The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France

Robert Darnton. W. W. Norton & Company, $17.95 (464pp) ISBN 978-0-393-31442-7

In this NBCC finalist, cultural historian Darnton examines subversive French works of the 1780s, arguing that these underground books were as influential as more classic Enlightenment fare. (Apr.)

Featured Fiction Reviews

Robert Seethaler

The beautiful latest from Seethaler (A Whole Life) revolves around the diverse patrons of a Viennese café. In summer 1966, war orphan Robert Simon, now 31 and tired of manual Continue reading »

Roisín O'Donnell

Irish writer O’Donnell debuts with a wrenching and scrupulously realistic narrative of a Dublin-based mother who, after years of emotional and sexual abuse, decides to leave her Continue reading »

Dino Buzzati

These captivating stories selected by Venuti and written over a 50-year-period by Buzzati (1906–1972) exhibit the author’s interest in fantasy, futility, and fate. In “Seven Continue reading »

Maggie Su

In Su’s marvelous debut, a Taiwanese American woman sculpts a seemingly perfect partner out of a sentient blob. Two years after failing out of college, Vi works as a hotel Continue reading »