The books of October are swooping in to help you figure out the world . Barbara Kingsolver's newest novel, Unsheltered, catches a woman just as she's realizing the conditions of 2018 abide by a new set of rules. Willa Knox, you see, never could have predicted that her years as an ambitious journalist would culminate in this: Living on the poverty line in a ramshackle inherited house, which she shares with her ailing father-in-law, barely employed husband, surprise grandson, wandering daughter, and grieving son. And there's absolutely no social safety net to catch them if they fall.