Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. The thing I remember most about

Lisa Coe's first novel, The Levers, from back in 2018, isn't the wrenching mother-son story

or the explorations of immigration and identity. Instead, it was how Co-treated the main character

playing crappy indie rock shows and crappy New York City

venues and showed how subcultures are just as integral a part of a person as someone's citizenship

status or your relationship with your mom. Because what is a subculture other than an opportunity

for a connection with other people, right?

Coe's new book Memory Piece is a much larger scale than the levers.

We're in the past and we're going into the future.

We're dealing with an authoritarian state and a dystopic future.

But in this interview with Hearing Now's Depot Fernandez,

Coe says that the antidote for all that is connection with other people.

That's ahead.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever

you get your podcasts. Lisa Coe's acclaimed debut novel, The Leavers, explored the bonds between

parent and child, both biological and adoptive.

It was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award. Her follow-up, Memory Peace, takes a

wide of view, looking at the bonds of friendship over the decades and how society itself changes

and perhaps not for the better. Again, the book is Memory Peace and Lisa Coe joins me now.

Lisa, welcome. Thank you for having me. So Lisa, your novel spans the lifetime of three Asian

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