The Bibliophile's Compass

1926 In Abraham's Bosom by Paul Eliot Green - US The play takes place in the Southeast of the United States, from 1885 to the beginning of the 20th century. Abe McCranie is a mixed-race African-American field worker, the son of Colonel McCranie, a white man. He tries to start a school to educate black children, as they were underserved by the state. Ultimately, he gets a school, but the white people run him out of it and drive him to murder. 1964  Tiny Alice by Edward Albee - US TINY ALICE begins with a venomous exchange between a lawyer and a cardinal whose contempt for each other careens back to their school days. 1982  Whodunnit by Anthony Shaffer - UK This Broadway success by the author of Sleuth takes audiences to Agatha Christie's England. Six strangers and a butler have gathered for a black tie dinner in a wealthy lawyer's mansion during a thunderstorm. The guests include an aged rear admiral a bitchy aristocrat a doddering old archeologist a dash...

1962  Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee A bitter marriage unravels in Edward Albee's darkly humorous play—winner of the Tony Award for Best Play. 2011 All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami The novel follows Fuyuko Irie, a freelance proofreader in her mid-thirties who lives alone, over the course of about eight months. 2020 The Once and Future Witches  by  Alix E. Harrow In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in this powerful novel of magic, family, and the suffragette movement. Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel 2022 You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue One morning in 1519, conquistador Hernán Cortés enters the city of Tenochtitlan – today's Mexico City. Later that day, he will meet the emperor Moctezuma in a collision of two worlds, two empires, two languages, two possible futures. 2025 The Picasso Heist by James Patterson  and Howard Roughan Everyone want...

1959 Edward Franklin Albee's play " Zoo Story " premieres in Berlin A harrowing depiction of a young man alienated from the human race- a searing story of loneliness and the desperate need for recognition that builds to a violent, shattering climax. Together, these plays show men and women at their most hilarious, heartbreaking, and above all, human. 2010 Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new illustrated collection of animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life. 2016 “ The Night Cyclist ” by Stephen Graham Jones It is a horror novelette about a middle-aged chef whose nightly bicycle ride home is interrupted by an unexpected encounter. 2020 One Arranged Murder  by  Chetan Bhagat Keshav has set up an investigation agency with his best friend, Saurabh. Can the t...