An Illustrated Guide to Spring’s New Books
Marcus Jahmal’s “Sake Bar” (2024).Credit…© Marcus Jahmal. Courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York. Photo: Frankie Tyska
A Woman of Pleasure
A novel by Kiyoko Murata, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter
“Food and sake were set out for them on low tables, and farther inside the room was a scarlet futon. … Having been instructed to say nothing, she kept her lips tightly closed as she poured Takahata a drink.”
In Meiji-era Japan, a 15-year-old girl is sold to an exclusive brothel far from her home. After learning to read and write, she grasps the realities of her situation and organizes with her fellow courtesans to pursue freedom. Published by Counterpoint Press on Feb. 27.
Wolf at the Table
A novel by Adam Rapp
“‘But he’s a painter,’ Fiona declares to the entire table. ‘It’s what he’s been put on the earth to do. And his work is extraordinary. He recently finished a large canvas of a rainforest.’”
As members of a small-town Catholic family struggle with the dwindling dreams of late 20th-century America, they must also face the dawning reality that there’s a serial killer in their midst. Published by Little, Brown and Company on March 19.
