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Book of the week
| On the day that we meet our narrator — young, restless, insecure — she is urging herself to be less boring, to take more risks.
She has no idea that the spies she’ll soon be working for want her precisely because she is unjaded and untested.
Lea Carpenter’s new novel “Ilium” unfolds as an eleventh-hour operation against a high value target who has been long-pursued by Western intelligence agencies.
Edouard is a wealthy and closely protected oligarch with a magnificent art collection and a winsome young son.
The art and the child will give our unschooled spy the opening she needs. But they will also be the source of the moral conflict she finds herself in the center of.
Lea Carpenter told me in our interview that she was intrigued by the idea of an inexperienced agent matching wits with a sophisticated and soulful villain.
— Kerri Miller | MPR News |
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 | | Talking Volumes: Leif Enger |
Join Kerri Miller at a special on-the-road edition of Talking Volumes. She’ll be at the Sheldon Theatre in Red Wing on June 4 to talk with Minnesotan Leif Enger about his new book, “I Cheerfully Refuse.” Tickets are limited. Learn more at mprevents.org. | |
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 | | Alua Arthur says facing death is the key to living well |
In her work as a death doula, Alua Arthur has been present for thousands of deaths. Her new book, “Briefly Perfectly Human,” says facing your mortality is the best way to live a purposeful and joyful life.
Arthur herself thinks about dying a lot. As she tells Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas, she has detailed plans for what she’d like her deathbed to be like. But more importantly, she says living with an awareness of mortality helps her live with intention. | |
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