| A thriller inside the Oval Office | | WHEN RESEARCHING his forthcoming novel about a serial killer plotting to assassinate the US president, The New York Times best-selling author Brad Meltzer went straight to the top: 41st President George H.W. Bush, a fan of the author’s work. | | Of loss, multiplied | | American novelist Christopher Coake’s heartbreaking You Came Back examines love, loss, and the beauty and danger of holding
onto our beliefs | | Not turning a deaf ear | | At first glance, the Atfaluna restaurant in Gaza City looks like any other : a space to enjoy a simple meal. But there’s a difference: nearly all its staff are deaf. | | 48 Hours in Morioka | | Once viewed as a backward part of northeast Japan, so snowy it was known as
“Japan’s Tibet,” the city of Morioka and surrounding Iwate prefecture came into their own 30 years ago, when the superfast Shinkansen train began running up north. | | Woman on top | | Meet Sonal Rawal, who undertakes the toughest climbs and treks around the world in a constant effort to beat her own summits of success | | Darker spells | | On October 1, 2012, The New Yorker ran a 9,000-word profile of J.K. Rowling. Her book, The Casual Vacancy was out, and Ian Parker had gone and met Rowling (first impressions-wise, he mentions false eyelashes and too much foundation, but a not unfriendly manner). | | The unluckiest places in
the world | | The Mayans thought the world was going to end in 2012, but could ’13 be our unlucky year? If you’re not superstitious, a trip to these cursed destinations might change your mind | |
