jtrent238 test blog: The Book Review: A thrilling 1,000-mile journey to freedom

January 27, 2023

Illustration by Matt Dorfman

Dear Fellow Readers,

I read too fast. It's a rotten habit, forged decades ago, and as a result I often miss nuance and detail. But I loved the book on this week's cover so much that I forced myself to slow down and savor every page. Ilyon Woo's "Master Slave Husband Wife" is a remarkable work of narrative nonfiction — a sweeping, vividly detailed depiction of life in 1848 America that tells the story of a young enslaved couple's daring escape from Georgia to freedom in the North.

Sometimes, though, I just can't help myself, and I devour books in a single greedy gulp. That was what happened with Deepti Kapoor's "Age of Vice," a high-octane thriller set in New Delhi.

The issue brims with plenty of other delights: a book about medieval monks' struggles to focus; Paul Harding's new novel, "This Other Eden"; a charming essay by one of our editors, Sadie Stein, about all the books she'll never read; and Olivia Waite's latest romance column, which is — as always — wickedly smart and fun.

Don't miss this photo essay, a leisurely ramble through the bookstores of Hobart, N.Y.

If you have time, tell us what you're reading! (We may publish your response, or feature it in an upcoming newsletter.) I'm about to pick up one of the novels reviewed in this issue, "The Birthday Party," and I have "The Chinese Groove" on deck.

You can email us at books@nytimes.com. We read every letter sent.

Tina Jordan
Deputy Editor, The New York Times Book Review
@TinaJordanNYT

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FICTION & POETRY

Michela Buttignol

ROMANCE

Small-Town Affairs

These romance novels brim with coziness and cupcake bakeries.

By Olivia Waite

Liam Eisenberg

FICTION

'Age of Vice': A Lush Thriller Dives Into New Delhi's Underworld

In Deepti Kapoor's cinematic novel, a young man from the provinces falls in with a powerful crime syndicate.

By Dwight Garner

Petra Eriksson

FICTION

The Thrill of Plot or the Richness of Detail? Try Both.

Laurent Mauvignier's "The Birthday Party" is a thriller with an intense focus on its characters' interior worlds.

By Martin Riker

Jan Robert Dünnweller

FICTION

Aleksandar Hemon Sets a Gay Love Story Amid the Great War

In the postmodernist novel "The World and All That It Holds," a Sephardi pharmacist falls in love with a Bosnian soldier as war breaks out in Sarajevo and beyond.

By Adam Mars-Jones

Day Brièrre

FICTION

In 'This Other Eden,' a Historical Tale of Paradise Lost

In his latest novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Harding reimagines the history of a small mixed-race community's devastating eviction from their homes.

By Danez Smith

Na Kim

POETRY

An Artisan in Verse, Whose Poems Shimmer and Resound

A.E. Stallings draws on traditional forms and themes to create poetry that gives heft and shape to the everyday world. "This Afterlife" offers an overview of her career to date.

By David Orr

Félix Decombat

FICTION

Bret Easton Ellis Is Back to His Regularly Scheduled Programming

In his latest novel, "The Shards," the author returns to his old tropes: gruesome murder, lonely teenagers and 1980s Los Angeles.

By Melissa Broder

FICTION

When Downtrodden Women Turn to Murder

In Parini Shroff's debut novel, "The Bandit Queens," a group of wives get the ultimate revenge on their no-good husbands.

By Chandler Baker

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NONFICTION

Cheriss May for The New York Times

NONFICTION

So Far So Good? Biden Hopes So.

Chris Whipple's "The Fight of His Life" chronicles the administration in medias res.

By John Gans

Matt Dorfman

NONFICTION

Fleeing Slavery in a Top Hat and Cravat

"Master Slave Husband Wife," by Ilyon Woo, relates the daring escape from bondage in Georgia to freedom in the North by an enslaved couple disguised as a wealthy planter and his property.

By W. Caleb McDaniel

Alamy

NONFICTION

Think Screens Stole Our Attention? Medieval Monks Were Distracted Too.

In "The Wandering Mind," the historian Jamie Kreiner shows that the struggle to focus is not just a digital-age blight but afflicted even those who spent their lives in seclusion and prayer.

By Jennifer Szalai

Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin

NONFICTION

It's a Wonderful Country: Robert Kagan's Case for U.S. Empire

In the second installment of his "Dangerous Nation" trilogy, the veteran foreign policy critic argues for embracing the better angels of America's imperialist nature.

By Thomas Meaney

Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times

NONFICTION

How Is Your Phone Powered? Problematically.

Siddharth Kara's "Cobalt Red" takes a deep dive into the horrors of mining the valuable mineral — and the many who benefit from others' suffering.

By Matthieu Aikins

Children's Books

There are some delightful new picture books that celebrate knitting, sewing and weaving. Peggy Orenstein has our review.

Features

By the Book: Patricia Engel, whose story collection "The Faraway World" has just been published.
Essay: Closing the Book on Promises to Myself By Sadie Stein
Visuals: It Takes a (Book) Village By Erica Ackerberg, with photographs by Tony Cenicola