Six new books arrive in November
Novels and memoirs from Louise Kennedy, Mary Beth Keane, and a long-lost Don DeLillo work headline the month's literary releases.
By Marta Gray ·
November brings a slate of six new publications ranging from domestic fiction to historical nonfiction.
Louise Kennedy, a Northern Irish author and former chef, releases her second novel, Stations. The book follows two young lovers whose relationship is strained by the legacies of their families. In a 2022 interview with All Things Considered, Kennedy described the shift from cooking to writing as "strangely liberating."
Mary Beth Keane publishes Whale Harbor, a novel about an Irish father and his sons. The story spans several continents and decades. Maureen Corrigan, a book critic for Fresh Air, previously compared Keane's work to that of Ann Patchett. Corrigan noted that Keane possesses the ability to turn closely observed domestic tales into universal narratives.
Matt O'Hara, a history professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, offers The Flying Death. The book traces the history of curare, a poison used in Amazonian blowdarts. It details how researchers in the 1930s pursued the substance for its potential medicinal properties, a quest that influenced pharmacology and affected the indigenous tribes involved.
Daisy Johnson, a British writer, releases Long Wave. Johnson made history in 2018 as the youngest person ever shortlisted for the Booker Prize at age 27. Her new novel continues her style of sparse prose and foreboding atmospheres, focusing on women with complex family bonds.
Tahmima Anam writes Uprising, set on a river island in Bangladesh. The story centers on women trapped in a life of prostitution under a cruel madam, with rising waters from climate change complicating their escape. The narrative is told largely through the perspective of the children born to these women.
Cleo Birdwell's Amazons is the final entry on the list. The memoir, described as the first by a woman to play in the National Hockey League, actually originated more than 40 years ago under the pseudonym Cleo Birdwell. The true author is novelist Don DeLillo, who confirmed the work in 2020. DeLillo recently approved the republication of the book, which includes a brief preface where he states, "I don't want to talk about it."
