Categorie archieven: American Novel

American Novel, Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse Schrijvers

John Irving – Queen Esther Novel

John Irving Queen Esther Novel review and information of the content of the new book by the American author. Simon & Schuster will publish the new John Irving novel, on November 6, 2025. The Dutch translation of the novel is also titled Queen Esther, 

John Irving Queen Esther novel review

Whenever a book review or commentary of John Irving’s new novel, Queen Esther, appears in the media, we will highlight it on this page.

John Irving Queen Esther novel

Queen Esther

  • Author: John Irving (United States)
  • Book type: American novel
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • To be released: 6 November 2025
  • Length: 256 pages
  • Format: hardcover / ebook / luisterboek
  • Prize: $ 30.00 / $ 14.99 / $ 16.99
  • Order book from: Amazon / Bol

Blurb of the new book by John Irving

After forty years, John Irving returns to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award–winning film, The Cider House Rules, revisiting the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Dr. Wilbur Larch takes in Esther—a Viennese-born Jew whose life is shaped by anti-Semitism.

Esther Nacht is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board the ship to Portland, Maine; her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland. Dr. Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther; in fact, he won’t find any family who’ll adopt her.

When Esther is fourteen, soon to be a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic New England family with a history of providing foster care for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren’t Jewish, but they despise anti-Semitism. Esther’s gratitude for the Winslows is unending; even as she retraces her roots back to Vienna, she never stops loving and protecting the Winslows. In the final chapter, set in Jerusalem in 1981, Esther Nacht is seventy-six.

John Irving’s sixteenth novel is a testament to his enduring ability to weave complex characters and intricate narratives that challenge and captivate. Queen Esther is not just a story of survival but a profound exploration of identity, belonging, and the enduring impact of history on our personal lives showcasing why Irving remains one of the world’s most beloved, provocative, and entertaining authors—a storyteller of our time and for all time.

The Dutch translation of the novel is also titled Queen Esther, and wil be published on November 4, 2025.

John Irving was born on 2 March 1942 in Exeter, New Hampshire. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, and coached wrestling until he was forty-seven. He is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 1980, Mr. Irving won a National Book Award for his novel The World According to Garp. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules. In 2013, he won a Lambda Literary Award for his novel In One Person. Internationally renowned, his novels have been translated into almost forty languages. His all-time bestselling novel, in every language, is A Prayer for Owen Meany. A dual citizen of the United States and Canada, John Irving lives in Toronto.

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American Novel, Amerikaans historicus, Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse schrijfster, Feminisme, Feministische boeken, Historische Roman

Brigitte Dale – The Good Daughters

Brigitte Dale The Good Daughters review and information of the content of the first novel by the American author and historian. Pegasus Books will publish the Brigitte Dale historical novel about the Sufragettes in London, on November 4, 2025. Here you can read information about the content of the novel, the author and the publication.

Brigitte Dale The Good Daughters review

  • “The Good Daughters brings fresh energy to the plight of the Suffragettes and fight for women’s right to vote. This retelling of the battle for women’s votes sheds light on another side of the Suffragette movement. It contrasts the pressures each of the characters face to conform, and be so-called ‘good daughters,’ with the need to stand up for oneself and their collective rights. The narrative also alludes to the gritty reality that the Suffragettes faced at the hands of the police…Together, they achieve more than they ever thought they could.” (Jessica Mills, author of The English Chemist)
  • “Dale’s beautifully written novel drew me right in—it was almost as if I were marching right along with her vibrant cast of characters in their fight for suffrage. The depth and nuance of the storytelling, the vivid portrayal of the injustices suffered, and the power of women determined to bring about change build to a crescendo that feels fiercely relevant today. I loved it.” (Fiona Davis, athor of The Stolen Queen and The Lions of Fith Avenue)
  • “Knowing the price many paid is an essential piece of history, powerfully communicated in this engaging novel” (Booklist)
  • “The Good Daughters is a powerful novel inspired by the real women who risked everything to fight for women’s voting rights. With vivid insight to the dangers, the persecution, the judgement, and terror these women faced, the story reflects just how steep the stakes could be. Dale’s immense research and atmospheric writing shines in this must-read debut.” (Madeline Martin, author of The Booklover’s Library)

Brigitte Dale The Good Daughters

The Good Daughters

  • Author: Brigitte Dale (United States)
  • Book type: historical novel about the Suffragettes
  • Publisher: Pegasus Books
  • Released: November 4, 2025
  • Length: 352 pages
  • Format: hardcover/ ebook
  • Prize: $ 27.95 / $ 18.99
  • Order book from: Amazon / Bol

Blurb of the novel by Brigitte Dale

A moving and vivid story of three suffragettes in London and the battle for equality that tests the strength of their will and the bonds of their friendship.

In 1912, three young women from wildly different backgrounds are bound together by their desire to have a say in their future.

Charlotte, disappointed to discover that college isn’t the key to the freedom she longed for, shocks her family when she moves to London and joins a group of suffragettes willing to upend social norms for the vote. Aristocratic Beatrice, with a law degree she legally can’t put into practice and a fiancé she’s not particularly excited to marry, escapes to London to spend her last months of unmarried life with the suffragettes, and falls deeply—and dangerously—into forbidden love. Emily, the daughter of the warden of the infamous Holloway Jail, grieves her mother and saves her wages for a better life outside the prison’s walls. Her best chance at escaping the drudgery of her life is to stay out of trouble, but when the suffragettes land in her father’s cells, she must consider risking not only her family’s livelihood, but her own future.

With the dangerous stakes of the suffrage campaign becoming a fight for the women’s bodies and lives, they enter a treacherous world where the laws and justice system are stacked against them. They face violent protests, hunger strikes, and brutal forced feedings, and the women must decide how much they are willing to risk for their freedom and for each other.

Brigitte Dale is an American author, editor, and historian. She earned her master’s degree in women’s history at Yale and has written about suffragettes and feminist history in the anthology Women’s Suffrage in Word, Image, Music, Stage, and Screen (Routledge); Electric Literature; Medium; and other publications. She is an assistant editor at St. Martin’s Press and her bookstagram.

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American Novel, Amerikaanse roman, Amerikaanse Schrijvers

Stanley Elkin – The Franchiser

Stanley Elkin The Franchiser review and information of the content of the novel from 1976 by the American author. Dalkey Archive Essentials will republish the Stanley Elkin novel, on September 9, 2025. 

Stanley Elkin The Franchiser review

If a book review or commentary of The Franchier, the novel written by Stanley Elkin, appears in the media, we will highlight it on this page.

Stanley Elkin The Franchiser

The Franchiser

  • Author: Stanley Elkin (United States)
  • Book type: American novel, roadnovel
  • First edition: 1976
  • Publisher: Dalkey Archive Essentials
  • Released: 9 September 2025
  • Length: 400 pages
  • Format: paperback
  • Prize: €16,95
  • Order book from: Amazon / Bol

Blurb of the 1976 novel by Stanley Elkin

A tragicomic journey across America as one man attempts to create a fast food empire, and a legacy to leave behind.

From the prolific and peerless Stanley Elkin, The Franchiser follows Ben Flesh—one of the men “who made America look like America, who made America famous.” He collects franchises, traveling from state to state, acquiring the brand-name establishments that shape the American landscape. But both the nation and Ben are running out of energy. As blackouts roll through the West, Ben struggles with the onset of multiple sclerosis, and the growing realization that his lifetime quest to buy a name for himself has ultimately failed.

Stanley Elkin was born on 11 May 1930 in New York Ciry. He was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award-winners George Mills (1982) and Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists The Dick Gibson Show (1972),  Searches & Seizures (1974), and The MacGuffin (1991). His book of novellas, Van Gogh’s Room at Arles, was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award. Other novels he published are: Boswell: A Modern Comedy (1964, debut novel), A Bad Man (1967), The Magic Kingdom (1985) and The Rabbi of Lud (1987). He died at the age of 65 on 31 May 1995 in St. Louis, Missouri of a heart attack.

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