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NBN Podcast Episodes Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb
Literary Fiction
May 16, 2023
Hotel Cuba
Aaron Hamburger
Two sisters fleeing the horror of the Soviet Revolution and aftermath of WW1 are disappointed when American policy prevents them from joining their older sister in New York.
April 25, 2023
The Great Reclamation
Rachel Heng
In the 1940s, Singapore was controlled by the British occupied by the Japanese and comprised of rubber plantations and decrepit fishing villages. A timid little boy is the only one who can help his father, a fisherman, find a string of mysterious islands surrounded by teeming ocean life that will change the fortune of his family and neighbors.
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April 18, 2023
Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions
Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi’s novel Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories (Amistad 2022), is a moving and unforgettable collection of stories that span a lifetime.
April 11, 2023
Because I Loved You
Donnaldson Brown
Sixteen-year-old Leni O’Hare loves her horse, so when her mother tries to sell it, she rides as far as she can. It’s 1972, and she ends up falling in love with another horse-lover.
March 28, 2023
The Woman Beyond the Sea
Sarit Yishai-Levi
Eliyah is 25 when she travels from Tel Aviv to Paris to meet up with her husband, who turns out to be having an affair with a French woman. As her life crumbles, Eliyah plunges into a deep depression, returns home to her childhood bed, and slowly descends into madness.
March 14, 2023
Take What You Need
Idra Novey
This is a story about family, the opioid epidemic in rural America, the rise of hatred and bigotry during the past few years, and the grip of creating art on those who feel its pull.
February 21, 2023
In the Fall They Leave: A Novel of the First World War
Joanna Higgins
Nineteen-year-old pianist Marie-Thérèse has dropped out of her prestigious conservatory in favor of becoming a nurse, much to her mother’s disappointment. As she begins her final year of study, Germany invades Belgium on its way to France. It’s 1914, and Marie-Thérèse’s world is upended by harsh rules and demands that students and staff spy on each other.
February 14, 2023
Side Effects of Wanting
Mary Salisbury
In Side Effects of Wanting (Main Street Rag, 2022), author Mary Salisbury spent nearly twenty years gathering together the pieces of humanity she saw reflected in the lives around her and distilled them into a poetically written, beautifully curated short story collection.
February 7, 2023
Tell Me One Thing
Kerri Schlottman
Quinn and a friend are driving from New York City to Pennsylvania when she sees 9-year-old Lulu sitting on a trucker’s lap, smoking a cigarette. At the truck stop for her friend to score drugs, Quinn takes an astounding picture and then leaves, disappointing Lulu, who thinks maybe people will see the picture and help her. Quinn goes on to live the heady life of a successful photographer while Lulu is confronted with various kinds of abuse and dysfunction. Despite the differences in their lives, both women experience moments of great joy, and significant amounts of despair This is a novel about haves and have-nots, those who find love and those who don’t, how the AIDS epidemic fractured New York’s gay community, and the confusing world of art.
January 31, 2023
Song of the Storyteller
C.P. Lesley
Today I talked to C. P. Lesley about Song of the Storyteller (Five Directions Press, 2023).
December 13, 2022
Compass
Murray Lee
"We can't all be heroes. Some try and succeed. Others posture and pretend. And a few--just a few--set off on their hero's quest only to discover that failure was within them all along."
June 6, 2019
A Joy to Be Hidden
Ariela Freedman
It’s the late 1990’s and Alice Stein is a grad student in New York City. As she struggles to study, write, teach, take care of the little girl from downstairs, and figure out her grandmother’s secrets, Alice Stein uncovers layers of secrets about herself, her family, and everyone around her.
May 27, 2019
The Book of Jeremiah
Julie Zuckerman
Julie Zuckerman’s moving and engrossing debut novel-in-stories, The Book of Jeremiah, tells the story of awkward but endearing Jeremiah Gerstler—the son of immigrants, brilliant political science professor, husband, and father.
May 1, 2019
The Genuine Stories
Susan Smith Daniels
The Genuine Stories is a linked collection centered around Genevieve “Genuine” Eriksson, a woman with an uncanny ability to heal people. Her gift begins to unfold at the age of eight despite the lingering disbelief of her parents.
April 18, 2019
The Limits of the World
Jennifer Acker
Sunil Chandaria is struggling to write his PhD dissertation in philosophy at Harvard University. He feels his father’s disapproval because he didn’t become a doctor, and his mother’s disapproval that he doesn’t have a job or a wife. The Limits of the World is a rich novel about how we navigate the bonds of family, culture and religion in a world made smaller by immigration and technology.
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