"An aspirational treatise on nationhood that illustrates why reunification that is led by Korean civil society is the ultimate answer to security, economic, and social problems created through 70 years of division."--page 4 of cover.

In the wake of the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, this "is Almond's effort to make sense of our historical moment, to connect certain dots that go unconnected amid the deluge of hot takes and think pieces. Almond looks to literary voices--from Melville to Orwell, from Bradbury to Baldwin--to help explain the roots of [what he sees as] our moral erosion as a people"--

Sam, a former high-profile ad executive, is devastated by the sudden death of his musician son. When Sam discovers a box filled with his son's demo tapes, the grieving father's downward spiral comes to a standstill as he explores this unexpected gift. After mustering the will to perform one of the songs at a local bar, Sam meets and forms a friendship with Quentin a young musician. The unlikely duo forms a rock band that becomes a local sensation.

Bridget returns home to Chicago at her brother's urging to deal with her ailing mother and their father's reluctance to let go of their life together.

John J. Marinovich 1921-1997 "Always in our Hearts."

"David Bowles stitches together the fragmented mythology of pre-Colombian Mexico into an exciting, unified narrative in the tradition of William Buck's Ramayana, Robert Fagles's Iliad, and Neil Gaiman's Norse Myths"--