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Acclaimed fantasist Beagle
(Summerlong) sets this charming,
lyrical tale of unicorns and love on a
poor little hillside farm in the toe of
boot-shaped Italy, where 47-year-
old Claudio Bianchi scratches out
a meager existence for himself,
old dog Garibaldi, goat Cherubino,
three cows, a pig, and three cats.
Claudio writes poetry, too, and one
day a golden-white unicorn appears
to him as a gentle reminder of the
freedom animals and humans have
lost. The unicorn becomes the one
miracle of Claudio’s life—and
the ultimate tourist attraction. He
protects her as best he can from
hordes of reporters, television
crews and helicopters, animal rights
activists, yearning yokels, and even
the Calabrian ’Ndràngheta mob.
After Claudio helps the unicorn
deliver her colt, his heart, frozen
by an earlier tragedy, warms to
Giovanna, the intrepid 20-ish sister
of the postman. Neatly playing
the strictures of Claudio’s simple
rural life against the shimmering
wildness of the unicorn, Beagle’s
kindly fable shows how a man who
seems to have nothing can really
have everything—with just a touch
of magic. (Feb.)
Peter S. Beagle.
Tachyon, $19.95 trade paper
(176p)
ISBN 978-1-61696-248-7
In Calabria
tachyonpublications.com
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NAMED ONE OF PW’S
BEST SCI-FI/FANTASY
TITLES OF THE YEAR family man, friend, and even suitor—into
a single coherent portrait. Her richly
detailed chronicle leaves one wanting to
read Thoreau himself. This scholarly epic
may well stand as the definitive biog-
raphy of a pivotal figure in American
letters.
Hunger: A Memoir
of (My) Body
Roxane Gay (Harper)
Novelist and cultural critic Gay (Bad
Feminist) writes with
beauty and grace about
her life as “a woman of
size.” She is unflinching
in describing even the
most painful moments
of her life, offering great insight into
what it’s like to live in a society that
looks down upon large people, especially
women.
I Couldn’t Even Imagine That They
Would Kill Us: An Oral History of
the Attacks Against the Students of
Ayotzinapa
John Gibler (City Lights)
Journalist Gibler’s investigative
prowess yields a book that uses a chorus
of voices—eyewitness accounts of the
students and others at the scene—to add
depth and clarity to the Sept. 26, 2014,
massacre of students in the city of Iguala,
Mexico, that left six people dead, 40
wounded, and 43 students missing who
have yet to be seen since. It’s an unforgettable reconstruction of a national
tragedy.
I Was Told to Come Alone:
My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad
Souad Mekhennet (Holt)
Journalistic coups abound in
Washington Post correspondent
Mekhennet’s behind-the-scenes account
of her experiences attempting to
untangle the roots of Islamic extremism
while on assignment in Europe, the
Middle East, and North Africa. While
Mekhennet’s job as a reporter opened
doors to rulers, religious and political
figures, and even an ex-rapper, her focus
is sharply on ordinary people.
Killers of the Flower Moon:
The Osage Murders and the Birth
of the FBI
David Grann (Doubleday)
Masterful storytelling about a baffling
1920s murder spree drives New Yorker
writer Grann’s true crime saga about the
investigation of the killings of more than
two dozen members of the Osage Indian
Nation, who at the time were considered
“the wealthiest people per capita in the
world.”
Leonardo da Vinci
Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster)
In what might be Isaacson’s best book
to date, he mines thousands of pages
from the sketchbooks of Leonardo da
Vinci for insights into the life and work
of the elusive Renaissance artist, showing
how da Vinci’s inquisitiveness set him
apart from his contemporaries but frequently distracted him from completing
commissions.
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and
Punishment in Black America
James Forman Jr. (FSG)
Forman takes on an entangled, thorny
issue—the part African-Americans have
played in shaping criminal justice policy
over the past four decades, whether as
voters, law enforcement officers, politicians, or activists. The complex picture
he draws is informed by his experience as
a public defender, Supreme Court clerk,
and Yale Law School professor. His multifaceted perspective brings fresh
insights into how African-Americans
have been treated in the U.S. legal
system.
The Lost City of the Monkey God:
A True Story
Douglas Preston (Grand Central)
This hair-raising true adventure tale
about thriller writer Preston’s 2015 expedition to locate an ancient city in the
Honduran mountains reads like a fairy
tale. Preston details the emotionally
