Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. A cliche that pops up every now and again in

reviews of movies, plays, books, whatever, is that, oh, the city itself is a character,

which is fine, I get it, a sense of place is important to a story, and I'd be lying if I didn't

think we've done something like that

on this show. But people make places, right? People who, for whatever reason, decide to hunker down

somewhere and live and thrive or maybe just survive. Lady Hubbard's new short story collection,

the last suspicious holdout plays with that cliche. It's made up of interlocking

stories all taking place within the same suburb, but she never names the place. And I don't know,

maybe it doesn't matter, right? Because places change or don't, just like people, which is something

Hubbard really wanted to get at. In this interview with NPR's Wanda Summers,

she says she's interested in how people transform over time,

and, as she puts it, find a way to keep believing.

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.

Lady Hubbard's brand new collection of short stories takes place in an unnamed southern

majority black suburb in the 90s and early 2000s. It's designed like a diary of sorts for the

community, with inter-connecting events, people, and places as the years tick by.

The adults fight for justice and financial security while grieving lost loved ones,

as children grow up and become aware of the struggles that will inherit.

And as I started to read the book, it started to feel like something of a diary for me, too,

...