The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman is a novel set in Cooper County, North Carolina in 1941. When a handsome stranger comes to town touting the powers of kudzu crops, everyone falls for his charms. No one realizes the negative side of the invasive plant or the dark side of the stranger.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss ‘With Reference to an Incident at a Bridge’ by William Maxwell.

John Hendrickson discusses how he made peace with his stutter in this candid and beautiful memoir.

Manuel Muñoz discusses his story collection 'The Consequences' with Book Public's Yvette Benavides.

'Three Muses' is Martha Anne Toll's debut novel about a Holocaust survivor who is bereft by past trauma and struggling to find his way to a kind of hope.

Dionne Irving discusses her short story "The Cape" from the story collection "The Islands."

In "Dancing After Hours" by Andre Dubus, main character Emily is convinced she will never find love. At the tavern where she tends bar, she sees clearly the loneliness of other people. One night, that perception changes in the most unlikely of ways.

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides discuss "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" by James Joyce

Peter Orner discusses the short story "Blue in Chicago" by Bette Howland.

Peter Orner’s new memoir-in-essays is an ode to other books. He helps us see the ways they contain the stories of our lives, too, and understand that reading is essential.