On this edition of The Weekly Reader, our book critic Marion Winik reviews two new great novels by two great writers: Anne Tyler's Redhead by the Side of the Road and Julia Alvarez's Afterlife.
Redhead by the Side of the Road, Anne Tyler, Knopf
Afterlife, Julia Alvarez, Algonquin
![](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fc99f72/2147483647/strip/true/crop/497x300+0+0/resize/880x531!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fwyprmain%2Ffiles%2F201804%2Fivy_with_sponsor_message_1.jpg)