Goldengrove: A Novel by Francine Prose
In 1976, a novel called Ordinary People by an unknown author named Judith Guest became a surprise bestseller. Soon adapted into a popular movie, the book was about the meltdown of a seemingly perfect upper-middle-class family after the beloved older son died in a boating accident, nearly sinking his younger [...]

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Goldengrove: A Novel by Francine Prose
The animating spirit of Francine Prose’s new novel is the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem “Spring and Fall: To a Young Child.” It supplies not only the novel’s title and epigraph but also the names of its central character and of the bookstore her family owns. Characters discuss the verse both [...]

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“American Wife: A Novel,” by Curtis Sittenfeld (RH, Sept.). A sweet, bookish girl grows up to become a librarian — and the first lady of the United States.
“Anathem,” by Neal Stephenson (Morrow, Sept.). The author of “Cryptonomicon” returns with a story about a medieval monk battling a looming catastrophe.
“And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their [...]

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