Maureen Corrigan
Stories
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'The Emperor of Gladness' is a beautiful novel about hard work and found family
Ocean Vuong's sweeping new novel centers on a depressed 19-year-old college dropout who becomes the caregiver to a widow with dementia.
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A filmmaker in Nazi Germany strikes a deal with the devil in 'The Director'
When do compromises turn into full-blown capitulation? Daniel Kehlmann's new novel draws on the true story of German film director G.W. Pabst.
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These 2 funny books give readers a reason to smile in tough times
Dorothy Parker's posthumously published collection is Poems; Camilla Barnes' debut novel is The Usual Desire to Kill. Both affirm: sharp humor can be grounded in pain.
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100 years later, 'The Great Gatsby' still speaks to the troubled dream of America
Great works of art are great, in part, because they continue to have something to say to the present: They're both timebound and timeless. And, boy, does Gatsby have something to say to us in 2025.
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Karen Russell's 'The Antidote' is an American epic — and well worth the wait
Russell has published excellent short story collections since her 2011 debut novel Swamplandia!, but this is her first novel in nearly 15 years. It follows a "Prairie Witch" in Dust Bowl-era Nebraska.
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'Last Seen': After slavery, family members placed ads looking for loved ones
Formerly enslaved people would placed ads in newspapers hoping to find lost children, parents, spouses and siblings. Historian Judith Giesberg tells the stories of some of those families in a new book.
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Tony Horwitz's widow Geraldine Brooks writes a beautiful memoir of grief
Horwitz died suddenly in 2019 while on a book tour. In Memorial Days, Geraldine Brooks grieves her husband — and also reflects on the life she might have lived had they not met.
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'Coming to New York' stories are alive and well in these two new books
Kay Sohini's graphic memoir, This Beautiful, Ridiculous City, tells a story of migration and redefinition. Gay Talese gathers many of his great pieces about the city in A Town Without Time.
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Secrets feed on time in the masterful novel 'Mothers and Sons'
Adam Haslett's compelling novel focuses on the strained relationship between an asylum lawyer and his mother. It's a beautiful appreciation of the all-too-human mess of life.
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Maureen Corrigan picks her favorite books from an 'unprecedented' 2024
This year, our Fresh Air book critic highlights alternative history, suspense, satire — and some of the most extraordinary letters ever written. Here are Maureen Corrigan's 10 best books of 2024.
