NHPR Books

When 276 schoolgirls are abducted from their school in Nigeria, a Florida-based lawyer and former POW of the Nigerian Civil War is consumed by memories of his younger sister who went missing during that conflict. “A Season of Light” explores the shaky promise of the immigrant American dream and a family struggling with intergenerational trauma.

A novel about marriage and ambition, sexuality and secrecy, and the true costs of building an empire. “Mutual Interest” explores the lives of “three queer misfits turned business titans” during the Gilded Age with immersive period detail and compelling emotional stakes.

“Homeseeking” follows Haiwen and Suchi, two separated lovers through six decades of Chinese history. War, famine, and opportunity take them from Hong Kong, to Taiwan, New York, and LA. This debut novel is a story of family, sacrifice, and loyalty, and of the power of love to endure beyond distance and time.

A novel about depression, love, the ways women make themselves small, and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

This is a story of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961. An exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past.

Looking for a good book to read? Tune in to hear three NH librarians offer recommendations. Catch their takes on their favorite emerging and diverse authors.

Ariel Lawhon joined us to discuss her novel The Frozen River on November 6, 2024.

A beautiful, tender, yet searing debut novel about intergenerational fractures and coming of age, following a young woman who immigrates to the United States from the Philippines and finds herself adrift between familial expectations and her own desires.

An unlikely production of Euripides in a prison quarry, set in ancient Greece with a contemporary Irish accent. As funny as it is moving, the novel is an ode to the power of art in a time of war, brotherhood in a time of enmity, and human will throughout the ages.

Based on (mostly) true events, The Bullet Swallower is a magical realism western about violence and revenge, a story that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.

A group of passengers on a grand,and fortress-like train known as the Trans-Siberian Express set out across a magical landscape known as the “Wastelands.” Can they trust each other even as the rules seem to be changing?

This debut novel uncovers the story of three generations of Black women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion. A story of friendships, family secrets, and how history shapes us.

Set around Maine’s Penobscot Reservation, a novel about one man’s family, divided, like the river that separates him from his childhood home. The novel is about belonging, the shifting nature of memory - and bloodlines.

Mo Rocca joined us on June 18, 2024 at The Music Hall in Portsmouth to discuss his latest, Roctogenarians.

Doris Kearns Goodwin joined us on June 5, 2024 to discuss her latest book, An Unfinished Love Story.

Law professor and MSNBC analyst Barabara McQuade joined us on March 14th, 2024 at The Music Hall in Portsmouth to discuss her book Attack From Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America. Head to https://www.nhpr.org/wnes for more episodes and to sign up for our newsletter!

Heather Cox Richardson joined Civics 101 host Hannah McCarthy on stage at The Music Hall in Portsmouth to discuss her book Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America . Best known for her wildly popular newsletter, Letters from an American , in Democracy Awakening Richardson takes on the current state of affairs in American politics and history. This conversation was recorded live on Septem...

Palahniuk joined Morning Edition host Rick Ganley on stage at The Music Hall in Portsmouth to discuss his latest novel Not Forever, but For Now . The book traces one notorious family of killers, responsible for some of history’s greatest crimes, and tells the story of the two brothers set to take over the family business. This conversation was recorded live on September 12th, 2023. Please note: Th...

Writers on a New England Stage with Colson Whitehead. Whitehead joined Morning Edition host Rick Ganley on stage at The Music Hall in Portsmouth to discuss his latest novel, Crook Manifesto , the second in a trilogy that began with Harlem Shuffle . Crook Manifesto takes Whitehead’s main character, furniture salesman and fence Ray Carney, into the tumultuous Harlem of the 1970s. This conversation w...

Writers on a New England Stage with Geraldine Brooks. Brooks joined All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa on stage at The Music Hall in Portsmouth to discuss her latest novel Horse - a story of the legendary racehorse Lexington, the enslaved groom who became his companion, a painting traced through history, and America’s unfinished reckoning with racism. This conversation was recorded live on...

Writers on a New England Stage with John Irving, recorded virtually in 2022. This archive program may still contain broadcast elements from the time it aired.

Writers on a New England Stage with Huma Abedin, recorded live at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH in 2022. This archive program may still contain broadcast elements from the time it aired.

Writers on a New England Stage with Nina Totenberg, recorded live at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH in 2022. This archive program may still contain broadcast elements from the time it aired.

Writers on a New England Stage with Amor Towles, recorded live at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH in 2022. This archive program may still contain broadcast elements from the time it aired.

Writers on a New England Stage with Erik Larson, recorded live at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH in 2022. This archive program may still contain broadcast elements from the time it aired.