John Powers

William Gardner Smith wrote the story of a Black writer who, like Smith himself, moved to Paris to pursue a freedom he couldn't find in America. New York Review Books is releasing a new edition.

John Powers reviews Unforgotten, a British series whose fourth and finest season airs on PBS' Masterpiece. He says the series is twistily plotted and suffused with sadness.

Joshua Cohen offers a fictionalized version of a real-life campus visit by the father of the former Israeli prime minister. The novel offers a funny take on serious things.