THE WIDOW, by Fiona Barton. (Berkley, $16.) After her husband dies in a gruesome accident, Jean, this debut novel's namesake widow, is thrust again into the spotlight. Her husband had been a chief suspect in a missing child case that captivated the country, and his death has renewed interest in the crime. With some reporters suspecting Jean knows more than she has let on, she seems poised to reveal her story. THEIR PROMISED LAND: My Grandparents in Lnve and War, by Ian Buruma. (Penguin, $17.) Drawing on thousands of his grandparents' letters, Buruma sketches the story of their marriage, which spanned World War I and II - and the turbulent era in which they lived. His is a "wholly understanding, moving account of what it meant to be Jewish and English in one of the most troubled times of the last century," our reviewer, Nick Fraser, said. CARRY ME, by Peter Behrens. (Anchor, $17.) The troubled times framed by war are also the backdrop for Behrens's novel, which tells the story of Billy Lange and Karin, the GermanJewish woman he loves. Growing up in England and Ireland during World War I, Billy saw his father, a German, interned, and felt the deep isolation that accompanies discrimination; later, living in 1930s Frankfurt, he dreams of escaping with Karin to America, whose allure is a bright spot amid Hitler's rise to power. IN EUROPE'S SHADOW: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond, by Robert D. Kaplan. (Random House, $18.) Kaplan first visited Romania more than three decades ago as a young journalist, reporting on the horrors under its repressive government. Drawing on his reporting from later trips, he traces Romania's shift away from Communism, and attempts to untangle the country's myriad influences, from Orthodox Christianity to contemporary Russia. CAST OF CHARACTERS: Wolcott Gibbs, E. B. White, James Thurber, and the Golden Age of The New Yorker, by Thomas Vinciguerra. (Norton, $18.95.) In this ensemble biography, Vinciguerra chronicles the early years of the magazine, roughly spanning the Jazz Age through the end of World War II, with a focus on how many of its editorial stars shaped the The New Yorker's legacy for decades to come. GIRL THROUGH GLASS, by Sari Wilson. (Flarper Perennial, $15.99.) The choreographer George Balanchine's long shadow is evident in the stories of 11-year-old Mira, a ballet student in 1977, and Kate, a present-day dance historian. As our reviewer, Namara Smith, put it, the novel is less about ballet "than the costs of early virtuosity - the feeling of being propelled by a force you don't understand and can't control."

In this insightful fusion of history, travelogue, memoir, and contemporary analysis, Kaplan (The Revenge of Geography), a journalist and foreign affairs writer, recounts his travels through Romania and other parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Kaplan has long been captivated by Romania, inspired by the oft-neglected country's culture and history as well as its recurring "spiritual, military, and political domination by great powers." He traces the Romanian lands' tragic history from antiquity to the present, with a focus on the tumultuous 20th century, during which it suffered a chilling progression of "territorial dismemberment, occupation, monarchy, military dictatorship, fascism, and Communism." Kaplan shares travel anecdotes and ruminations on architecture, religion, literature, historical works, and geography-identifying the latter as a primary cause of the country's troubles. He also examines Russia's contemporary role in the region, including regional dependence on Russian energy, Vladimir Putin's "vulgar, exclusivist nationalism," and revanchist behavior in Ukraine, which has ushered in a new, unsettling geopolitical age that has been referred to as a "new Cold War." Despite the lack of a clear focus and the somewhat incoherent organization, this is a well-written, intriguing, and informative book. Maps & photos. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt and Hochman Literary Agents Inc. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Romania was a journalistic backwater when the author's bestselling Balkan Ghosts appeared in 1993. In this equally captivating sequel, veteran journalist Kaplan (Asia's Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific, 2014, etc.) brings matters up to 2015. The Ukraine is across the border, Russia and the Middle East just beyond; all are hot spots putting increasing stress on Romania, which is making remarkable progress after 40 miserable years as a Soviet satellite following 10 as a Nazi ally. Its leader during the final 24 years of Soviet rule, Nicolae Ceausescu, enjoyed praise from the free world for his independence from Moscow, but he ran a particularly oppressive and corrupt government, "nothing less than a very Latin-style tyranny, a blend of Joseph Stalin and Juan Pern in the underbelly of Eastern Europe." His murder by revolutionaries in 1989 left an impoverished nation with no democratic traditions, a situation that Kaplan described vividly in Balkan Ghosts. Repeating his technique in this book, the author zigzags around the country and occasionally beyond, admiring the landscape, describing the cities (crumbling Stalinist architecture giving way to vast malls and apartment complexes, with the occasional jewel from earlier centuries), and interviewing government officials, surviving apparatchiks, intellectuals, historians, and fellow journalists. He seems to have read every novel, history, and scholarly work on his subject and quotes liberally, delivering a scattershot, often contradictory, and always entertaining avalanche of opinions on Romania's history, national character, and worries (mostly, again, about Russia). Kaplan does not promote Romania, but he has written a journalistic tour de force that will convince readers that it's a fascinating place whose people, past, and current geopolitical dilemma deserve our attention. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.