Reality Bites
The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq By Dunya Mikhail NEW DIRECTIONS PUBLISHING In 2014, the Islamic State group (ISIS) invaded northern Iraq, killing men and enslaving women. A local beekeeper smuggled some of the women back to their homes. Mikhail, a journalist and poet, spoke to survivors, bearing witness to their wrenching stories of horriɿc abuse.
City of Devils By Paul French PICADOR
Historical true crime that transports you back to the decadence and deranged beauty of 1930s Shanghai— a place that rivaled Prohibition Chicago for colorful miscreants and bruisers, including an ex-navy boxer who became the Slot King of Shanghai. (Out in July.)
Educated: A Memoir By Tara Westover RANDOM HOUSE
If you’ve ever questioned why people stay in cults or abusive families, this coming-of-age memoir by the daughter of Mormon fundamentalists provides moving answers. Westover, who educated her way out of a very bad situation, shows how blood ties can bind beyond rationality, and how where you come from (in this case, Idaho) is rooted in your soul. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer By Michelle Mcnamara HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS 7he proliɿc rapist and murderer known as the Golden State Killer seems to have been caught, which makes no difference to this page-ripper. Patton Oswalt’s late wife, who spent the last decade of her life investigating the case (she died in 2016, without identifying the alleged killer, James Deangelo), vividly recounts the crimes and their impact on the killer’s victims and families. But she’s also telling the bigger story of obsession—in this case, her own unshakable and debilitating desire to ɿnd an explanation for evil.
Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History By Yunte Huang LIVERIGHT
Dehumanized and displayed as freaks in Andrew Jackson’s America, Chang and Eng Bunker, the original “Siamese Twins” (born in Siam and conjoined at the sternum) ended up oppressors themselves. After retiring in a small North Carolina town, they owned as many as 32 slaves and, between them, fathered at least 21 children. If that doesn’t intrigue you—wait, how can that not intrigue you?