Shelf Awareness: enlightenment for readers

Trust Exercise
by Susan Choi

Susan Choi has been both a Pulitzer and PEN/Faulkner finalist, and she's won scads of other awards and accolades. Karen Maeda Allman, a fan and the events coordinator at Elliott Bay Book Co. in Seattle, eagerly explains why: "She writes about topics that some people would rather remain hidden.... And she does it with such nuance and empathy. Nothing is ever simple for her and I am grateful for this." And Trust Exercise is anything but simple--a brilliant novel that cunningly smudges the border between truth and fiction when a charismatic acting teacher leaves his indelible mark on the lives of students at a high school for the arts. Some won't realize it until years later--when the consequences of certain sexual liaisons come into full relief. Trust Exercise confirms Susan Choi is an author to watch closely, if you don't already. --Dave Wheeler, associate editor, Shelf Awareness

(Henry Holt & Co., $27 hardcover, 9781250309884, April 9, 2019)