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This Month’s Best New Biographies & Memoirs
 
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Book cover for True North by Paul Theroux
Discover Canada anew with a ‘master of modern travel writing’ (The Wall Street Journal)
WHY IT’S READWORTHY:
  • A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
  • Veteran travel writer Paul Theroux recounts tracing his Quebecois ancestry, road-tripping through small villages and bustling cities, and more
  • “This sprawling account will captivate readers who yearn not just for escape but for experience” (Publishers Weekly)
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Media mentions for True North by Paul TherouxMEDIA MENTIONS:The New York Times/The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, Literary Hub
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Book cover for How Bright the Path Grows by Marcia Chatelain
Black women visionaries come to life on the page in this stunning group biography
WHY IT’S READWORTHY:
  • From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Franchise
  • Meet 13 women behind the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, from household names like Rosa Parks and Josephine Baker to lesser-known women such as choir director Eva Jessye and coordinator Anna Hedgeman
  • “Chatelain lets us see the complexities of these women’s lives, feel their pain, and marvel at their ability to cut through the thicket of racism and sexism” (New York Times bestselling author Carol Anderson)
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Media mentions for How Bright the Path Grows by Marcia ChatelainMEDIA MENTIONS:The New York Times/The New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, BookPage, Literary Hub
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Book cover for The Forest Year by Ethan Tapper
Spend a year taking care of a 175-acre forest in Vermont
WHY IT’S READWORTHY:
  • A forester, ecologist, and thought leader in ecosystem stewardship chronicles a year of life in the forest
  • Blending scientific observations with lyrical prose, this hopeful read touches on ecology, stewardship, and community
  • Publishers Weekly calls it “an emotive reflection” and “a moving testament to how ecosystems can be restored to ‘their true capacity for life’”
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Media mentions for The Forest Year by Ethan TapperMEDIA MENTION:Publishers Weekly
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Book cover for Cicero’s Tongue by Catharine Edwards
Get to know Rome’s famed orator, one of classical history’s most important figures
WHY IT’S READWORTHY:
  • Follow Cicero’s turbulent journey to become a master of rhetoric and a statesman — an influential life ended in execution on Marc Antony’s order
  • “Dramatic episodes are grounded in deep research” in this “engaging, valuable contribution” (Library Journal starred review)
  • An ancient historian and academic paints an intimate and complex character portrait
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Media mentions for Cicero’s Tongue by Catharine EdwardsMEDIA MENTIONS:The Times, Library Journal
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Book cover for This Cursed Beautiful Land by Evan Gershkovich
A Wall Street Journal reporter wrongly imprisoned in Russia tells his harrowing story
WHY IT’S READWORTHY:
  • Highly anticipated by The New York Times Book Review, The Times, and Town & Country
  • In 2023, Evan Gershkovich was taken by masked agents of Putin’s Federal Security Service. Interrogated for hours and charged with spying, he documented his 16 months in prison
  • With praise from Erik Larson (“rich and suspenseful”) and Patrick Radden Keefe (“propulsive and astutely observed”)
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Media mentions for This Cursed Beautiful Land by Evan GershkovichMEDIA MENTIONS:The New Yorker, NPR, PBS, Good Morning America, The New York Times/The New York Times Book Review, The Economist, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Town & Country, The Times, New York Post, Kirkus Reviews, Literary Hub
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Book cover for Tending the Vines by Ashia S. Ajani
What can plants teach us about the Black diaspora in America?
WHY IT’S READWORTHY:
  • A “passionate critique of Western colonization… This is illuminating” (Publishers Weekly)
  • Trace plants that are considered invasive from Africa to the United States, becoming symbols for Black liberation in the process
  • Jenny Odell, acclaimed author of How to Do Nothing, calls this “a carefully woven, lyrical meditation on the nature of belonging in a world built on legacies of exclusion”
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Media mentions for Tending the Vines by Ashia S. AjaniMEDIA MENTION:Publishers Weekly
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Book cover for Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry
‘A quiet masterpiece about one man’s death — and life’ (The New York Times)
WHY IT’S READWORTHY:
  • Longlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Nonfiction
  • Acclaimed author Sarah Perry interweaves the story of losing her beloved father-in-law with meditations on death in this moving read
  • “An extraordinary book. One that slips seamlessly from the metaphysical to the brute realities of the dying body” (The Sunday Times)
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Media mentions for Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah PerryMEDIA MENTIONS:The New York Times/The New York Times Book Review, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Good Housekeeping, The Guardian, The Times, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, BookPage, Literary Hub
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Book cover for A Mansion of Her Own by Nona Footz
Meet a reclusive 20th-century heiress whose life was a mystery until now
WHY IT’S READWORTHY:
  • After Alice Delamar inherited her father’s mining fortune at age 23, she rubbed shoulders with elite artists — but who was she?
  • Tucked away on a number of private estates, Delamar’s secrets were kept close until this “incredible contribution to biographical literature from a new author” (Booklist)
  • Library Journal calls it an “exceptional, well-written, and well-researched biography of a mining heiress and arts patron”
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Media mentions for A Mansion of Her Own by Nona FootzMEDIA MENTIONS:Town & Country, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, Booklist
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Book cover for The Vanishing Family by Robert Kolker
The latest from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Valley Road
WHY IT’S READWORTHY:
  • “A gripping real-life horror story of dementia, love, and grief” (The New York Times)
  • The heart-wrenching story of a large Pennsylvania family with a rare genetic mutation that causes early-onset dementia — resulting in drastic personality changes and forcing loved ones to make impossible choices
  • With praise from NPR, People, The Atlantic, and more, this “outstanding” read (Science) also delves into the advancements being made toward a cure for frontotemporal dementia
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Media mentions for The Vanishing Family by Robert KolkerMEDIA MENTIONS:Time Magazine, NPR, The New York Times/The New York Times Book Review, Science, The Atlantic, People, The Wall Street Journal, The Times, New York Post, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, BookPage, Literary Hub