What We’re Reading This Fall

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers

by Samuel Burr

Abandoned as an infant on the doorstep of Creighton Hall, Clayton Stumper is taken in by a loving commune of enigmatologists whose eccentricities he appreciates but doesn’t quite share. Two decades on, Pippa Allsbrook, a keen crossword compiler and Clayton’s primary maternal presence, dies, but not before stringing together one last puzzle for the boy. With the first few clues in hand, Clayton ventures beyond his comfortable life in the commune to solve the veritable scavenger hunt whose solution will reveal truths about himself, his biological parents, the skeletons in the Fellowship’s closets, and what it really means to be a family.

Pronoun Trouble

by John McWhorter

Have you ever wondered why I is the only English pronoun that’s capitalized? Or why we and us, two sides of the same pronominal coin, don’t have any letters in common? And whatever happened to thee and thou? Columbia University linguistics professor John McWhorter answers these questions and more in this deep dive into English pronouns. We might think we know how to correctly wield he and she, us and them — according to logical, unchanging grammatical rules — but that’s only because we grew up with the language. Compared to other tongues, including Old English, modern standard English doesn’t have enough pronouns, and this historical and cross-cultural exploration reveals a malleability in real-world pronoun use that grammar teachers don’t talk about.

The Couple at Table Six

by Daniel Hurst

Every Friday evening, Max and Nadine Murphy have dinner at their favorite restaurant, San Belle, where they are served by the waitress Hannah. The Murphys appear to be living The American Dream, with a lovely home, two children, and a profitable business that Max is contemplating selling. Hannah develops an unhealthy infatuation with them — with Max in particular. But in the process of stalking the couple, Hannah sees the darkness that hides behind the Murphys’ perfect facades, and the knowledge may threaten her life. This psychological thriller takes readers through a labyrinth of emotional turbulence as secrets are revealed, loyalties are tested, and expectations are warped.

This article is featured in the November/December 2025 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.