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George Orwell's dystopian vision offers such devastating political commentary that it's rarely described as a suspense novel. But author and former CIA operative Barry Eisler says the book simply proves just how powerful a thriller with a message can be.

Tess Gerritsen — a physician turned thriller writer — is the author of more than 15 thrillers. Her series about police detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles has been adapted into TV show, which debuts Monday on TNT. She recommends Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle.

It's hard to imagine that people used to die from things as small as a scratch on the knee — but that's what life was like before penicillin. Author Lauren Belfer's new novel, A Fierce Radiance, follows the intrigue as pharmaceutical companies race to mass-produce lifesaving drugs during World War II.

Interracial marriages are still relatively rare in the U.S., but the number is growing. In Cleveland, one couple cherishes their differences while leaving the double takes to others.

President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have a lot in common, so it's no surprise they socialize outside the office. But the distance between the White House and the Justice Department has long been a touchy subject, and the Obama-Holder relationship is beginning to attract criticism.

When it was published in 1960, Harper Lee's modest novel helped Americans think differently about race. Now, 50 years later, To Kill a Mockingbird still resonates in a much-changed America. NPR's Lynn Neary examines the lasting impact of Scout Finch and her father, Atticus — a lawyer who defends a black man unjustly accused of rape.

Slaughter is a master of the thriller genre; her latest book, Broken, is full of twists and turns and technical details. In the latest installment of our "Thrilled to Death" series, Slaughter talks with NPR's Michele Norris about the stories that keep her in suspense.

Federal data from 2007 say 40 percent of births in America are to unwed mothers, a trend experts say is especially common in middle-class America. In one St. Louis community, the notion of getting married and having children — in that order — seems quaint.

While writer Stephen King was recovering from a near-fatal car accident, he finished a nonfiction book about the craft of writing. In a 2000 interview with Terry Gross, King talked about the demons that haunted him after the accident — and how writing helped his recovery process.

A new biography tells the story of Buck's Chinese childhood, as the daughter of zealous missionaries. In Pearl Buck in China, Hilary Spurling makes a compelling case for a reappraisal of Buck's fiction — transforming her from dreary "lady author" into woman warrior.