Zink’s zesty debut is a swinging affair

With Nazi gags, stripping sisters and plenty of adulterous sex, there is little quiet or unassuming about Nell Zink’s debut novel The Wallcreeper. The same can be said for the Virginian author herself, whose rise to fame, at 51, rivals the zany plots of her books.

After striking up a correspondence with fellow birder Jonathan Franzen about the plight of migratory birds, Zink was encouraged by the acclaimed novelist to develop her fiction ...