by a string of murdered boyfriends. Dutiful older sibling Korede is an expert at cleaning up Ayoola’s messes – until both set their sights on the same handsome young doctor. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called My Sister, the Serial Killer “bitingly funny and brilliantly executed, with not a single word out of place.” It garnered Braithwaite the 2019 Anthony Award for Best First Novel and a coveted spot on TIME’s 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time, among other high honors. It has since been translated into more than 30 languages. Braithwaite’s highly anticipated follow-up, family saga Cursed Daughters, hits shelves November 4. Seemingly fated for tragedy from birth, Eniiyi is encumbered by both a family curse and the widely held belief that she is the reincarnation of her dead cousin.The post Club Book Episode 195 Oyinkan Braithwaite first appeared on Club Book.

Historical fiction heavyweight Marjan Kamali is a leading figure within the flourishing Iranian-American literary tradition. Her novels spotlight the lives and irrepressible spirit of Iranian women across generations, both in their native country and the global diaspora. Kamali’s maiden novel, Together Tea, follows a mismatched mother and daughter pair who emigrate to America but, despite their contrasting natures, each feels drawn back to Iran. Her follow-up, international bestseller The Stationery Shop, is a saga of love and loss set against the backdrop of the 1953 coup d’etat that overthrew Iran’s democratic government. Kamali returns to that tumultuous period in her latest book, The Lion Women of Tehran. Inseparable as children, friends Ellie and Homa are pulled apart by political upheaval and personal betrayal. Later in life, a haunted Ellie seeks out her childhood companion to confront and atone for her checkered past. Bookreporter calls The Lion Women of Tehran “a beautifully crafted and subtle exploration of love, family, friendship, ambition, betrayal, and redemption in a socio-political powder keg.”The post Club Book Episode 194 Marjan Kamali first appeared on Club Book.

Elle Cosimano is the pen behind the chart-topping Finlay Donovan series, madcap mysteries unlike any other. Cosimano first introduced her domestic antihero, a single parent and strung-out thriller novelist, in Finlay Donovan is Killing It (2021). In this debut outing, described by reviewers as “part screwball comedy, part morality tale,” a wronged wife mistakes Finlay for a contract killer after overhearing her outline the plot of her latest book to a literary agent. Readers have enjoyed the further adventures of Cosimano’s writer-turned-sleuth at the steady pace of a book a year. Her latest, out in March, is Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave. When a dead body turns up in their elderly neighbor’s backyard, Finlay and her best friend Vero must unravel neighborhood secrets to stay ahead of a police investigation that soon zeroes in on Finlay’s own ex-husband, Steven. Shelf Awareness praises the book – and the series as a whole – as “a celebration of female friendship and a comical exploration of what happens when life keeps imitating art.”The post Club Book Episode 193 Elle Cosimano first appeared on Club Book.

Minnesota’s own Joshua Moehling is a unique voice and rising star in the crowded mystery and thriller landscape. He introduced fans to Deputy Sheriff Ben Packard and the seemingly idyllic town of Sandy Lake in 2023. Notes the Associated Press: “Moehling’s debut, And There He Kept Her, plays out like something on TV, resembling Yellowstone in its small-town setting and larger-than-life drama set against captivatingly detailed scenery… It’s a great opportunity to get into a new detective series at the ground level.” Many readers did exactly that. Both And There He Kept Her and Packard’s sophomore outing, Where the Dead Sleep (2024), were contenders for the Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ+ Mystery. Moehling’s latest thriller, A Long Time Gone, hinges around the haunting disappearance of Packard’s own brother – a cold case that cracks wide open after decades of questions and speculation. First Clue Reviews raves: “The third in the series is far and away the best… It’s amazing how Moehling keeps all these narrative balls in the air, but even more amazing is how they eventually come together.”The post Club Book Episode 192 Joshua Moehling first appeared on Club Book.

Jon Hickey is a member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Chippewa Indians (Anishinaabe) and author behind the 2025 literary breakout Big Chief. Set on the fictional Passage Rouge Reservation in northern Wisconsin, Big Chief follows Mitch Caddo, a young law school graduate and aspiring political fixer, as he attempts to clinch reelection for Tribal President Mack Beck. Political control of the Nation, and with it the lucrative Golden Eagle Casino and Hotel, is contested by a group of intrepid activists that include campaign manager Layla – Mitch’s estranged sister and Mack’s former love interest. Hickey’s themes and tone have earned favorable comparisons to modern classics like The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich and There, There by Tommy Orange. Among a host of glowing early reviews, fellow novelist David Heska Wanbli Weiden opines: “We’ve been waiting for the great Native American political novel, and here it is.” Rare for a debut release, Big Chief charted high on Most Anticipated Books of 2025 lists for publications as varied as The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times to LitHub.The post Club Book Episode 191 Jon Hickey first appeared on Club Book.

New York Times bestselling author Silvia Moreno-Garcia masterfully blends elements of horror, fantasy, noir, and historical fiction. Her distinctive style gained a wide audience with Mexican Gothic, winner of the Locus Award for Best Horror Novel in 2021 and one of TIME’s 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time. Moreno-Garcia’s follow ups include The Daughter of Doctor Moreau (2022), a reimagining of the H.G. Wells classic set in Yucatán, and The Seventh Veil of Salome (2024), a dual-timeline story that interweaves the biblical story of Salome with that of a Mexican actress playing her in a big-budget Hollywood film. Moreno-Garcia’s latest novel hit shelves in July. The Bewitching is a multigenerational saga about the primordial evil forces that have inspired witches in popular fiction. In a starred review, ­Publishers Weekly raves: “With this equally spooky and sophisticated horror novel, bestseller Moreno-Garcia proves she’s as adept playing in the tropes of dark academia as any of the other subgenres she’s tried on… It’s as unsettling as it is unputdownable.”The post Club Book Episode 190 Silvia Moreno-Garcia first appeared on Club Book.

Nickolas Butler is the internationally bestselling author of critically acclaimed novels like The Hearts of Men (2017) and Little Faith (2019). His breakout debut, Shotgun Lovesongs (2014), remains among his most enduring works to date. It centers around five lifelong friends who take wildly diverging paths in life but remain indelibly linked both to one another and to the small Wisconsin community they called home. Butler’s two most recent novels build on the author’s literary fiction bona fides with elements of suspense and romance, respectively. Godspeed (2021) follows three struggling construction partners who agree to build a lavish mansion for a mysterious client on an impossible deadline. The Financial Times calls it “an effective blend of rural fable and snow-lashed Rocky Mountain noir… The set-up is pure Hitchcock.” Butler’s latest, A Forty Year Kiss, is a poignant story of second chances and rekindled love. In a glowing review, Library Journal opines: “This is a love story, not only between Charlie and Vivian but also between the novel and the Midwest.”The post Club Book Episode 189 Nickolas Butler first appeared on Club Book.

Hanif Abdurraqib is an incisive poet, accomplished essayist, and versatile cultural critic. His acclaimed poetry collections include The Crown Ain’t Worth Much (2016), a raw meditation on the dangers of being young and Black in the American Midwest, and A Fortune for Your Disaster (2019), which explores the themes of loss and rebuilding after heartbreak. Music aficionados may know Abdurraqib best for his essay collection They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, a modern cultural touchstone that led NPR to herald him as “one of the most essential voices of his generation.” His follow-ups include Go Ahead in the Rain (2019), an homage to the seminal rap group A Tribe Called Quest, and National Book Award finalist A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance (2021). His latest book, There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, straddles and defies literary genres. Publishers Weekly lauds: “The narrative works as if by alchemy, forging personal anecdotes, sports history, and cultural analysis into a bracing contemplation of the relationship between sports teams and their communities.”The post Club Book Episode 188 Hanif Abdurraqib first appeared on Club Book.

Internationally acclaimed author Jesse Q. Sutanto writes across genres and for all ages. Her fiction to date includes the middle grade Theo Tan series and several young adult novels. The latter include revenge-thriller The Obsession (2021), campus mystery The New Girl (2022), and laugh-out-loud rom com Well That Was Unexpected (2022). All draw inspiration from the author’s own Chinese-Indonesian heritage and life spent between Jakarta and Singapore. Adult readers may know Sutanto best for break-the-mold detective stories like Dial A for Aunties and Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, both of which have been optioned for screen adaptations by major studios. Sutanto and her Chinese shopkeeper-turned-sleuth Vera Wong won the Edgar Award for Best Original Paperback and Audie Award for Mystery in 2024. Wong will be back this April in Sutanto’s newest release, Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man). The Seattle Times raves: “Sutanto proves once again that no crime — or nosy auntie — is too big to handle.”The post Club Book Episode 187 Jesse Q. Sutanto first appeared on Club Book.

David Housewright is one of Minnesota’s best-known and most prolific mystery writers. His breakout debut, Penance, marks its thirtieth anniversary in 2025. Penance introduced readers to private investigator Holland Taylor, the first of Housewright’s indelible detective heroes, and won Housewright the Mystery Writers of America’s prestigious Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1996. Practice to Deceive (1997), the sophomore outing for Holland Taylor, garnered Housewright his first Minnesota Book Award. Housewright is also the pen behind Rushmore “Mac” McKenzie, a Saint Paul cop-turned-investigator with an acerbic wit and an independent fortune which allows him to pursue cases out of a sense of justice, rather than financial gain. Two installments in the ongoing Mac McKenzie series, Jelly’s Gold (2009) and Curse of the Jade Lily (2012), also won the Minnesota Book Award. Housewright’s latest page-turners include Man in the Water (2024), a whodunit that picks up with a body but no crime scene, motive, or suspects – and in fact, no proof of murder at all.The post Club Book Episode 186 David Housewright first appeared on Club Book.

Fiction phenom Alison Espach is the author behind The Wedding People, a genre-straddling novel which holds company with the most anticipated and bestselling books of 2024. When newly minted divorcée Phoebe Stone arrives alone to the posh Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island, she finds herself an accidental wedding crasher. Surprise follows surprise as Phoebe strikes up a unique rapport with bride Lila, who needs a confidante every bit as much as her last-minute bridesmaid. People calls it “a feel-good testament to the life-altering magic of chance meetings.” Early honors for The Wedding People included selection as a TODAY Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club pick, as a Barnes and Noble Book Club Pick, and as the #1 Indie Next Pick for August 2024. It has been published in more than 20 countries to date. Alison Espach’s prior novels include Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance, a Chicago Tribune and NPR “Best Book of 2022,” as well as The Adults (2011), a New York Times Editor’s Choice.The post Club Book Episode 185 Alison Espach first appeared on Club Book.

Chart-topping novelist Ann Napolitano is the author behind some of the decade’s best contemporary fiction. Early career standouts include Within Arm’s Reach (2004), her first in a succession of poignant family dramas, as well as A Good Hard Look (2011), a fictionalized biography of Southern icon Flannery O’Connor. Napolitano reached a still wider audience with Dear Edward (2020), an instant New York Times bestseller and TODAY Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club pick. It was included on best books of the year lists from publications as varied as The Washington Post, Woman’s World, and LibraryReads. Centered on Edward Adler, the sole survivor of a plane crash, Dear Edward is the basis for an Apple TV+ drama of the same name. Napolitano’s follow-up, Hello Beautiful, is “a family drama with echoes of classics like Little Women but characters that are distinctly written.” This loving homage to Louisa May Alcott’s magnus opus is a must-read exploration of sisterhood, betrayal, and the ties that bind us. Hello Beautiful holds a unique distinction as Oprah’s 100th Book Club pick.The post Club Book Episode 184 Ann Napolitano first appeared on Club Book.

Mai Corland is a Korean American author, born in Seoul and adopted in New York. She is a Rollins College and University of Miami School of Law alumna. Her debut adult romantasy novel Five Broken Blades, the first of a trilogy from Red Tower Books, was a USA Today, Indie Booksellers List, Sunday Times, and instant New York Times bestseller. It was also the May pick for Book of the Month; an Amazon, Indigo, and Apple Books Best Book of 2024; a Book Page honoree; and a Goodreads Choice finalist for favorite 2024 fantasy. Her follow up, Four Ruined Realms, hit shelves in January 2025, with the series finale Three Shattered Souls expected later this year. Mai also writes award-winning children’s and young adult books under the name Meredith Ireland. She resides in New York with her children, partner, and a county fair goldfish who will probably outlive them all.The post Club Book Episode 183 Mai Corland first appeared on Club Book.

Samantha Irby is a comedian and a New York Times bestselling essayist and memoirist. Her fresh, honest brand of humor first came to the attention of readers through her immensely popular blog Bitches Gotta Eat. Irby’s first essay collection, Meaty, adapted and expanded her most popular blog entries – and added some new ones, to boot. Topics truly run the gamut: from personal reflections on the author’s failed relationships and on being black in America, to a ribald take on her struggles with Crohn’s disease, to an ode to tacos. Irby’s follow-ups, We Are Never Meeting In Real Life (2017) and Lambda Literary Award winner Wow, No Thank You (2020), cemented her reputation as a comedic voice like no other. Irby’s latest collection is Quietly Hostile (2023). In the words of Chicago Reader, “the Midwest’s most loveable misanthrope triumphantly returns” with essays that are equal parts raw and sidesplitting. Subjects range from her childhood traumas and adulthood anxieties to pop culture obsessions and her own failed TV pilot.The post Club Book Episode 182 Samantha Irby first appeared on Club Book.

Fans and critics alike credit Alafair Burke with some of the most believable psychological thrillers and police procedurals in modern fiction. Her hallmark authenticity draws heavily from Burke’s professional background as a professor of law and former deputy district attorney in Portland. Her literary debut, Judgment Calls (2003), introduced mystery aficionados to Samantha Kincaid – a lawyer in Multnomah County, Oregon’s drug and vice division with bona fides markedly similar to Burke’s own. Burke’s impressive backlist also includes the five-entry NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher series, which the New York Post calls “perfect for Law & Order fanatics who want some ripped-from-the-headlines intrigue.” Burke is also co-author – alongside mystery titan Mary Higgins Clark – of the Under Suspicion series. Over the past decade Alafair Burke has also devoted considerable time to standalone thrillers. Her latest, The Note, follows three friends on a Hamptons beach vacation that goes terribly wrong. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews raves: “Engrossing… Burke builds an intricate structure of secrets layered within secrets, revealed for maximum suspense.”The post Club Book Episode 181 Alafair Burke first appeared on Club Book.

Sujata Massey is an undisputed master of both mystery and historical fiction. In the words of fellow mystery heavyweight Janet Evanovich, Massey “blasted her way into fiction with The Salaryman’s Wife, a cross-cultural mystery of manners with a decidedly sexy edge.” Her literary debut won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel in 1997 and introduced a legion of readers to the first of her two indomitable heroines. Japanese American twenty-something Rei Shimura is an English teacher and antiques dealer by day – and an amateur sleuth by night. Her unique background provides valuable linguistic and cultural insights which allow her to find clues and crack cases that stump Japanese authorities. Shimura has appeared across eleven novels to date. Sujata Massey is also the pen behind the popular Perveen Mistry series. Modeled on a historic Parsi attorney who practiced law in the 1920s, Mistry is the first female lawyer in cosmopolitan Mumbai – and one of the first ever in India. The Mistress of Bhatia House (2023), the fourth and latest installment, garnered Massey her third Agatha Award.The post Club Book Episode 180 Sujata Massey first appeared on Club Book.

National Book Award finalist Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is the author behind the acclaimed 2020 exposé The Undocumented Americans. Born in Ecuador and raised in New York, Cornejo Villavicencio’s writing career began while a senior at Harvard, where she was soon to be among the first undocumented students to graduate from the elite university. During the national debate around the DREAM Act, she penned an anonymous essay in The Daily Beast titled “DREAM Act: I’m an Illegal Immigrant at Harvard.” This vulnerable, vital, and ultimately viral piece directly inspired The Undocumented Americans. In this eye-opening book, described as a blend of memoir and reporting, Cornejo Villavicencio travels the nation to profile a diverse cross-section of her fellow undocumented Americans. The author’s anticipated follow-up, Catalina, is a work of fiction – at least in part. Catalina is an undocumented student from Queens who gains admittance to Harvard. With it comes entry into a new, complex world of prestigious internships, posh parties, and secret societies.The post Club Book Episode 179 Karla Cornejo Villavicencio first appeared on Club Book.

Lisa See is best known for her poignant historical fiction, much of which spotlights the experiences of Chinese immigrants who are so often relegated to the margins. Book club favorites include Shanghai Girls and its sequel Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. USA Today praised the duology for “exploring the bonds of sisterhood while powerfully evoking the often nightmarish American immigrant experience.” See’s fictive scenarios in these and other novels are more than matched by the harrowing saga she recounts in her deeply personal memoir On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family. Lisa See’s latest novel, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, recreates the trailblazing career of Tan Yunxian, a 15th-century female physician who defied the odds – and societal norms – to become one of the Ming Dynasty’s foremost medical practitioners. Simon & Schuster re-released See’s latest chart-topper in paperback in June 2024.The post Club Book Episode 178 Lisa See first appeared on Club Book.

Stephen Graham Jones is one of speculative fiction’s bestselling authors and is beloved for his unique, potent blend of horror and cutting social commentary. His chart-topping novels to date include the modern classic The Only Good Indians, which tracks four childhood friends stalked by a sinister secret – and something else – on a Blackfeet reservation in Montana. (Jones is himself an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe.) Both The Only Good Indians and Jones’ novella Night of the Mannequins, released the same year, received the Bram Stoker Award and Shirley Jackson Award in their respective categories. His latest novels include I Was A Teenage Slasher, an homage to horror tropes where the killer takes center stage, as well as the thrilling finale to his The Indian Lake Trilogy. The Angel of Indian Lake concludes the saga started with My Heart is a Chainsaw and continued in Don’t Fear the Reaper. Paste Magazine praises it as “a determinedly feminist reexamination of horror’s Final Girl.”The post Club Book Episode 177 Stephen Graham Jones first appeared on Club Book.

Yangsze Choo is the author behind some of this decade’s most original historical fantasy. Her work is often inspired by folklore and infused with the paranormal. Such is the case with her 2013 debut, The Ghost Bride. Publishers Weekly praised: “Choo’s clear and charming style creates an alternate reality where the stakes are just as high as in the real world, combining grounded period storytelling with the supernatural.” The Ghost Bride is the basis for Netflix’s acclaimed Taiwanese-Malaysian drama of the same name. Choo’s follow-up, The Night Tiger, is set in 1930s colonial Malaysia. In it, apprentice dressmaker Ji Lin and orphan boy Ren become tangled in a mystery involving weretigers, terrifying beasts who wear the skin of humans. Reese Witherspoon selected The Night Tiger as the April 2019 pick for her popular Reese’s Book Club. Shapeshifters of a different kind loom large in Choo’s latest release, The Fox Wife. In a glowing review, Time recommended the book as “an enchanting tale of murder, revenge, and the power of a mother’s love.”The post Club Book Episode 176 Yangsze Choo first appeared on Club Book.

Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Jayne Anne Phillips has been a defining voice in American literature for nearly half a century. A recent review lauded her 1979 debut, Black Tickets, as “a short story collection that remains so compellingly singular that it ought to function as a handbook for short story writers.” It won the inaugural and prestigious Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. Phillips’ later work cemented her legacy as a writer who uses fiction as a tool to give voice to the downtrodden, marginalized, and forgotten. Works of special note include first novel Machine Dreams (1984), Shelter (1994), National Book Award finalist Lark and Termite (2009), and Quiet Dell (2013). All are period pieces set in the author’s native West Virginia. Her latest novel, Night Watch, exhibits these and other trademarks of Phillips’ craft. Set in a backwoods asylum in the bleak, near-apocalyptic aftermath of the Civil War, Night Watch garnered a host of literary honors, including the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.The post Club Book Episode 175 Jayne Anne Phillips first appeared on Club Book.

Mystery novelist Matt Goldman started his writing career as an Emmy Award winning screenwriter and producer. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld handpicked Goldman as a founding member of the creative team behind sitcom juggernaut Seinfeld. Goldman’s later television credits include work on Ellen and The New Adventures of Old Christine. Goldman published his first novel, Gone to Dust, in 2017. It launched the Minnesota-set and New York Times bestselling Nils Shapiro series. The fourth and latest installment, Dead West, shifts locales to Hollywood and makes gainful use of the author’s first-hand knowledge of the larger-than-life characters drawn to the limelight of show business. Goldman’s newest mystery, Still Waters, is a standalone story. In it, estranged siblings Liv and Gabe Ahlstrom return to their family-run resort on Leech Lake to investigate a relative’s suspicious death. Publishers Weekly notes: “Goldman’s fans will eat this up. Three-dimensional characters and authentic dialogue elevate the mystery premise.”The post Club Book Episode 174 Matt Goldman first appeared on Club Book.

Rom-com queen Jasmine Guillory burst onto the romance scene in 2018 with The Wedding Date, the first installment in her loosely connected book series of the same name. Reese Witherspoon selected Guillory’s follow-up, The Proposal, as the February 2019 read for Reese’s Book Club. After third book hit shelves, Cosmopolitan declared: “Everything Jasmine Guillory touches turns to gold, and The Wedding Party is no exception.” Guillory’s more recent releases include By the Book, part of Penguin Random House’s fairytale-inspired Meant to Be series, which features the talents of Guillory alongside fellow romance favorites like Christina Lauren and Zoraida Córdova. By the Book offers a modern spin on Beauty and the Beast. Her latest novel, Drunk on Love, is set in California wine country. This steamy story pairs work-to-live winery manager Margot with Luke, a Silicon Valley dropout who has just returned home to Napa. Booklist opines: “Suffused with tenderness and delight, this is Guillory’s best book yet.”The post Club Book Episode 173 Jasmine Guillory first appeared on Club Book.

Emiko Jean is an accomplished young adult writer, best known for the New York Times bestselling Tokyo Ever After and its sequel Tokyo Dreaming. Described as The Princess Diaries for a new generation, Jean’s series follows Japanese-American teenager Izumi Tanaka, a self-professed outsider who discovers that her long-absent father is the Crown Prince of Japan. Reese Witherspoon selected Tokyo Ever After as a Reese’s Book Club pick in 2021. Jean’s adult debut, Mika in Real Life, centers around a directionless, down-on-her-luck woman who is unexpectedly contacted by the daughter she gave up for adoption. Marie Claire calls it “a truly poignant coming-of-age story that deals with race, adoption, and bodily autonomy.” Mika in Real Life was a Good Morning America Book Club selection in August 2022. Jean’s follow-up is a psychological thriller, The Return of Ellie Black. Detective Chelsey Calhoun is often tasked with finding missing girls but is thunderstruck when young Ellie turns up mysteriously in the woods – a full two years after her sudden disappearance.The post Club Book Episode 172 Emiko Jean first appeared on Club Book.

Melanie Benjamin is an acknowledged master of historical fiction, not to mention one of the genre’s bestselling authors. Benjamin’s growing collection of work profiles topics ranging from the Nazi occupation of Paris, to silent movie starlet Mary Pickford, to the real-life inspiration behind Alice in Wonderland. Her most popular novels to date include The Aviator’s Wife (2012), the story of the aviatrix spouse of Charles Lindbergh; The Swans of Fifth Avenue (2016), about the headline-making relationship between famed author Truman Capote and a New York socialite; and The Children’s Blizzard (2021), which breathes new life into an infamous 1888 blizzard that still holds distinction as one of the most deadly natural disasters to ever hit the Great Plains. Her latest, California Golden, turns the spotlight to Malibu in the 1960s – and the formative but factious genesis of California surf culture. Booklist touts: “Benjamin’s novel shows what the sun-kissed highlight reels so often missed.”The post Club Book Episode 171 Melanie Benjamin first appeared on Club Book.

Alice Winn is the pen behind one of 2023’s most talked about literary debuts. In Memoriam is a moving story of first love set against the cataclysmic backdrop of World War I. When young Henry Gaunt enlists in the British Army to dispel rumors of his family’s pro-German leanings, boarding school classmate Sidney Ellwood is quick to follow him to the front line. Harrowing experiences in the trenches nurture a forbidden love. In a starred review, Booklist raves that: “Winn’s finely accomplished debut novel is a rare thing: an intoxicating romance and an impossible-to-put-down war story in one. She captures the war as it looked, sounded, and smelled; but the ultimate death-defying acts here are in literature, breathtaking bravery, and love.” Among other high honors, In Memoriam received the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize in 2022 and the Waterstones Novel of the Year Award in 2023.The post Club Book Episode 170 Alice Winn first appeared on Club Book.

Kiley Reid burst onto the literary scene in 2020 with Such a Fun Age, a fast-paced social satire about privilege in America. The New York Times bestselling debut hinges on the layered relationship between newly minted college graduate Emira Tucker and Alix Chamberlain, a wealthy businesswoman who hires Emira as a babysitter. Such a Fun Age was longlisted for the Booker Prize, selected as a Reese’s Book Club Pick, and charted high on Best Book of the Year lists from sources as varied as The Washington Post and Good Housekeeping. Reid’s “masterful, nuanced take on racial biases and class divides” (Entertainment Weekly) is on display once again in Come and Get It. Her sardonic sophomore work follows enterprising writing professor Agatha Paul and dormitory assistant Millie Cousins. In service to an unusual, clandestine writing project, Millie allows Agatha to eavesdrop on her wards through a hole in the dormitory walls. Notes Publisher’s Weekly: “In this blistering send-up of academia… every page sparkles with sharp analysis of [Reid’s] characters.” It hit shelves in January.The post Club Book Episode 169 Kiley Reid first appeared on Club Book.

Cristina Henríquez is best known to many as the author behind the modern classic The Book of Unknown Americans (2014). In it, Mexican teenager Maribel suffers a traumatic brain injury, forcing the Rivera family to move to the United States to secure medical care. A budding relationship with a neighbor boy, Panamanian immigrant Mayor Toro, sets in motion a series of events with profound repercussions for all involved. The Washington Post lauds The Book of Unknown Americans as “a ringing paean to love in general: to the love between man and wife, parent and child, outsider and newcomer, pilgrims and promised land.” Henríquez’s own Panamanian heritage and experiences also loom large in much of the author’s other work, including the short story collection Come Together, Fall Apart (2007) and novel The World in Half (2010). Her latest, The Great Divide, hits shelves in March 2024. It centers around the decade-long construction of the Panama Canal and the unsung workers who made this herculean feat of engineering possible.The post Club Book Episode 168 Cristina Henríquez first appeared on Club Book.

Fiction phenom Nita Prose is the author behind the #1 New York Times bestselling mystery The Maid. Readers and critics alike praise Prose’s mastery of plot and place, but reserve greatest acclaim for her memorable protagonist, “realistically different heroine” Molly Gray (NPR). Molly is neurodivergent. Her unique lens on the world proves invaluable for the young maid when a real estate magnate turns up dead at her five-star hotel – and Molly herself becomes a prime suspect. The Maid won Prose the prestigious Anthony and Barry awards for debut novel, among many other industry honors. It also holds distinction as a Good Morning America Book Club pick and as one of only a handful of mystery debuts from the past decade to sell more than one million copies worldwide. Oscar nominee Florence Pugh is set to star soon in a much-anticipated screen treatment. Nita Prose – and Molly Gray – returned in November 2023 with The Mystery Guest. The post Club Book Episode 167 Nita Prose first appeared on Club Book.

Science fiction superstar John Scalzi has gained a large and loyal following through what Kirkus Reviews calls his “insufferably good, trademark brand of fun yet think-y sci-fi adventure.” His debut, Old Man’s War (2005), won Scalzi speculative fiction’s Astounding (formerly John W. Campbell) Award for Best New Writer and launched the New York Times bestselling series of the same name. Scalzi also penned the Locus Award winning Interdependency trilogy and a host of popular standalone novels. The latter includes Redshirts, winner of the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and The Kaiju Preservation Society, winner of the 2023 Locus Award and other high science fiction honors. Scalzi’s latest novel, Starter Villain, centers on an unassuming substitute teacher who unexpectedly inherits a long-lost uncle’s supervillain business – complete with island volcano lair. Publishers Weekly raves that Starter Villain is “a breezy and highly entertaining genre send-up [which] subverts classic supervillain tropes with equal measures of tongue-in-cheek humor and common sense.”The post Club Book Episode 166 John Scalzi first appeared on Club Book.

Science fiction superstar John Scalzi has gained a large and loyal following through what Kirkus Reviews calls his “insufferably good, trademark brand of fun yet think-y sci-fi adventure.” His debut, Old Man’s War (2005), won Scalzi speculative fiction’s Astounding (formerly John W. Campbell) Award for Best New Writer and launched the New York Times bestselling series of the same name. Scalzi also penned the Locus Award winning Interdependency trilogy and a host of popular standalone novels. The latter includes Redshirts, winner of the 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and The Kaiju Preservation Society, winner of the 2023 Locus Award and other high science fiction honors. Scalzi’s latest novel, Starter Villain, centers on an unassuming substitute teacher who unexpectedly inherits a long-lost uncle’s supervillain business – complete with island volcano lair. Publishers Weekly raves that Starter Villain is “a breezy and highly entertaining genre send-up [which] subverts classic supervillain tropes with equal measures of tongue-in-cheek humor and common sense.”The post Club Book Episode 165 Tommy Orange first appeared on Club Book.

ReShonda Tate is as versatile as she is prolific. In total, the bestselling author has published more than 50 books to date. Tate runs a wide gamut from contemporary romance, to teen fiction, to nonfiction, and even poetry. Standouts include her sophomore novel Let the Church Say Amen, which was adapted for the screen by producer Queen Latifah and actor-turned-director Regina King. Tate turns her prodigious talents to historical fiction in 2024 with The Queen of Sugar Hill, which spotlights the largely unknown story of Hollywood actress Hattie McDaniel. Best known for her portrayal of “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind, McDaniel holds notable distinction as the first African American woman to win an Academy Award. Unfortunately for her, that historic Oscar would put her in the crosshairs of controversy for the rest of her life. In an early review, historical fiction mainstay Jillian Cantor raves that “The Queen of Sugar Hill is an impeccably researched biographical novel… brimming with heart, heartbreak, and resilience.”The post Club Book Episode 164 ReShonda Tate first appeared on Club Book.

Tracy K. Smith has published five well-received poetry collections to date and served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017-2019. Her sophomore release, Duende, received the coveted James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. Smith cemented her growing reputation with Life on Mars, which “blends pop culture, history, elegy, anecdote, and sociopolitical commentary to illustrate the weirdness of contemporary living” (Publishers Weekly). It won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Smith branched into memoir in 2015 with National Book Award finalist Ordinary Light. Her latest project is To Free The Captives: A Plea for the American Soul. Based on scholarship and the author’s own experience and earnest soul-searching, Smith’s latest “etches a portrait of where we find ourselves as a society four hundred years into the American experiment” and offers a blueprint for “fulfilling our duties to each other and to the future” (Knopf Doubleday). It debuts November 7, 2023.The post Club Book Episode 163 Tracy K. Smith first appeared on Club Book.

Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican-American author and spoken word artist. She is best known for her 2018 young adult novel-in-verse The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the prestigious Carnegie Medal. Acevedo’s follow-ups, With the Fire on High (2019) and Clap When You Land (2020), solidified Acevedo’s standing as one of the foremost YA writers of her generation. She also holds distinction as the Young People’s Poet Laureate for 2022-2023, a National Poetry Slam champion, and a frequent TED Talk presenter. Family Lore, the author’s first novel for adults, hits shelves in August. Flor Marte has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. When she asks her family to schedule a wake – a wake without a death – Flor’s three sisters are left to wonder if the clairvoyant has seen her own death or is driven by other motives. Spanning the three days prior to this most unusual family gathering, Family Lore traces the lives (and uncovers the long-held secrets) of all four Marte sisters.The post Club Book Episode 162 Elizabeth Acevedo first appeared on Club Book.

Fiona Davis is a historical fiction mainstay beloved by readers for her “winning formula of showcasing the stories behind New York City landmarks” (USA Today). Her seven bestselling novels to date include Good Morning America Book Club pick The Lions of Fifth Avenue, a “delightful mystery delving into the history of New York Public Library” (Publishers Weekly). The Magnolia Palace spotlights Gilded Age mansions and the secrets held within their walls. The Masterpiece breathes new life into a defunct and now all-but-forgotten art school once housed improbably within Grand Central Terminal. In her latest novel, The Spectacular, Davis turns her attention to the equally iconic Radio City Music Hall. Nineteen-year-old ingénue Marion Brooks seeks a coveted position with world-famous precision dance troupe The Rockettes, unaware that her ambitions will pull her in the middle of a city-wide dragnet to capture an elusive terrorist. The Spectacular hit shelves in June.The post Club Book Episode 161 Fiona Davis first appeared on Club Book.

Curtis Chin is an award-winning filmmaker and activist. He also holds distinction as the co-founder and first executive director behind New York’s prestigious Asian American Writers’ Workshop. His anticipated debut memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, hits shelves this October. Chin’s family restaurant, Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, occupied a special niche in 1980s Detroit. During this tumultuous period Chung’s clientele reflected the growing diversity of the Motor City – all seeking a safe oasis and the simple pleasure of sitting down to a home-cooked meal. Chung’s also looms large in Chin’s own coming-of-age narrative. In a rave review, novelist Jamie Ford summarizes: “Coming out and coming of age are hard enough for the average teen, but when they’re in a Chinese American family, in a city in conflict with itself, it becomes an epic journey of self-discovery.”The post Club Book Episode 160 Curtis Chin first appeared on Club Book.

Nicole Chung grew up as a transracial adoptee – and one of the few people of color in her Oregon hometown. Her lifelong journey of self-discovery and poignant, candid writing on the subject have positioned Chung as a singular voice in memoir. In her 2018 debut, All You Can Ever Know, Chung shares her search for her biological family – a quest she undertook while starting a family of her own. Chung’s follow-up, A Living Remedy, focuses on the author’s relationships with her adoptive parents, her upbringing in their working-class family, and her attempts to care for her mother and father from afar while also parenting her own children. After her father died young from diabetes and kidney disease, followed by her mother from cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chung gained a new perspective on the wealth disparities and healthcare inequities entrenched in our society. Notes The Washington Post: “Chung explores this difficult emotional terrain while delivering a powerful social commentary posing vital questions around access to medical care and the meaning of home and family.”The post Club Book Episode 159 Nicole Chung first appeared on Club Book.

Jacqueline Holland is the pen behind the chart-topping novel The God of Endings. Publications as many and varied as Book Riot, B&N Reads, LitHub, Polygon, Library Journal and E! singled out this literary debut as one of the most anticipated fiction titles of 2023. The God of Endings follows Collette LeSange, headmistress of an elite fine arts school in upstate New York. She is talented, affable and – unbeknownst to her students and colleagues – immortal. Collette has kept her nature a secret (and a growing bloodlust at bay) for 150 years, until the arrival of a gifted student from a troubled home threatens to reveal all. NPR praises The God of Endings as a refreshing take on the vampire genre: “an atmospheric vampire tale that wrestles with existential questions of being and philosophy, rather than bloodlust and gore.” It became an instant favorite with fans of Anne Rice and V.E. Schwab.The post Club Book Episode 158 Jacqueline Holland first appeared on Club Book.

Book club phenom Sadeqa Johnson has authored five novels to date. Her early books, including Love in a Carry-on Bag and And Then There Was Me, won the Phyllis Wheatley Award and National Book Club honors, among other distinctions. Johnson branched out from contemporary fiction and reached a still wider audience with Yellow Wife, lauded by Publishers Weekly as “a powerful, unflinching account of determination in the face of oppression.” Born into slavery, light-skinned Pheby Delores Brown is forced to bear children to and manage a slave dealer’s household. This precarious position pits Pheby’s hunger for freedom against the maternal drive to stay with and protect her children. Johnson’s newest novel, The House of Eve, tells the interconnected stories of two ambitious Black women who struggle with the consequences of unplanned pregnancies in 1950s America. It was an instant bestseller and February 2023 selection for the Reese Witherspoon Book Club.The post Club Book Episode 157 Sadeqa Johnson first appeared on Club Book.

Speculative fiction superstar Rebecca F. Kuang is the author behind the #1 New York Times bestselling The Poppy War trilogy. Described by Publishers Weekly as “an ambitious fantasy reimagining of Asian history populated by martial artists, philosopher-generals, and gods,” Kuang’s early masterwork spans three installments: The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, and The Burning God. Kuang’s first standalone, Babel, debuted to a warm reception in 2022. Set in an alternate universe version of Victorian England, Babel envisions a British Empire fueled by a unique form of alchemy. A specially trained corps of linguists harnesses the innate magic of language and translation to power everything from medicine to transportation. According to the Oxford Review of Books, “the true magic of Kuang’s novel lies in its ability to be both rigorously academic and consistently welcoming to the reader.” In addition to her skyrocketing fiction career, Kuang is an accomplished translator and scholar pursuing a Ph.D. from Yale University.The post Club Book Episode 156 Rebecca F. Kuang first appeared on Club Book.

Joshua Bennett, PhD, is a prize-winning poet and spoken word artist. He gained critical acclaim in 2016 with The Sobbing School, winner of the National Poetry Series and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. Bennett’s follow-ups, Owed (2020) and The Study of Human Life (2022), solidified his standing as one of his generation’s most resonant and needed poetic voices. In a starred review for Owed, Publisher’s Weekly raves “these powerful, crisp poems celebrate the complexity, joy, and heartbreak of the Black experience in America.” Bennett’s newest release is Spoken Word: A Cultural History. In it, he tracks the origins and broad impact of a resilient art form that has long centered voices and experiences outside the dominant cultural narrative. In addition to his writing, Bennett is a professor at Dartmouth College and founding editor of Minor Notes, a Penguin Classics book series dedicated to the rediscovery of underappreciated Black poets from the 19th and 20th centuries.The post Club Book Episode 155 Joshua Bennett first appeared on Club Book.

Alka Joshi moved to the United States at age nine, but the author’s native Rajasthan, India looms large in her chart-topping historical fiction. Many readers know her best for The Henna Artist (2020), the first entry in The Jaipur Trilogy. It follows dye artisan and herbal healer Lakshmi Shastri, who flees an abusive marriage and attempts to earn a livelihood in the vibrant city of Jaipur. Set in the unsettled decade after the country’s independence, “The Henna Artist is a fabulous glimpse into Indian culture of the 1950s… rich in detail and bright with tastes and textures” (Bookpage). Reese Witherspoon selected Joshi’s debut for her Hello Sunshine Book Club, and the book will soon have a second life as a Netflix original series. The Perfumist of Paris, Joshi’s much-anticipated conclusion to The Jaipur Trilogy, hit shelves in March. In an early review, historical fiction mainstay Kate Quinn raves: “Evoking India and France with equal beauty, this is Alka Joshi’s best book yet!”The post Club Book Episode 154 Alka Joshi first appeared on Club Book.