With ‘The Good Braider,’ Seacoast author Terry Farish offers a poetic retelling of a young refugee’s struggles in Maine.

In her new novel, Farish weaves the story of young Sudanese refugee Viola’s coming of age. As her family flees from Sudan to Cairo to Maine, Viola attempts to navigate these changes from within the local southern Sudanese community. The freedom of the United States—where short skirts, tattoos and dating are normal for young girls—puts Viola into conflict with her traditional mother, who is simultaneously attempting to navigate the same world.

The last few months have been a rollercoaster ride for RiverRun Bookstore, but the business is set to reopen in a new downtown Portsmouth location this month. RiverRun will open its doors at 142 Fleet St. on Friday, Feb. 10.

As The Players’ Ring gears up for its  production of “Body,” two authors will speak about the play’s subject, Marilyn Monroe, at Portsmouth Library.

Marilyn Monroe. Her name alone is enough to conjure images of platinum blonde, a beauty mark above red lipstick, a plunging neckline and classic Hollywood glamour. It’s also enough to earn her estate at least $20 million per year, more than she saw in life, said John De Lito, co-author of “The Immortal Marilyn: The Depiction of an Icon.”

Vintage International, 2000: One’s enjoyment of “The Elementary Particles” hinges directly on one’s capacity to stomach obscenity in exchange for the promise of a big intellectual payoff. On the one hand, it’s a thought-provoking novel that has earned author Michel Houellebecq comparisons to Huxley and Camus. On the other, it features pornographic descriptions of sex and violence that can be more than a bit unsettling.