© 2024
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
The Book Show
The Book Show

Ayana Mathis - The Unsettled

By Joe Donahue
Published November 7, 2023 at 3:00 PM EST
Knopf

Ayana Mathis’s new novel, “The Unsettled,” is set in the 1980s and follows three generations of a family divided by a painful past. Ava lives in racially and politically turbulent Philadelphia, struggling to care for her son, Toussaint. Her mother, Dutchess, remains in her historically Black hometown of Bonaparte, Alabama, fighting to save her land.

Tags
The Book Show book showthe book showauthor interviewwriters on writingfamilytrauma
Joe Donahue
Joe talks to people on the radio for a living. In addition to countless impressive human "gets" - he has talked to a lot of Muppets. Joe grew up in Philadelphia, has been on the area airwaves for more than 25 years and currently lives in Washington County, NY with his wife, Kelly, and their dog, Brady. And yes, he reads every single book.
See stories by Joe Donahue
Related Content
  • The Book Show
    Joe Nesbø - The Night House
    Joe Donahue
    Joe Nesbø is a internationally best-selling author best known for his mystery series featuring his protagonist, Harry Hole. His latest is a twisted, multi-layered, mind-bending spin on the classic horror novel, “The Night House.” By page 8 – a phone has eaten a guy and things get stranger along the way.
  • The Book Show
    Nathan Hill - Wellness
    Nathan Hill’s new novel “Wellness” is a poignant and witty novel about marriage, the often-baffling pursuit of health and happiness, and the stories that bind us together. The book brings us from the gritty '90s Chicago art scene to a suburbia of detox diets and home-renovation hysteria.
  • The Book Show
    George Sanders - Liberation Day: Stories
    George Saunders is an American great, a writer who continues to astound, evolve and get deeper. His new book, “Liberation Day,” is his first collection of stories since his National Book Award finalist “Tenth of December” was published eight years ago.
  • Book cover for The Wren, The Wren
    The Book Show
    Anne Enright - The Wren, The Wren
    Joe Donahue
    The Times calls Booker Prize winning writer Anne Enright one of our greatest living novelists. Her latest, “The Wren, The Wren” is about a dead poet’s daughter and granddaughter coming to terms with his troubling legacy. Enright’s novel about language and connection explores the inheritance of trauma, wonder, and love across three generations of women.
  • johniriving-thelastchairlift
    The Book Show
    John Irving - The Last Chairlift
    Joe Donahue
    John Irving has written some of the most acclaimed books of our time, among them: “The World According to Garp,” “A Widow for One Year,” “A Prayer for Owen Meany” and “The Cider House Rules.” He now returns with his first novel in seven years “The Last Chairlift.”
Load More