Pg. 69: Denise Derya Brandt's "Istanbul Dreaming"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Istanbul Dreaming: A Novel by Denise Derya Brandt.

About the book, from the publisher:

For fans of Alka Joshi and Marjan Kamali, a gripping historical novel set in 1950s Turkey about a young woman who flees an arranged marriage to pursue independence in Istanbul, where she finds forbidden love with an American airman.

In 1950s Turkey, against the backdrop of the social and political unrest that will culminate in Turkey’s 1960 military coup d'état, a dutiful daughter is torn between family expectations and her dream of becoming a modern Turkish woman.

One night, seventeen-year-old Ayten sneaks away to Istanbul for a night of dancing with her best friend. When her father discovers her rebellion, he forces her into an arranged religious marriage to a distant relative who bullied her as a child. Initially, Ayten resigns herself to her fate—but after her husband sexually assaults her on their wedding night, she flees him and her family for haven in Istanbul.

Living with friends and working as a seamstress at her friend’s boutique, Ayten tries to rebuild her life. Then she meets Earl, an American airman, and they begin to fall in love—but as their connection deepens, secrets and her past threaten to upend all she’s built. Torn between her family and a future with Earl, Ayten must decide what she’s willing to sacrifice for freedom and forbidden love.

Visit Denise Derya Brandt's website.

Writers Read: Denise Derya Brandt.

The Page 69 Test: Istanbul Dreaming.

--Marshal Zeringue

W. Jason Miller's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, and the Birth of Black Power by W. Jason Miller.

The entry begins:

Audra McDonald would portray Nina Simone— her singing in the movie even more powerful than her roles as Aretha Franklin or Billie Holiday. I can hear Audra’s voice now— capturing the power of “Mississippi Goddam,” the fire of “Sinnerman,” and the quiet elegance of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” While I’m dream casting— she would also stun with Nina’s iconic upbeat celebration that is “Feeling Good.”

Giancarlo Esposito’s role as Gus Fring in Breaking Bad convinced me...[read on]

Visit W. Jason Miller's website.

The Page 99 Test: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

My Book, The Movie: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten books where the main character is, or may be, a psychopath

Hank Schwaeble is a two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of horror, suspense and thrillers. He lives in Texas with his wife, fellow novelist Rhodi Hawk.

His latest novel is Normal for the Spider.

At CrimeReads Schwaeble tagged ten titles where the main character is, or may be, a psychopath. One entry on the list:

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

Okay, I cheated here—she’s not the protagonist of the novel, but Cain’s Gretchen Lowell is a compelling example of an enigmatic serial killer who all but steals the show, one who tortured the detective chasing her for ten days before letting him go and turning herself in. Those ten days changed him forever, and now she lives on not only in prison, but in his head, as a constant presence. Worst of all, although he’s unquestionably traumatized by what he went through, he also seems drawn to the memory of it, and her, like the proverbial moth to a flame, obsessed with the beautiful woman who carved a heart into his chest while possibly stealing his own (along with his spleen) in the process. This is a riveting tale of someone trying to catch another killer while still unable to get a handle on the feelings he has for the one who has scarred him for life in more ways than one. A tense and gritty look at the reflection one man sees when he looks into the abyss-like soul of someone who may understand him better than he does himself.

Read about another entry on the list.

Heartsick is among J. G. Hetherton's eleven great crime books featuring investigative reporters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: James C. Nieh's "The Language of Bees"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Language of Bees by James C. Nieh.

About the book, from the publisher:

A rich and engaging look at social bees, master communicators of the insect world

With senses that often seem alien to us, bees navigate complex decisions about where to find food, when to fight or flee, and how to work together. The Language of Bees invites readers into the hidden world of bee communication, a realm where creatures less than an inch long use scent, vibration, movement, and sound to cooperate, share information, and survive.

Drawing on decades of groundbreaking fieldwork, James Nieh sheds light on the remarkable signals that bees use and the evolutionary forces that shape them. Focusing on social species like bumble bees, honey bees, and stingless bees, he explores how colonies rely on these signals to organize all aspects of their lives, from foraging and warfare to espionage and defense. From the famous waggle dance of honey bees to the secretive trails and potentially coded sounds of stingless bees, he shows how their intricate communication systems reflect a delicate balance between cooperation and conflict and how a changing world disrupts these finely tuned systems. Along the way, Nieh shares key breakthroughs in animal behavior and offers new insights from his own research on how bees signal, eavesdrop, and adapt. Readers will learn how bees waggle dance better if they have teachers and an engaged audience, how predators and competition help shape bee language, and other astonishing findings.

The Language of Bees is also a story about how failure and unexpected turns lead to discoveries. Blending personal insights with cutting-edge science, this illuminating and informative book reveals how the study of bees continues to deepen our understanding of intelligence, resilience, and the diverse ways that life communicates.

Learn more about The Language of Bees at the Princeton University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Language of Bees.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Ryan Douglass reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Ryan Douglass, author of Night of Madness.

His entry begins:

Right now, I’m reading Ottessa Moshfegh’s Lapvona, and I’m loving it. I picked it up partly because of the attention-grabbing cover, and because I’d been wanting to read more fiction that was strange and uncompromising. Lapvona is a dark medieval fable about a boy named Marek whose life of poverty and abuse becomes entangled with the corrupt ruler and religious power structure of his village. It is brutal and unsettling, but also kind of funny. I love how completely Moshfegh commits to...[read on]

About Night of Madness, from the publisher:

Teen influencers compete in a horror movie–themed overnight competition, only to realize the real test is staying alive in this chilling, blood-soaked horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston and the production company behind Clown in a Cornfield.

Mara is a horror buff whose only fond memories of her dad are bonding over movies by Jack Stanley—the producer of the eighties. Stanley’s campy slasher movies may have kept Mara’s fraught parental relationship on life support and gained a cult following, but the man himself has faded from the public eye…until he announces a contest centered around Asylum, his most terrifying film. Five teen influencers will be invited to spend the night on the fully constructed set; whoever sticks it out until morning wins a hundred thousand dollars.

Stuck in a dead-end job, Mara seriously needs that cash. She may not be a famous influencer, but there has to be a way to manufacture an online presence that will capture Stanley’s attention. With the help of her brother and best friend, Mara finds some creative solutions to her dilemma and lands herself onto the roster of the lucky chosen few by way of her engaging authenticity.

When Mara and the other contestants arrive on set, it’s a horror fan’s dream being immersed in the asylum setting, but as the night wears on, they realize the danger is more than movie magic… They’re not there to win or lose but to live or die. As Mara fights to survive, she discovers an inner ruthlessness she didn’t know she had. Just how far will she go to see the sunrise—and will she still recognize herself by the end?

Follow Ryan Douglass on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Ryan Douglass.

The Page 69 Test: Night of Madness.

My Book, The Movie: Night of Madness.

Writers Read: Ryan Douglass.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Marivi Soliven

From my Q&A with Marivi Soliven, author of Taxi Dancer: A Novel:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

A decent amount of work seeing as folks are unfamiliar with the term Taxi Dancer which refers to the profession fairly common among young white women who worked in taxi dance halls in the 1930s through the '50s. They were called Taxi Dancers because patrons paid for the time they danced with these women - a dime bought you about 3 minutes of dancing time. Because the term is no longer in common use, it draws readers into a bygone era, an era alluded to by the Art Deco border that frames the book's image of a couple dancing.

What's in a name?

I named the Filipino protagonist Eli, which...[read on]

Visit Marivi Soliven's website.

Q&A with Marivi Soliven.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight edge-of-your-seat reality TV thriller novels

L.M. Chilton is a journalist with fifteen years of experience working on TV shows for the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 in the UK, as well as writing columns for magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour, and reporting for national newspapers across the world, everywhere from Doncaster to Delhi. He lives in London, procrastinating.

Chliton's new novel is I Think We Should Kill Other People.

At People magazine he tagged "eight of the best thrillers and mysteries set in the terrifying world of television," including:

Q&A by Vikas Swarup is Who Wants to be a Millionaire meets The Usual Suspects

How does a boy from the slums of Mumbai end up on India’s biggest quiz show? And how is he getting every question right? The answer is revealed in flashbacks from Ram’s extraordinary life story, but even if he’s telling the truth, the show’s presenter has his own reasons for wanting this Slumdog to lose his millions. Swarup’s book exposes the cynical nature of the quiz show, dangling a literal lifeline to desperate people for the sake of entertainment.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Sarah Langan's "Trad Wife"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Trad Wife: A Novel by Sarah Langan.

About the book, from the publisher:

A journalist descends into horror as she uncovers the sinister truth behind a trad wife influencer in this “flat-out brilliant” (Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author) blend of chilling suspense and razor-sharp commentary on modern femininity, performative domesticity, and social media—perfect for readers of Yesteryear, Mexican Gothic, and The Yellow Wallpaper.

Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the “trad wife” queen, on her idyllic three-hundred-acre farm. With her handsome husband, seven well-behaved children, and a life of from-scratch meals and pastoral bliss, she’s an icon of modern femininity. But behind e

very perfect image is a secret. And in this case, the secret is a horror.

Desperate to save her tarnished career, journalist Jenny Kaplan arrives at Black Swan Farm to profile Mia. Jenny is ready to write a scathing exposé, determined to expose the deception behind Mia’s curated life. But soon, Jenny has more to contend with than staged videos and camera-ready poses. There’s something wrong at the farmhouse. Something slithers through Jenny’s dreams, and at night, the children sing strange nursery rhymes.

She’s losing time. She’s losing her hair. She starts to worry that she’s losing her mind.

There is a horror at the heart of Black Swan, and it’s waiting just for Jenny. Trad Wife will make you question what’s real and what’s just a perfectly curated deception…

Will you see the lie?

Visit Sarah Langan's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Keeper.

My Book, The Movie: The Missing.

The Page 69 Test: Good Neighbors.

My Book, The Movie: Good Neighbors.

The Page 69 Test: Trad Wife.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ryan Douglass's "Night of Madness," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Night of Madness by Ryan Douglass.

The entry begins:

What would happen if you took a group of social media influencers, dropped them inside an abandoned asylum full of real dangers, offered them $100,000 to survive the night?

Night of Madness is a book that is made for adaptation. If they make the book into a film, I would probably want to cast mostly unknown actors. The characters are eighteen or nineteen, and I love the idea of giving young performers the opportunity to breakout. So, these choices are less a literal wish list and more a way of showing you the people I pictured while writing.

Mara Jacobs — Anais Lee

Mara is the protagonist of the story—sharp, cynical, and obsessed with horror. She has the quiet confidence of someone who thinks she knows exactly what she's gotten herself into, until she doesn't. Anais has the kind of presence I imagine Mara having: understated, intelligent, and intense when she needs to be.

Storm Connors — Blake Cameron James

I first noticed Blake Cameron James in IT: Welcome to Derry, where he plays Will Hanlon. Storm is loyal, funny, and on trend, but with real softness and vulnerability underneath. He’s someone you want to spend time with. I think Blake could...[read on]

Follow Ryan Douglass on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Ryan Douglass.

The Page 69 Test: Night of Madness.

My Book, The Movie: Night of Madness.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: W. Jason Miller's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, and the Birth of Black Power by W. Jason Miller.

About the book, from the publisher:

The story behind the Priestess and the Poet

On March 24, 1965, Nina Simone performed at a rally for twenty-five thousand people on the last night of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march. Though luminaries like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahalia Jackson, and Dick Gregory were in attendance, it was Langston Hughes, celebrated poet and leader of the Harlem Renaissance, who was the singer’s closest confidant and supporter. They had one of the most important—yet unheralded—friendships of the Black Power era.

Simone’s performance on that Montgomery night catapulted her into a lead role in the civil rights movement, with Hughes as her guide. In Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, W. Jason Miller offers a riveting history of how their relationship helped spark the birth of Black Power—indeed, the phrase itself, made famous by Stokely Carmichael, was a quote from collaborative lyrics by the two. Hughes gave Simone the fuel to be one of the most politically charged artists of the era, while Simone offered Hughes a way to carry his influence into pop music and shape a national movement. Drawing on new firsthand accounts, Miller takes readers inside one of the most powerful friendships in music and civil rights history.

Visit W. Jason Miller's website.

The Page 99 Test: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top twisty horror retellings

At Book Riot Kendra Winchester tagged seven titles that take a familiar story and reimagine it in the most delightfully gruesome way, including:

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Speaking of Edgar Allen Poe, T. Kingfisher has a stunning trilogy of novellas retelling “The Fall of the House of Usher,” giving her a unique spin on this fan favorite. When Alex Easton hears that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they rush back to their hometown in Ruritania. There, they find a fungus has spread everywhere. But why? As if the terrifying fungus wasn’t enough, Kingfisher throws in a heavy dose of mystery. If you like What Moves the Dead, Kingfisher follows it up with What Feasts the Night and What Stalks the Deep.

Read about another title on the list.

What Moves the Dead is among Lyndsie Manusos’s six horror retellings of well-known stories.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Robbie Couch

From my Q&A with Robbie Couch, author of Just the Good Parts:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

My hope for every one of my titles is to spark more intrigue in the book than introduce them to the narrative itself. I think my novels' titles tend to feel more relevant after having read the books, and Just the Good Parts is no exception. It, of course, conveys the idea that there's been an elimination of the bad parts—whatever good, bad, or parts are even supposed to mean out of context—but my hope is that the framing brings a richer understanding to readers after they've been introduced to Caspen, a nostalgic character whose penchant for forgetting the bleaker sides of his past may cost him his...[read on]

Visit Robbie Couch's website.

Q&A with Robbie Couch.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Ryan Douglass's "Night of Madness"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Night of Madness by Ryan Douglass.

About the book, from the publisher:

Teen influencers compete in a horror movie–themed overnight competition, only to realize the real test is staying alive in this chilling, blood-soaked horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston and the production company behind Clown in a Cornfield.

Mara is a horror buff whose only fond memories of her dad are bonding over movies by Jack Stanley—the producer of the eighties. Stanley’s campy slasher movies may have kept Mara’s fraught parental relationship on life support and gained a cult following, but the man himself has faded from the public eye…until he announces a contest centered around Asylum, his most terrifying film. Five teen influencers will be invited to spend the night on the fully constructed set; whoever sticks it out until morning wins a hundred thousand dollars.

Stuck in a dead-end job, Mara seriously needs that cash. She may not be a famous influencer, but there has to be a way to manufacture an online presence that will capture Stanley’s attention. With the help of her brother and best friend, Mara finds some creative solutions to her dilemma and lands herself onto the roster of the lucky chosen few by way of her engaging authenticity.

When Mara and the other contestants arrive on set, it’s a horror fan’s dream being immersed in the asylum setting, but as the night wears on, they realize the danger is more than movie magic… They’re not there to win or lose but to live or die. As Mara fights to survive, she discovers an inner ruthlessness she didn’t know she had. Just how far will she go to see the sunrise—and will she still recognize herself by the end?

Follow Ryan Douglass on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Ryan Douglass.

The Page 69 Test: Night of Madness.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jen Thompson's "Wild Pivot"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Wild Pivot: Notes from a Political Life Rewritten by Jen Thompson.

About the book, from the publisher:

For fans of Educated and You Could Make This Place Beautiful, a memoir of powerful vignettes about a rock-star Republican strategist who gives up a life in politics after a near-death accident spurs her into a search for deeper meaning.

Jen Thompson rose to the heights of politics in her early thirties as a celebrated Republican strategist—a rarity for a young woman. For years, success and power were her only ambitions, despite the drumbeat of her inner voice warning that her life was wildly off course.

It was only when a car accident nearly killed her on the campaign trail of a nationally watched Senate campaign that Jen finally decided to walk away. Her sudden alienation from the life she had always known set into motion cascading events that carried her across the world and deep into a reckoning with her own soul.

A memoir in vignettes, Wild Pivot explores how blind loyalty develops and shapes a woman with the craving to fit in and feel celebrated. With a piercing ability to explore just how jarring change and evolution can be, Thompson moves with unflinching honesty and razor-sharp wit between snapshots of her life as she grapples with the demons of her past and commits herself to doing what is required to live a life of truth and freedom—no matter the cost.

Visit Jen Thompson's website.

The Page 99 Test: Wild Pivot.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books that reimagine how trauma is told

Erik Fuhrer is a queer, nonbinary poet, playwright, and trauma writing teacher. They hold a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow, an MFA from the University of Notre Dame, and a PMP. They are the author of nine books, including Gellar Studies (2023) and the forthcoming hybrid memoir My Buffed Up Life (2026). They were the UCLA Extension Winter 2026 Writer in Residence.

At Electric Lit Fuhrer tagged seven books by "writers use form to convey the experience, emotions, and structure of trauma, keeping the gaps, the flaws, the inventions, scalping together image and sensation into something legible but messy and tangled and raw." One title on the list:

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

Kingston tells stories of generational trauma through myth and family history, both real and imagined. The subtitle, Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, aptly describes the way the family figures that resurrect are projected versions of themselves. Kingston’s investigation into their blurred histories and bodies is pieced together and transformed as she traces possible shapes from oral accounts in order to tell fuller stories. Kingston writes about her aunt, who committed suicide, and whose very existence her father buried, so that all Kingston has is the ghost of her to breathe imagined narratives into. Possibilities rather than fact. She constructs the plurality of what her aunt might have been, because her aunt’s life had been swallowed by her father. This is a masterclass in writing about another person, especially for trauma-impacted writers.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Woman Warrior is among Amy Tan's ten desert island books, Patricia Lockwood's six favorite books, Karen Joy Fowler's six favorite books about "almost magical" women, Ginni Chen's top seven books to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Sheep, Eva Hoffman's top five striking memoirs, and Julia Alvarez's five most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Denise Derya Brandt reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Denise Derya Brandt, author of Istanbul Dreaming: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I tend to read books in bursts. I may go weeks without reading a book and then I’ll read three in one week. (I tend to write this way, too). Often, I listen to audiobooks from the library, but if there is a book I’m specifically trying to learn from, either because I admire the author’s writing or because of its subject matter, I will buy and read the paperback. I currently have a huge stack of books I need to read, many authored by people I know, but I’ve been prioritizing reading library books before I have to return them. What’s that saying? “Something that can be done at any time is often done at no time.”

These are a few books I enjoyed most recently.

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi – I recently re-read this to prepare for her newest novel, The City of Widows, which is a stand-alone novel centered on the same protagonist. The novel follows Rahima, a girl in modern Afghanistan who is dressed as a boy so she can work and move freely, her story braided with that of her great-great- grandmother Shekiba a century earlier, who survives her own version of the same constraints. Nadia brings Afghan women’s stories to life. And this important story breaks your heart and frustrates you, but you cannot and should not look away. I keep coming back to Nadia’s writing because...[read on]

About Istanbul Dreaming, from the publisher:

For fans of Alka Joshi and Marjan Kamali, a gripping historical novel set in 1950s Turkey about a young woman who flees an arranged marriage to pursue independence in Istanbul, where she finds forbidden love with an American airman.

In 1950s Turkey, against the backdrop of the social and political unrest that will culminate in Turkey’s 1960 military coup d'état, a dutiful daughter is torn between family expectations and her dream of becoming a modern Turkish woman.

One night, seventeen-year-old Ayten sneaks away to Istanbul for a night of dancing with her best friend. When her father discovers her rebellion, he forces her into an arranged religious marriage to a distant relative who bullied her as a child. Initially, Ayten resigns herself to her fate—but after her husband sexually assaults her on their wedding night, she flees him and her family for haven in Istanbul.

Living with friends and working as a seamstress at her friend’s boutique, Ayten tries to rebuild her life. Then she meets Earl, an American airman, and they begin to fall in love—but as their connection deepens, secrets and her past threaten to upend all she’s built. Torn between her family and a future with Earl, Ayten must decide what she’s willing to sacrifice for freedom and forbidden love.

Visit Denise Derya Brandt's website.

Writers Read: Denise Derya Brandt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Erin Cotter

From my Q&A with Erin Cotter, author of A Dangerous Bargain:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

For my book, I want the title to both hint at the action to come and also serve as a bit of a metaphor for what the book explores thematically. At first, my book was titled The Angel’s Bargain, but I didn’t love that title because while the book is about bargaining with angels for magic, it’s also about the cost of such magic, and what someone is willing to give up for greatness. There’s a sense of unease to the divine magic in my story, a sense that this power, while relied on heavily by the Renaissance artists in their workshops, is a sinister, ticking bomb with an agenda of its own. A Dangerous Bargain obviously points to that theme much more effectively than The Angel’s Bargain.

What's in a name?

The protagonist is called Virgil, and...[read on]

Visit Erin Cotter's website.

Writers Read: Erin Cotter.

The Page 69 Test: A Dangerous Bargain.

My Book, The Movie: A Dangerous Bargain.

Q&A with Erin Cotter.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Lara M. Brown's "Thomas Jefferson’s Landmark Deal"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Jefferson's Landmark Deal: The Politics of the Louisiana Purchase by Lara M. Brown.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this concise history of the Louisiana Purchase, renowned presidential scholar Lara M. Brown explores how Thomas Jefferson’s skilled diplomacy and political strategy helped secure the historic bargain and changed the course of American history.

Thomas Jefferson is one of the more inscrutable characters in American history. While he is best known for the Declaration of Independence and his conflicting legacy on race and slavery, his pursuit of the Louisiana Purchase was a crucial decision for the trajectory of the country and the development of the presidency. In this volume of the Landmark Presidential Decisions series Lara M. Brown casts Jefferson as a shrewd and calculating politician. Brown examines the historical and political circumstances that led to the Louisiana Purchase, in which Jefferson’s inclination to pursue a strategy of misinformation and patient persuasion rather than engaging in a direct confrontation or a show of force with Napoleon helped to transform a series of accidents into a historic moment of luck.

In addition to exploring the international politics and domestic pressures that helped bring about this deal, Brown examines the larger theoretical issues related to the presidency itself. While Jefferson expressed concern about the constitutionality of the agreement and briefly considered passing a constitutional amendment, his decision to follow Madison’s advice and move quickly on the purchase established the “national emergency” rationale upon which the “imperial presidency” was partly constructed. Moreover, Jefferson relied on American ministers to act as his representatives in executing the deal, underlining the importance of governance, communication, and the management of a burgeoning executive branch.

The Louisiana Purchase is essential to understanding territorial expansion, foreign policy in the early republic, and the perennial political dilemmas surrounding the ambiguity of Article II in the Constitution. Lara Brown expertly guides readers through one of the most consequential decisions in early American history.

Visit Lara M. Brown's website.

The Page 99 Test: Jefferson's Landmark Deal.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten essential Ukrainian books

Sasha Dovzhyk is a Ukrainian writer, journalist and founder of Index: Institute for Documentation and Exchange.

Her latest book is Apocalypse Baroque: Tales from Ukraine at War.

At Lit Hub she shared a list "of books written by Ukrainians in English or translated from Ukrainian into English [that] sheds light on what has long been overshadowed by empires seeking Ukraine’s erasure: the country’s rich literary tradition and its tradition of resistance." One title on the list:

Serhii Plokhy, The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine (2021)

This book by perhaps the most prominent and prolific historian of Ukraine is an essential, intellectually engaging and elegantly written guide through Ukraine’s complex past and its position at the crossroads of history. Situated between Central Europe, Russia, and the Black Sea, Ukraine has repeatedly served as the strategic gateway empires fought to control—Roman and Ottoman, Third Reich and Soviet. Plokhy tells its history through the figures who tried to claim or resist it, from Vikings and Cossacks to the architects of modern Ukrainian national identity.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Gates of Europe is among Oliver Bullough's nine books to help us understand the invasion of Ukraine and Kalani Pickhart's eight books to better understand Ukraine.

The Page 99 Test: The Gates of Europe.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Tracy Maton's "The Artful Anna Harris"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Artful Anna Harris: A Novel by Tracy Maton.

About the novel, from the publisher:

If the talented Mr. Ripley were a young woman today, she might be Anna Harris: charming, changeable, and perhaps not at all what she seems to be.

"You are quite the chameleon, aren't you? You could wear anything, do anything, and yet you choose plain, plain, plain. Or is it all a front for a secret life?"

Anna Harris grew up in a rough part of London, and learned young that she could become whoever she needs to be, moulding herself to get what she needs and wants. Somehow that has led her to a quaint, sleepy English village, swallowed into the lives of her boyfriend and his close and loving family. She's not unhappy, but there are quiet pressures and illicit temptations even in this storybook life.

When the vivacious Sofia Carstairs moves to the village, Anna is reminded of the freedom she once had. She used to be carefree and rebellious. But is she willing to throw away her future for some fun? Anna's not a bad person, she doesn't want to hurt anyone. But perhaps leading two lives is the path to fulfillment. What would happen if she just tried it out...

Full of vivid characters, sharp wit, and shocking twists, The Artful Anna Harris is a brilliantly suspenseful and page-turning debut.

Follow Tracy Maton on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Tracy Maton.

The Page 69 Test: The Artful Anna Harris.

--Marshal Zeringue