NPR's Book of the Day Folgen

Inspired by a true story from Oakland, California, Leila Mottley's first novel follows a young Black girl who is sexually abused by a group of police officers. Kiara is a 17-year-old girl who comes from a fractured, poor family, and the novel follows her story as she attempts to survive and thrive navigating so much with so little protection. In an interview with Ayesha Roscoe on Weekend Edition Sunday, Mottley talked about the rich internal world she created for her main character, adding nuance to the storylines of poor characters, and the media coverage of the case that inspired her book.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Four strangers sitting in the reading room of the Boston Public Library suddenly hear a woman's piercing scream. When the body is found, the four characters quickly become friends as they work to solve the mystery. It's the plot of Sulari Gentill's new novel The Woman in the Library, a thriller set in the cold winter months of Boston, Massachusetts. In an interview on All Things Considered, Gentill told Elissa Nadworny that the idea of strangers bonding during scary events came from her own life experience during the bushfires of Australia.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

There is a common hurdle for many first generation immigrants: feeling out of place. Whether that's in school, speaking a different language, or living through parents' expectations. Today: two books about overcoming those feelings of inadequacy. First, Simu Liu, Marvel's first Asian superhero, discusses his memoir We Were Dreamers, where he talks about his complicated relationship with his parents and what he calls his "immigrant superhero origin story." Then, Cuban-American author Margarita Engle explores what it's like to be an outsider as a bilingual speaker and the creative freedom she found in writing Spanish without italics in her book.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy