On its surface, The Barter is a ghost story about two women who inhabit the same land a century apart. On closer look, it’s clear the territory they share is about much more than geography.  Siobhan Adcock talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about writing, mothering and the perils of defining sacrifice as success.

Alex Marwood, the author of The Killer Next Door, talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about living alone surrounded by people, about being a Stephen King favorite, and about people who don’t think her book is funny (me).

Michel Faber talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about The Book of Strange New Things, a fantastical novel set in another world, but a story grounded very much on earth.

Cuban American poet Richard Blanco talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about convincing his abuela to make a turkey for Thanksgiving, about feeling fully American when he delivered the Obama Inaugural poem, and about his memoir, The Prince of Los Cocuyos.

Marja Mills remembers Alice Lee in this interview with Steve Bertrand on Books. Harper Lee’s older sister has died at the age of 103. Mills lived next door to the sisters as she wrote The Mockingbird Next Door.

Hercule Poirot has always succeeded against the odds. Now he’s back, long after the death of his creator, Agatha Christie. Author Sophie Hannah talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about what it was like to create the new Poirot mystery, The Monogram Murders.

Nearly 70,000 British girls married American GI’s during World War ll. So what happened when they got here? Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi tell their story in GI Brides: The Wartime Girls Who Crossed the Atlantic for Love.

Tavis Smiley talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about “Death of the King,” a look at the last year of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life. Smiley discusses King’s failing popularity as well as his unfailing commitment to the power of love.

Author Karen Abbott looks at four female Civil War spies in her book Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy. She talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about sleeping with the enemy.

So how did your family get here? Novelist Diane Johnson looks at her Midwestern roots in Flyover Lives. She talks with Steve Bertrand on Books about happiness, history and why her French teacher told her not to bother with the familiar form of verb conjugation.