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James McBride's latest novel starts with a shooting: A broken down preacher shoots the local drug dealer, who dodges at the last minute, losing an ear — and kicking off a chain of consequences.

Rebecca Dinerstein Knight's oddball new novel follows a newly unemployed scientist, lovesick for her former mentor — but convinced of her own worth and her need for a life full of beauty.

Nancy McKinley mixes screwball humor with social criticism in a collection of interlocking stories about two women who work at a mall in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Claire North's new book starts with a doctor witnessing an atrocity in Africa in 1884, but becomes a spy thriller, a horror story, a supernatural mystery and an indictment of capitalism and empire.

Jeff Guinn weaves in a portrait of America's burgeoning love affair with the automobile. But his book rests heavy on the men's positive attributes, while shying away from their "unfortunate flaws."

Garth Greenwell's new story collection — like his previous novel — follows young, gay American men teaching English in Bulgaria. It's part heartbreaking, part forward-looking, and all beautiful.

In this new novel, Hilary Mantel brings her award-winning trilogy on the life of Tudor politician Thomas Cromwell to an end. And even though readers know how this story will end, it's still gripping.

Understanding the lives of animals can illuminate our own — and those of loved adolescents too. But authors Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers at times push cross-species links too far.

"There's never been a moment in my life that I've been more honest with myself," the pop singer tells NPR. "I finally feel free of everything that I was holding secret and holding to myself."

Qandeel Baloch's brother went to jail in 2019 after murdering his sister in an "honor killing" in 2016. Author Sanam Maher discusses how this case has changed Pakistan.

Amber Sparks' new story collection is full of vivid language, compelling imagery, sharp wit and tenderness; many of the pieces also share a thread of anger in their treatment of the patriarchy.

With her new essay collection, Jamison reverses the arc of The Empathy Exams by moving from the external to the internal, from others' longings and hauntings to her own.

There's an undeniable catharsis in seeing such a great writer, The New Yorker's Jia Tolentino, lucidly communicate the conditions of our most ludicrous forms of misery in her essay collection.

Anne Nelson links "the manpower and media of the Christian right," "finances of Western plutocrats," and "strategy of right-wing Republican political operatives" via the Council for National Policy.

In her new novel, Jami Attenberg dives deep into the dark heart of one family over the course of one long day, as their abusive, angry patriarch lies dying in the hospital after a heart attack.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced it's imposing sanctions on Iran's foreign minister. NPR's Steve Inskeep discusses the move with Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Obama.

Millions of people who have lost all or some of their income are having to make hard choices — from moving across the country for cheaper rent to raiding retirement savings.

Florida teachers are now able to use videos in class produced by the conservative online media company PragerU. Its founder admits indoctrination is its goal.

President Biden visited Maui Monday to survey the damage from the wildfires. Shelters are emptying as people who were displaced move into short-term housing, which has its own logistical challenges.

In Ukraine, cybersecurity experts gathered to celebrate success and survival, as well as discuss ongoing threats from Russian hackers.

The official in charge of the island's Emergency Management Agency has resigned from his post after the deadly fire on Maui. The agency didn't use its siren system to warn residents to evacuate.

Forecasters said they expected Idalia to become a hurricane on Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico and then curve northeast toward the west coast of Florida. Idalia could approach Florida on Wednesday with winds of up to 100 mph.

The vice president's last-minute visit Friday came in response to Florida's controversial new rules on the teaching of Black history.

Alabama lawmakers refused to create a second majority-Black congressional district, a move that could defy an order from the U.S. Supreme Court to give minority voters a greater voice in elections.

The 111th Congress on Sunday night managed to do what Congresses before it have tried and failed to do for nearly a century: Pass and send to the president a bill to fundamentally remake the nation's health care system.