Commonwealth By Ann Patchett Purchase BookPurchase close overlay Buy Featured Book TitleCommonwealthAuthorAnn Patchett Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How? Amazon iBooks Independent Bookstores Good novels are like good parties: You get the right mix of people together, and you never quite know what will happen. In Ann Patchett's new novel Commonwealth, a christening party takes a turn when one guest arrives with a bottle of gin. The gin leads to a wonderfully sloppy afternoon with cocktail mixing, a dancing priest, and two adulterous kisses.

Daniel Caesar : NPR Accessibility links Daniel Caesar Daniel Caesar artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music Daniel Caesar. Cassanova Cabrera/Courtesy of the artist hide caption toggle caption Cassanova Cabrera/Courtesy of the artist New Music Friday: The best releases out on April 7 Daniel Caesar performs a Tiny Desk Concert on April 30, 2018. Morgan Noelle Smith/NPR hide caption toggle caption Morgan Noelle Smith/NPR Ali Wong photographed by Stephanie Gonot.

Automotive industryObituaryHarris Mann obituaryDesigner of the Austin Allegro and radical ‘wedge-shaped’ cars including the Triumph TR7 and the Austin PrincessHarris Mann, who has died aged 85, came to prominence with his 1973 design for the Austin Allegro, perhaps the most lampooned British car of recent times. In the four decades since its demise, the unfairly derided Allegro has become a lazy shorthand for everything that was wrong with British Leyland – and even Britain itself – in the 70s, becoming the comic turn of the classic car world.

Cue the pandemonium! All five Spice Girls sent social media into a frenzy with this photo posted in February 2018.  They responded to the excitement in a joint statement, saying, "We have enjoyed a wonderful afternoon catching-up and reminiscing about the amazing times we have spent together. We are always overwhelmed at how much interest there is across the whole world for The Spice Girls. The time now feels right to explore some incredible new opportunities together.

Taylor Swift is offering an olive branch with one telling lyric from Speak Now (Taylor's Version).  With the release of her latest re-recorded album, Swift made a subtle tweak to one of the infamous lines from her fiery breakup track, "Better Than Revenge." While scorning a former boyfriend's new lover, Swift sang in her 2010 release, "She's better known for the things that she does on the mattress."  Now, in her 2023 version, she declares, "