All the talk about the Varsity Blues admissions scandal and parents bribing college coaches to get their kids into the universities of their choice inspired me to go back and read beartown, by Fredrik Backman, the 2017 novel about the three H's - hockey, high school and last, best hope - in a small Swedish town. Nominally a story about the transformative power of sports, it is, like many supposed sports novels (and films, for that matter, and TV shows), actually about friendship, morality and achievement. Whether you have any feelings at all about hockey (I don't, really), it is impossible not to get swept up in these kids' lives and what they learn on the ice. At a time when a lot of cynicism is about to be attached to the whole concept of an athlete, there is a purity here, a sense of pain and joy, that has nothing to do with hackneyed metaphors and everything to do with compelling characters and a wrenching story, beautifully told. (Also: There is a great sequel.) - VANESSA FRIEDMAN, FASHION DIRECTORAND CHIEF FASHION CRITIC

Backman's latest novel requires actor Ireland to portray small-town machismo with sensitivity, eschewing caricature and low-hanging fruit to reveal the vulnerable underside of the teenage players of Beartown's youth hockey league (and their parents, who live vicariously through them). For the most part, she succeeds, and does so with memorable rigor. Her raspy alto switches believably among a wide range of characters-female and male, young and adult-as she gives voice to the emotions they face, from hidden loneliness to the anger of unforgivable betrayal. Ireland has had recurring roles on a number of noteworthy TV shows, including Homeland, Girls, and The Killing; while she hasn't had a similar range of experience with audio narration, this doesn't feel like a rookie outing. Her narration is at its best during particularly dramatic moments of the story, such as the crime that occurs amid a raucous victory party. Her passion during these scenes is such that the fictional residents of Beartown might say she "has the bear in her"-their highest compliment for a clutch player who gives everything to a performance, whether in hockey or in life. With luck we will see her as an audiobook narrator more often in the future. An Atria hardcover. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.