Wendy Smith

Elliptical, elusive and endlessly stimulating, Deborah Levy's new novel, her third to be nominated for the Booker Prize, packs an astonishing amount into 200 pages. "The Man Who Saw Everything"...

Walter Cronkite was not inclined to introspection, and historian Douglas Brinkley emulates his subject in this thorough biography of the news broadcaster who in 1972 was declared "The Most Trusted...

They took drugs and drank immoderately. Multiple marriages made their family tree look like the organizational chart of a poorly managed corporation. Mental illness sent several of them to sanitariums...

In her bracingly tough-minded tale of a discontented librarian who hits the road with a maladjusted 10-year-old, Rebecca Makkai tips her hat to a shelf-load of children's literature, offering sly...

"Angelology" By Danielle Trussoni Viking, 384 pp., $27.95 "Falling Through the Earth," Danielle Trussoni's memoir of her troubled relationship with her father, a Vietnam veteran, was one of the most...

"Happy Now?" By Katherine Shonk Farrar, Straus & Giroux $25, 256 pages The title of Katherine Shonk's accomplished, moving first novel strikes just the right note. "Happy Now?" is what...

"Lucy" By Laurence Gonzales Knopf, $24.95, 320 pages In his compelling new thriller, Evanston author Laurence Gonzales surrounds an appealing protagonist with nicely rendered supporting characters and a raft of...

"Father of the Rain: A Novel" By Lily King Atlantic, 360 pp., $24.00 Lily King won a well-deserved raft of honors, including the prestigious Whiting Writer's Award, for her first...