Steve Bertrand on Books

Jane Hamilton is known for her novels A Map of the World and The Book of Ruth. Her latest is The Phoebe Variations, which was nearly 10 years in the making. In this week’s podcast, she talks with Steve about Phoebe’s journey into adulthood and about her own fears that her novel-writing career might have […]

Novelist Henry Wise joins Steve Bertrand on Books this week to talk about Promised Land, a story of loyalty and simmering antagonism set in the swamps of Virginia. Of particular interest is the impact of the Civil War that Wise says is sometimes still felt in parts of the South.

Did you know there’s a book genre called the feminist caper? It’s having its moment with help from Alex Hay’s novel The Midnight Guests. This is a fun read that follows Diana Gold on the night she opens an opulent hotel in 1926. The guests at the party have no idea she has to raise […]

Author Elizabeth Letts’ novel Fallen for France takes us from the farthest reaches of Morocco to the front lines in France during the early days of World War l with a captivating story of a young boy and his love for a magnificent horse. It’s a beautiful story of love, trust and survival as the […]

Hope House is described as a tender, and yet profane, study of masculinity. Put another way: Hope House follows a group of delinquents trying to find a better life (in most cases) and a halfway house leader desperate to help them discover their way. It’s a loving tribune from author Joe Bond, whose father ran […]

The Mississippi Delta and the Cajuns who live there are under threat. When the land dwindles, the culture erodes. That’s the setting behind Stephanie Soileau’s novel, Should the Water Take Us. The story begins during the Deepwater Oil explosion and after Katrina but also follows the Acadians’ trek from Canada to elsewhere, including Kankakee county. […]

Nightlife is under attack. In Imogen Willetts’ book Up All Night, she says the UK lost half of its nightclubs from 2013 to 2024. And the story is the same elsewhere. Why is that and is the traditional Saturday night doomed? Willetts talks with Steve about the history of nightlife, going back to feudal Japan, and […]

Would you buy a house where you know something terrible had happened in the past? That’s the question behind “Buyer Beware,” the latest novel from Irish writer Catherine Ryan Howard. She talks with Steve about her novel, about watching her earlier books adapted for TV, and about and about one of her favorite breakfast places […]

If you’re a fan of British crime drama, you probably know Mark Billingham. His Tom Thorne series, and other projects, have made the jump to TV. His latest novel is The Shadow Step, the third in his Detective Declan Miller series. Miller is a good cop who likes to crack a joke. Some of them are […]

You might know novelist Steven Rowley for his book The Guncle or The Guncle Abroad. His lead character really travels in his latest, Take Me With You. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and finding a bright light inviting you to be swept off to outer space. Would you go with and […]

Ben Reeves has written a beautiful debut novel about…death. Travis seems like an ordinary guy; he’s single and lives alone with his cat in his apartment. But his job is to be with us when we die. Some of us recognize him at that moment while others don’t. Either way, Reeves’ accounts of their deaths […]

You have too much stuff and Alan Anderson is the guy who convinced you to buy it. Now he sees the error of his ways and he’s shunned his worldly goods, living in a shed in his backyard and bathing in Long Island Sound. That’s the notion behind this very funny novel from Courtney Maum: […]

You might know Bobby Finger from his two earlier novels, The Old Place and Four Squares, or maybe you follow his podcast, Who? Weekly, where he and his cohost Lindsey Weber keep track of would-be celebrities so you won’t have to. His latest novel is We Are Gathered Here Today, where he returns to Texas for […]

New York Times bestselling author Lisa See’s latest book is Daughters of the Sun and Moon. Publisher’s Weekly calls it one of the best books of the summer. She talks with Steve about the little-known story of the 1870 massacre of Chinese immigrants in what was then a small, dusty and very dangerous Los Angeles.

In this week’s podcast, Steve catches up with author Phil Melanson as he teaches in London. Phil is the author of Florenzer…it’s a great account of life in Medici Florence told through the lives of Lorenzo de Medici, Francesco Salviati and Leonardo de Vinci. The book is now in paperback.

Chicago writer Melanie Benjamin has made a career out of writing historical fiction with stories that largely center around women. Put another way, Melanie has given us fictional accounts of our non-fiction world. In her latest, The Windsor Affair, she looks into the abdication of King Edward Vlll. It’s a story that’s been told many […]

Djamel White is being called a powerful new voice in Irish literature. His debut novel, All Them Dogs, takes a look inside the crime underworld of west Dublin, focusing on a lost young man looking to be found. Unfortunately for him, his search for male guidance only brings more struggle. Djamel talks with Steve about […]

Hannah Thurman’s smash debut novel is set in Raleigh, North Carolina, mostly at an under-pressure mental institution. At the center of Mercy Hill is a family of four daughters, their dad, and the mom who is the force fighting to save the hospital. The family grows up in the shadow of the institution, much in […]

Charles Schutt is a former Chicago priest who left the Church after 17 years and then successfully moved to the world of corporate recruiting. And he wants you to know why. He’s got a new book out called “A True Story of a Catholic Priest: Why I Got In, Why I Got Out, and What […]

Maybe it’s in our 30s that the rubber finally meets the road and it’s time to confront life, maybe accept the fact that you can’t be anything you want to be after all. In a way, that’s a way to read Rachel Khong’s short story collection. It’s called “My Dear You.” Rachel says each short […]