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George Mallory, famed mountaineer, perished in his attempt to be the first man to summit Mount Everest. Tanis Rideout's debut novel combines the tale of that famous climb with the lesser-known story of George's wife, Ruth.

In her new book, Andrea Stuart explores the intersection of sugar, slavery, settlement, migration and survival in the Americas. Stuart's personal history was shaped by these forces — she is descended from a slave owner who had relations with an unknown slave.

When 18th century Jewish peddler Jacob Cerf reappears in the 21st century, he finds he can read minds and will people to do his bidding — but he's also a common housefly. Rebecca Miller's Jacob's Folly traces Jacob's mission to get back at God.

Thor Hanson's new book looks at the evolutionary significance of feathers in birds. Hanson tells Fresh Air that he's amazed by birds' magnitude of feathers, how feathers grow and how they're the "most efficient insulation known."

About half of dialysis patients nationally are Black or Latino and vulnerable to severe Covid-19 or death. Many get dialysis three times a week, so vaccinating at those centers would be efficient.

Sam J. Miller's latest is set in an upstate New York town built on the bones of butchered whales. It's full of broken people, violent ghosts and flying whales, but the real monster is gentrification.

Peter Spiegelman worked on Wall Street for 20 years before becoming a writer. In his new novel, Thick as Thieves, he brings that Wall Street experience to stories of capers, heists and double crosses.

Thomas Mallon's new novelization of the infamous political scandal re-imagines the events through the eyes of the perpetrators. Critic Heller McAlpin says Mallon manages to capture both the metastasizing dishonesty and the ludicrousness of this great American tragedy of political ambition run amok.

If you want to learn about success, talk to a successful person. If you want to learn about failure, talk to a very successful person. In his new book Fail Up, TV and radio host Tavis Smiley offers 20 lessons in turning setbacks into success.

Iain Banks' last novel, The Quarry, follows awkward teen Kit, his dying father Guy, and a group of Guy's former friends as they search for a possibly incriminating videotape. Reviewer Ellah Allfrey says The Quarry isn't Banks' best work, but "it doesn't disappoint."