Editor's Corner

James Carroll, Secret Father, a novel: Returning to fiction, Carroll presents the spellbinding story of a man and a woman in Berlin in 1961, trying to free their children from the East German Stasi. (Houghton Mifflin)

Stuart Dybek, I Sailed with Magellan, a novel in stories: In eleven achingly beautiful tales, Dybek captures the sweet rhythm and humor of growing up on Chicago’s South Side through Perry Katzek, a young Polish American. (FSG)

Heather McHugh, Eyeshot, poems: With her usual bravura, McHugh gives us a brooding, visionary work that meditates on the big questions—love and death—while focusing on the senses as she tries to process the surrounding world. (Wesleyan)

Carolyn Forché, Blue Hour, poems: Forché’s lyrical fourth collection, her first since the tour de force The Angel of History, ranges from personal memories of childhood and childrearing to stark images of atrocity, with the centerpiece, the forty-seven-page “On Earth,” brilliantly modeled after “gnostic abecedarians.” (HarperCollins)

George Garrett, Southern Excursions, essays: This volume collects more than fifty of Garrett’s essays, reviews, and introductions-all concerning Southern letters in our time, delivered with his characteristic wit and charm. (LSU)

Sue Miller, The Story of My Father, a memoir: In her first nonfiction book, Miller recounts the last few years of her father’s life as he succumbed to Alzheimer’s. Riveting, compassionate, and loving, the book not only brings her father to life, but also illuminates Miller’s own roles as daughter and writer. (Knopf)

Charles Simic, The Voice at 3:00 A.M., poems: A selection of work from the past twenty years, along with some twenty new poems, this book gives us a remarkable survey of Simic’s singular poetic journey, which has been marked by his sardonic humor and moral lucidity. (Harcourt)

Marilyn Hacker, Desesperanto, poems: In her brilliant tenth collection, with typical wit, brio, and intelligence, Hacker refines the themes of loss, exile, and return that have consistently informed her work. (Norton)

Sherman Alexie, Ten Little Indians, stories: In this powerful, exuberant new collection, Alexie presents stories about Native Americans who find themselves at personal and cultural crossroads that test their notions of who they are and who they love. (Grove)