THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW – August 6, 2023: The issue features Daniel Kraus’s new thriller, “Whalefall,” the story of a teenage diver inadvertently swallowed by an 80-foot whale; the reissue of Claude Anet’s provocative 1920 novel, “Ariane: A Russian Girl”; a biography of the Gilded Age heiress and international spy Marguerite Harrison; a handful of audiobook recommendations; even the biography of a venerable scam.

Swallowed by a Sperm Whale, and Mourning His Father

In Daniel Kraus’s novel “Whalefall,” a teenage diver is gulped down by a 60-ton whale and must try to escape.

By Sarah Lyall

In marine biology, a whale fall is the body of a dead whale that has slowly descended to the bottom of the ocean. Scavengers strip its flesh, crustaceans and other creatures colonize its skeleton and its decaying bones help sustain countless organisms for years to come, part of the delicate balance of the undersea ecosystem.

Talking About Love in the Afternoon, Morning, Evening and Night

This black-and-white still from the 1957 film “Love in the Afternoon” portrays Gary Cooper, in white shirt and tie, leaning against a wall where Audrey Hepburn, in a black hat and dress, gazes back from between his arms. — While Billy Wilder’s 1957 film adaptation portrays Ariane (played by Audrey Hepburn) as a doe-eyed ingénue, Claude Anet’s original character is considerably more enigmatic. Credit…Allied Artists/Getty Images

Reading Claude Anet’s provocative 1920 novel “Ariane: A Russian Girl,” the reader may yearn for a little less conversation.

By Gemma Sieff

It would be nice if we had put to bed, so to speak, witless and reductive double standards about female promiscuity. Have you heard the one that goes, “A key that opens many locks is a master key, yet a lock that is opened by many keys” is … unprintably bad? Me neither — until I saw it on TikTok.