Author Paula Hawkins is best known for her 2015 novel The Girl on the Train. Her new book, The Blue Hour, is also a thriller, this time set on a remote but idyllic Scottish island. The novel focuses on the death of artist Vanessa Chapman, who leaves behind her diaries and a piece of art that sets off a shocking discovery. The story that follows involves secrets, lies and murder. In today's episode, Hawkins speaks with Here & Now's Deborah Becker about how the ownership and interpretation of Vanessa's legacy is disputed among the book's other characters. They also discuss the complexity of long-term female friendships, how women are treated in the public eye and the unreliability of our own narratives.
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When European explorers set off from Europe, many of them chased things that didn’t exist. The Fountain of Youth, the City of El Dorado, and Prester John were all things they pursued but came up empty-handed.
However, there was one thing that these European explorers searched for that actually did exist, but not in the way they had hoped.
While it was never historically relevant, it could play a much bigger role in the future.
Learn more about the Northwest Passage, its discovery, and its future on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Sign up at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to get chicken breast, salmon or ground beef FREE in every order for a year plus $20 off your first order!
If you happen to be feeling blue because you feel like a loose cannon, fear not, because I happen to like the cut of your jib.
Perhaps if you have a square meal, you’ll be riding high, and by and large, you might avoid being three sheets to the wind.
If you know the ropes and don’t cut and run, you might be above board without being taken aback.
Learn more about the origin of words and phrases that come from the nautical world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Two new nonfiction books blend research and memoir to explore ideas of family, language and culture. Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez's Tías and Primas draws on her experience being raised in a large Nicaraguan family, one that she describes as messier than the typical nuclear model. Her relationships with her mother, cousins, and aunts shaped her view of the world and the female archetypes that exist within Latin American culture. In today's episode, Rodríguez speaks with NPR's A Martínez about how nuance is lost in Latina stereotypes, the cultural significance of ghost encounters, and practicing critique from a place of love. Then, Julie Sedivy is a linguistics and psychology professor who started speaking five languages before first grade. Growing up in diverse linguistic environments inspired her memoir Linguaphile, which explores the relationship between language, emotion and life. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Eric Westervelt about the way linguistic divisions reflect our social reality and the surprising strengths of the aging brain.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
One of the most famous battles in the history of the American West took place in June 1876.
An alliance of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes faced off against the United States cavalry.
The battle was a route and one of the most devastating losses for the American military, as well as one of the greatest victories for Plains Indians.
The victory, however, was only temporary as the victory led to an even bigger response, and the loss was actually glorified in the United States for decades.
Learn more about the Battle of the Little Bighorn and how it shaped the American West on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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Music
Two versions of Good Morning Melody by Lullatone.
Peter Maxwell Davies plays his own composition, Farewell to Stromness.