“You had to make an appointment with yourself to be by the TV, so it was really special,” recalls Ryfle, an author and co-writer of the Emmy-winning documentary “Miracle on 42nd Street” (and, I’ll note, a friend since our time as young journalists). 

“The Japanese films always appealed to me the most. They were intriguing because they took place in a world that was unfamiliar, a culture that was unfamiliar.”

Godzilla, he says, was especially captivating to a dinosaur-loving kid.

“Of course, when you’re younger, you’re into dinosaurs,” he says. “Godzilla seemed like the greatest dinosaur I’d ever seen, and it did all these crazy things, and I just loved it.”

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But back then, beyond a few fanzines or horror magazines, it wasn’t as easy as it is now to find information about less mainstream interests or connect with like-minded fans. 

“There really wasn’t anything to read about these films in any detail. And I remember as a child asking a bookstore clerk if there were books on Godzilla, and he actually laughed at me and asked why I would ever want to read anything like that,” says Ryfle. “That stuck in my brain.”

Clearly. 

Along with Ed Godziszewski, with whom he co-wrote 2017’s “Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film,” Ryfle is the co-author of the massive new book “Godzilla: The First 70 Years,” a 432-page, nearly 6-pound book filled with stories, interviews, breakout boxes, and more than 900 photos of one of cinema’s most enduring figures. The writing duo will be appearing as part of an overall Godzilla onslaught at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

The book, which features introductions by “Halloween” and “The Thing” directing legend John Carpenter and recurring Godzilla actress Megumi Odaka, is the culmination of an effort by the publisher and Toho Studios to mark the anniversary with the ultimate English-language book examining the narrative and visual history of the films, says Ryfle.

“Dating back to 1954, Godzilla has, of course, gone through all of these different iterations and evolutions and changes and its motivation and its personality and the way it’s depicted on screen, and even the techniques that are used to bring it to life,” says Ryfle, who points to the recent box office success and critical respect for 2023’s “Godzilla Minus One.” “I mean, who would have thought 70 years ago that a Godzilla movie made in Japan would win an Academy Award? It would have been impossible, and yet here we are.”

“It’s a real evolution from the time when these movies were sort of misunderstood and just relegated to the scrap heap of low-budget cinema they were assumed to be.”

“Obviously, there are interesting stories to tell about these movies and the people who made them,” he says. “It’s really kind of a celebration of the people and the culture that they come from. The people who made these movies were proud of the work that they did, because they were basically, by and large, handmade films.”

Unlike other schlocky midcentury genre movies, the original Godzilla films reflected Japan’s experience during and after World War II. The films were a response not only to the devastation caused by the U.S. detonating atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also to the firebombing of Tokyo in which nearly 300 U.S. planes dropped 1665 tons of napalm on the city, creating a firestorm and killing 100,000 people in what the Truman Library Institute called “the most devastating aerial bombardment in history.”

“Godzilla, at its very heart from the very beginning, is a monster rooted in trauma,” says Ryfle. “It’s also really about that collective experience of the war and the struggle and the hardships that people went through – and also the collective experience of the post-war period when the economy was in shambles and there were food shortages and political unrest and unemployment and deprivation of extreme magnitude.” 

There are images in the original film that directly correspond to wartime destruction, says Ryfle.“When I’m giving talks about the first Godzilla film, I’ll show stills of Tokyo on fire,” says Ryfle, referring to actual photos taken during wartime bombing raids. “I’ll put up these two pictures side by side … it’s almost like a mirror image.”

As well as exploring the film’s inspirations – such as the original “King Kong,” which had been a huge success upon re-release just a few years before the initial Godzilla film – Ryfle and Godziszewski did interviews and scoured archives for fresh insights – and found things that surprised them despite having decades of experience writing about the films.

“Ed and I’ve been writing together for a number of years and working on a lot of different projects. We actually met 30 years ago at the very first Godzilla convention that they had in Chicago,” says Ryfle, praising his writing partner Godziszewski as “a legend” when it comes to knowing the topic and where to dig up information.

Not only did they discover the audio elements of the iconic Godzilla roar – many of the monster cries were made with different musical instruments, says Ryfle – but they also learned something surprising about the changing face of Godzilla over the years.

“From 1954 to, say, 1975, the suit looks different pretty much in almost every film, and I always thought that that was on purpose. But no, they actually made the suits, at least for about the first 15 years, from the same mold. They just came out differently every time,” says Ryfle, who credits the actor inside the suit, Haruo Nakajima, both for his artistry and his superhuman stamina. “The very first suit was almost unusable. It weighed so much and the interior of it was almost inflexible … the guy tried to walk in it and just tipped over.”

“It was impossible to be inside without suffocating if you were in it for more than a few minutes … it was almost a death sentence to do this stuff,” says Ryfle, adding that Nakajima would sweat out dozens of pounds during filming. “They would have to pour the sweat out of the suit every day, and then dry out the interior for the next day, because it was just a sauna in there. 

Though the “man-in-the-suit” aspect could sometimes be viewed as comical, Ryfle says Nakajima’s work was instrumental in the creature’s evolution and popularity.

“I attribute a large part of the success of those movies to Haruo Nakajima, who played Godzilla for roughly the first 18 years of the first cycle of Godzilla films,” says Ryfle, while also praising the original film’s special effects wizard, director and cast. “He was just a wonderful man who died a couple of years ago. He loved his work, and he’s largely responsible for the personality that starts to come through.”

“He turns Godzilla from a walking nuclear bomb into a character over a period of time,” says Ryfle.

While we discussed a range of topics and there’s much more in the book, Ryfle summed up the project as we were concluding the conversation.

“Someone asked me, like, what was your goal at the start of it?” he says. “We wanted to make the best Godzilla book for the widest possible audience. 

“I’ve always felt from the beginning that [the films] were unfairly maligned and misunderstood, and that maybe I could help, especially after I started meeting the creators and realizing what passion they had for their work,and starting to understand how culturally specific these films are.”

But he also understands another reason for Godzilla’s lasting power.

“On a gut level, no matter what’s going on in the film and how quote-unquote ‘serious’ it is as a movie,” says Ryfle, “people really want to see the spectacle of Godzilla destroying things.”

Along with the Comic-Con appearance, the authors will be appearing at Santa Ana’s Frida Cinema on July 28 for a book signing and screening of “Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster!” and at the Japan Center Los Angeles on July 30 for a free talk (registration required) with books for sale from Chevalier’s Books.

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Atmosphere: Taylor Jenkins Reid

2. Vera, or Faith: Gary Shteyngart

3. The Emperor of Gladness: Ocean Vuong

4. My Friends: Fredrik Backman

5. James: Percival Everett

6. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: V. E. Schwab

7. Culpability: Bruce Holsinger

8. My Name Is Emilia del Valle: Isabel Allende

9. The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy: Brigitte Knightley

10. The Wedding People: Alison Espach

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About: Mel Robbins, Sawyer Robbins

2. Abundance: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

3. The Creative Act: A Way of Being: Rick Rubin

4. A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck: Sophie Elmhirst

5. Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism: Stewart Reynolds

6. 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America: Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, Isaac Arnsdorf

7. Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity: Eric Topol

8. The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life: Suleika Jaouad

9. We Can Do Hard Things: Answers to Life’s 20 Questions: Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, Amanda Doyle

10. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World: Robin Wall Kimmerer, John Burgoyne (Illus.)

MASS MARKET

1. 1984: George Orwell

2. Animal Farm: George Orwell

3. Jurassic Park: Michael Crichton

4. The Catcher in the Rye: J.D. Salinger

5. Lord of the Flies: William Golding

6. The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank

7. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Three Stories: Oscar Wilde

8. Women Who Run With the Wolves: Clarissa Pinkola Estes

9. Foundation: Isaac Asimov

10. Slaughterhouse-Five: Kurt Vonnegut

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Remarkably Bright Creatures: Shelby Van Pelt

2. Project Hail Mary: Andy Weir

3. Martyr!: Kaveh Akbar

4. All Fours: Miranda July

5. I Who Have Never Known Men: Jacqueline Harpman

6. The Ministry of Time: Kaliane Bradley

7. Creation Lake: Rachel Kushner

8. One Golden Summer: Carley Fortune

9. Demon Copperhead: Barbara Kingsolver

10. Problematic Summer Romance: Ali Hazelwood

The season is traditionally a busy one for publishers, who often release some of their most exciting titles over the next few months. This summer is no exception: July, August, and September will see the publication of page-turning fiction and fascinating nonfiction.

Whatever your tastes, you’re bound to find something in these 33 books worth buying from your favorite local store and taking to the beach (or just your backyard) with an iced beverage in hand.

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“I Want to Burn This Place Down” 

Author: Maris Kreizman 

What It’s About: The debut book from culture blog pioneer and Literary Hub columnist Kreizman is the funny and angry account of her disillusionment with the Democratic Party (among other U.S. institutions) and her move further to the left over the past several years. 

Publication Date: Out now

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“Cry for Me, Argentina: My Life As a Failed Child Star” 

Author: Tamara Yajia

What It’s About: Los Angeles-based comedian Yajia grew up in both Argentina and the U.S., and she worked as a child actress before reaching her teen years. Her book chronicles not only the misadventures of growing up in an oddball family, but also creative endeavors that include joining a band and putting on her own one-woman show.

Publication Date: Out now

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“Archive of Unknown Universes” 

Author: Ruben Reyes Jr. 

What It’s About: Southern California native Reyes had a very good 2024. His debut book, the short story collection “There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven,” was published to glowing reviews and was a finalist for the California Book Award and the Story Prize. His first novel follows two young people who use a device that can look into alternate versions of lives to discover the truth about their Salvadoran families.

Publication Date: Out now

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“Wanting” 

Author: Claire Jia 

What It’s About: The debut novel from Los Angeles author Jia, who also writes for television and video games, follows Lian, a woman in Beijing whose life is changed when her longtime friend, Wenyu, comes back to China after spending a decade in California. Wenyu lets Lian in on a long-kept secret that throws Lian’s life into disarray.

Publication Date: Out now

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“Sunburn” 

Author: Chloe Michelle Howarth 

What It’s About: Irish author Howarth’s novel, set in a small town in the early 1990s, tells the story of Lucy, a young woman who chafes against the expectation that she’ll marry a man and have kids. She develops romantic feelings for her best friend, Susannah, who doesn’t want to keep their relationship a secret.

Publication Date: Out now

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“Make Your Way Home” 

Author: Carrie R. Moore 

What It’s About: Moore, the inaugural writer-in-residence at the Steinbeck Writers’ Retreat, makes her book debut with this short story collection that tells the story of Black men and women searching for home in various locations across the American South.

Publication Date: Out now

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“The Payback”

Author: Kashana Cauley 

What It’s About: Television writer Cauley’s first novel, “The Survivalists,” was a hit with critics. She brings the same insight and dark humor to her new one. Partially set in the Glendale Galleria, the novel follows Jada, a recently unemployed woman on the run from the “Debt Police” who teams up with two friends in an attempt to take down her student loan company.

Publication Date: Out now

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“No Body No Crime” 

Author: Tess Sharpe 

What It’s About: The latest novel from California-raised author Sharpe (“The Girl in Question”) tells the story of Mel Tillman, a rural private investigator who goes searching for her long-lost friend Chloe — a woman who she fell in love with as a teenager, and with whom she killed a boy who had been terrorizing them. She does find Chloe, but that leads to a whole new mess of trouble, and the two are forced to go on the run.

Publication Date: Out now

ALSO SEE: 17 must-read summer romance novels

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“The Dance and the Fire”

Author Daniel Saldaña París, translated by Christina MacSweeney

What It’s About: Saldaña París, who writes fiction, poetry, and essays, is one of Mexico’s most exciting and acclaimed writers. His latest novel follows three high school friends — once members of a love triangle — who reunite in Cuernavaca as wildfires threaten the city.

Publication Date: July 29

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“Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy”

Author: Tre Johnson 

What It’s About: Journalist and educator Johnson’s book is a reflection on the innovations of brilliant Black creators, artists, and everyday people. He tackles subjects including fashion inspired by 1990s street art, and the comedy of pioneering performer and author Dick Gregory.

Publication Date: July 29

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“Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of ‘Born to Run’” 

Author: Peter Ames Carlin 

What It’s About: Journalist Carlin told the story of alternative-rock legends R.E.M. in his last book. In his newest one, he returns to a favorite subject: Bruce Springsteen, about whom he wrote a book, “Bruce,” in 2012. The new one tells the story behind the recording of the Boss’s classic 1975 album. (Fans who prefer the stark, acoustic Bruce might also want to read Warren Zanes’ book about the making of “Nebraska,” and see the movie based on it, which opens in October.)

Publication Date: Aug. 5

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“Moderation”

Author: Elaine Castillo

What It’s About: Bay Area native Castillo made literary waves with her debut novel, “America Is Not the Heart,” in 2018. Her new novel introduces readers to Girlie Delmundo, a virtual reality moderator whose life becomes complicated when she falls for her company’s co-founder.

Publication Date: Aug. 5

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“We Should All Be Birds”

Author: Brian Buckbee with Carol Ann Fitzgerald

What It’s About: Montana author Buckbee was reeling from the loss of a loved one and from a mysterious illness that left him unable to read or write because of agonizing headaches. His life is changed when he encounters an injured baby pigeon and nurses it back to health. Buckbee wrote the memoir with help from his fellow author Fitzgerald.

Publication Date: Aug. 5 

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“Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama” 

Author: Alexis Okeowo 

What It’s About: New Yorker staff writer Okeowo, who won the 2018 PEN Open Book Award for “A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa,” returns with a book about her family and her home state — it’s an innovative mix of memoir and journalism.

Publication Date: Aug. 5

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“Songs for Other People’s Weddings”

Author: David Levithan with songs by Jens Lekman

What It’s About: The new novel from Levithan (“Boy Meets Boy”) follows a wedding singer whose girlfriend has gone to New York to work, leaving him unhappy and confused. The book contains original songs by Swedish indie-pop singer Lekman.

Publication Date: Aug. 5

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“Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974 –”

Author: Jamaica Kincaid

What It’s About: The latest offering from Antiguan American author Kincaid (“The Autobiography of My Mother”) collects her nonfiction writing over the past 50 years, including pieces about her move to New York at the age of 16 and her interest in gardening.

Publication Date: Aug. 5

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“Open Wide”

Author: Jessica Gross

What It’s About: “Hysteria” author Gross’s latest is a surreal, darkly comic novel about an awkward radio host who becomes obsessed with a surgeon and former soccer player she meets at a party, and is determined to do whatever it takes to get close to him.

Publication Date: Aug. 5

ALSO SEE: ​12 new books to send restless readers on a summer road trip

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“Hotshot: A Life on Fire”

Author: River Selby

What It’s About: Selby, who has written essays on fire preparation for this newspaper, had a challenging early life, surviving homelessness, drug abuse and sexual assault. Their life changed when they were hired as a “hotshot” wildland firefighter; this memoir tells the story of life on the job and examines how climate change and colonization have forced the world to enter a new, terrifying era.

Publication Date: Aug. 12

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“Seduction Theory”

Author: Emily Adrian

What It’s About: “Everything Here Is Under Control” author Adrian returns with a novel about two married creative writing professors whose marriage is rocked by infidelity. It’s one of the summer’s most anticipated novels.

Publication Date: Aug. 12

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“If You Don’t Like This, I Will Die: An Influencer Memoir”

Author: Lee Tilghman 

What It’s About: Better known as “Lee From America,” Tilghman was a wellness influencer with a large following and a steady income. But she was hiding something: Her constant need for attention and likes was hurting her to the point that she entered a mental health facility. This book tells the story of her decision to give up her carefully curated online life.

Publication Date: Aug. 12

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“Rehab: An American Scandal” 

Author: Shoshana Walter

What It’s About: Pulitzer Prize finalist Walter’s new book is an exposé of how the U.S. fumbled its response to the opioid crisis by focusing on punishment over rehabilitation. She tells the story of four real people in the book, including a woman in a Los Angeles suburb who started investigating for-profit rehab programs after her son died in a sober living home.

Publication Date: Aug. 12

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“To Lose a War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban”

 Author: Jon Lee Anderson

What It’s About: New Yorker staff writer Anderson is a veteran of war-zone reporting. His latest book collects his pieces about Afghanistan, covering the period before the September 11, 2001, terror attacks to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

Publication Date: Aug. 12

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“What We Left Unsaid”

Author: Winnie M. Li 

What It’s About: The third novel from Li, following the well-received “Dark Chapter” and “Complicit,” follows the three estranged Chu siblings on a road trip to visit their ailing mother; their voyage takes them on Route 66 and to the Grand Canyon.

Publication Date: Aug. 19

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“Where Are You Really From” 

Author: Elaine Hsieh Chou

What It’s About: California author Chou delighted readers with her 2022 debut, the funny and sweet novel “Disorientation.” She’s following that up with this short story collection that spans genres, including one about a mail-order bride from Taiwan who is shipped to California in a cardboard box.

Publication Date: Aug. 19

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“The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World”

Author: Peter Brannen

What It’s About: Brannen, the science journalist and “The Ends of the World” author, explains how carbon dioxide is more important than most of us realize. While it’s true that the chemical compound is contributing to climate change, it also has made the world a livable place for billions of years.

Publication Date: Aug. 26

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“Mercy”

Author: Joan Silber

What It’s About: Silber is one of America’s most underappreciated fiction authors. In her new novel, her first since “Secrets of Happiness” in 2021, she tells the story of Ivan, a man living in 1970s New York who is haunted by his decision to leave his best friend in a hospital emergency room after the two experiment with heroin. 

Publication Date: Sept. 2

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“Wrecking Ball: Race, Friendship, God, and Football”

Author: Rick Bass

What It’s About: Bass is a double threat, known for his beautiful fiction and incisive nonfiction about the natural world. His latest is a departure: a chronicle of his unlikely stint playing semi-pro football in Brenham, Texas, in his sixties. 

Publication Date: Sept. 2

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“Mother Mary Comes to Me”

Author: Arundhati Roy 

What It’s About: Roy’s debut novel, “The God of Small Things,” was a literary sensation when it was published in 1997. Her latest book — its title inspired by the Beatles’ “Let It Be” — is a memoir about her relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, the Indian women’s rights activist who died in 2022.

Publication Date: Sept. 2

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“The Shadow of the Mammoth”

Author: Fabio Morábito, translated by Curtis Bauer

What It’s About: The latest book from Mexican poet Morábito to be translated into English is a short story collection that touches on themes such as loneliness, imagination, and deception. Morábito’s first story collection, “Mothers and Dogs,” also translated by Bauer, is also worth seeking out.

Publication Date: Sept. 2

ALSO SEE: 33 new books you’ll want to read this summer from independent publishers

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“The Belles”

Author: Lacey N. Dunham 

What It’s About: The debut novel from Dunham is a perfect fit for readers into the dark academia genre. The book tells the story of Deena Williams, who attends a private college in 1951 and joins an alliance with five other students. Deena has a secret past, though, that she fears might be revealed.

Publication Date: Sept. 9

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“Kaplan’s Plot”

Author: Jason Diamond 

What It’s About: Diamond is the author of the critically acclaimed nonfiction books “Searching for John Hughes” and “The Sprawl”; his debut novel follows Elijah Mendes, who moves back to Chicago to care for his ailing mother. He discovers that his family owns a Jewish cemetery, which leads him to explore their secret history, bringing him closer to his mother.

Publication Date: Sept. 16

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“The Wilderness” 

Author: Angela Flournoy 

What It’s About: Flournoy’s majestic debut, “The Turner House,” was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her new novel, 10 years in the making, follows five Black women navigating their sometimes messy lives over the course of 20 years.

Publication Date: Sept. 16

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“Articulate: A Deaf Memoir of Voice”

Author: Rachel Kolb

What It’s About: Stanford-educated Kolb made history as the first signing deaf Rhodes scholar at Oxford University. In her memoir, she writes about learning American Sign Language and spoken language, and how people express themselves and communicate with one another.

Publication Date: Sept. 16

And you could argue she’s done both: As co-host of the true crime podcast “Going West,” which just celebrated its 500-episode milestone in May, she’s been doing plenty of detective work, albeit in more of an armchair-style capacity.

Now, she’s now a legit author. 

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Woolsoncroft’s debut novel, “Night Watcher,” seamlessly blends her passions of true crime, horror movies and writing into a thrilling piece of suspenseful fiction centered around a masked serial killer known as The Hiding Man. While she found inspiration in countless slasher movies featuring masked antagonists, as well as the hundreds of true crime cases she’s mulled over since starting the podcast in late 2018, Woolsoncroft also drew from a family connection to one of the greatest novelists of all time: “Frankenstein” author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. 

“She’s a distant ancestor on my mom’s side,” Woolsoncroft confirms. “It’s been passed down through some documentation, but I’m still very much trying to find a genealogist that can help find that exact connection. That’s something my mom and I have been on a mission with in the last year. We’ve always been so inspired by that connection. My mom’s a huge horror and literature fan, so it does mean a lot to us.” 

Wanting to be like Shelley, who wrote “Frankenstein” at the age of 18, Woolsoncroft said she rushed a self-published novella when she was 19, but “It was really bad. It was not ‘Frankenstein’ by any means,” she said with a laugh. 

“Night Watcher” follows the story of Portland, Oregon, resident Nola Strate, a radio host of a late-night program, “Night Watch,” that takes listener call-ins to discuss paranormal stories. She inherited this popular radio show from her semi-famous father, and all is well until an on-air listener call goes awry. This conjures up Strate’s childhood brush with The Hiding Man, who was never caught and seemingly disappeared after a string of brutal murders. 

But has he returned to seek revenge? 

The Hiding Man was in part influenced by a real-life, convicted serial killer who was given the moniker BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill). 

“BTK was a big one for this story because he did kill multiple people, then take a hiatus,” Woolsoncroft said. “I had read so much about BTK and also just having a general knowledge of the motives of so many serial killers and how many come from damaged backgrounds and their own personal rejections throughout their lives make them want to turn on others. Just reading all of those stories and recognizing the patterns, I knew how to make a perfect serial killer.” 

Her love for slasher films and a classic like John Carpenter’s “Halloween,” which features the iconic masked killer Michael Myers, made her think carefully about the importance of The Hiding Man being a masked character – it’s described as a pale facial covering with dark stitched, sewn eyes and a mouth. That anonymity makes this lurking figure even more terrifying. 

“There’s no expression, which is what’s so scary about a mask,” she explains. 

The idea for this particular style of mask came from a sketch drawn by her father. It was originally intended to appear on the label of a candle she had made, dubbed The Witch House, from one of her many former entrepreneurial endeavors. 

“I asked him to just draw me these creepy guys,” she said, noting that one image instantly stood out. “When I was writing this book, I saw that image again, and that’s really what inspired it; so I stole that from my dad. It felt like it wasn’t too campy or too out of left field, but also something we really haven’t seen before.” 

For Woolsoncroft, true crime isn’t just a hobby, it’s personal. Her interest in the subject was sparked by the real-life disappearance of her beloved aunt, Carol, in Fort Myers, Florida, in 1984, more than a decade before she was born.  

“I think being part of a family where there was such injustice and somebody was taken from my mom and my grandparents’ lives and seeing how that haunted them, I just always was interested in similar stories,” she said. “The first true crime I got into was true crime podcasts, and that just felt like a great thing that I could do was to start a true crime podcast and build a platform to talk about my own aunt’s case in hopes it would one day be solved.” 

While the subject matter is heavy, Woolsoncroft and her podcast co-host and husband, Heath Merryman, often take breaks from the true crime beat and watch classic comedy films, go bowling or out to dinner with friends and family near their Los Angeles home. Woolsoncroft said she still likes to escape into a classic horror flick or a thrilling novel. She just finished “Bloom” by Delilah Dawson and said it had her on edge and cited Camila Bruce’s “You Let Me In” as being one of her favorites, “though disturbing on a psychological level as it intertwines childhood trauma with a fictional man she calls The Pepper Man, which I loved,” she added. 

“Sadly, I don’t find a ton of books that scare me,” she said. “But one I read recently that stressed me out and made me run up the stairs in the dark was “Diavola” by Jennifer Thorne. The way she describes a yellow-haired woman in the mirror standing behind protagonist Anna is something I thought about every time I brushed my teeth or woke up in the middle of the night for weeks afterwards.” 

With “Night Watcher” now under her belt, Woolsoncroft reports a second book is on the way. Unlike the horror movie vibe of “Night Watcher,” she said her next effort is more of a “horror-adjacent thriller.” 

“I wanted to explore more the sides of mystery and thriller writing that aren’t super horror movie-esque, but it is creepier and has a lot of stalking because I seem fascinated with that trope,” she describes. “And it takes place by a lake, so it’s a scary lake-thriller coming next Summer.”

So I hit the books.

I’ve owned some excellent cookbooks: Marcella Hazan’s books on Italian cooking, which have been called “exacting,” “dogmatic” and “perfectionist” by people skilled at using a thesaurus to say she knew what she wanted, can teach you how to make that simple, amazing tomato sauce and so much more. (And you’re in luck because a documentary about Hazan premieres today on PBS’s “American Masters” so you can learn more about this scientist-turned-Italian food icon).

Through books, I’ve learned from Madhur Jaffrey, Alice Waters, Samin Nosrat, Anthony Bourdain, and Mark Bittman, not to mention pored over collections like “The Silver Palate Cookbook,” “The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone,” and even the sturdy, informative “A Good Day for Soup.”

Plus, bringing home a beautiful cookbook from somewhere you’ve visited – as I did from London’s 26 Grains a few years back – can provide a souvenir that keeps on creating good memories.

(And yes, I have also spent time watching “The Great British Baking Show” and “The Bear” while mmm-scrolling YouTube and Instagram for recipes and cooking tips from Lan Lam, Carolina Gelen, NoMeatDisco’s Sam Jones and even a guy called Sauce Stash who has a lot to say about chickpeas.)

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But cookbooks can be meaningful in ways that go beyond mere instruction and more as heirlooms and artifacts. My father kept his prized meat loaf recipe inside a disintegrating copy of “The Joy of Cooking,” a stained, scribbled upon and notecard-stuffed wreck held together with a thick rubber band — and I bet someone in your family had something similar, too.

Earlier this year, author and actor Sonya Walger told me about losing her personal library of books, 25 years of journals and a wall full of her beautiful, often-used cookbooks in the Palisades Fire.

“With every book comes a story, you know? Part of what you lose in a fire is your story. You lose all the stories – where I bought that cookbook in Greece and that plate came from Morocco,” she says. “All of that goes in the fire.”

In a moving act of support, Walger’s friends came together to raise funds to help her rebuild her lost library.

And as it turns out, a bookstore in L.A.’s downtown had an even more ambitious idea …

After the Eaton and Palisades fires earlier this year, the loss of family cookbooks and all the the lore and history they hold was on the minds of Ken Concepcion and Michelle Mungcal, the owners of Now Serving, a cookbook bookstore located in Chinatown’s Far East Plaza.

The couple, whose Pasadena home just blocks from the burn zone survived, launched an effort they’re calling Friends Of The Shop: LA Wildfires Cookbook Initiative to help impacted families replace cookbooks lost in the fire.

“If you’re an impacted individual or family, you can fill out and submit an intake form that’s on our website and request up to 10 books to rebuild your cookbook collection,” says Concepcion, who was collecting donations yesterday morning when we spoke.

The effort has kept them busy. “We have over 500 submissions for the intake forms,” he says, which represents thousands of book requests.

For those wanting to get involved, there are different ways to contribute: You can go to the bookstore’s website and purchase a book to give to someone in need, or scan the list of books people are seeking to replace and donate some of those.

“If you go on our site, we have a list of books that are available to gift. So it’s almost like a registry,” says Concepcion. “Anyone can go on our site and gift a book to to an impacted individual.”

The list of requested titles is enormous and varied.

“The document is over a thousand unique titles, which is kind of staggering, and the list itself is really interesting to dig into,” he says.

Some of the most sought-after titles include “Salt Fat Acid Heat,” “The Joy of Cooking,” “The Silver Palate Cookbook” and “anything by Ina Garten.”

And the list includes a cookbook meaningful to Concepcion.

“Before we opened the shop, I worked as a chef,” says Concepcion, who didn’t go to culinary school but eventually spent years working for Wolfgang Puck. “I just kind of learned on the job by working in restaurants and would go home and read books after service. And ‘The Zuni Cafe Cookbook’ really kind of opened my eyes.”

The book remains a personal favorite, he says.

ALSO SEE: 10 new cookbooks to inspire delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner meals

But note that the time for dropoffs is winding down: Monday, July 14, is the last scheduled day (though if you miss that deadline, Concepcion says to call to see if something can be arranged). The plan is to process the donated books over the next few months and begin distributing them by the end of summer or beginning of fall.

Just that morning, Concepcion says he’d received a large donation from a store regular who told him it was gratifying to know the books would soon be part of someone’s new home.

“The people who are coming in to donate feel like they are finally able to really help specific individuals,” he says.

“We felt like this was the best way we could help our community.”

And as we wrapped up, I asked Concepcion what the store itself might need.

“I really appreciate that question. What would help the store is basically for people to buy books and come into the shop and pick up a book or pre-order something that’s coming out in the fall,” he says.

Things are tough. Small retail businesses and local restaurants are facing challenges that make the pandemic “look like a cake walk,” he says.

“We are really struggling right now.”

If you need help or would like to provide help, check out the Now Serving website for the most accurate and updated information.

If your cookbook collection was lost in the LA wildfires, request up to 10 titles here: https://nowservingla.com/pages/la-wildfires 

If you’d to give a book to help rebuild a collection, go here: https://nowservingla.com/collections/friends-of-the-shop-rebuilding-cookbook-collections

Explore the list of books that people are seeking for donation: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LgMfDGcx2j2DdkG3kgYpJDRN4iqeiXYpA-htIEc8cIs/edit?gid=0#gid=0

And if you’re interested in buying something from Now Serving – books, gift cards, linens, totes, cards and more – go to the website or head out to the store this weekend as they are having an in-store summer sale July 12-15. 

The week’s bestsellers

The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE

Sign up for the next Bookish on July 18 at 4 p.m. with “The View from Lake Como” author Adriana Trigiani and audiobook narrator Rebecca Lucas with her sister, our colleague, Emily St. Martin. Miss an episode? Catch up on previous Bookish shows.

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Q. Please tell readers about your new book.

“10,000 Ink Stains” is my career retrospective art book and memoir. It goes through my entire 25-year career of making comics, both independently and in the mainstream, with books like “Sweet Tooth,” “Essex County” and “Black Hammer,” as well as my work at DC and Marvel. The book goes book-by-book through my career and features process material and personal essays about what was going on in my life as I created each book.

ALSO SEE: Like books? Get our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

Q. Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?

There are always a few that I go back to. In terms of other graphic novels, I always recommend the work of my friend Matt Kindt. I also love fellow Canadian cartoonist Seth’s work, especially his opus, “Clyde Fans.”

As for prose, I am a huge Haruki Murakami fan and recommend “1Q84” and “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” to everyone.

Q. What are you reading now?

I am jumping between a re-read of David Lynch’s memoir, “Room To Dream” and Tim Johnson’s novel “Distant Sons.” I like having a fiction and non-fiction book going at the same time.

Q. Do you have any favorite book covers?

I am obsessed with the illustration and design of the Penguin classic versions of John Wyndham’s novels that were published in the ’70s (the ones with the orange spines). They are mesmerizing and I love how they use intricate linework and a really limited color palette.

ALSO SEE: 8 graphic nonfiction books that use comics to unlock memoir, history and more

Q. Do you have a favorite book or books?

Definitely love Murakami’s “1Q84” and “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” I also love Michael Chabon’s “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,” William Gibson’s work and Iain Banks.

Q. Which books are you planning to read next?

I have an Alastair Reynolds sci-fi novel ready to go next as well as “The Maniac” by Benjamin Labatut.

Q. What’s something about your book that no one knows?

It features a completely a faithful reprinting of my very first self-published mini-comic and zine from 2003. I originally silkscreen printed the covers myself and printed only 300 copies. This is the first time I’ve ever reprinted those early comics.

Q. You’re both an artist and a writer. How has collaborating with other creators on projects like “Descender” with Dustin Nguyen affected your work?

Learning to let go of the control of the visuals, and writing scripts for other artists like Dustin was really freeing. It opened up an entirely new side of making comics for me. The actual drawing takes so much time and focus that I can really only ever draw one project at a time myself. But writing projects for other artists allowed me to start juggling multiple projects. And it also let me explore genres and types of books that I may not excel at drawing myself, but others would.

Q. You write in “10,000 Ink Stains” about achieving a kind of dream by working at DC and Marvel. But that experience also illuminated why you like being an independent creator. Can you talk about what you learned about making your own work from that experience?

As fun as it can be to write these characters that you grew up reading and loving, ultimately, you are still in service of someone else. Creating your own worlds and stories is always so much more fulfilling. Creatively, I have total freedom and control with my creator-owned books. I answer to no one and nothing except my own ideas and creative impulses. That is impossible to beat, no matter how much you may love those pre-existing characters.

That’s the premise of an exhibit at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum that looks at four toxic pigments used for millennia and around the world to illustrate and bind books: mercury, arsenic, lead and the bright-yellow mineral known as “orpiment.” The chance to see the show, which has been open since December, is winding down, as the exhibit wraps Aug. 3.

These metals and minerals produced jewel-like, dazzling colors — a brilliant green that could outshine emeralds, a reddish orange found in sunsets, a yellow so bright it could pass for gold. The lead is the basis for a color known a “lead white,” an opaque, silky pigment that retains its bright hue for literally centuries. Some of these tints were so seductive and beguiling that death could be seen as almost worth the risk. They remained in circulation for hundreds of years after their dangerousness was documented.

For instance, the color “Paris green” — introduced in 1814 and a favorite of such artists as Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Mary Cassatt — contains arsenic.

”It was completely different from all the other green pigments, and people went crazy for it,” said Annette Ortiz Miranda, a conservation scientist for the museum who co-curated the exhibit with Walters staffers Lynley Anne Herbert and Abigail Quandt. “It was used in everything: clothes, wallpaper, book binding, pigment and makeup. By the mid-1800s, they knew it was making people ill. But it wasn’t fully banned until the 1960s.”

Although poisonous minerals have been found in works dating back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, Ortiz Miranda noted that harmful chemicals aren’t only found in artworks created in the past. Some paintings made today could also be accompanied by a warning label depicting a skull and crossbones. For instance, the spray paint used for graffiti contains volatile organic compounds and heavy metals that can cause respiratory problems and neurological damage if inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

“That is why you see graffiti artists wearing masks with filters,” Ortiz Miranda said. “They are protecting themselves. They still use toxic chemicals but in a more responsible way.”

The exhibit consists of two dozen objects in the Walters collection ranging from the 11th through the 20th centuries: books, manuscripts, leaves of parchment and minerals. There is a section on the methods ancient people used to protect their precious volumes from the critters that munched on  including real-life bookworms (actually, book lice).

Some remedies worked fairly well, such as leaves from the citronella plant, used today to repel mosquitoes. Others were perhaps less effective, including an inscription intended to summon the protective plant’s “spirit” but that contained no actual citronella.

“It is notable that this manuscript has no traces of insect damage,” reads the wall text accompanying a 16th century illustrated Islamic book by the Persian poet Sa’di. “Perhaps those bookworms really could read!”

The inspiration for the exhibit began in 2016, when the Walters acquired a small missal created more than a century earlier by Clothilde Coulaux, a young Frenchwoman living in German-occupied Alsace. The 174-page book of illustrations is tiny — not quite 5 inches tall and 3.5 inches wide. But it was surprisingly heavy.

“The parchment used in the 20th century was of a much lower quality than parchment from the medieval era,” Ortiz Miranda said. “We examined the book and found that every page was coated on both sides with lead white to give it a nice smooth surface that made it easier for her to illustrate.”

Then, six years later, the Walters acquired a 1788 prayer book from either Germany or America. It included evidence of poisonous chemicals — in this case, lead arsenate, which was used as a pesticide to preserve the book, if not the humans who owned it.

And just like that, the Walters had the nucleus of its current exhibit.

This show also delves into the human stories of the people who interacted with the books: the men and women who created these volumes or later used them. Most deadly chemicals are stealth killers, accumulating in the body invisibly and gradually.

A wall text accompanying the exhibit notes that “books were made to be touched and handled,” and the owners’ interaction with sacred texts in particular could be intense.

For example, a 15th century Gospel book from Turkey is opened to a page showing an illustration of Jesus Christ beset by his enemies — Roman centurions and the disciples who betrayed him.

As was customary at the time, indignant readers expressed their anger at Christ’s assailants by using their fingernails to scratch off the heads and faces in the illustrations. As they did, they unknowingly rubbed cinnabar, an extremely toxic mineral with a high mercury content onto their hands.

In addition, a 15th century Flemish book of hours shows signs that the mercury-laced reddish paint meant to depict Christ’s wounds on the cross has worn away after the page was kissed repeatedly by its devout owner.

Perhaps even more at risk were the monks and nuns who created these exquisitely beautiful illuminated manuscripts. It was work that required long hours at a workbench, heads bent over wet pages, giving new meaning to the phrase “burying their heads in a book.”

Making matters worse, it wasn’t unusual for illustrators to use their lips and tongue to shape the ends of the ink-stained brushes into the sharp points that gave these paintings their elaborate details.

“People were exposed to dangers that they weren’t even aware of,” Ortiz Miranda said.

The Walters exhibit doesn’t contain evidence of any fatalities that can be conclusively attributed to the use of poisonous chemicals — including the museum staff members who put this show together.

“No curators, conservators, or art handlers were harmed in the making of this exhibition,” the wall text says.

But a study published in the August 2008 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science analyzed the bones of medieval monks buried in six cemeteries in Denmark. Researchers found high concentrations of mercury and concluded that they likely came from the red ink used to write script in the incunabula, or religious books printed in Europe between 1450 and 1501.

Ortiz Miranda’s favorite manuscripts on view in the exhibit, the confession books created by deaf children in the 19th century are almost unbearably poignant. Because these youngsters couldn’t confess their sins verbally and be absolved, they painted pictures of their youthful misdeeds and showed them to their priests.

One 19th century drawing by a preteen Flemish boy named Carel shows him sitting under a broken and dying tree, beset by a winged skeleton thrusting two arrows at his chest. Two grown men stand nearby, and one is pointing directly at the youth. The illustration is titled “Mors” or “death.”

The exhibit curators wrote that the image was possibly intended to encourage Carel to behave by reminding him of his mortality. But death might have been hovering even closer than the boy could have guessed. The tree, the boy’s coat and the coat worn by the pointing man are all painted a deadly Paris green.

“He could not have known,” the wall text concludes, “that he was taking his life in his hands.”

Have a news tip? Contact Mary Carole McCauley at mmccauley@baltsun.com and 410-332-6704.

“They were very present in my head since then,” Ryan says. “I was always aware of how they were progressing as people.”

ALSO SEE: Like books? Get our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

The book, which was written in 21 chapters, each from a different character’s point of view, was set in a fictional version of the small town in Ireland where Ryan was from. His mother, who still lived there, worked in a grocery store, and always told him he’d have to write a sequel.

“People would come into the store to ask about the characters speaking of them as if they were real people, asking, ‘How is Bobby? Is he OK,’” Ryan recalls.

“Heart, Be at Peace” answers those readers’ fervent questions, although Ryan regrets not writing it before his mother died.

“I did write it as kind of a thank-you to the people who invest their time in my books and because I also had such a fondness for the characters,” he says. “It’s a privilege and a joy to have people engage with characters I’ve created and to read books I’ve written. It seems unbelievable.”

While “The Spinning Heart” was set in the aftermath of the economic crash of 2008, “Heart, Be at Peace” is set a decade later when the town and its residents feel like they’re flourishing again while simultaneously facing a new threat: the encroachment of increasingly reckless and ruthless drug dealers. The story is again told in 21 chapters and brings back all the characters from the first one, although it can easily be enjoyed by someone who has not read “The Spinning Heart.” 

Ryan spoke recently by video about the book and his real life in Ireland. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q. Your books are intimate, dealing not only with small-town life but also with socio-cultural or political issues, whether it’s the economic meltdown, the influx of drugs or the Syrian refugee crisis. Is that a conscious choice?

I’ve never sat down to write an issue novel, but those things are informed by my own experience. My stories are located in a very particular place, a fictionalized rendering of my home place, but those big things creep in because we’re all corks in the ocean. When I wrote “The Spinning Heart,” I was in the exact same position as loads of the characters, with huge mortgage arrears and personal debt and our income had suddenly been slashed.

I was working as a labor inspector for a government body, and our job was to make sure people’s employment rights were applied across the board. We had lots of cases that were very similar to the case of Pokey Burke, who in the book ripped off his employees.

Now I find it terrifying the impunity with which people deal drugs. Not long before I started writing “Heartbeat,” I was walking back to my house and a child offered me drugs. I said, “Are you selling drugs right here?” And he said, “Anything you want.”

When I said, “Effin awful,” he suddenly was threatening to burn my house down and kill my children. It’s as though the criminal world and the ordinary world have collided now, and this collision is horrible and messy and bloody. The world’s gone mad and people who make billions of dollars from crime are living it up and laughing at us.

Q. Was it easy to find the voices for the different characters?

I wanted to be true to the voice of my own people. A blog called Books and Bowel Movements once said that “The Spinning Heart” was the worst book ever written and after seven paragraphs of absolute invective she wrote that all I was doing was “using the slang and grit of his own people.” I forgave her for the whole horrible review because that’s actually what I was aiming for. 

I didn’t have to work very hard to be able to wield language in a way that reads lyrically or poetically because it’s how language is used where I’m from. There’s a beautiful cadence and rhythm in rural Ireland in the way we structure sentences because we retained Gaelic syntax and there’s kind of a joy in it. 

There’s an attempt to not be too direct and it’s lovely, the way people can speak for a long time without saying anything very much at all, but still the act of speaking is very important – those banal comments about the weather are done in such a way that the person listening feels connected to you for that moment. 

Q. Were you wary of finding the right path for the characters that everyone loved so much?

It was hard to come back to Bobby and his wife Triona because they’re the two main pillars. [Both books open with Bobby’s chapter and close with Triona’s.] Their relationship was very important to me especially because I based Triona on my own wife – she even did the voice of Triona for the audiobook.

I was so worried about getting it right with Bobby and Triona. I wanted to show they were still completely and utterly in love, with an almost fairy-tale kind of level of miracle rightness  I wanted it to be my own marriage, really. Triona’s voice needed to be as wise but still as humane and loving as it was in “Spinning Heart,” even though Bobby is still inexpressive, which is a bit selfish in a way. He must know how much it upsets her that he can’t express themselves properly to her. But they’ve developed a kind of silent language over the years. I wanted that to be expressed properly. 

There’s a lot of silence in both books – for two books that are composed of people speaking first person to the reader, there’s almost no dialogue. There are very few moments where people actually communicate in the books. And also everybody is saying things they wouldn’t say out loud. 

Q. When Bobby doesn’t come clean in the first chapter about a false rumor being spread about, his inability to communicate with his wife makes you want to bang your head against the wall.

I’m glad to hear that because I wanted people to feel that frustration. People say, “Just say it, Bobby,” but this is such a real thing for a lot of men. There’s a lot of myself in Bobby – there are loads of things that I find really, really hard to say, really obvious things that I should be able to say.

Q. Do you think you’ll go back to these characters in another 10 or 15 years?

I hadn’t considered it until I read a review in The Financial Times that said this book seems like “the second part of a tetralogy” and I thought, “That sounds like a good idea.” I don’t think I’m finished with this village and these characters. 

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Atmosphere: Taylor Jenkins Reid

2. The Emperor of Gladness: Ocean Vuong

3. Great Big Beautiful Life: Emily Henry

4. James: Percival Everett

5. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil: V. E. Schwab

6. The River Is Waiting: Wally Lamb

7. So Far Gone: Jess Walter

8. My Friends: Fredrik Backman

9. My Name Is Emilia del Valle: Isabel Allende

10. Don’t Let Him In: Lisa Jewell

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About: Mel Robbins, Sawyer Robbins

2. Abundance: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

3. Wealthy and Well-Known: Build Your Personal Brand and Turn Your Reputation into Revenue: Rory Vaden, AJ Vaden

4. Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism: Stewart Reynolds

5. Mark Twain: Ron Chernow

6. Notes to John: Joan Didion

7. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection: John Green

8. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: Omar El Akkad

9. The Creative Act: A Way of Being: Rick Rubin

10. Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success: Jeff Hiller

MASS MARKET

1. 1984: George Orwell

2. Animal Farm: George Orwell

3. The Way of Kings: Brandon Sanderson

4. Jurassic Park: Michael Crichton

5. The Name of the Wind: Patrick Rothfuss

6. Foundation: Isaac Asimov

7. The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank

8. The Picture of Dorian Gray and Three Stories: Oscar Wilde

9. Mistborn: The Final Empire: Brandon Sanderson

10. Hyperion: Dan Simmons

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Remarkably Bright Creatures: Shelby Van Pelt

2. All Fours: Miranda July

3. Project Hail Mary: Andy Weir

4. Martyr!: Kaveh Akbar

5. The Ministry of Time: Kaliane Bradley

6. Creation Lake: A Novel: Rachel Kushner

7. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: Gabrielle Zevin

8. I Who Have Never Known Men: Jacqueline Harpman

9. Funny Story: Emily Henry

10. The Safekeep: Yael van der Wouden

The Canadian evangelist drew throngs of to her massive church, Angelus Temple, which still stands in Echo Park, and spread her message even wider via radio.

But McPherson stirred controversy. She ruffled the feathers of local officials from the pulpit and raised eyebrows after growing close to a married employee.

Then, while heading out for an ocean swim near Venice Beach, she vanished.

“It truly feels like Los Angeles lost its mind in the summer of 1926 over it,” says Claire Hoffman on a recent video call.

SEE ALSO: Like books? Get our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

In Hoffman’s new book “Sister Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson,” the Santa Barbara-based journalist recounts the news frenzy that erupted when McPherson reappeared weeks later in Arizona and investigations were made into claims that she had been kidnapped.

“There were so many strange ripples out that were happening. It’s just one of those things where — oh my gosh— the truth actually is much weirder than fiction,” says Hoffman.

Hoffman says it was her own interest in ocean swimming that brought the story of McPherson’s disappearance to her attention. She had learned about the founder of the Foursquare Church while in divinity school at the University of Chicago.

“I had heard about her there and had seen that she was this important figure in Pentecostalism and 20th-century Christianity, but there wasn’t anything about the kidnapping scandal,” she recalls.

Later, while working at the Los Angeles Times, Hoffman would drive by Angelus Temple nearly every day, and she made note of the building, an early example of an American megachurch.

When those threads of interest came together, Hoffman realized, “OK, I’ve got to dive in.”

“Sister Sinner” reads like a cross between James Ellroy’s “L.A. Noir” and HBO’s televangelist satire “The Righteous Gemstones,” as Hoffman digs into the life of McPherson: her childhood and adolescence in Canada; her rise to prominence as an evangelist; the rift with both her mother and daughter in the years following the disappearance. (On HBO’s now-defunct “Perry Mason” reboot, a character based on McPherson, as played by Tatiana Maslany, provided a juicy storyline in the first season.)

In many ways, McPherson was a precursor to today’s influencers. She relied on radio, the new media of the 1920s, to help spread her message. She had the power to sway large groups. And she loved a good gimmick, such as her “Arrested for Speeding” sermon in which she dressed up as a traffic cop and rolled onstage on a motorcycle.

Yet, she had a fair share of enemies.

“On one side, you see this female, public figure who is just being absolutely vilified in the press and torn apart in ways that feel unfair and very much related to her gender,” says Hoffman. “On the other side, you see a person with a really different relationship to the truth and who has a manifest reality approach to her life and her ambition and her story.”

That dichotomy was what helped keep Hoffman in pursuit of McPherson’s story. “She wasn’t just a famous, hardworking woman who was the victim of patriarchy,” she says. “She’s also this really ambitious person with an incredible sense of self and maybe even hubris who just saw reality differently.”

Hoffman, whose previous book was the memoir “Greetings From Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood,” says her own upbringing drew her to the subject matter of “Sister Sinner” as well.

“I grew up in a New Age, somewhat Indian, Hindu-oriented faith, but I’ve always been really interested in Pentecostalism,” she says. “It’s a very successful denomination of Protestantism, but it has a lot of this ecstatic worship that you almost see in New Age religions, like the one that I was raised in.”

Plus, Hoffman adds, she has an interest in understanding how fringe religious groups become mainstream in the U.S. “I lived it,” she says. “My family was vegetarian and did yoga and meditated, and we were freaks in Iowa. Now, there are yoga gyms.”

Hoffman also notes that her divinity school education and study of belief aided her while writing about McPherson. “I think divinity school helped give me a historical perspective and language on that,” she says. “I believe in belief. So if somebody believes and is experiencing speaking in tongues or a divine healing, I believe in that belief. That’s a perspective that I really value.”

McPherson’s legacy continues today as the Foursquare Church has spread across the globe. “When I tell people that there are 8 million members of The Foursquare Church, they’re shocked,” says Hoffman. “I’m from a tiny town in Iowa. In the middle of working on this book, I was driving to go visit my mom and I drove by a Foursquare Church inside my town. They’re everywhere. It’s incredibly widespread.”

Ultimately, however, the story in “Sister Sinner” is a study of the effects of fame as well as religious history.

“It obviously is about religion and a religious figure, but to me, it’s also so much about celebrity,” says Hoffman. “She courted the press. She really wanted all that attention, and then, at some point, it flips and she loses her sense of self and her freedom.

“That’s the cautionary tale of it.”