Sharon Bially's novel Veronica's Nap opens with the high winds of summer in the south of France, twin toddlers, and the pressures of painter's block. Hear the first chapter here, and read the rest at Veronica's Nap.

Ann King's "Plumbing Problems" sets a cancer diagnosis in the world of a plumbing supply company, where the bright white of a porcelain tub, and the cramped space of a backroom toilet give us a fresh look on an all too common event.

Elyssa East’s first book, Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town, interlaces the true story of a grisly murder with the strange history of a wilderness ghost town and explores the possibility that certain landscapes wield their own unique power. She reads here from the prologue of the book, "The Prophetic Pictures."

Courtesy of the Boston Book Festival, a recording of the Web of Relationship panel with Ann Hood, Brunonia Barry, and Joanna Smith Rakoff, moderated by Henriette Lazaridis Power. The discussion took place in the Rabb Lecture Hall of the Boston Public Library on Saturday, October 16th.We hope you enjoy the discussion of secrets in novels, structure, the obligations that come with connection, and how to write novels in the post-cell-phone age. Audience members asking questions include one author's blast from the past, a twentysomething who's not on Facebook, and a ten-year-old writer looking for tips.

Shubha Sunder's "Climb" layers relationships between cousins, between mothers and daughters, and between brothers and sisters with the tug between two cultures. In Sunder's story, a voyage with Trupti's relatives visiting from America turns out to reveal the stresses within the older girl's seemingly perfect life.

Award-winning novelist Jennifer Haigh's "Claire of the Moon" tells the story of a little girl who can't tolerate the sun and the adults who try to shield her or to let her bask in its reflection.

Sometimes great entertainment comes in tiny packages. Here is a tweet-sized clip from the interview that gave rise to Deborah Milstein's essay about Yiddish, her grandmother, and her response to her Jewish heritage. The essay can be found in our archives, through Nimbit. Follow the Nimbit link below.

A feisty grandmother, Yiddish nicknames, and a hospital stay come together in Deborah Milstein's "A Yiddish Vocabulary." Milstein's essay offers a reverie on Jewish heritage and on the words that bind family together.

Sandra Jensen's "The Good Wife," set in the South Africa of the 1950s, explores difficulties facing a politically motivated woman who has given up her anti-apartheid activities to look after her husband and young son.

In an excerpt from her novel BURN, South Carolina-based Alexis Stratton writes about a teenage girl dealing with the aftermath of a fire and her mother's curious take on fate.