New-Book Roundup
American Perspectives

In The Missing: A Novel, by Tim Gautreaux, the floorwalker in New Orleans's biggest department store goes in search of a missing child who disappears during his watch. The search takes him on a steamboat down the Mississippi and into some dark corners of the South post-World War I—and eventually to redemption. In Honolulu, Alan Brennert tells the story of Jin, a "picture bride" from Korea who comes to Oahu in 1914. When her farm-laborer husband turns out to be abusive, she manages to escape to Honolulu and builds a new life set against the backdrop of a changing Hawaii through the 1920s and the Depression. In J. California Cooper's latest novel, Life is Short but Wide, 91-year-old narrator Hattie B. Brown introduces us to the African-American Strong family of Wideland, Oklahoma, through several generations spanning the 1900s. Trials and triumphs mark their years as the small town itself evolves. In Lafcadio Hearn: American Writings, editor Christopher Benfey gathers a selection of work by the offbeat and restless journalist (1850-1904) who may be best known for his writings on New Orleans and Japan.

Reading Matchmaker
If You Go All Out For St. Patrick's Day . . .

. . . pick up At the Edge of Ireland: Seasons on the Beara Peninsula, by David Yeadon. The book follows Yeadon's travels in this lesser known part of southwest Ireland, searching out faith healers, ceili concerts, and his own Irish heritage. Bonus: The book is accompanied by Yeadon's own illustrations, from a portrait of a local cheesemaker to landscapes and pub scenes.

One Last Thing
A Venetian Journey

Bringing a contemporary city to life in words is an extraordinary enough challenge. But bringing a mid-19th-century city to life is infinitely more challenging. Edgar Award-winning mystery writer Jason Goodwin overcomes the challenge with vigor and grace in The Bellini Card, his third in a series of historical mysteries featuring the eunuch investigator Yashim, who serves the Ottoman court in 19th-century Istanbul. In this new book Yashim journeys to Venice at the behest of the new sultan to search for a legendary portrait of Mehmet the Conqueror, painted by Gentile Bellini. From its fast-paced dialogue to its interlacing political and social intrigues to its atmospheric depictions of Venetian life, The Bellini Card presents a riveting and revealing journey in time and space.