Stephen Grant was laid off from his job at a boutique marketing agency in March 2020, right when COVID took the world hostage.

Newly diagnosed with cancer, he needed health insurance, fast — plus, he was the primary financial supporter of his wife and daughters. Which is how he found himself becoming a mail carrier, back in his hometown in rural Appalachia.

It was a tough transition. Grant was bad at his job — “deeply incompetent,” he writes in his new memoir, “Mailman.” He is shaken by his lack of real-life skills, by his inability to feel at home in the mountains where he grew up, by his uncertainty in what it means to be in community during a time of isolation.

But “Mailman” rarely lingers on the malcontent. Instead, what Grant learned about himself, his fellow Appalachians and our country as a whole propel his new book. He joins host Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to share stories about working as a rural mail carrier, about blue collar versus white collar work, and about the overlooked importance of public service in a fractured nation.

Guest:

• Stephen Starring Grant is a writer and brand strategist. His new memoir is “Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home.”

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In the seas off Madagascar, Nova Scotia and even Connecticut, the siren call of buried riches has lured treasure hunters and adventurers over many a century.

Many seek the wealth Capt. Kidd accrued during years of pirating and then had to hide when his arrest was imminent.

In popular lore, Capt. Kidd’s name is synonymous with the fearsome, ruthless privateers of the pirate age. But the truth about William Kidd is more nuanced — and interesting.

Historian Samuel Marquis, who is also William Kidd’s ninth great-grandson, writes in his new biography of Kidd:

Though the real Capt. Kidd would have loathed being labeled as one of the most notorious villains of all time, he would have delighted at being a continuing hot topic of conversation for over 300 years and counting.

Marquis’ previous books include “Blackbeard: The Birth of America.” His new book is “Captain Kidd: A True Story of Treasure and Betrayal,” and he joins Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to sort reality from the scuttlebutt when it comes to the age of pirates.

Guest:

• Samuel Marquis is a historian and author. His new book is “Captain Kidd: A True Story of Treasure and Betrayal.”

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Maralyn and Maurice Bailey were always a little unconventional. Maurice was a loner, precise. Maralyn was extroverted and energetic. But when they married in the 1960s, they both felt they had found their person.

Together, they dreamed of running away from their ordinary lives — of selling everything and sailing the world. And in 1972, they made it happen. They set course for a fresh start in New Zealand and left England in a 31-foot yacht.

All went well until they reached the Pacific, where a chance encounter with a whale sank their boat. They managed to get a few supplies onto their life raft, where they waited for help to come.

And waited.

And waited.

Exhausted, starving, struggling to survive and get along, their marriage was put to the ultimate test.

But when they were finally rescued after more than 100 days adrift at sea, they were a stronger couple than before.

Author Sophie Elmhirst discovered the Bailey’s true story on a message board and knew she had to bring it to a new generation — with the added twist that this isn’t just a personal survival story. It’s a marital survival story.

She joins host Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to talk all about “A Marriage at Sea.”

Guest:

• Sophie Elmhirst writes regularly for the Guardian Long Read. In 2020, she won the British Press Award for Feature Writer of the Year. Her book, “A Marriage at Sea,” was published in the U.S. in July 2025.

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If you’re a romance reader, you won’t be surprised to hear that romance is the biggest genre in publishing. Nearly 40 million romance novels were sold in 2024. Books range from flirty (fade to black) to downright steamy (open door), with myriads of subgenres and tropes to choose from. (Rom-com! Paranormal romance! Historical fiction!)

So this week, Big Books and Bold Ideas host Kerri Miller sits down with three Minnesota romance experts to talk about romance writing and reading today. She brings some quizlets and challenges, and each author shares an excerpt of a romance novel that has stuck with them.

Along the way, they discuss the rules of romance (happy endings are nonnegotiable), what differentiates a love story from a romance novel and how the industry is starting to adapt to the diversity readers want.

They also recommend romance novels that have maybe slipped through the cracks but deserve attention.

For Richards, that was the book she chose to feature in her excerpt: the historical queer romance “A Shore Thing” by Joanna Lowell. She also recommended anything by writer Cat Sebastian, particularly “It Takes Two to Tumble.”

Tschida said readers should check out the wit and charm inherent in any Nikki Payne novel, who is best know for her rewrites of Jane Austen. “Start with ‘Pride and Protest,’” Tschida recommended, “and then move on to ‘Sex, Lies and Sensibility.’” She also prescribed Carly Bloom, who writes books broader than the cowboy romance genre she is often stuck in.

Palmer said she’ll “never stop talking” about Naina Kumar. Her most recent book, “Flirting with Disaster,” is similar to the movie “Sweet Home Alabama” — but in this case, a hurricane traps a couple headed toward divorce in the home they built together when their love was young.

Guests:

• Ellie Palmer is the author of “Four Weekends and a Funeral” and the just published “Anywhere With You,” which is set in the north woods of Minnesota.
• Sam Tschida’s newest romance novel follows a vampire determined to get her own Hallmark movie ending. “Undead and Unwed” comes out in in late October. Sam’s past books include “Siri, Who Am I?” and “Errands and Espionage.”
• Lauren Richards is the co-owner of Tropes & Trifles, Minnesota’s first romance-only bookstore.

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Is loneliness something that happens when you’re not looking?

And if so, could meaningful connection be found in a simple but purposeful café, where the lonesome are paired with the perfect partners for deep conversation?

That’s the fantasy at the heart of Kathy Wang’s new novel, “The Satisfaction Café.” It follows Joan who starts the book as a Chinese graduate students in California in the 1970s. But her life quickly turns, as revealed on page one, when Wang writes: “Joan had not thought she would stab her husband.”

From there, Joan is off to the races, marrying an older white man as a second husband, navigating his wealthy world, all while trying to find her own purpose and place.

“The Satisfaction Café.” is one of the must-reads of the summer — and this week, Wang joins Kerri Miller on Big Books and Bold Ideas to talk about loneliness, the curse (or blessing) of small talk, why some cultures are OK with brazenly talking about money (and some aren’t) and why she truly believes a third place like the Satisfaction Café could benefit us all.

Guest:

• Kathy Wang is the author of “Family Trust,” “Imposter Syndrome” and “The Satisfaction Café.” She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Harvard Business School, and lives in the Bay Area.

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The setting for Dwyer Murphy’s new book, “The House on Buzzards Bay,” is classic New England noir: A large and ancient house along the coast is inherited by protagonist Jim, who decides to use it to host his college friends for a summer reunion, hoping to reignite their bonds.

But nothing is quite as it seems.

Both the house and the group are out of sorts. One friend mysteriously disappears. The town deals with a series of break-ins. Jim starts to feel like the energy in the house is off — that the spiritualist camp that started the town never really left. And then an eerie stranger arrives.

On this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas, Murphy joins host Kerri Miller to talk about what makes good noir and what inspired his book. Ghosts abound.

Guest:

• Dwyer Murphy is the editor-in-chief of Lit Hub’s Crime Reads and the author of the new novel “The House on Buzzards Bay.”

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Honoring the dead by washing the body is a ritual nearly as old as humankind. Jews observe taharah, rooting the practice in Ecclesiastes: “As we come forth, so we shall return.” In Islamic tradition, washing the deceased as an act of devotion and love.

Joy Harjo, former poet laureate and citizen of the Muscogee Nation, expected to honor her mother’s death and life by washing her body, but as she reveals in the introduction to her new book, the ritual didn’t happen — leaving her to wander through grief without a touchstone.

Harjo’s new book is called “Washing My Mother’s Body,” and she joins host Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas to talk about how this poem was able to bend time for her — and could be used as a model for others walking through grief without the guideposts of ritual. They also discuss the artwork created for the poem by fellow Muscogee citizen Dana Tiger, which adds beauty and vibrancy to a poem about saying good-bye.

Guest:

• Joy Harjo served three terms as the twenty-third Poet Laureate of the United States from 2019 to 2022. She is the author of several poetry collections, plays, children’s books, and memoirs, as well as the editor of multiple anthologies of Native poetry. Her new book is “Washing My Mother’s Body: A Ceremony for Grief.”

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When Sarah Kendzior packs up her family for a road trip across America, she makes sure her kids keep their eyes wide open. She wants them to see this country’s wonders and its flaws.

Her new memoir, “The Last American Road Trip,” recounts the dozens of drives they’ve taken since 2016. They leave their home in Missouri and crisscross the country, even as earth-shaking events remake it.

Along the way, she disentangles venerated American ideals from the mythology of American exceptionalism. She gapes in wonder at the majesty of the national parks and celebrates the forethought that created them — while acknowledging the threat facing them today.

Even the great St. Louis Gateway Arch in her hometown represents both “a triumph and a tragedy,” she writes. It’s “a gateway and a memorial, a monolith with no practical purpose that looks dramatically different depending on where you stand.”

Kendzior joins host Kerri Miller to take us all on a road trip across America. Grab your favorite snacks, buckle your seatbelt and come along.

Guest:

• Sarah Kendzior is a journalist and best-selling author. Her new memoir is “The Last American Road Trip.”

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To mark Independence Day, Big Books and Bold Ideas is airing an encore presentation of Kerri Miller’s conversation with historian Patrick O’Donnell about his 2024 book, “The Unvanquished.”

The Civil War is remembered for its sweeping battles: Gettysburg, Atlanta, Antietam. Less known are the small troops of men, enlisted by both sides, to fight far from the battlefields.

These ruthless soldiers relied on stealth to sneak behind enemy lines — often wearing their opponent’s uniform — and destroyed supply lines, assassinated military officials and gathered critical information.

Today, we know this kind of warfare as shadow ops — which is a specialty of military historian Patrick K. O’Donnell. A roadside marker he happened to see in rural Virginia ignited years of research into the Civil War-era special forces who were tasked by President Lincoln to undertake spy operations and secrete missions against Confederate units.

This week, he joined MPR News host Kerri Miller on Big Books and Bold ideas to talk about his book, “The Unvanquished,” which masterfully tells the story of this forgotten chapter of history.

Guest:

• Patrick K. O’Donnell is a bestselling military historian and an expert on elite units. He is the author of thirteen books, including “The Indispensables,” “The Unknowns” and “Washington’s Immortals.” His new book is “The Unvanquished.”

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Joy Womack made history when she became the first American to join Russia’s famed Bolshoi Ballet Theater. But getting there was a journey that took a grueling physical and emotional toll.

Her new memoir, “Behind the Velvet Red Curtain,” written with MPR News journalist Elizabeth Shockman, is an intimate retelling of what happened when Womack moved to Moscow at age 15 to train under Russian greats and immersed herself in ruthless competition, obsessive training and tenacity in the face of challenge.

She talks about what it took to be an American ballerina in Russia with Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas.

Guest:

• Joy Womack is a ballet dancer and choreographer, currently based in Paris. Her new memoir, as told to Elizabeth Shockman, is “Behind The Red Velvet Curtain.”

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