In 1915 London, a young woman’s family mansion is turned into a hospital for those wounded in the war in Jody Shield’s new novel, “The Crimson Portrait.” In nonfiction, Stephen S. Hall makes a case for short men in a world where society has always held taller men in high esteem in “Size Matters.” In “The Good German,” just out in paperback, Joseph Kanon tells the fictional story of a correspondent who returns to post-war Germany. And, coming in March, look for Robert M. Utley’s sequel to “Lone Star Justice.” Called “Lone Star Lawmen,” the book continues the story of the Texas Rangers into the 20th century.
FICTION
The Crimson Portrait, by Jody Shields, Little, Brown, 304 pages, $23.99 | From the author of “The Fig Eater” comes a tale that is part love story and part historical fiction
Windflower, by Nick Bantock and Edoardo Ponti, Chronicle, 224 pages, $24.95 | The new novel from the creator of the “Griffin & Sabine” series centers on a young woman who flees a wedding to start a new and strange life.
The Senator and the Priest, by Andrew M. Greeley, Forge, 336 pages, $24.95 | Two brothers, one a priest and the other an author and celebrity, butt heads when Tommy, the author, is sought after as a Democratic candidate.
NONFICTION
Size Matters: How Height Affects the Health, Happiness, and Success of Boys – And the Men They Become, by Stephen S. Hall, Houghton Mifflin, 388 pages, $26 | The author, an award-winning journalist, builds a case against society’s attitudes against short men and tells of the advantages of being short.
Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man, by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Harvard University Press, 701 pages, $35 | The author focuses on the men who were left behind to fight off the Germans as the British Army was evacuated from France in the early days of World War II.
A Stew or a Story: An Assortment of Short Works by M.F.K. Fisher, compiled by Joan Reardon, Shoemaker Hoard, 364 pages, $28 | The book covers five decades of Fisher’s writings about food and is full of wit, wisdom and the occasional recipe.
PAPERBACKS
The Good German, by Joseph Kanon, Picador, 482 pages, $14 | The author of “Los Alamos” returns with a story set in post-war Germany where correspondent Jake Geismar has returned, not only to write about the victory, but also to find the woman he left behind.
President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination, by Richard Reeves, Simon & Schuster, 572 pages, $16 | As he did with biographies of presidents Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, Reeves takes the reader inside the administation of Ronald Reagan.
Purity of the Blood, by Arturo Perez-Reverte, Plume, 267 pages, $14 | Perez-Reverte continues the saga of Capt. Alatriste, Madrid’s dashing swashbuckler who is hired to rescue a girl from a priest’s concubine.
COMING UP
Lone Star Lawmen: The Second Century of the Texas Rangers, by Robert M. Utley, Oxford University Press, 488 pages, $30, March | In a follow to his “Lone Star Justice,” in which he told the story of the Texas Rangers’ first century, Utley relates the organization’s history into the 20th century.
All Saints, by Liam Callanan, Dell, 288 pages, $23, March | The author of “The Cloud Atlas” returns with a novel set in a beachfront Catholic high school that is both a mystery and a study of faith.
I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad, by Karolyn Smardz Frost, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 576 pages, $30, Feb. | An archaeological discovery in Toronto brings to light the story of a couple who fled the U.S. in 1833 and helped open the famed underground railroad.
