The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books

An illustration from 1875 depicts the survivors of the frigate Cospatrick, which caught fire off South Africa's Cape of Good Hope in November 1874. Of more than 470 people on board, just three ultimately survived, and they were reduced to cannibalism. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

In 2016, people of color were the protagonists in 22 percent of children's literature. stevecoleimages/Getty Images/Vetta via iStock hide caption

Freda DeKnight was Ebony's first food editor and author of a best-selling African-American cookbook in the 1940s. Her recipes presented a vision of black America that was often invisible in mainstream media. Sierra Nicole Rhoden/Chicago Tribune hide caption

Yes, it is Valentine's Day — but we like romance novels all year 'round. Mareike Standow/EyeEm/Getty Images hide caption

In The Flame and the Flood, you'll die. A lot. (See that wolf?) But each time, you'll learn something new. Courtesy of The Molasses Flood hide caption

Margaret Atwood says the next big dystopian novel ought to be a newspaper serial. Jean Malek hide caption