Check This Out host Rachel Barenbaum hosts a double-feature in this episode.
First, she talks with debut novelist Katie Yee about her book, "Maggie; Or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar.
The unnamed narrator expects a lovely night filled with endless plates of samosas. Instead, she finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie.
A short while after, her chest starts to ache. The pain in her breast isn’t just heartbreak—it’s cancer. She decides to call the tumor Maggie.
Unfolding in fragments over the course of the ensuing months, the novel follows the narrator as she embarks on a journey of grief, healing, and reclamation.
Read the novel with your book club - and if you do, let us know your thoughts; drop us an email or a voice memo at Books@NHPR.org!
In a special bonus following the conversation with Katie Yee, we chat with novelist Vanessa Lillie, about the return of Native American archeologist Syd Walker in "The Bone Thief."
Not only have bones gone missing, but a Native teen girl has disappeared near the camp, and law enforcement dismisses her family’s fears.
This second Syd Walker novel blends history with fiction, and asks if the sins of the past are destined to repeat until the truth is finally unearthed.
Check this Out features lively conversations with up and coming authors you may not have discovered yet. Check This Out is proud to partner with The PEN/Faulkner Foundation to champion new voices in literature.
Support your local bookstore, or buy your copy of "Maggie; Or, a man and a woman walk into a bar" and "The Bone Thief" from Zibby's Bookshop, a sponsor of Check This Out.
