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Daikon is thrilling! It kept me riveted to the very end. The fictional premise is “What if Japan got its hands on one U.S.-made atomic bomb and had to decide whether to use it or not against America?” Set against the backdrop of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese players struggle with moral, ethical, and very personal choices about the bomb and the crushing pressure of a ticking deadline. Military leaders with questionable agendas, a Korean soldier, the civilian physicist educated in the U.S. and his wife round out the robust cast of characters. Daikon, the code name for the radish-shaped bomb, is a deadly character all its own. A superb debut novel that took the South Korean author 27 years to complete.

Daikon by Samuel Hawley, (List Price: $29.99, Avid Reader Press, Simon & Schuster, 9781668083055, 2025-07-08)

Reviewed by Patience Allan-Glick, Hills & Hamlets Bookshop in Carrollton, Georgia

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This dramatic, thought-provoking novel challenges us to consider the moral and creative problems faced by acclaimed Jewish film director G.W. Pabst as Hitler comes to power. After Pabst travels back to Europe from Hollywood, the Nazis force him to remain and film in Austria for the duration of the war where he struggles with family loyalty, love for his country, and his own driving ambition. Vivid descriptions of 1940s film techniques and scenes with greats like Greta Garbo, the film propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, and writer Alfred Karrasch. Dramatic and thought-provoking.

The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, (List Price: $28.99, S&S/Summit Books, 9781668087794, May 2025)

Reviewed by Patience Allan-Glick, Hills & Hamlets Bookshop in Carrollton, Georgia