Writers & Writing

In Kate Atkinson's new postwar novel, a former war reporter is the suspect when a French woman goes missing. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Atkinson about "Our Noble Selves."

NPR's Scott Simon talks with Emily St. John Mandel about her new novel, "Exit Party." Set in the near future, it's an exploration of identity involving doppelgangers and a mysterious painting.

Doug Stanton talks with legal analyst Barbara McQuade, whose latest book is "The Fix."

The novel centers around rising Yale sophomore Lily Chen and her summer at an intensive Chinese-language course in Taiwan.

Terrie Taylor talks with Dr. Marc Berman about his book, "Nature and the Mind."

Beth Milligan talks with Jillian Laine, author of "Henry Tudor Must Die."

Erin Anderson Whiting talks with author Ann Patchett about her novel "Whistler."

In Homeland: The War on Terror in American Life, Richard Beck links the attacks to an expansion of government surveillance, increased hate crimes against Muslim Americans and the rise of Donald Trump.

Exit Party presents an arresting vision of a world in which time is porous and people are duplicated. Like Mandel's prior novels, it's ingenious, eerie and complex — and it hits close to home.

Doug Stanton talks with author Terry Tempest Williams about her book "The Glorians."