It’s more science fiction-y than the better-known “Handmaid’s Tale,” but just as satirical, with its warning about multinational corporations and genetic engineering. Bonnie Garmusauthor of “Lessons in Chemistry”According to her older brother, Ashmol, Kellyanne Williamson is a fruit loop. When Pobby and Dingan disappear thanks to her alcoholic father, it seems clear Kellyanne must finally grow up. POBBY AND DINGAN, Ben Rice’s short, tight treatise on love, sacrifice and grief is so flawlessly written, you’ll read it in two hours but remember it forever. This is a major novel that, like all major novels, doesn’t quite resemble anything else you’ve read.

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Persons: Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, It’s, David Cronenberg, Bonnie Garmus, Ashmol, Kellyanne Williamson, —, Ben Rice’s, you’ll, Michael Cunningham, Kaveh Akbar, Joe Hill, “, Francis Spufford’s Locations: Spufford’s, York City, America