Autobiography: general Books

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisFrom a daughter of Iranian revolutionaries, activists, immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers comes a gripping and emotional memoir of family and the tumultuous history of two nations. In 1979, Neda Toloui-Semnani’s parents left the United States for Iran to join the revolution. But the promise of those early heady days in Tehran was warped by the rise of the Islamic Republic. With the new regime came international isolation, cultural devastation, and profound personal loss for Neda. Her father was arrested and her mother was forced to make a desperate escape, pregnant and with Neda in tow. Conflicted about her parents’ choices for years, Neda realized that to move forward, she had to face the past head-on. Through extensive reporting, journals, and detailed interviews, Neda untangles decades of history in a search for answers. Both an epic family drama and a timely true-life political thriller, They Said They Wanted Revolution illuminates the costs of righteous activism across generations.Trade Review“The book is both richly reflective, informative, and tender in its characterizations…a generous and heartfelt search for personal and familial identity.” —Kirkus Reviews “[Neda] Toloui-Semnani movingly reflects on how disconnected she felt from her Iranian roots while growing up in Washington, D.C., and weaves in diary excerpts and correspondence from her first trip back to Iran, in 2003. The result is an intimate and vital study of the Iranian diaspora.” —Publishers Weekly “Illuminating, poignant. An inspiring read.” —Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran “A wonder of reporting and reflection. Neda Toloui-Semnani’s masterly, propulsive historical narrative leads the reader to an uncannily sharp view on the present. This is an essential book in the canon of stories that pursue a universal question: How can our parents know us so intimately and remain out of reach at the same time?” —Stephanie Gorton, author of Citizen Reporters “Neda Toloui-Semnani gifts us a unique memoir—heartbreaking, poetic, and ultimately inspiring—of revolution and its effects, ones that haunt its children for decades. The old quote (turned old cliché) that a revolution devours its own (or its children) is not just a truism for Neda’s Persian family but a tragedy that came to define her. This history—of not just revolution but also dual identity—is seldom told with such raw emotion and devastating beauty.” —Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ “They Said They Wanted Revolution by Neda Toloui-Semnani belongs to a growing body of memoirs, like The Return by Hisham Matar and The Window Seat by Aminatta Forna, that illuminate the global world in which we all now live, with its violently crisscrossing perspectives. Toloui-Semnani’s parents, young Iranian Americans, were inspired by the Berkeley Free Speech Movement to promote revolution in Iran—and got Khomeini’s hell. When her father is executed, her pregnant mother flees with three-year-old Neda across the desert on horseback—back to California. The new way that the author sees the United States after her dive into this riveting story is a gift. Her complex, tragic understanding of political passion is gold.” —Suzannah Lessard, author of The Absent Hand “Neda Toloui-Semnani delivers a deeply intimate look at the most critical years in contemporary Iranian history—the revolution—with a portrait of her family that will offer so many readers insights into Iran’s dilemmas today. The multigenerational experience of our culture often lives only in data and newsprint, almost always hinging on politics and theory, but Toloui-Semnani lets us join her in exploring personal, emotional, and even spiritual dimensions. The result is a book that is as hard to put down as it is to part with. In untangling the layers of her own personal history, Toloui-Semnani so generously writes us all into her powerful and beautiful debut.” —Porochista Khakpour, author of the acclaimed Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity “A richly informative book that simultaneously informs, moves, inspires, and gracefully captures a difficult time in Iranian history with honesty and candor. Neda Toloui-Semnani’s intimate memoir artfully intertwines her parents’ coming-of-age against the backdrop of pre-revolutionary Tehran with her own journey of self-discovery as the child of two passionate, risk-taking political activists. From California to Iran to Turkey, this gripping, beautiful account of a woman’s reckoning with her parents’ history, of the treacherous path of being smuggled out of Iran, paints a vivid and haunting picture of the lives of those fighting for justice. An important, riveting page-turner filled with luminous prose.” —Natasha Scripture, author of Man Fast: A Memoir “Exhilarating and contemplative in turns, Neda Toloui-Semnani’s family memoir is both history and her story. Part bildungsroman and part investigative journalism, she sets out on a journey to discover her past, looking for clues in places as diverse as Missouri and Berkeley, Yemen and Baghdad. She tells us not only about the entangled modern histories of Iran and the United States but also of the shifting meanings of morality and love, rebellion and justice. An outstanding read.” —Arash Azizi, author of The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US, and Iran’s Global Ambitions “Neda Toloui-Semnani has given us the most generous book. Like the hyphen in her storied family name, she sits in the liminal, holding two worlds, two nations, two generations together, and suturing with such a deft touch many sides of twin wounds: the loss of her progressive Iranian parents. Toloui-Semnani’s commitment to truth, art, and family is exemplary, showing us all what creative nonfiction can be: journalism as literature, family lore as history, and history as inheritance. This book goes beyond telling a story. It reclaims it, giving back to a brave, intelligent, and dutiful daughter all that she set out to find: revolutionary love that holds together tomorrow, today, and the ever-elusive details of yesterday. They Said They Wanted Revolution made me fall in love with the craft all over again.” —Cinelle Barnes, author of Monsoon Mansion and Malaya “A daughter’s profoundly moving and meticulous quest to understand her father’s execution and her family’s expulsion from home, this book is brimming with lyrical beauty and cerebral brilliance. In precise, journalistic prose that erupts in a dazzling emotional crescendo, Toloui-Semnani captures the shape of loss and arc of resilience. An extraordinary meditation on love, loss, and the cost of redirecting history, They Said They Wanted Revolution is a vital story for our times.” —Jean Guerrero, author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda and Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir

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Book SynopsisA behind-the-scenes look at the meteoric rise and stunning takedown of a nightclub empire, by the man who held the reins. Limelight, Tunnel, Club USA, and Palladium—the cutting-edge, insanely successful, and notoriously decadent clubs that dominated New York City’s entertainment scene, their influences reverberating around the world. Across four decades, a single mysterious figure stood behind them all: Peter Gatien, the leading impresario of global nightlife. His clubs didn’t follow the trends—they created movements. They nurtured vanguard music acts that brought rock, house, grunge, hip-hop, industrial, and techno to the beautiful ones who showed up night after night to tear the roof off every party. But as Peter and his innovative team ramped up the hedonistic highs, Rudolph Giuliani was leading a major shift in the city. Under the guise of improving New York City’s “quality of life,” the club scene was targeted—and Peter Gatien’s empire became a major focus of the administration. In this frank and gritty memoir, Peter Gatien charts the seismic changes in his personal and professional life and the targeted destruction of his nightclub empire. From Peter’s childhood in a Canadian mill town to the freedom of the 1970s, through the excesses of the 1980s and the ensuing crackdown in the 1990s, The Club King chronicles the birth and death of a cultural movement—and the life of the man who was in control of every beat.Trade Review“A giant of the 1970s through 1990s New York City club scene…paints a picture of a simple guy with big dreams who was always vulnerable to outside speculation and conjecture…crisp, vivid prose…a warm tale of a local boy making good on the other side of the border…Sixteen years after his deportation back to Canada, Gatien tells his side of the story. An arresting and provocative narrative.” —Kirkus Reviews “Gatien once dominated the empire that is New York nightlife. Now he’s telling his story—the highs, the hedonism, and all the gritty details.” —Newsweek “Peter Gatien may be the wisest cat in New York…he’s got a tale to tell, one filled with fabulousness and tabloid phantasmagoria…The Club King, his slick new memoir out this month, chronicles Gatien’s rise from a working-class kid in a sulfurous paper mill town in Ontario.” —Rolling Stone “The Limelight and Tunnel are long gone. But the story of their vilified owner is still being written…With his memoir, The Club King published on April 1, he hopes for a degree of catharsis after an epic rise and fall, but also to celebrate a lost New York, when clubs felt mysterious and transgressive, luring the misfits and outcasts from the city’s creative underground, and every night felt like a Mardi Gras on Mars.” —New York Times “[Gatien’s] legacy is—or ought to be—one of dogged entrepreneurism and a creative culture-centered approach to nightlife…If you were in New York and of partying age in the ‘90s, you almost certainly spent time in one or more of Gatien’s spots. But the entrepreneur’s story has many more chapters to it…The Club King covers one of clubland’s darkest chapters but doesn’t dwell on it…a chance to tell his own story.” —Billboard “[A] formidable career as the preeminent swizzle stick in the cocktail of Manhattan nightlife…full of stories.” —The Face “Peter Gatien’s new memoir The Club King: My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife arrives at a time when gathering at nightclubs already seems like a distant memory. Which makes this fast-paced account of his legendary run of clubs in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s seem even more like a fantasy.” —Now Toronto “A mesmerizing memoir chronicling [Gatien’s] unlikely journey from a humble childhood in a Canadian mill town to the apex of a cultural empire that defined the spirit of pre-gentrification New York.” —Another Man Magazine “NYC nightlife impresario Peter Gatien—who was behind legendary ‘90s clubs Limelight, Palladium, Club USA, and Tunnel—has revealed his wildest moments with celebs from Johnny Depp to Mick Jagger in a new memoir.” —Page Six

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Book SynopsisAn award-winning Iraqi writer creates a new world for himself in Seattle in search of lost love. As the US occupation of Iraq rages, novelist Mortada Gzar, a student at the University of Baghdad, has a chance encounter with Morise, an African American soldier. It’s love at first sight, a threat to them both, and a moment of self-discovery. Challenged by society’s rejection and Morise’s return to the US, Mortada takes to the page to understand himself. In his deeply affecting memoir, Mortada interweaves tales of his childhood work as a scrap-metal collector in a war zone and the indignities faced by openly gay artists in Iraq with his impossible love story and journey to the US. Marginalized by his own society, he is surprised to discover the racism he finds in a new one. At its heart, I’m in Seattle, Where Are You? is a moving tale of love and resilience.Trade ReviewPraise for I’m in Seattle, Where Are You? “Wildly inventive…Built on keenly observed cultural, political, and personal details and populated by vivid characters, this book—illustrated throughout with Gzar’s starkly surreal ink drawings—draws readers into a narrative web that is by turns shocking, funny, and deeply moving. A magical tragicomic story of love, sacrifice, and conviction.” —Kirkus Reviews “An exquisite story of life and lost love…Gzar’s nonlinear narrative and lyrical prose convey his deep desire to reunite with his lover…Hard to put down and difficult to forget.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “With humor and heartache, Mortada Gzar’s new memoir spans the distance between Iraq and Seattle…sometimes the connections are bracing…very funny…Gzar writes beautifully.” —Seattle Times “Mortada Gzar tells his story filled with heart, heartache, and humor.” —KING-5/New Day Northwest “Translated from Arabic, this memoir uncoils slowly and leaves us wishing that even the best-told stories had happier endings.” —Crosscut (Cascade Pubic Media) “This memoir from Iraqi novelist Mortada Gzar captured my full attention from the very beginning. Gzar offers a nuanced look at living as a closeted gay man in Iraq…it’s a tale of love, bravery, resilience, and how to be yourself, even when the odds are stacked against you…Gzar’s experiences are as remarkable as they are unforgettable.” —Audible (Editors Select) “At once hilarious and truly haunting, I’m in Seattle, Where Are You? is a story of so much: war and savagery, queerness and exile, love and loss. Mortada Gzar is the rare memoirist who understands memory itself—illogical, impossible, magical.” —Rumaan Alam, author of the National Book Awards finalist Leave the World Behind “A memoir more formalistically creative than most novels! Mortada has extraordinary experiences, a generous heart, and incredible talent.” —Anton Hur, PEN Translates award-winning translator “Mortada Gzar’s memoir, I’m in Seattle, Where Are You?, is a dazzling account of love, loss, and the complications of exile. This Iraqi novelist, filmmaker, and artist, a Whitman-like figure who contains multitudes in his embrace of the cosmos, understands ‘that stories, like meteors, obey the laws of physics,’ and what emerges in the stories he tells to an array of characters, including the statue of a vagrant, is proof that while ‘their energy does not fade or increase’ they will shape the lives and thinking of those who have the good luck to hear them. This is exactly the book to read in this fraught time.” —Christopher Merrill, author of Self-Portrait with Dogwood Praise for Mortada Gzar “The greatest success of Al-Sayyid Asghar Akbar (Mr. Little Big) is in building a space that links past with present and wonder tales with bleak contemporary realities like the American occupation of Iraq.” —Mohammed Khudayyir, author of Basrayatha: Portrait of a City “Al-Sayyid Asghar Akbar is one of the few Iraqi novels that draws successfully on other arts, especially poetry. It can stand confidently beside the best Iraqi novels with its rich content and magical technique.” —Abd al-Khaliq al-Rikabi “Al-Sayyid Asghar Akbar by the brilliant writer Mortada Gzar offers a unique, magical approach to prose narration. It is an entertaining novel with a surreal atmosphere that offers us a panoramic portrayal of the life of the city of Najaf and its ordinary citizens. Contemporary scenes blend with age-old symbols in it.” —Lotfiya al-Daylami “This novel excavates the past, its characters’ lives, and what they have deliberately concealed.” —Ali Abbas Khafif “Al-Sayyid Asghar Akbar is a distinctive Iraqi tragedy saturated with comedy that Mortada Gzar has written with a unique lexicon. Its characters are drawn from the bottom of Iraqi society, from its margins. In this novel we hear the voices of people who otherwise are never allowed to express an opinion openly.” —Saad Mohammed Raheem “Al-’Ilmawi (The Scientismist) was written by the skillful dreamer Mortada Gzar, who is an engineer, an artist, and a filmmaker. Its events are described by an imagination that is open full throttle. Twin brothers, Abbas and Fadhil, live through the period from the 1990s to 2003. One brother invents a manikin that answers questions but self-destructs when interrogated by a British commander.” —Maysalun Hadi, author of Prophecy of Pharaoh

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Book SynopsisWorld-renowned hip-hop artist Jason “Timbuktu” Diakité’s vivid and intimate journey through his own and his family’s history—from South Carolina slavery to twenty-first-century Sweden. Born to interracial American parents in Sweden, Jason Diakité grew up between worlds—part Swedish, American, black, white, Cherokee, Slovak, and German, riding a delicate cultural and racial divide. It was a no-man’s-land that left him in constant search of self. Even after his hip-hop career took off, Jason fought to unify a complex system of family roots that branched across continents, ethnicities, classes, colors, and eras to find a sense of belonging. In A Drop of Midnight, Jason draws on conversations with his parents, personal experiences, long-lost letters, and pilgrimages to South Carolina and New York to paint a vivid picture of race, discrimination, family, and ambition. His ancestors’ origins as slaves in the antebellum South, his parents’ struggles as an interracial couple, and his own world-expanding connection to hip-hop helped him fashion a strong black identity in Sweden. What unfolds in Jason’s remarkable voyage of discovery is a complex and unflinching look at not only his own history but also that of generations affected by the trauma of the African diaspora, then and now.Trade ReviewOne of TranslatedLit.com’s Most Anticipated Books of 2020 “His writing has an ethereal, questioning quality, in sync with his background…the author’s prose is often nimble and observant, sharply considering the burdens surrounding race and masculinity. A vibrant, thoughtful memoir reflecting contemporary black cultural concerns.” —Kirkus Reviews “This touching exploration of race and heritage is incisive, heartbreaking, and heartwarming.” —Library Journal “Diakité smooths out the conflicting complications of his heritage and upbringing to create a positive form of complexity.” —Booklist

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Book SynopsisFinding love is all a matter of timing in a surprising, complicated, and funny memoir by the author of A Marriage in Dog Years. When a mysterious woman summons Nancy Balbirer to a Russian restaurant in New York City, the near stranger’s shocking purple hair and even more shocking news send Balbirer simultaneously reeling back to her past and hurtling toward a future that, at almost fifty years old, she never dreamed possible. This romantic-comedy memoir tells the true story of how a pack of Hollywood television writers and the denizens of a fabled but cursed Manhattan apartment building helped the author and one of her best friends turn a thirty-two-year almost romance into a real one. Witty and heartfelt, Nancy Balbirer’s sublime memoir proves that love is possible anywhere, anytime, and at any age.Trade Review“Touching and often laugh-out-loud funny…Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron fans will be utterly charmed.” —Publishers Weekly “A lively, zesty memoir. Movie buffs, wordplay-loving readers, and hopeless never-say-die-to-love romantics will enjoy this happy-ever-after tale.” —Booklist “In this new memoir, Balbirer tells the story of a romance more than 30 years in the making, and brings readers along on the equally funny, heartbreaking, and exhilarating adventure to make it work.” —Town & Country “Nancy and her husband, Howard J. Morris, didn’t get together until their 50s, despite 32 years of knowing each other. A slew of Hollywood TV writers and the residents of a cursed apartment building conspired to turn this almost romance into an actual one.” —Katie Couric Media “The heartwarming story unfolds in Nancy Balbirer’s charming memoir Almost Romance. In her book, Balbirer tells the downright cinematic tale of how she finally realized her life-long best friend was also the person she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with.” —POPSUGAR “Nancy Balbirer’s previous books—Take Your Shirt Off and Cry and A Marriage in Dog Years—made clear the author had a singular skill for turning the trials and triumphs of her own life into unforgettable stories. In this new memoir, Balbirer tells the story of a romance more than 30 years in the making, and brings readers along on the equally funny, heartbreaking, and exhilarating adventure to make it work.” —Town & Country “For Nancy Meyers fans…Meryl, call your agents!” —Andy Lewis, The Optionist “When Howie met Nancy more than thirty years ago, they both had a lot to learn about love—and themselves. Nancy Balbirer’s new memoir, Almost Romance, tells the story of two people (writer Balbirer and Howard J. Morris, cocreator of Grace and Frankie) who were always meant to be together if they could just get it together. And finally, in their fifties, they do. Fun and frothy and full of great callbacks to sex in the city over the last three decades, Almost Romance gives hope to romantics in an impersonal age for love. From Nancy’s first anguished email reaching out to her old friend Howie, we are rooting for this couple, who come to realize that, after lives spent living without each other, they can’t exist apart. Nora Ephron would approve.” —Nancy Jo Sales, author of Nothing Personal: My Secret Life in the Dating App Inferno “Almost Romance is a modern-day romantic thriller, because what could be scarier for a cynical New York divorcée than believing in love again? Balbirer’s memoir spans the decades of missed opportunities with her soul mate from college. She is ballsy, insecure, and wickedly funny and overthinks everything. It’s a great ride and a great read!” —Josann McGibbon, Emmy-nominated screenwriter of The Starter Wife and Runaway Bride “The laugh-out-loud wit and astute contemporary observations that distinguish Nancy Balbirer’s previous memoirs is on full display in this marvelous third book. She also gives us a deeply emotional, romantic story that makes us yearn for the two longtime friends to at last find happiness with each other.” —Charles Busch, actor, playwright, cabaret entertainer, novelist, and screenwriter

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Book SynopsisA powerful, lush memoir about a Hawaiian woman who ran away from paradise to discover who she is and where she belongs. Born and raised in Hawai‘i by a father whose ancestors are indigenous to the land and a mother from the American South, Jessica Machado wrestles with what it means to be “local.” Feeling separate from the history and tenets of Hawaiian culture that have been buried under the continental imports of malls and MTV, Jessica often sees her homeland reflected back to her from the tourist perspective—as an uncomplicated paradise. Her existence, however, feels far from that ideal. Balancing her parents’ divorce, an ailing mother, and growing anxiety, Jessica rebels. She moves to Los Angeles, convinced she’ll leave her complicated family behind and define herself. Instead, her isolation only becomes more severe, and her dying mother follows her to California. For Jessica, the only way to escape is a reckless downward spiral. Interwoven with a rich and nuanced exploration of Hawaiian history and traditions, Local is a personal and moving narrative about family, grief, and reconnecting to the land she tried to leave behind.Trade Review“[A] memoir about loneliness, loss, and finding a cultural identity…[that] gorgeously portray[s] the complexity of Machado’s spiral into despair…Machado’s rich descriptions and frank voice make the book worth reading.” —Kirkus Reviews “Machado movingly excavates notions of identity, family, and Native culture in her debut, a memoir…[Her] narrative hums with raw emotion...Her depiction of Hawaii is far from the carefree paradise shaped by tourists and Western colonialism and instead offers a sharp consideration of class distinctions and the islands’ history. The result is a luminous coming-of-age portrait.” —Publishers Weekly “Mixing in Hawaiian history and folklore throughout her memoir, Machado offers a heady and enticing read.” —Booklist “At long last, a book that shatters the colonial gaze too often cast on the Pacific; here, Jessica Machado brings the islands to life with incendiary dynamism and pitch-perfect prose. A mesmerizing portrait of a woman, her ‘ohana, and the ancestral knowledge deep within — I never wanted this to end. Local is an unforgettable debut and a triumph for Kanaka and APIA literature.” —T. Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of the Fatherless Girls “Machado is a ferociously talented writer who blends insight, compassion, history, and love into this breathtaking story of home, family, and belonging. This book is necessary reading for anyone who has ever wanted to understand Hawai’i, their families, or themselves.” —Lyz Lenz, author of Belabored “A deeply moving memoir about navigating pain—both personal and systemic—through the complex history of Hawai’i. By revealing her own story, she also reveals the stories of the Kanaka, and the result is both heartbreaking and uplifting.” —Samhita Mukhopadhyay, author of the forthcoming The Myth of Making It

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Book SynopsisA laugh-out-loud spin on the realities, perks, opportunities, and inevitable courses of midlife. Laurie Notaro has proved everyone wrong: she didn’t end up in rehab, prison, or cremated at a tender age. She just went gray. At past fifty, every hair’s root is a symbol of knowledge (she knows how to use a landline), experience (she rode in a car with no seat belts), and superpowers (a gray-haired lady can get away with anything). Though navigating midlife is initially upsetting—the cracking noises coming from her new old body, receiving regular junk mail from mortuaries—Laurie accepts it. And then some. With unintentional abandon, she shoplifts a bag of russet potatoes. Heckles a rude driver from her beat-up Prius. And engages in epic trolling on Nextdoor.com. That, says Laurie, is the brilliance of growing older. With each passing day, you lose an equivalent amount of fear. And the #1 New York Times bestselling author has never been so fearlessly funny as she is in this empowering, candid, and enlightening memoir about living life on the other side of fifty.Trade ReviewPraise for Excuse Me While I Disappear “Witty and full of sarcastic energy, the author fearlessly tackles what it means to get old…Unplugged, refreshingly off the hook, and consistently entertaining.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Notaro’s fans who’ve aged right alongside her will feel like they’re on a call with a best friend.” —Publishers Weekly “Though her hair is gray and she’s getting junk mail from mortuaries, with every passing day she grows a little less afraid.” —USA Today “This author shows it’s hard work to make it to 50, but she is here to help readers transition from adult to older adult with sage advice, raucous laughs, and just the right amount of potty-mouthed language…Fans of Annabelle Gurwitch and Helen Ellis will likely enjoy this book as well, plus laugh out loud at this candid comedy of errors and older people.” —Library Journal “Conversational and laugh-out-loud funny, Excuse Me While I Disappear feels like hearing stories from your best friend. Longtime fans will be thrilled to hear more from the author, and Notaro may bring in new fans with her frank discussion of aging as a Gen Xer.” —Booklist Praise for Laurie Notaro “If Laurie Notaro’s books don’t inspire pants-wetting fits of laughter, then please consult your physician because clearly your funny bone is broken.” —Jane Lancaster “Hilarious, fabulously improper, and completely relatable, Notaro is the queen of funny.” —Celia Rivenbark “Whenever I pick up a book by Laurie Notaro, I know I’ll be in a good mood soon. Because Laurie Notaro makes me laugh. Period.” —Meg Cabot “Pure, unexpurgated Notaro…again, she turns on the truth serum and the results are once more riotously funny.” —San Antonio Express-News “For pure laugh-out-loud, then read-out-loud fun, it’s hard to beat this humor writer.” —New Orleans Times-Picayune “[Notaro] may be the funniest writer in this solar system.” —Miami Herald

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Book SynopsisA laugh-out-loud spin on the realities, perks, opportunities, and inevitable courses of midlife. Laurie Notaro has proved everyone wrong: she didn’t end up in rehab, prison, or cremated at a tender age. She just went gray. At past fifty, every hair’s root is a symbol of knowledge (she knows how to use a landline), experience (she rode in a car with no seat belts), and superpowers (a gray-haired lady can get away with anything). Though navigating midlife is initially upsetting—the cracking noises coming from her new old body, receiving regular junk mail from mortuaries—Laurie accepts it. And then some. With unintentional abandon, she shoplifts a bag of russet potatoes. Heckles a rude driver from her beat-up Prius. And engages in epic trolling on Nextdoor.com. That, says Laurie, is the brilliance of growing older. With each passing day, you lose an equivalent amount of fear. And the #1 New York Times bestselling author has never been so fearlessly funny as she is in this empowering, candid, and enlightening memoir about living life on the other side of fifty.Trade ReviewPraise for Excuse Me While I Disappear “Witty and full of sarcastic energy, the author fearlessly tackles what it means to get old…Unplugged, refreshingly off the hook, and consistently entertaining.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Notaro’s fans who’ve aged right alongside her will feel like they’re on a call with a best friend.” —Publishers Weekly “Though her hair is gray and she’s getting junk mail from mortuaries, with every passing day she grows a little less afraid.” —USA Today “This author shows it’s hard work to make it to 50, but she is here to help readers transition from adult to older adult with sage advice, raucous laughs, and just the right amount of potty-mouthed language…Fans of Annabelle Gurwitch and Helen Ellis will likely enjoy this book as well, plus laugh out loud at this candid comedy of errors and older people.” —Library Journal “Conversational and laugh-out-loud funny, Excuse Me While I Disappear feels like hearing stories from your best friend. Longtime fans will be thrilled to hear more from the author, and Notaro may bring in new fans with her frank discussion of aging as a Gen Xer.” —Booklist Praise for Laurie Notaro “If Laurie Notaro’s books don’t inspire pants-wetting fits of laughter, then please consult your physician because clearly your funny bone is broken.” —Jane Lancaster “Hilarious, fabulously improper, and completely relatable, Notaro is the queen of funny.” —Celia Rivenbark “Whenever I pick up a book by Laurie Notaro, I know I’ll be in a good mood soon. Because Laurie Notaro makes me laugh. Period.” —Meg Cabot “Pure, unexpurgated Notaro…again, she turns on the truth serum and the results are once more riotously funny.” —San Antonio Express-News “For pure laugh-out-loud, then read-out-loud fun, it’s hard to beat this humor writer.” —New Orleans Times-Picayune “[Notaro] may be the funniest writer in this solar system.” —Miami Herald

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Book SynopsisRacial identity, pop culture, and delusions of perfection collide in an eye-opening and refreshingly frank memoir by fashion and beauty insider Danielle Prescod.Danielle Prescod grew up Black in an elite and overwhelmingly white community, her identity made more invisible by the whitewashed movies, television, magazines, and books she and her classmates voraciously consumed. Danielle took her cue from the world around her and aspired to shrink her identity into that box, setting increasingly poisonous goals. She started painful and damaging chemical hair treatments in elementary school, began depriving herself of food when puberty hit, and tried to control her image through the most unimpeachable, impeccable fashion choices.Those obsessions led her to relentlessly pursue a career in beauty and fashion—the eye of the racist and sexist beauty standard storm. Assimilating was hard, but she was practiced. And she was an asset. Their “Token Black Girl.” Toxic, sure. But Danielle was striving to achieve social cache and working her way up the ladder of coveted media jobs, and she looked great, right? So what if she had to endure executives’ questions like “What was it like to drive to school from the ghetto?” Or coworkers’ eager curiosity to know if her parents were on welfare. But after decades of burying her emotions, resentment, and true self, Danielle turned a critical eye inward and confronted the factors that motivated her self-destructive behaviors.Sharp witted and bracingly candid, Token Black Girl unpacks the adverse effects of insidious white supremacy in the media—both unconscious and strategic—to tell a personal story about recovery from damaging concepts of perfection, celebrating identity, and demolishing social conditioning.

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Book SynopsisRacial identity, pop culture, and delusions of perfection collide in an eye-opening and refreshingly frank memoir by fashion and beauty insider Danielle Prescod.Danielle Prescod grew up Black in an elite and overwhelmingly white community, her identity made more invisible by the whitewashed movies, television, magazines, and books she and her classmates voraciously consumed. Danielle took her cue from the world around her and aspired to shrink her identity into that box, setting increasingly poisonous goals. She started painful and damaging chemical hair treatments in elementary school, began depriving herself of food when puberty hit, and tried to control her image through the most unimpeachable, impeccable fashion choices.Those obsessions led her to relentlessly pursue a career in beauty and fashion—the eye of the racist and sexist beauty standard storm. Assimilating was hard, but she was practiced. And she was an asset. Their “Token Black Girl.” Toxic, sure. But Danielle was striving to achieve social cache and working her way up the ladder of coveted media jobs, and she looked great, right? So what if she had to endure executives’ questions like “What was it like to drive to school from the ghetto?” Or coworkers’ eager curiosity to know if her parents were on welfare. But after decades of burying her emotions, resentment, and true self, Danielle turned a critical eye inward and confronted the factors that motivated her self-destructive behaviors.Sharp witted and bracingly candid, Token Black Girl unpacks the adverse effects of insidious white supremacy in the media—both unconscious and strategic—to tell a personal story about recovery from damaging concepts of perfection, celebrating identity, and demolishing social conditioning.

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Book SynopsisFrom one of the most vital and passionate LGBTQ+ activists comes a powerful memoir about self-discovery, community, love, and resilience in the face of adversity. You never forget your first. First kiss. First love. First heartache. They all burrow their way into your subconscious, destined to reshape how you see the world forever. Growing up in rural Oregon, Brandon Wolf grappled with the devastating loss of his supportive mother and with the embedded racism and homophobia of a community that made him feel like an unwelcome stranger. After the lack of connection and role models led him down a spiral of risky behavior, Wolf escaped to survive. In Orlando, he found what he’d been searching for: belonging—in a community that was a safe space with people he’d come to call his chosen family. They taught Wolf how to love, and be loved, unconditionally. Then, on June 12, 2016, in an exhilarating refuge where Wolf and hundreds of others had discovered a liberating new normal, they were suddenly challenged with fighting for a way out—in order to survive. Overnight, everything was ripped away by chaos, panic, and fear. But the unimaginable tragedy also gave Wolf a new power: purpose. In this unforgettable coming-of-age memoir, Wolf shares his transformative journey from young outsider to galvanizing activist. Marshaling the compassion and strength of a community, Wolf explores how to get through the darkest times with healing, hope, and resistance. “With our backs against the wall,” he writes, “we find a way out together.”Trade ReviewPraise for A Place for Us “[A] blazing debut. In stirring prose, Wolf mounts a testament to the power of community and a howling cry for justice. This is unforgettable.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “This heartfelt book will appeal not only to LGBTQ+ readers, but to anyone committed to the fight for social justice for any marginalized community. Poignant, inspiring reading.” —Kirkus Reviews “Raw, candid, and often uncomfortable.” —Library Journal “[A] powerful read.” —USA Today “An essential testament to the togetherness and resilience of the queer community.” —Electric Literature “One of the most powerful voices of his generation, Brandon Wolf tells a story of race, place, and the struggle for belonging that will drive you to tears and expand your capacity for hope, as well as your appreciation for the power of community. A true inspiration.” —Joy-Ann Reid, host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut “This book is both a necessary reckoning and a soft place to land. Brandon’s story is a journey that challenges readers to not only find hope but also find the resolve necessary to take action. A must-read for anyone who wants to be filled with the spirit of progress.” —Frederick Joseph, New York Times bestselling author and award-winning activist “A Place for Us is daring, raw, and necessary. The fight to end America’s gun violence epidemic has long been grounded in the courage and tenacity of those most directly impacted. Brandon’s survivor story will spur you to get up and fight for a better, safer tomorrow.” —Shannon Watts, founder, Moms Demand Action “A Place for Us is a breathtakingly honest memoir that challenges all of us to rise above our darkest moments in order to courageously live as our most authentic selves.” —Igor Volsky, cofounder and executive director of Guns Down America

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Book SynopsisA deeply personal memoir about one woman’s journey to finding her voice and rewriting her story by the creator and host of the award-winning podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books™. Zibby Owens has become a well-known personality in the publishing world. Her infectious energy, tasteful authenticity, and smart, steadfast support of authors started in childhood, a precedent set by the profound effect books and libraries had on her own family. But after losing her closest friend on 9/11 and later becoming utterly stressed out and overwhelmed by motherhood, Zibby was forgetting what made her her. She turned to books and writing for help. Just when things seemed particularly bleak, Zibby unexpectedly fell in love with a tennis pro turned movie producer who showed her the path to happiness: away from type-A perfectionism and toward letting things unfold organically. What unfolded was a meaningful career, a great love, and finally, her voice, now heard by millions of listeners. An honest and moving story about relationships, love, food issues, the writing life, and finding one’s true calling, Bookends will inspire and uplift.Trade Review“Owens (Princess Charming), host of the podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books and cofounder of Zibby Books, chronicles her path from shy, bookish child to busy mom and media company CEO in this zippy debut…Owens’s infectious enthusiasm radiates with charm, as do her earnest reflections on motherhood. Bibliophiles will breeze through this.” —Publishers Weekly “Owens recounts falling in love again after divorce and offers encouragement and advice to mothers and women trying to get it all done. Her insights into dealing with grief are touching, and readers experiencing loss may find solace in her story.” —Kirkus Reviews “This is an endearing memoir reflecting on a woman’s defining moments in life that will likely resonate with Owens’ fans and also readers who enjoy stories about writers with a New York City backdrop.” —Booklist “Bookends, Zibby’s memoir, is a remarkably poignant story about family, relationships, love, life, and finding one’s true calling…Her writing flows off the page and offers something for everyone. If you’ve experienced heartache, depression, relationship pain, weight issues, felt punched in the face by life and loss…come through it alive and kickin’—you will fly through each page of Bookends. Zibby’s inspiring account provides helpful insight and hope to everyone who reads it.” —Quest Magazine “Part literary love story, part family history, it’s a propulsive read that chronicles Owens’s complicated relationships—with food, with romance, with books, with vast wealth—all told with self-effacing warmth…heartfelt and touching.” —Claire Gibson, Avenue Magazine “In this new memoir…she takes on the role of accomplished author herself, as she beautifully reveals the loves and losses that have shaped her life, and discovers what it means to truly find your place in the world.” —Town & Country “When Owens writes with this blend of vulnerability and approachability, the reader feels as if a close friend is sharing her story with you…Bookends is proof that anyone has the power to rewrite their narrative, if only they are open to fully experiencing all that life puts in their path.” —Hippocampus Magazine “Zibby Owens’s Bookends is a candid and charming memoir about the ups and downs of midlife through the lens of reading and books. Zibby, one of the most beloved book influencers in America, shares how books can help us through tough times. An inspiring and hopeful read.” —Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO, Thrive Global “I knew Zibby was an ardent supporter of authors, but I didn’t realize she was such a fantastic writer herself. Insightful, helpful, authentic, and unifying, the tone of this beautifully written, memorable memoir is just so Zibby. A great choice for every busy mom.” —Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Four Winds “Zibby Owens has always been a terrific interviewer of authors, but it wasn’t until I read her book that I realized how deep her passion for literature truly runs. Her story is a valentine to falling in love with the written word, and for a writer—and readers—that’s the sweetest kind of tale.” —Mitch Albom, New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger in the Lifeboat “A tender, intelligent coming-of-age tale, by turns poignant and hilarious, Bookends gripped me from the first sentence. This is the kind of book you hide in the bathroom to finish, ignoring the cries of your kids and the ringing phone. But it’s also a serious meditation on the dangerous constraints of contemporary motherhood and the nature of privilege. I dare you to read it and not fall in love with Zibby!” —Joanna Rakoff, author of international bestselling memoir My Salinger Year “Zibby Owens has such an infectious enthusiasm—for life, for love, for her friends and family, but above all else for books—her prose glows with it. Thus Bookends acts on two levels: it is both a personal journey from mute child to gregarious author, who spends her days talking to and about writers, and a virtual bookshelf, the kind you sometimes find in a summer rental, groaning with well-loved spines.” —Deborah Copaken, New York Times bestselling author of Ladyparts and Shutterbabe “Bookends is a testament to the healing power of literature, love, and above all, allegiance to one’s true self. Zibby Owens guides us, like a comforting friend, through her journey of loss and reinvention, reminding us, in the end, of our endless capacity for love.” —Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance “Lucky for us, Zibby Owens—a relentless cheerleader for authors known and unknown—has paid homage to books and the role reading has played in her endlessly fascinating life by writing her own.” —Katie Couric “There are no words other than: WOW! Zibby’s work is gorgeous, raw, honest, heartbreaking, and funny. Zibby inspires me.” —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author

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Book SynopsisAn arresting and emotional memoir about a family’s indoctrination into a religious cult, a daughter coming to terms with a parent’s devastating choices, and the trials ahead in post-9/11 New York. In 1978, when Jamiyla was two years old, her mother, Ummi, quit her job, converted to Islam with her husband, and moved into an exclusive Muslim society in Brooklyn. Once inside the Community, the family was separated by its powerful and charismatic leader, Dwight York, who was hiding behind the name Imam Isa. Instead of the devotional refuge they’d imagined, the Community was a nightmare of controlled abuse and unspeakable secrets. Forty years later, Jamiyla was ready to excavate and understand a past buried in bad dreams, disturbing memories, and inexplicable rage. It was a place Ummi never wanted to return to. Jamiyla had to. Jamiyla’s emotional memoir tells her family’s story of life inside and outside the cult, and of escaping into new challenges as conservative Muslims in the secular Brooklyn they left behind. A harrowing and deeply personal history fraught with racial tension and devastating personal betrayals, The Community is also a hopeful story brimming with Black pride, justice, and the long-overdue healing between a daughter and mother.Trade Review“Journalist [N. Jamiyla] Chisholm debuts with a transfixing look at the secretive Muslim commune her family joined in 1978…As Chisholm untangles their complicated past and the trauma her mother refused to acknowledge, what emerges is a compassionate interrogation of the ‘universal emotion of desperately wanting to belong’ that her family fell victim to. In its striking search for redemption, this uncovers a uniquely human tale.” —Publishers Weekly “The author expertly balances passion with compassion, and her vulnerability electrifies the often harrowing narrative…A heart-wrenching memoir about surviving a religious group helmed by an abusive leader.” —Kirkus Reviews “Chisholm, a journalist, offers a nuanced examination of how and why people make decisions that harm them, and of the difficulty in extricating oneself from destructive situations.” —Booklist “In her memoir, The Community, Chisholm writes about her experience in the Ansaaru Allah Community, breaking open her memories and lying them alongside the events both historical and contemporary that drew people to York’s Black separatist ideology. The result is a thoughtful meditation on the things that hold us together—and the things that pull us apart.” —Essence “In this compelling debut memoir, journalist N. Jamiyla Chisholm relates the story of her childhood spent in a Muslim cult, the trauma caused and the relationship with her mother that would take years to heal.” —Ms. Magazine

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Book SynopsisA powerful memoir about the traumas of a perilous childhood, a shattering murder-suicide, and a healing journey from escape to survival to recovery. Growing up, Lisa Nikolidakis tried to make sense of her childhood, which was scarred by abuse, violence, and psychological terrors so extreme that her relationship with her father was cleaved beyond repair. Having finally been able to leave that relationship behind, surviving meant forgetting. For years, "I'm fine" was a lie Nikolidakis repeated. Then, on her twenty-seventh birthday, Nikolidakis's father murdered his girlfriend and her daughter, and turned the gun on himself. Nikolidakis's world cracked open, followed by conflicted emotions: shock, grief, mourning for the innocent victims, and relief that she had escaped the same fate. In the tragedy's wake, questions lingered: Who was this man, and why had he inflicted such horrors on her and his last victims? For answers, Nikolidakis embarked on a quest to Greece to find her father's estranged family and a reckoning with the past she never expected. In her gripping and moving memoir, Nikolidakis explores not only the making of a killer but her own liberation from the demons that haunted her and her profound self-restoration in the face of unimaginable crimes.

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Book SynopsisA powerful memoir about the traumas of a perilous childhood, a shattering murder-suicide, and a healing journey from escape to survival to recovery. Growing up, Lisa Nikolidakis tried to make sense of her childhood, which was scarred by abuse, violence, and psychological terrors so extreme that her relationship with her father was cleaved beyond repair. Having finally been able to leave that relationship behind, surviving meant forgetting. For years, "I'm fine" was a lie Nikolidakis repeated. Then, on her twenty-seventh birthday, Nikolidakis's father murdered his girlfriend and her daughter, and turned the gun on himself. Nikolidakis's world cracked open, followed by conflicted emotions: shock, grief, mourning for the innocent victims, and relief that she had escaped the same fate. In the tragedy's wake, questions lingered: Who was this man, and why had he inflicted such horrors on her and his last victims? For answers, Nikolidakis embarked on a quest to Greece to find her father's estranged family and a reckoning with the past she never expected. In her gripping and moving memoir, Nikolidakis explores not only the making of a killer but her own liberation from the demons that haunted her and her profound self-restoration in the face of unimaginable crimes.

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Book SynopsisA bracing memoir about self-discovery, liberating escape, and moving forward across an adventurous and volatile American landscape. One year. One national park at a time. This is it. No more California. I’m sifting into the underbelly of where the nomads go. After a decade as an assistant to high-powered LA executives, Emily Pennington left behind her structured life and surrendered to the pull of the great outdoors. With a tight budget, meticulous routing, and a temperamental minivan she named Gizmo, Emily embarked on a yearlong road trip to sixty-two national parks, hell-bent on a single goal: getting through the adventure in one piece. She was instantly thrust into more chaos than she’d bargained for and found herself on an unpredictable journey rocked by a gutting romantic breakup, a burgeoning pandemic, wildfires, and other seismic challenges that threatened her safety, her sanity, and the trip itself. What began as an intrepid obsession soon evolved into a life-changing experience. Navigating the tangle of life’s unexpected sucker punches, Feral invites readers along on Emily’s grand, blissful, and sometimes perilous journey, where solitude, resilience, self-reliance, and personal transformation run wild.Trade Review“The author’s unflinching honesty and the boldness of her inner and outer journeys are the two great strengths of a book…[that] succeeds in offering a moving portrait of a woman who came into her own by learning to let go.…Fierce, candid reading.” —Kirkus Reviews “Pennington lyrically describes the wonders of the natural world, and she examines her solo life on the road with unsentimental insight. Readers will relish this hopeful portrayal of personal growth.” —Publishers Weekly “In this visceral memoir, travel writer Pennington depicts a year devoted to visiting 62 U.S. national parks…Pennington’s story of personal growth is told with unflinching insight and immense awe at the natural wonders she encounters; her expressive storytelling is sure to engage and inspire readers.” —Booklist “We can only aspire to the curiosity, pluck, and delight exhibited in Emily Pennington’s Feral despite the boulders and storms life might have tumbled at her.” —Nick Offerman, author of Where the Deer and the Antelope Play and Paddle Your Own Canoe “Emily peels back the superficial layers of van life with unflinching honesty to reveal the beautifully frustrating reality that is life on the road, while also gifting readers with important epiphanies set in our beloved national parks. This is a must read for anyone who values public land, our environment, and compelling storytelling.” —Craig Grossi, author of Craig & Fred and Second Chances “Please read Emily Pennington’s brilliantly written story about her year visiting our national parks. It is filled with the savage beauty, historical depth, and existential joy nature has to share with all of us. Do not miss this extraordinary adventure.” —Lyn Lear, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and environmental activist “Self-improvement, but also connection. The rush of new challenges, but also the tranquility of quiet moments. Emily Pennington travels for all the right reasons, and we’re so lucky she’s brought us along on the adventure of a lifetime.” —Sebastian Modak, editor-at-large at Lonely Planet and former New York Times 52 Places Traveler “Emily’s vivid memoir is for anyone seeking what could be, rather than accepting what is. Her national park journey is a testament to life-changing relationships, finding oneself, and the transformative power of the outdoors.” —Heather Balogh Rochfort, adventure journalist and author of Women Who Hike “Emily was facing major obstacles as she set out on a huge adventure to visit every US national park, from a breakup to the onset of COVID-19. In an awesome Eat, Pray, Love approach to the natural world, she sets out on the adventure of a lifetime, dodging grizzly bears and hiking in some of the world’s remotest places. There’s no one I’d rather go on this journey with.” —Mary Turner, deputy editor, Outside magazine “Emily Pennington knows America’s park system better than most people know their own backyards—it is a privilege to get an intimate glimpse of how that relationship has shaped her.” —Megan Spurrell, senior editor at Condé Nast Traveler “On paper, a plan to visit all sixty-two US national parks in one year sounds like a fun trip—what makes Feral an adventure story worth reading, though, is everything that wasn’t in the plan.” —Brendan Leonard, author of The Camping Life and Sixty Meters to Anywhere “A timely travel memoir that melds together stories of our national park system and the author’s life. This is a book about themes that touch us all: exploration, discovery, and home. Packed with vivid details and brutal honesty, to read Feral is to know Emily.” —Abigail Wise, digital managing director, Outside magazine

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Book SynopsisAn eloquent, restless, and enlightening memoir by one of the most thought-provoking journalists today about growing up Black and queer in America, reuniting with the past, and coming of age their own way. One of nineteen children in a blended family, Hari Ziyad was raised by a Hindu Hare Kṛṣṇa mother and a Muslim father. Through reframing their own coming-of-age story, Ziyad takes readers on a powerful journey of growing up queer and Black in Cleveland, Ohio, and of navigating the equally complex path toward finding their true self in New York City. Exploring childhood, gender, race, and the trust that is built, broken, and repaired through generations, Ziyad investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given and challenges the irreconcilable binaries that restrict them. Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad’s vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future.Trade ReviewAn Amazon Best Book of the Month: Biographies & Memoirs “In Black Boy Out of Time, Ziyad reflects on the longterm impacts of assimilating into a more normative society shaped by prison-based ideologies and how it left them with little understanding of who they were. Ziyad notes that Black people are refused access to childhood due to the punitive social conditioning that protects gender and class categories, and asserts that Black childhood can only be reclaimed through prison abolition.” —Black Youth Project “Although Ziyad writes explicitly as a Black writer with Black readers in mind, this extension of kindness in the place of opprobrium can be applied across cultures. They bring the same righteous energy in their writing about Black experience to the chapters on awakening to a queer identity. In the final sections, it’s heartening to find Ziyad committed to a loving relationship. With eloquence and compassion, the author examines ‘how to manage a serodiscordant relationship’—their fiancé is living with HIV, ‘a widely criminalized disease’—and how ‘to deal with the trauma from past sexual violence that refuses to stop rearing its hideous head from time to time.’ It’s an ongoing project, one that the author tackles with grace and insight via the act of writing…Ziyad successfully extracts the essence of being Black, queer, and full of tenderness.” —Kirkus Reviews “Racebaitr editor-in-chief Ziyad merges astute sociopolitical analysis with soul-baring honesty in their striking debut memoir…with its candidness and sharp prose that doggedly links the personal to the political, Ziyad’s tale is engrossing and necessary.” —Publishers Weekly “An unflinchingly honest assessment of the ways in which the lives and experiences of Black children are devalued. Recommended for readers interested in anti-racism.” —Library Journal “Amazon imprint Little A have been committed to publishing diverse voices since its inception and this coming-of-age memoir is no different…this is a compelling and moving account exploring childhood, gender, identity and race.” —Cosmopolitan UK “This moving memoir is about Ziyad’s experiences growing up Black and queer in America and explores what it’s like to reunite with the past and come of age in your own way.” —Cosmopolitan “In their debut memoir, Ziyad skillfully distills what it means to practice an abolitionist ethos, something more people seem interested in doing since the massive Black Lives Matter protests last summer and subsequent mainstreaming of abolitionist ideas…This is a book to move us forward, within and beyond the pandemic. There is going to be an after. If we want it to be better than the before, ideas and stories like Ziyad’s are crucial.” —Seattle Times “In Black Boy Out of Time, Hari Ziyad does something not many writers do: they fuse moving memoir with the complicated workings of carceral logics…Ziyad is a true literary creative and shines in book form as well…Interspersed with letters to their inner child, the book itself becomes a montage—of growing awareness, abolitionist practice, tenderness, and queer love.” —Shondaland “Black Boy Out of Time is grippingly personal and as tender as it is harrowing. Ziyad’s beautifully written, genre-bending work transcends the memoir form and intimately showcases what it means to be Black and queer in America today.” —Lambda Literary “Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad’s vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future.” —Book Riot “The book tracks the limited set of choices Black children realize they have available in America, and the struggle to expand life choices beyond those limits.” —Jefferson Public Radio “Black Boy Out of Time explores childhood, gender, race, trust—both built and broken—and how those wounds can be repaired through generations. Ziyad reframes their own coming-of-age story and investigates what it means to live outside of the constrictive narratives Black children are born into.” —The Root “Their story is often painful, but it’s full of joy too, and it offers readers a new script for pushing beyond racial and gender binaries.” —Vogue “Hari Ziyad is one of those writers who transports you into the moments, the minutes, and the seconds of Black life in subtle and gentle ways that are rarely possible. Every word drips with a deep love and commitment to telling true and just stories about our nuanced Black queer lives. Black Boy Out of Time is so moving, so alive, so real. This book is a reclamation and celebration of Black childhood and coming-of-age in all its hidden beauty and pain. We need this memoir, and I’m so grateful Ziyad is here to write it.” —Jenn Jackson, Syracuse University professor and Teen Vogue columnist “Hari Ziyad consistently creates work that centers the voices and lives of the most marginalized members in our society. Not only is their work brilliant and insightful, but they challenge readers to examine themselves in a way very few writers can do. Alice Walker once wrote, ‘Those who love us never leave us alone with our grief. At the moment they show us our wound, they reveal they have the medicine.’ Ziyad’s words cut deep, but they also provide healing.” —Shanita Hubbard, author of Miseducation: A Woman’s Guide to Hip-Hop “Hari Ziyad is committed to recovering the unrecoverable—the seconds, the minutes, the hours of things shed and discarded as if there were no value to be found in what we were, even though it leads us to what we are. Ziyad is surgical in this pursuit, attempting to be as careful but incisive as possible so that memory does more than remember: it testifies. Like all of their previous writings, Black Boy Out of Time is tribute to and examination of the necessary, the overlooked, the irreconcilable, and the witnessing the world would much rather not do. Ziyad is both lightning rod and lightning bolt.” —Robert Jones Jr., author of The Prophets and creator of Son of Baldwin “Every generation has its defining writers, and Hari Ziyad is one of ours. Their writings force you to interrogate and challenge everything you thought you knew and to look at the wound you pretended wasn’t there, but they never leave you without the cure to finally heal the pain.” —George M. Johnson, bestselling author of All Boys Aren’t Blue and We Are Not Broken “Black ‘boys’ who never come of age, who are always already someone or something else, are at the heart of Hari Ziyad’s work. Ziyad writes with clarity, passion, care, and a deep love for all Black people—especially those of us who are constantly moving through and around gender. Black Boy Out of Time is a necessary read for Black queer boys and nonbinary people who can relate to finding themselves in a world designed to keep them lost.” —Da’Shaun Harrison, author of Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness “I often think about cultural work as before Hari Ziyad and after Hari Ziyad. I don’t know that there is another writer and cultural worker who has done more to make us intellectually, imaginatively, and bodily engage with the ways that traditional conceptions of gender, sexuality, Blackness, class, childhood, empire, and power necessarily mangle our relationships to each other. Hari’s work goes far beyond bombastic pull quotes or titillating essay titles. In their hands, we see language being cared for, carved up, and absolutely dismantled. More than anything, Hari’s art insists that we ask not simply the hard questions, but the unintelligible questions we’ve convinced ourselves have no answers. In their work, I understand that pointed questions rooted in a love of Black queer folk must be part of our liberation. They have changed the way people write, think, and love one another on and off the internet.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy, Long Division, and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America “Hari Ziyad’s incisive writing is a rare mix of balladry, criticism, and reportage. They write of the times with clarity and courage. They appeal to truth and beauty. And in so doing offer us Black-loving art that is both shotgun and balm.” —Darnell L. Moore, author of No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America “Hari Ziyad’s work is the cohesion of all their interests in the so-called marginalized into a single force that illuminates just how central to freedom communities that are abused and underestimated by this society truly are. If the margins are said to be the dwelling place of Ziyad’s subjectivity, then they see their job as showing how the ones in the margins are also the ones who ensure Earth keeps spinning. Through their eyes, the disfigured, the queer, and the riotous are given life, a stage, a platform, and an embrace.” —Phillip B. Williams, author of Thief in the Interior, winner of the 2017 Whiting Award, Kate Tufts Award, and Lambda Literary Award “Alongside James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, Darnell L. Moore and Danez Smith, Hari Ziyad’s work fits in as an exciting new entry in the canon of queer Black American literature. At the same time, Ziyad’s writing stands out as a stunningly original voice, and they tackle race and gender in ways writers of all races seem to find too hot to touch. Yet as challenging as Ziyad’s ideas are, they are not inaccessible. Though Ziyad writes explicitly as a Black writer with Black readers in mind (and Black children at the heart of their work), white people are always asking me about their provocative stories. Ziyad stirs impassioned debates and strong reactions from both those people I know who have been following their work for years and those who are encountering it for the first time.” —Steven W. Thrasher, Northwestern University professor and author of The Viral Underclass: How Racism, Ableism, and Capitalism Plague Humans on the Margins “Hari Ziyad is a new and important voice narrating for readers both the trauma experienced by Black people and their struggle for liberation. Throughout this text, Ziyad pulls back the curtain and interrogates how anti-Black racism manifests not only in the structures Black people encounter but also in our interactions between each other. Beyond providing texture to the hurt that, too often, animates Blackness, Ziyad’s book details for the reader the possibilities and directions of Black freedom and healing today, and it explores how we must protect Black children from a perpetual cycle of trauma. Ziyad’s book will add nuance and depth to current renderings of what it is to be Black and queer and what type of personal/political liberation is possible.” —Cathy J. Cohen, author of The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics and Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics

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Book SynopsisAn eloquent, restless, and enlightening memoir by one of the most thought-provoking journalists today about growing up Black and queer in America, reuniting with the past, and coming of age their own way. One of nineteen children in a blended family, Hari Ziyad was raised by a Hindu Hare Kṛṣṇa mother and a Muslim father. Through reframing their own coming-of-age story, Ziyad takes readers on a powerful journey of growing up queer and Black in Cleveland, Ohio, and of navigating the equally complex path toward finding their true self in New York City. Exploring childhood, gender, race, and the trust that is built, broken, and repaired through generations, Ziyad investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given and challenges the irreconcilable binaries that restrict them. Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad’s vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future.Trade ReviewAn Amazon Best Book of the Month: Biographies & Memoirs “In Black Boy Out of Time, Ziyad reflects on the longterm impacts of assimilating into a more normative society shaped by prison-based ideologies and how it left them with little understanding of who they were. Ziyad notes that Black people are refused access to childhood due to the punitive social conditioning that protects gender and class categories, and asserts that Black childhood can only be reclaimed through prison abolition.” —Black Youth Project “Although Ziyad writes explicitly as a Black writer with Black readers in mind, this extension of kindness in the place of opprobrium can be applied across cultures. They bring the same righteous energy in their writing about Black experience to the chapters on awakening to a queer identity. In the final sections, it’s heartening to find Ziyad committed to a loving relationship. With eloquence and compassion, the author examines ‘how to manage a serodiscordant relationship’—their fiancé is living with HIV, ‘a widely criminalized disease’—and how ‘to deal with the trauma from past sexual violence that refuses to stop rearing its hideous head from time to time.’ It’s an ongoing project, one that the author tackles with grace and insight via the act of writing…Ziyad successfully extracts the essence of being Black, queer, and full of tenderness.” —Kirkus Reviews “Racebaitr editor-in-chief Ziyad merges astute sociopolitical analysis with soul-baring honesty in their striking debut memoir…with its candidness and sharp prose that doggedly links the personal to the political, Ziyad’s tale is engrossing and necessary.” —Publishers Weekly “An unflinchingly honest assessment of the ways in which the lives and experiences of Black children are devalued. Recommended for readers interested in anti-racism.” —Library Journal “Amazon imprint Little A have been committed to publishing diverse voices since its inception and this coming-of-age memoir is no different…this is a compelling and moving account exploring childhood, gender, identity and race.” —Cosmopolitan UK “This moving memoir is about Ziyad’s experiences growing up Black and queer in America and explores what it’s like to reunite with the past and come of age in your own way.” —Cosmopolitan “In their debut memoir, Ziyad skillfully distills what it means to practice an abolitionist ethos, something more people seem interested in doing since the massive Black Lives Matter protests last summer and subsequent mainstreaming of abolitionist ideas…This is a book to move us forward, within and beyond the pandemic. There is going to be an after. If we want it to be better than the before, ideas and stories like Ziyad’s are crucial.” —Seattle Times “In Black Boy Out of Time, Hari Ziyad does something not many writers do: they fuse moving memoir with the complicated workings of carceral logics…Ziyad is a true literary creative and shines in book form as well…Interspersed with letters to their inner child, the book itself becomes a montage—of growing awareness, abolitionist practice, tenderness, and queer love.” —Shondaland “Black Boy Out of Time is grippingly personal and as tender as it is harrowing. Ziyad’s beautifully written, genre-bending work transcends the memoir form and intimately showcases what it means to be Black and queer in America today.” —Lambda Literary “Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad’s vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future.” —Book Riot “The book tracks the limited set of choices Black children realize they have available in America, and the struggle to expand life choices beyond those limits.” —Jefferson Public Radio “Black Boy Out of Time explores childhood, gender, race, trust—both built and broken—and how those wounds can be repaired through generations. Ziyad reframes their own coming-of-age story and investigates what it means to live outside of the constrictive narratives Black children are born into.” —The Root “Their story is often painful, but it’s full of joy too, and it offers readers a new script for pushing beyond racial and gender binaries.” —Vogue “Black Boy Out of Time tells Ziyad’s story, also connecting moments in the author’s life to Ziyad’s research and reckoning with topics like misafropedia (a societal contempt for Black children) and carceral dissonance (existing as a Black person in an anti-Black, prison-based culture). The book hones in on ideas like prison abolition and racial disparities in healthcare…In the memoir, Ziyad manages to connect the dots between their own life to bigger topics around social justice.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer “Ziyad writes with a clarity and a strength beyond any memoir in recent memory, interweaving writing on abolition and carcerality with a stirring series of letters to their younger self as part of their inner-child work…in their memoir, Ziyad dials back the clock and turns inward. Peeling away the restraints, they reveal a wealth of truths around the necessity of Black liberation to the Black child and to the adult they will variably become if given the grace to grow freely.” —POPSUGAR “The joy of Black Boy Out of Time is in the unconditional love it emanates for all Black people and how it attends to the experiences of Black kids. It’s in its utter dedication to freer, more daring Black futures; in its imagination…Black Boy Out of Time is just profoundly great, to the point that the best this reviewer can do is to ask you to read it and know it for yourself.” —POPSUGAR “The memoir gets to the heart of larger-scale issues that might otherwise feel too abstract by tying them to personal stories that can grip the reader. It carefully yet passionately examines America’s complicated attitudes towards race, sexuality, and gender.” —The Gay & Lesbian Review “Hari Ziyad is one of those writers who transports you into the moments, the minutes, and the seconds of Black life in subtle and gentle ways that are rarely possible. Every word drips with a deep love and commitment to telling true and just stories about our nuanced Black queer lives. Black Boy Out of Time is so moving, so alive, so real. This book is a reclamation and celebration of Black childhood and coming-of-age in all its hidden beauty and pain. We need this memoir, and I’m so grateful Ziyad is here to write it.” —Jenn Jackson, Syracuse University professor and Teen Vogue columnist “Hari Ziyad consistently creates work that centers the voices and lives of the most marginalized members in our society. Not only is their work brilliant and insightful, but they challenge readers to examine themselves in a way very few writers can do. Alice Walker once wrote, ‘Those who love us never leave us alone with our grief. At the moment they show us our wound, they reveal they have the medicine.’ Ziyad’s words cut deep, but they also provide healing.” —Shanita Hubbard, author of Miseducation: A Woman’s Guide to Hip-Hop “Hari Ziyad is committed to recovering the unrecoverable—the seconds, the minutes, the hours of things shed and discarded as if there were no value to be found in what we were, even though it leads us to what we are. Ziyad is surgical in this pursuit, attempting to be as careful but incisive as possible so that memory does more than remember: it testifies. Like all of their previous writings, Black Boy Out of Time is tribute to and examination of the necessary, the overlooked, the irreconcilable, and the witnessing the world would much rather not do. Ziyad is both lightning rod and lightning bolt.” —Robert Jones Jr., author of The Prophets and creator of Son of Baldwin “Every generation has its defining writers, and Hari Ziyad is one of ours. Their writings force you to interrogate and challenge everything you thought you knew and to look at the wound you pretended wasn’t there, but they never leave you without the cure to finally heal the pain.” —George M. Johnson, bestselling author of All Boys Aren’t Blue and We Are Not Broken “Black ‘boys’ who never come of age, who are always already someone or something else, are at the heart of Hari Ziyad’s work. Ziyad writes with clarity, passion, care, and a deep love for all Black people—especially those of us who are constantly moving through and around gender. Black Boy Out of Time is a necessary read for Black queer boys and nonbinary people who can relate to finding themselves in a world designed to keep them lost.” —Da’Shaun Harrison, author of Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness “I often think about cultural work as before Hari Ziyad and after Hari Ziyad. I don’t know that there is another writer and cultural worker who has done more to make us intellectually, imaginatively, and bodily engage with the ways that traditional conceptions of gender, sexuality, Blackness, class, childhood, empire, and power necessarily mangle our relationships to each other. Hari’s work goes far beyond bombastic pull quotes or titillating essay titles. In their hands, we see language being cared for, carved up, and absolutely dismantled. More than anything, Hari’s art insists that we ask not simply the hard questions, but the unintelligible questions we’ve convinced ourselves have no answers. In their work, I understand that pointed questions rooted in a love of Black queer folk must be part of our liberation. They have changed the way people write, think, and love one another on and off the internet.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy, Long Division, and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America “Hari Ziyad’s incisive writing is a rare mix of balladry, criticism, and reportage. They write of the times with clarity and courage. They appeal to truth and beauty. And in so doing offer us Black-loving art that is both shotgun and balm.” —Darnell L. Moore, author of No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America “Hari Ziyad’s work is the cohesion of all their interests in the so-called marginalized into a single force that illuminates just how central to freedom communities that are abused and underestimated by this society truly are. If the margins are said to be the dwelling place of Ziyad’s subjectivity, then they see their job as showing how the ones in the margins are also the ones who ensure Earth keeps spinning. Through their eyes, the disfigured, the queer, and the riotous are given life, a stage, a platform, and an embrace.” —Phillip B. Williams, author of Thief in the Interior, winner of the 2017 Whiting Award, Kate Tufts Award, and Lambda Literary Award “Alongside James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, Darnell L. Moore and Danez Smith, Hari Ziyad’s work fits in as an exciting new entry in the canon of queer Black American literature. At the same time, Ziyad’s writing stands out as a stunningly original voice, and they tackle race and gender in ways writers of all races seem to find too hot to touch. Yet as challenging as Ziyad’s ideas are, they are not inaccessible. Though Ziyad writes explicitly as a Black writer with Black readers in mind (and Black children at the heart of their work), white people are always asking me about their provocative stories. Ziyad stirs impassioned debates and strong reactions from both those people I know who have been following their work for years and those who are encountering it for the first time.” —Steven W. Thrasher, Northwestern University professor and author of The Viral Underclass: How Racism, Ableism, and Capitalism Plague Humans on the Margins “Hari Ziyad is a new and important voice narrating for readers both the trauma experienced by Black people and their struggle for liberation. Throughout this text, Ziyad pulls back the curtain and interrogates how anti-Black racism manifests not only in the structures Black people encounter but also in our interactions between each other. Beyond providing texture to the hurt that, too often, animates Blackness, Ziyad’s book details for the reader the possibilities and directions of Black freedom and healing today, and it explores how we must protect Black children from a perpetual cycle of trauma. Ziyad’s book will add nuance and depth to current renderings of what it is to be Black and queer and what type of personal/political liberation is possible.” —Cathy J. Cohen, author of The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics and Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics

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Book SynopsisMy father told lies all his life and, because I knew no better, I repeated them. Lies about everything, great and small, were the very fabric of my world.The lie in the title of astonishing memoir Lie About My Father is born of shame. Traveling around upstate New York in the nineties, John Burnside can''t bear to share the truth about his father during a casual conversation with a hitchhiker. He covers his uneasiness with a lie. It felt natural to do so.His father, abandoned as a baby on a stranger''s doorstep, created a masterful web of deceit to erase this unbearable fact. John, even as a child, represented everything that was wrong with the world and became the recipient of his father''s selfhatred in the form of enraged violence, and worse, petty, cruel belittlement. Growing up in the tough working-class neighborhoods of Scotland and later England, John learned to lie back to his father and, later, about his father.

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Book SynopsisA confessional story that reads like fiction, this is the true story of a famed tennis star who went from being ranked fourth in the world, dueling the sport’s greatest players to lying to police in several countries to avoid jail. Roscoe Tanner’s life is a complicated story that include years of one-night stands with groupies, a private fortune amassed and then lost, multiple failed marriages and relationships, business plans that fizzled, fleeing to Europe for a last chance, the pounding on the door by two German detectives that led to an involuntary stay in the Karlsruhe jail, and, ultimately, finding redemption. Double Fault is Tanner's story-arrests, cons, lies, and all in an attempt to share it with others to prove that when you hit bottom you can still pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep moving forward.

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Book SynopsisBy the author of Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls and a heroine of the body positivity movement, an intimate, gutsy memoir about being a fat womanJes Baker burst onto the body positivity scene when she created her own ads mocking Abercrombie & Fitch for discriminating against all body types--a move that landed her on the Today Show and garnered a loyal following for her raw, honest, and attitude-filled blog missives. Building on the manifesta power of Things, this memoir goes deeply into Jes's inner life, from growing up a fat girl to dating while fat. With material that will have readers laughing and crying along with Jes's experience, this new book is a natural fit with her irreverent, open-book style. A deeply personal take, Landwhale is a glimpse at life as a fat woman today, but it's also a reflection of the unforgiving ways our culture still treats fatness, all with Jes's biting voice as the guide.

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Book SynopsisEllen Stimson and her husband had such a wonderful time in Vermont that they wondered what living there would really be like. “What if we stayed here . . . forever?” So began the series of adventures and misadventures of Ellen Stimson’s hilarious first book, Mud Season. Now, having settled the family in Vermont’s rich, muddy soil, they are faced with new challenges of raising kids in the paradise of this very small, very rural town. Good Grief tells the tales of the hopes and dreams of parents just trying to do their best—and not always succeeding. Imagine being the mom of the kid who peed on his teacher’s chair . . . On. Purpose. Now imagine the governor asking you about it! Good Grief is all about the inevitable moment right after somebody says, “What next?” Ellen Stimson’s irrepressible optimism and good humor prevail as she, her two husbands, their three kids, and various much-loved pets face down real life, and even death and grieving, with good humor intact. This is life in a state where everyone knows everything, and everything is everybody’s else's business.Trade Review"Stimson makes great, entertaining reading out of kids’ unusual dating selections, shark attacks, sudden illness, and even an untimely death. Entertaining? Yes. She has that articular way with words and storytelling that makes the most out of learning to deal with grief." -- Booklist"This is my favorite kind of book—a messy, loving, bubbling over at the edges family, replete with exes, dogs, culinary disasters, and the tender heart of love and loss. A must-read, never-forget story." -- Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Solomon's Oak, Finding Casey, and Owen's Daughter"I laughed and cried the whole way through this marvelous, moving, and, above all, joyful book. A chronicle of the further adventures of Ellen Stimson’s eminently lovable family, Good Grief is a lesson in love and loss, as well as a reminder that life keeps happening, rituals matter, and dogs really are man’s best friend. Ellen Stimson’s voice is humane, human, and hilarious—but always wise. And her family is the one you want to borrow. It’s impossible not to cheer this gang on." -- Julia Reed, author of But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria!: Adventures in Eating, Drinking, and Making Merry"Imagine Jerry Seinfeld and Annie Dillard on the dance floor, gliding gracefully from keenly observed humor to contemplative insight. As they glide by, you join them in a few pirouettes, and the challenges of your own life transform: you laugh at them; you understand them better. When the music ends, you feel grateful, lighter, and more compassionate. That dance is Ellen Stimson’s Good Grief. In the midst of the ups and downs of daily life, Stimson and her nontraditional family choose to respond, as she says ‘with love and humor.’ What shines through these pages is Stimson’s deep and genuine gratitude for this whole messy thing we call Living. Good Grief taught me to laugh harder and love better—and to always, always choose compassion." -- BK Loren, author of Theft and Animal, Mineral, Radical"Both hilarious and poignant, Stimson spins the tales of her ever-eventful small-town Vermont life with a self-effacing, smart, and heart-touching honesty that will make you feel as if you are sitting across from her at her (burned) dining room table—and wishing so much that you really were!" -- Suzanne McMinn, author of Chickens in the Road: An Adventure in Ordinary Splendor

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Book Synopsis'A surgeon can kill you...and you''ll sleep right through it.'The most dramatic—and seemingly glamorous—of medical fields, surgery captivates the public''s imagination. Written for inquisitive laymen as well as anyone in the medical profession, this fascinating first-person account documents the career of one of America''s top surgeons. Readers accompany Sidney Schwab through medical school at Case Western Reserve University; an internship; junior and senior residencies (with a detour to Vietnam, where he won a Purple Heart); and finally his chief residency years in San Francisco. With humor and poignancy—and sometimes graphic detail—Schwab recalls memorable surgeries, surgeons, and patients. He takes care to explain, in understandable and interesting fashion, a variety of diseases, medical issues, and surgical techniques. More than just a memoir, Cutting Remarks offers a compelling look at how trauma and surgery are handled at a major hospital, and provides valuable insight into a surgeon''s relationship with both peers and patients.

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Book SynopsisOut of print for nearly a century, The World I Live In is Helen Keller''s most personal and intellectually adventurous work—one that transforms our appreciation of her extraordinary achievements. Here this preternaturally gifted deaf and blind young woman closely describes her sensations and the workings of her imagination, while making the pro-vocative argument that the whole spectrum of the senses lies open to her through the medium of language. Standing in the line of the works of Emerson and Thoreau, The World I Live In is a profoundly suggestive exercise in self-invention, and a true, rediscovered classic of American literature.This new edition of The World I Live In also includes Helen Keller''s early essay 'Optimism,' as well as her first published work, 'My Story,' written when she was twelve.

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Book SynopsisGregor von Rezzori was born in Czernowitz, a onetime provincial capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that was later to be absorbed successively into Romania, the USSR, and the Ukraine—a town that was everywhere and nowhere, with a population of astonishing diversity. Growing up after World War I and the collapse of the empire, Rezzori lived in a twilit world suspended between the formalities of the old nineteenth-century order which had shaped his aristocratic parents and the innovations, uncertainties, and raw terror of the new century. The haunted atmosphere of this dying world is beautifully rendered in the pages of The Snows of Yesteryear. The book is a series of portraits—amused, fond, sometimes appalling—of Rezzori’s family: his hysterical and histrionic mother, disappointed by marriage, destructively obsessed with her children’s health and breeding; his father, a flinty reactionary, whose only real love was hunting; his haughty older sister, fated to die before thirty; his earthy nursemaid, who introduced Rezzori to the power of storytelling and the inevitability of death; and a beloved governess, Bunchy. Telling their stories, Rezzori tells his own, holding his early life to the light like a crystal until it shines for us with a prismatic brilliance.

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Book SynopsisA food writer travels the Silk Road, immersing herself in a moveable feast of foods and cultures and discovering some surprising truths about commitment, independence, and love.As a newlywed traveling in Italy, Jen Lin-Liu was struck by culinary echoes of the delicacies she ate and cooked back in China, where she’d lived for more than a decade. Who really invented the noodle? she wondered, like many before her. But also: How had food and culture moved along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route linking Asia to Europe—and what could still be felt of those long-ago migrations? With her new husband’s blessing, she set out to discover the connections, both historical and personal, eating a path through western China and on into Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, and across the Mediterranean.The journey takes Lin-Liu into the private kitchens where the headscarves come off and women not only knead and simmer but also confess and confide. The thin rounds of dough stuffed with meat that are dumplings in Beijing evolve into manti in Turkey—their tiny size the measure of a bride’s worth—and end as tortellini in Italy. And as she stirs and samples, listening to the women talk about their lives and longings, Lin-Liu gains a new appreciation of her own marriage, learning to savor the sweetness of love freely chosen.

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