Our April book club pick for Now Read This, the PBS NewsHour's book club with The New York Times, is Julia Phillips' "Disappearing Earth," a novel about a community's reckoning with the sudden disappearance of two young girls.
Set on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, a region where social and ethnic tensions have long shaped the lives of the residents there, Phillips' novel follows a cast of characters who are connected by the crime.
The mysterious disappearance of the Golosovsky sisters one summer day ignites an onslaught of media attention that lays bare the broader tensions, particularly for women who feel their struggles have not been given equal notice.
In a book review for The New York Times, writer Ivy Pochoda praised Phillips for bringing "a cartographer's precision and an ethnographer's clarity" to her descriptions of Kamchatka, as well as weaving together stories of women who are "are fragmented personally, culturally and emotionally not only by the crime that jump-starts the novel, but by place, identity and the people who try, and often fail, to understand them."
Phillips spent time in Kamchatka on a Fulbright scholarship in 2011, and studied the Russian language for years.
"Disappearing Earth" was named one of The New York Times' 10 Best Books of the Year and as a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
Phillips will join us at the end of the month to answer your questions about "Disappearing Earth." We hope you'll read along.
Sustain our coverage of culture, arts and literature.
A total of 42 European dates have been canceled, including stops in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland,…
Michelle Zauner is a Korean American author and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of alternative pop band Japanese…
Over the course of her career, Lewis both preserved the traditions of regional Southern cooking and reshaped the way people…
A legendary performer in the music industry has died. Tina Turner passed away Wednesday at her home in Switzerland at…
Traveling in search of the happiest places on Earth is at the center of the new series "The Geography Of…
"The Hill We Climb" was challenged by the parent of two students at Bob Graham Education Center in Miami Lakes.…
Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer who teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records…
At New York's Guggenheim Museum, you can walk around and into artwork by Sarah Sze. Photos, videos, objects, sounds and…
LeBron James questioned retirement after his Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets despite the highest-scoring postseason half of James'…
This week, a live-action version of Disney's "The Little Mermaid' opens in theaters, more than 30 years after the original…
Tears of the Kingdom is now the fastest-selling title in the series, with 10 million copies purchased in the first…
"I've gone through a very difficult year but now I'm OK," Martina Navratilova said at the Italian Open on Sunday…
What is our legacy? What do we leave behind after we're gone? During the pandemic, many of us pondered these…
British novelist Martin Amis, who brought a rock 'n' roll sensibility to his stories and lifestyle, has died. He was…
An incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease. That's the focus of Michael J. Fox's new documentary "Still" just released on…
