Secrets Of A Teenage WWII Spy

Plus: a white nationalist's awakening, ElfQuest at 40, and our critics' picks books [Transcription cover detail]( In 1940, the threat of Nazi Germany stirred up a certain patriotism in the British. Well, mostly -- there were also fascists who secretly admired Hitler. That’s the setting for novelist Kate Atkinson’s newest work of historical fiction, Transcription: 18-year-old Juliet Armstrong is employed as a typist, writing down secretly recorded conversations of between Nazi sympathizers and a British spy. In her study of declassified MI5 papers, Atkinson found a real-life model for that spy, and for the unnamed transcriptionist logging all those conversations. [Reviewer Jason Sheehan writes]( that the “brilliant” book “subverts the classic model of the spy story.” And [Atkinson spoke with Weekend Edition]( about her latest novel. [Waiting For Eden cover]( Elliot Ackerman served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, as a journalist and writer of fiction, he often draws on his own experiences as a U.S. Marine. But although the titular character of his new novel Waiting for Eden is grievously injured in an act of war, he says that “this book really isn't about war.” For the hospitalized Eden and his long-suffering wife Mary -- and the unusual narrator -- it’s about having faith in a resolution that may never come. [Ackerman spoke with Morning Edition]( about his latest book. [Rising Out Of Hatred cover]( Derek Black was once heir apparent of the white nationalist movement. His father was a grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He hosted a radio show and started a website dedicated to supremacist ideology. And then he went to college and met people who caused him to rethink his views. He would thereafter renounce white nationalism, and is now the subject of journalist Eli Saslow’s book Rising Out of Hatred. [Black and Saslow spoke to Fresh Air]( about what the book calls an “awakening.” [ElfQuest cover]( ElfQuest is an old-fashioned comic. It isn't dark; it isn't gritty. It is what says on the cover: A saga about elves. Elves with big eyes, bigger hair, and really great abs. On a quest. It’s been the passion project of Wendy and Richard Pini since 1978 -- and it’s coming to an end. NPR books editor Petra Mayer caught up with the Pinis to hear about their own 40-year quest and tried to pry out what’s coming next. [Hear her radio story about ElfQuest]( and the full extended interview, on the site. Finally this week: Michael Schaub recommends [The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish by Katya Apekina]( a debut novel is both “shocking” and “stunningly accomplished.” Lily Meyer recommends [The Shape of the Ruins by Colombian novelist Juan Gabriel Vásquez]( which is “packed with history, alternate history, and a keen, mischievous sense of historical humor.” And Mariya Karimjee recommends [Night Moves by music critic Jessica Hopper]( a memoir of growing up in the Chicago cultural scene, and an homage to the city in the early 2000s. [The Deeper The Water The Uglier The Fish cover]( [The Shape Of The Ruins cover]( [Night Moves cover]( Happy reading! [Facebook]( [Twitter]( You received this message because you're subscribed to our Books emails. | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002 [NPR]