Narrative theme: coming of age
Unnamed Press Silver Girl
Book Synopsis
£16.19
Unnamed Press We Can Save Us All
Book Synopsis
£16.14
Black Rose Writing Whippoorwill Chronicles
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£14.95
Amberjack Publishing Company Hour Glass: A Novel of Calamity Jane
Book SynopsisSet in the lawless town of Deadwood, South Dakota, Hour Glass shares an intimate look at the woman behind the legend of Calamity Jane told through the eyes of twelve-year-old Jimmy Glass.After their pa falls deathly ill with smallpox, Jimmy and his sister, Hour, travel into Deadwood to seek help. While their pa is in quarantine, the two form unbreakable bonds with the surrogate family that emerges from the tragedy of loss. In a place where life is fragile and families are ripped apart by disease, death, and desperation, a surprising collection of Deadwood's inhabitants surround Jimmy, Hour, and Jane. There, in the most unexpected of places, they find a family protecting them from the uncertainty and chaos that surrounds them all. Trade Review"As much as this is historical fiction (several characters are real persons reimagined) and a coming-of-age story, it's primarily an attempt to humanize the outsize legend of Calamity Jane, a woman who's pugnacious, vulgar, and a touch feminist. Set against the background of rough-and-tumble Deadwood, probing the legend of Calamity Jane to discover the true heroic frontier woman, Rene's focused narrative never strays from its themes. Compassionate and insightful, authentic and poignant." Kirkus Reviews Nov 2017
£12.56
Amberjack Publishing Company The Insatiables
Book SynopsisWhen Halley Faust is handed the opportunity to move two steps up the corporate ladder, she laces up her shoes and starts climbing. But her covert battles with coworkers – equal parts funny and cringe-worthy – leave everyone wondering: how far do you have to go to achieve success?Trade Review"A young woman hustles to climb the corporate ladder in this darkly comedic, deeply insightful workplace drama . . . A humorous and thought-provoking tale about searching for the ever elusive brass ring." -- Kirkus Reviews
£12.56
Amberjack Publishing Company The Kitty Committee: A Novel of Suspense
Book SynopsisEvery year, it comes. And every year, it reminds Grace that someone knows her deepest secret—the secret whose silence has tormented Grace over the years. That secret began with an innocent gang of teenage friends who called themselves The Kitty Committee. The Kitty Committee of Grace's youth was ostensibly a group of friendship and support. But the friends fell victim to the ringleader's manipulative personality and recklessness, which set the girls on a course of vigilante justice, culminating in an act that will forever change their lives, an act that becomes their shared secret.Grace's silence and guilt has led to over twenty years of disappointing relationships, an inability to commit, and a crisis of morality. And no matter how much Grace has suffered and lost, still it comes every year. The reminder that someone out there wants The Kitty Committee to suffer--someone who won't forget and won't forgive.
£12.56
Transit Books We All Loved Cowboys
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£11.39
Transit Books Cold Nights of Childhood
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£12.34
Manic D Press Merch Table Blues
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£15.26
White Pine Press The Devil’s Country
Book SynopsisThis novel unravels a tale of vengeance and vigilante justice at the hands of an unlikely heroine, a fourteen year-old girl named Lum Hué, daughter of a white man and a Mapuche mother, and sole survivor of the massacre of her village by five white soldiers. With a minimalist prose that has become the trademark of Suez’s narrative fiction, the novel unfolds at a vertiginous pace. A recurring theme in Suez’s fiction is authoritarianism, specifically the imposition of power over the weak and defenseless. A fan of Quentin Tarantino films, Suez refers to The Devil’s Country as her Patagonian Western.Trade Review“Suez’s The Devil’s Country is a powerful mix of horror and humanity that evokes Argentina’s painful history and the dark thrills of Westerns about revenge and redemption. This crowd-pleaser is a new classic of twenty-first century Latin American fiction.”--Christopher Conway, author of Heroes of the Borderlands: The Western in Mexican Film, Comics, and Music (2019) and Nineteenth-Century Spanish America: A Cultural History (2015).“A story of revenge and introspection, written in an engaging prose charged with powerful images and metaphors, in which rituals and symbols weave a parallel plot.” – Malena Rey “Las riendas del desierto” Página“An exquisite control of dialogue, an economy of expression charged with meaning.” -- Eugenia Almeida, La Voz del Interior, Córdoba, Argentina.
£12.34
Catalyst Books We Kiss Them With Rain
Book SynopsisLife wasn't always hard for fourteen-year-old Mvelo. There were good times living with her mother and her mother's lawyer boyfriend. Now her mother is dying of AIDS and the terrible thing that stole Mvelo's song remains unspoken, despite its growing presence in their shack. But a series of choices, chance meetings, and Shakespearean comedy-style exposures of hidden identities hands Mvelo a golden opportunity to overcome hardship.We Kiss Them With Rain explores both humor and tragedy in this modern-day fairytale set in a squatter camp outside Durban, South Africa, in which the things that seem to be are only a façade, and the things that are revealed and unveiled create a happier, thoroughly believable, alternative.We walk amongst the livingWe, the departed . . .We wander the earthWondering about the orphans we left behindWe kiss them with rain . . .Futhi Ntshingila grew up in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Now she lives and works in Pretoria. She is a former journalist and holds a Master's degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution. She loves telling stories about the marginalized corners of society, including women and children in South Africa and particularly those who live in the squatter camps. In her two novels published in South Africa, she features strong women who empower themselves despite circumstances that seek to disempower them. We Kiss Them With Rain is her debut into the North American market.
£10.99
Catalyst Books The Lion's Binding Oath and Other Stories
Book SynopsisReligious and ethnic conflict may be the Horn of Africa's most enduring recent legacy. But beneath its recent history of war and displacement lies human stories—families, clans, lovers, neighbors, and friends, all bound together through common cultural, religious, and historical ties. The Lion's Binding Oath, Ahmed Ismail Yusuf's collection of short stories, introduces readers to the people of Somalia and their struggles: their humanity, faith, identity, friendship, and family bonds, as whispers of war grow louder around them. Through stories that span the years before and during Somali's civil war, Yusuf weaves together Somalia's political, social, and religious conflicts with portrayals of the country's love of poetry, music, and soccer. Yusuf's collection is a powerful examination of love and resilience in a country torn apart by war, and written with deep compassion for the lives of its characters. Ahmed Ismail Yusuf has lived in Minneapolis since fleeing Somalia in the late 80s. He did not speak English when he arrived, he was a high-school dropout, and he was not sure what his actual age was. Today he has two college degrees and is the author of Somalis in Minnesota, published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. In 2017, The History Theatre of St. Paul, Minnesota produced his short play, “A Crack in the Sky,” a memoir about how Yusuf found inspiration in Maya Angelou and Muhammad Ali during his early days as an immigrant to the U.S.Trade Review"While Yusuf’s book is fiction, he incorporates significant facts into his storytelling. In this way, The Lion’s Binding Oath becomes not just entertainment, but also a creative disclosure about Somalia’s people, culture, and history." —New Pages"Yusuf draws us in with descriptions that bring beauty to minute details....In tone recalling Maya Angelou's Gather Together in My Name, this work will appeal to readers of literary and African fiction." — Library Journal"[...]Yusuf is unquestionably talented, with a knack for stories focused on injustice and the anxiety of separation, be it over time or distance. [...] Informative and direct storytelling from a corner of Africa that's poorly understood in the West." Kirkus"This mature debut is graphic...as it reveals how children grow up around violence and war. They still play, learn, tell stories, and try to get along despite threats and the police presence in their everyday lives. For readers interested in soccer and international affairs, this thin volume will enhance fiction collections." — School Library JournalWith their focus on youthful soccer stars or childhood friendships, as well as their simple language and pastoral settings, the tales that begin the loosely linked stories of “Lion’s Binding Oath” lull readers into a false sense of security. But by the end of the collection, it is clear that being young or living in a rural area can’t protect Somalians from more than three decades of civil war. Man or woman, adult or child, teacher or reluctant soldier, no one in “Lion’s Binding Oath” is safe. Many stories suggest that if members of Somalia’s various factions could learn to live together as its animals have, the world would be a better place. The most arresting example of that is the title story. Reminiscent of Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi,” it’s the last and best story in Yusuf’s collection."...compelling tales covering many recent experiences of [Yusuf's] beleaguered people..." — Minnesota Alumni MagazineTable of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS A Slow Moving Night 1-19 The Mayxaano Chronicles 1. A Man of Means 2. Don’t Lose 3. A Thorn in the Sole 4. A Whip of Words 21-50 5. Dissonance 51-71 A Delicate Hope 73-97 The Vulture Has Landed The Lion’s Binding Oath 99-125
£11.39
Catalyst Books Bom Boy
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£10.99
Catalyst Books Young Blood
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£12.34
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial La amiga estupenda / My Brilliant Friend
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£14.36
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Un mal nombre / The Story of a New Name
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£13.46
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Las deudas del cuerpo / Those Who Leave and Those
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£13.46
Ooligan Press The Step Back
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£14.40
Rare Bird Books, a Barnacle Book Black Sheep Boy: A Novel in Stories
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£14.41
City Point Press Ruin: A Novel of Flyfishing in Bankruptcy
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£21.60
Rosetta Books Make Me Even And I'll Never Gamble Again: A Novel
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£20.39
Catapult Black Sunday: A Novel
Book SynopsisThis fiercely original debut novel follows four Nigerian siblings over the course of two decades as they search for agency, love, and meaning in a society rife with hypocrisy. “. . . lush, sharp, and shot through with hope! —Well-Read Black Girl I like the idea of a god who knows what it’s like to be a twin. To have no memory of ever being alone. Twin sisters Bibike and Ariyike are enjoying a relatively comfortable life in Lagos in 1996. Then their mother loses her job due to political strife, and the family, facing poverty, becomes drawn into the New Church, an institution led by a charismatic pastor who is not shy about worshipping earthly wealth. Soon Bibike and Ariyike’s father wagers the family home on a “sure bet” that evaporates like smoke. As their parents’ marriage collapses in the aftermath of this gamble, the twin sisters and their two younger siblings, Andrew and Peter, are thrust into the reluctant care of their traditional Yoruba grandmother. Inseparable while they had their parents to care for them, the twins’ paths diverge once the household shatters. Each girl is left to locate, guard, and hone her own fragile source of power. Written with astonishing intimacy and wry attention to the fickleness of fate, Tola Rotimi Abraham’s Black Sunday takes us into the chaotic heart of family life, tracing a line from the euphoria of kinship to the devastation of estrangement. In the process, it joyfully tells a tale of grace and connection in the midst of daily oppression and the constant incursions of an unremitting patriarchy. This is a novel about two young women slowly finding, over twenty years, in a place rife with hypocrisy but also endless life and love, their own distinct methods of resistance and paths to independence.
£18.04
Catapult Sea Monsters: A Novel
Book SynopsisWinner of the 2020 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, this intoxicating story of a teenage girl who trades her a middle–class upbringing for a quest for meaning in 1980s Mexico is “a surreal, captivating tale about the power of a youthful imagination, the lure of teenage transgression, and its inevitable disappointments” (Los Angeles Review of Books).One autumn afternoon in Mexico City, seventeen–year–old Luisa does not return home from school. Instead, she boards a bus to the Pacific coast with Tomás, a boy she barely knows. He seems to represent everything her life is lacking―recklessness, impulse, independence.Tomás may also help Luisa fulfill an unusual obsession: she wants to track down a traveling troupe of Ukrainian dwarfs. According to newspaper reports, the dwarfs recently escaped a Soviet circus touring Mexico. The imagined fates of these performers fill Luisa’s surreal dreams as she settles in a beach community in Oaxaca. Surrounded by hippies, nudists, beachcombers, and eccentric storytellers, Luisa searches for someone, anyone, who will “promise, no matter what, to remain a mystery.” It is a quest more easily envisioned than accomplished. As she wanders the shoreline and visits the local bar, Luisa begins to disappear dangerously into the lives of strangers on Zipolite, the “Beach of the Dead.”Meanwhile, her father has set out to find his missing daughter. A mesmeric portrait of transgression and disenchantment unfolds. Set to a pulsing soundtrack of Joy Division, Nick Cave, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sea Monsters is a brilliantly playful and supple novel about the moments and mysteries that shape us.Aridjis is deft at conjuring the teenage swooniness that apprehends meaning below every surface. Like Sebald’s or Cusk’s, her haunted writing patrols its own omissions . . . The figure of the shipwreck looms large for Aridjis. It becomes a useful lens through which to see this book, which is self–contained, inscrutable, and weirdly captivating, like a salvaged object that wants to return to the sea. ―Katy Waldman, The New Yorker
£12.34
Gibson House Someone Should Pay for Your Pain: A Novel
Book Synopsis
£12.34
John F Blair Publisher Rules for Being Dead
Book Synopsis“Kim Powers's haunting and spellbinding novel Rules for Being Dead reads like an intoxicating blend of the best of Shirley Jackson, Alice Sebold and Fannie Flagg." —STARRED Review, Shelf Awareness It's the late 1960s in McKinney, Texas. At the downtown theater and the local drive-in, movies—James Bond, My Fair Lady, Alfie, and Dr. Zhivago—feed the dreams and obsessions of a ten-year-old Clarke who loves Audrey, Elvis, his family, and the handsome boy in the projector booth. Then Clarke loses his beloved mother, and no one will tell him how she died. No one will tell her either. She is floating above the trees and movie screens of McKinney, trapped between life and death, searching for a glimpse of her final moments on this earth. Clarke must find the shattering truth, which haunts this darkly humorous and incredibly moving novel.Trade Review“Kim Powers's haunting and spellbinding novel Rules for Being Dead reads like an intoxicating blend of the best of Shirley Jackson, Alice Sebold and Fannie Flagg. But Powers has created an original novel that is both a tender coming-of-age tale and a fascinating mystery that builds to a nail-biting climax. (…) With a deceptively subtle, breezy writing style, Powers pulls readers into his tasty and tantalizing mixture of empathetic characters, Southern gothic coming-of-age comedy, mystery and magical realism.” —STARRED REVIEW, Shelf Awareness “Blending late-’60s nostalgia with a supernatural mystery, Powers’s emotionally complex tale gets the job done just right.” —Publishers Weekly "Well drawn and superbly authentic" —Michael Graves, Lambda Literary “Every season or so, there’s a book that comes seemingly out of the blue and manages to knock our socks off. Rules for Being Dead is that book for the summer of 2020. Honestly this should not have come as a surprise. Kim has written several other excellent books, both fiction and nonfiction, and is a senior writer for ABC News’ 20/20, so there’s little doubt that he knows his way around a story. But what makes Rules for Being Dead so powerful is the blend of genres: it’s a mystery, it’s a coming-of-age story, it’s a literary work, as well as the very tone is a mixture of funny and bittersweet. It’s nostalgic, it tugs at your heartstrings, and it’s a celebration of vintage movies….If you threw The Lovely Bones, Cinema Paradiso, and Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story into a blender and mixed them all up, you’d end up with something that looks a little bit like Rules for Being Dead, but even that doesn’t fully express the bounty of treasures within this book. I certainly hope that this is the little book that everyone’s talking about this season.” —Kristopher Zgorski, Bolo Books "Rules for Being Dead is culturally rich and compelling … a poignant glimpse into a family dynamic that is less than ideal and becomes even murkier and more ambiguous when death throws everything and everyone into a maelstrom of accusations, physical misdeeds, accidents, rejection, and the frantic pursuit to piece a broken family together with promises, hope, enlightenment, and acceptance." —Lone Star Literary "In a story that's both cagey and unfailingly entertaining, Powers explores life's deepest questions and most profound mysteries. Only a writer this in touch with his own humanity could populate a novel with characters who, despite their flaws, failures, and eccentricities, are humane and good." —Wally Lamb, author of I Know This Much Is True "Kim Powers writes a glorious novel about a boy and his journey to feel whole after the mysterious death of his mother. Mr. Powers’ prose is artful and searing as Clarke's story unfolds in a Texas town so vivid, the reader is there. Secrets are revealed, hope is lost and found, and redemption awaits in this beautifully rendered tale about love and loss, and the courage to face the truth with an open heart." —Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of Tony's Wife “A tour de force in voice and structure, this uniquely heartbreaking novel—literary fiction meets boy detective—is somehow adorable and sinister at the same time. The brilliantly talented Kim Powers has created a poignant and remarkable story.” —Hank Phillippi Ryan, award-winning author of The Murder List “Rules for Being Dead is a rich and compelling novel about a mother and her sons that is filled with nostalgia, heartbreak, and a love that will never die. Kim Powers has created an unforgettable story about discovering the world through movies, engaging with the tougher realities of life, and learning to forgive the people around us and ourselves." —Will Schwalbe, New York Times bestselling author of The End of Your Life Book Club and Books for Living "It's time well spent with the Perkins family, though the father should be locked up, one son should be disarmed, and the mother who might fix everything can't—because unfortunately she's a ghost. Unorthodox, quirky, funny and heartbreaking, Powers' love letter to difficult families (and 1960s film classics!) is a blast." —Wilton Barnhardt, best-selling author of Lookaway, Lookaway “We all know a few rules about being alive but who knew that the afterlife could command equal attention. Kim Powers’ Rules for Being Dead caught me by surprise with its intrigue, wit, and nostalgia. His incredibly moving novel takes you back home―no matter where, or when, you grew up. It reminds us that mothers and fathers can never be as perfect as we want them to be, and that childhood secrets can still haunt into adulthood. Get ready to be captivated by a lonely boy who’s lost in the world of ’60s movies and true crime and employs both of them to try to solve the ultimate mystery: what caused his mother’s mysterious death? And one more thing? Despite its title, this book is about learning how to live, with every breath you take.” ―Deborah Roberts, ABC News Correspondent “Tenderhearted and touching, Rules for Being Dead is imbued with the imagination and emotion of such beloved books as The Lovely Bones and Ellen Foster. The narrative is laced with nostalgic references (from Elvis movies to mentions of Don Knotts and TV shows like Family Affair) that bring to life a forgotten time. All these elements come together to create a vibrant backdrop to the story of one family’s unexpected loss and journey toward healing.” ―John Searles, bestselling author of Help for the Haunted and Strange But True “Rules for Being Dead offers a startlingly original perspective on misapprehension, forgiveness, and love and delivers its vision with a punch. I picked up the book and could not put it down.” —Elaine Neil Orr, author of Swimming Between Worlds
£17.09
Strategic Book Publishing The Hilltop: (A College Tale)
Book Synopsis
£10.65
Two Lines Press Kaya Days
Book Synopsis
£12.71
Skyhorse Publishing The Bobcat: A Novel
Book Synopsis** Longlisted for The Center for Fiction's best debut novel of 2019 ** With the hypnotic intensity of Emily Fridlund’s The History of Wolves and Fiona McFarlane’s The Night Guest, Katherine Forbes Riley has created a mesmerizing love story, in lush, gorgeous prose, that examines art, science, and the magic of human chemistry."Teeming with lush imagery and mystical settings, and brimming with alluring magical realism, Riley’s tale is a beguiling journey of discovery and recovery.” — BooklistHaunting and lyrical, The Bobcat is Katherine Forbes Riley’s magical debut novel in which Laurelie, a young art student who suffers in the aftermath of a sexual assault, has grown progressively more isolated and fearful. She transfers from her busy city university to a small college in rural Vermont, where she retreats into her vivid imagination, experiencing the world through her art. Most comfortable in the company of the child for whom she babysits, and most at ease in the woods, Laurelie has shunned any connection with her peers.One day, while exploring the woods, she and her young charge encounter an injured pregnant bobcat – and the hiker who has been following it for hundreds of miles. In the hiker and his feline companion Laurelie recognizes someone as reclusive and wary as herself. The hiker, too, finds human companionship painful to endure, yet he is drawn to wounded Laurelie the way he is drawn to the bobcat. As Laurelie moves toward recovery and reconnection she also finds her voice as an artist, and a sense of purpose, maybe even a future, comes into sight. Then the child goes missing in the woods, threatening the bobcat, the hiker, and the fragile peace Laurelie has constructed.Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE BOBCAT: A NOVEL "Teeming with lush imagery and mystical settings, and brimming with alluring magical realism, Riley’s tale is a beguiling journey of discovery and recovery.” — Booklist“Many novels feature wild animals as central metaphors, but not many novels achieve the congruity of The Bobcat.” — LitHub "An unpredictable yet lovely exploration into healing trauma and building trust. The story centers art student Laurelie as she attempts to put the pieces of her life back together after surviving a sexual assault. Artists, nature lovers and survivors will find something here to inspire hope and healing.” — Ms. Magazine's 2019 June Reads for the Rest of Us“The Bobcat is a heartfelt, revelatory, and moving novel about how the way back to our humanity and to the humanity of others leads us sometimes through the animal world. Surprising, precise, and full of love for the immeasurable possibilities of the human heart.” — Alexander Chee, PEN award finalist and author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel “It would be easy—and true—to say that Katharine Forbes Riley’s The Bobcat moves the way that beautiful feline does: with sinuous grace, coiled wildness, and ferocious independence. Yet this novel braves more than that. It probes and tests the lines between the animal and the human, safety and threat, art and daily life, health and illness through characters and language of luminous intensity and rare, real power. Haunting, haunted, truly elegant, this novel will stalk your dreams and days in equal measure.” — Charlotte Bacon, PEN award-winning author of A Private State “In The Bobcat, Katherine Forbes Riley has created an honest, unflinching account of the aftermath of a sexual assault. There is profound empathy in the novel’s depiction of the wounded young artist Laurelie, and Riley’s great accomplishment is to show the tortured process by which this courageous woman stumblingly, imperfectly, navigates a hostile world while simultaneously recreating herself. A strange beauty pervades the novel, even in Laurelie's descriptions of her own terror—the sort of beauty born of careful design. This narrative is dead set on bringing the reader face to face with truth. By turns raw, hallucinogenic, redemptive, and always deeply intelligent, it’s a novel of the moment and one that deserves a wide audience.” — Jack Livings, PEN award-winning author of The Dog: Stories “Katherine Forbes Riley's tender artistry and elegant prose exalt one woman's painful tale of violence in a violent world to a memorable novel where people's capacity for humaneness and love pulsate from the center. The Bobcat is graceful, profound assurance of man's perpetual instincts to refuge in nature and commune with the beasts every time our own humanity or our fellowman fails us.” — Kalisha Buckhanon, author of Solemn “This novel is mesmerizing! Completely unpredictable and engaging. I loved the sentences and the descriptions and the characters.”— Sarah Blake, author of Naamah “The Bobcat is an intensely lyrical, deeply involving novel about what it means to be a human animal. Blending gorgeous nature imagery, philosophical curiosity, and a story as insistent as a heartbeat, this book will grab you by the scruff of the neck and won't let go.” — Jennie Yabroff, author of If You Were Here “Saturated with emotion, vivid and sensual, The Bobcat tells the gripping story of a young woman rebuilding her life and self after trauma. Katherine Forbes Riley takes us deep into the Vermont woods to show the power of nature, art, animal companionship, and human connection. An exquisite debut.”— Julia Phillips, author of The Disappearing Earth “Equally intimate and expansive, The Bobcat is one of the most unique books I've ever read. Riley's prose works equally as exquisite storytelling and its own thematic device to capture the isolating nature of trauma -- and the path out. All of this is wrapped in very human relationships and lush descriptions of the wilderness for a fast, distinctive read that will haunt you long after the final page.”— Mike Chen, author of Here and Now and Then “What a beautiful, thoughtful, touching debut. […] The Bobcat had me at turns flipping pages to find out what happens, and re-reading pages to soak in the expansive and lovely prose. Katherine Forbes Riley steps onto the scene like a master storyteller, comfortable in her craft and precise in her presentation. This hauntingly lovely book will be a favorite of book clubs, and people in search of a novel with genuine heart and wonder.” — Meghan Scott Molin, author of The Frame-Up “Poignant and evocative, lyrical and intimate—and above all startlingly original—Katherine Forbes Riley's mesmerizing debut The Bobcat is one of those rare novels that fully embraces the interiority of its characters while never sacrificing in story or pacing. Written in a unique and elegant style full of richly descriptive prose that captures both the physical landscape of rural Vermont and the fraught psychological territory of its protagonist, this is a beautifully crafted book that dares to access the isolation that haunts us in the aftermath of trauma; it is also a redemptive story about the power of human connection to see us through our darkest moments.”— James Charlesworth, author of The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill “Riley's riveting novel, The Bobcat, inexorably pulls readers into a strange world full of possible dangers in which the physical and the psychological are rendered in stunning detail. But she reveals, too, the beauty inherent in this world--if you can bear to let it in, if you can learn to trust again. Intense, surprising and thought-provoking, this story ultimately allows that souls and bodies can in fact heal, and that meaningful human connection is both possible and valuable.”— Katrin Schumann, author of The Forgotten Hours “With its atmospherically picturesque prose and its delicious slow burn of a plot, The Bobcat was a delightful read. Told in gorgeous, crystalline images, etched deeply with detail, the story emerges slowly and satisfyingly. The Bobcat is true literature, and a work of high art.” — Gina Guadagnino, author of The Parting Glass “You'll want to savor this read. […] Riley's prose is engaging and evocative. I absolutely loved her gift for description and imagery. I can't wait to read more from this talented author.” — Juno Rushdan, author of Every Last Breath “The Bobcat is a masterpiece of understated grace, an insightful study of trauma and healing, and a work whose narrative power shines with the strength of its skillful prose. […] This realistic portrayal of recovery is light years from the superficial takes we often see in stories, and it makes the narrative that much stronger and more engaging. An extremely impressive debut, The Bobcat is a compelling and rewarding read.”— Dan Stout, author of Titan Shade “The Bobcat is a mesmerizing lyrical novel that you don’t want to rush through. I savored every beautiful sentence and description of the natural world, the people and animals. Full of empathy and compassion, this is a story about how we heal from trauma and what it takes to begin trusting again.”— Daniela Petrova, author of Her Daughter’s Mother “A mesmerizing novel, […] Riley uses language, both precise and lushly descriptive, to show how true connection does not depend on words. In an age of tell-all stories and healing through talk therapy, it’s a radical act. Though there is plot and mystery enough to drive this novel, what really powers it is Riley’s profound sense of empathy and her gorgeous writing – about people, animals, the natural world, fear, love and hope. This is the kind of novel that makes you turn the pages to discover what becomes of the hiker, Laurelie, the bobcat and the toddler - and then makes you slow down to savor the telling itself.” — Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party “The novel is richly observed, the depth and detail of its description a particular strength. It has been described as ‘immersive’ and I’ll tell you why: you will lose yourself in this book. The words and sentences are enough to keep you turning the pages, even if the story were less than the fascinating tale that it is. […] The ending is perfect.” — Melanie Golding, author of Little Darlings “The Bobcat is deeply evocative, written in lush, delicious prose about a wounded young woman and her journey towards healing. With the help of her artwork and an unusual hiker she meets, the two come together, find love in this mystical tale that will linger with readers like a haunting dream. Highly recommend.” — Marlene Adelstein, author of Sophie Last Seen “In addition to being a moving story of healing, resilience, and love, The Bobcat includes so many lush and exquisite details that make the setting of this novel leap from the page. It also includes a line that, in my opinion, perfectly encapsulates the gift and challenge of being a teacher in the arts. As Laurelie steps into teaching duties herself, she muses how “each student was like a puzzle, finding the right artists to show, the right words to deconstruct their art and make it open up, so the student would see it working just like his or her own.”— Megan Collins, author of The Winter Sister “I read this beautiful book with my heart in my throat. The world of The Bobcat is immersive, fully saturated, and deeply interior in the best possible way. A visceral and authentic depiction of the aftermath of trauma, the novel is also a moving exploration of the power of artistic creation and its capacity to make sense of both the light and dark sides of human experience.” — Kate Hope Day, author of If, Then “This book snuck up on me, its quiet fairytale quality perfect for the story of a traumatized young woman’s search for a way out of isolation and fear. Riley’s grasp of nature and art and human psychology are on full display in this spellbinding tale of connection and chemistry. [...] A book to ponder long after the final page.”— Susan Bernhard, author of The Winter Loon
£11.69
Arcade Publishing My Armenian Friend
Book Synopsis
£20.24
Unnamed Press Like a Bird
Book Synopsis
£22.10
Unnamed Press Cairo Circles
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£23.80
Unnamed Press Like a Bird
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£14.45
Unnamed Press Cairo Circles
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£13.30
Skyhorse Publishing Madrid Again: A Novel
Book SynopsisA modern-day bildungsroman,featuring a young woman on a quest to discover her family history as she is torn between the US and Spain, the old world and the new. Told with humor, candor, and grit, Madrid Again is a highly original novel, and an homage to the haunting power of history, and how it shapes the identity of two generations of women. Madrid, 1960s. Odilia is a brilliant young student who seems to have it all until she is unexpectedly spirited away on an exciting journey across the Atlantic to the United States by a magnetic professor. But the professor disappears from Odilia’s life as mysteriously as he appeared. Left alone in a new country with a baby girl, Lola, Odilia must decide whether to strike out and raise her daughter alone, or return to her strict, upper-class Catholic family in Spain. Mother and daughter travel to Madrid as often as possible, but Odilia ultimately chooses a life of self-reliance in New England. As Lola grows up, she feels torn between two countries, two cultures, and two languages. She becomes a historian and embarks on a quest to seek out the history of her origins. She wrestles with family secrets, as she struggles to answer questions about her own identity and future. How does she fit in to the United States, Spain, or anywhere else?
£18.74
Arcade Publishing Fortune
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£20.79
Arcade Publishing Little Brother: A Refugee's Odyssey
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£18.39
Islandport Press Sunrise and the Real World
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£17.06
Delphinium Books Infinite Dimensions: Stories
Book Synopsis
£18.99
Delphinium Books The Hallelujah Side
Book Synopsis
£11.99
Two Dollar Radio The Holy Days of Gregorio Pasos
Book Synopsis
£14.36
Archipelago Books Salka Valka
Book Synopsis
£16.62
Spiegel & Grau LLC Go as a River
Book Synopsis
£18.99
Running Wild Press Delivery: A Pocho's Accidential Guide to College,
Book Synopsis
£17.95
Running Wild Press The Lost and the Blind
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£17.05
Little Creek Press Bridgeton
Book Synopsis
£17.06
Skyhorse Publishing A Greek Love: A Novel of Cuba
Book SynopsisFor readers of Isabel Allende, Gabriela Garcia, and Julia Alvarez, the story of a woman who must fight for her love and her child in a Cuba suffocated by oppression. A free spirit who spends time near the port of Havana, where her friend Osiris is known as the “Greek sailormen's whore,” teenager Zé becomes pregnant after a brief love affair with a captain's son her age. By the time she realizes her condition, the ship has left and the boy is gone. In her father's Cuba, an unwed teenage mother is a source of scandal and shame and a threat to his ambitions in the Party. He disowns her and brutally throws her out of her home. Led by her mother, she leaves the city for refuge in Matanzas, a university town rich in Afro-Cuban culture, where her mother's sister, a music scholar, lives and where she will raise her child mentored by these three older women—aunt, mother, and Osiris. Years later, Zé’s son, Petros, has become a world-class musician bridging Cuban and Greek traditions, while Zé has become a scholar herself. When a recording executive invites Petros to give concerts in Greece, Zé seeks permission from the authorities to leave the island and accompany him. Secretly—a secret they guard from the authorities and her father, now a Party stalwart—they both nourish the hope of somehow finding Petros’s father and Zé’s one great, lost love. With echoes of the breakout novel that made Zoé Valdés an international literary star, A Greek Love is a tale of passion, endurance, and hope—and a woman's tenacious love.Trade Review"This spare, beautifully written novel encompasses the whole world and the enduring geography of love in all of its expressions. Zoé Valdés has given us a heroine whose fierce and loyal love of her family and families is inspiring and unforgettable. This novel is a journey and a mournful, joyous song "—Marita Golden, author of The Wide Circumference of Love"[A Greek Love is] a deceptively simple book, like all things Cuban. Zoé Valdés is so good at shining a light on the pages that are not there by showing us the ones that are. Her Cuban characters are brave, but they are also, realistically, a product of a totalitarian regime where silence is survival. All of that is present in this short page-turner. As is, of course, in true Valdés fashion: love."—Vanessa Garcia, author of White Light“Unforgettable.”—Daniel Fernández, Nuevo Heraldo "This novel lifts a song of hope."—Le Soir "Zé, as is often the case with Zoé Valdés's characters, incarnates—along with a naturalness and spontaneity of spirit that are her strength as well as her weakness—a force of life that refuses to be contained, a call to freedom, a take on the world that evades constricting codes and other shackles."—Le Matricule des Anges “This beautifully-written novella packs so much into so few pages! I loved the peek into Cuban life, as well as all the lovely descriptive details the author included.”—Hello Little HomePraise for A WEEPING WOMAN, winner of the Azorín Prize "The Weeping Woman interweaves present and past with intelligence and humor . . . Many of the leading Parisian avant-gardists—Guillaume Apollinaire, Leonor Fini, Juan Gris, Max Jacob, Wifredo Lam, André Lhote, Kiki de Montparnasse, Man Ray—are conjured with fidelity and charm." —The New York Times Book Review "If you're looking for a book that portrays flaws, anger, human suffering, exile, trauma, sex, and survival—pick up Valdés's book. She brings Dora into the light, and reveals the debilitating power so often afforded to men to crush and break women, and how women prevail."—Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas "We are steeped in the history, drama, and even mundaneness of the Surrealist era, with a colorful cast of characters that includes Man Ray, Paul Éluard, and the master himself, Picasso. . . . Valdés reveals Maar to be more than just Picasso's model for his portrait The Weeping Woman but an inspiring artist in her own right." —Booklist "Zoé Valdés rescues Dora Maar from Picasso's clutches." —ABC "The Weeping Woman is a book about 'someone who separates herself from her work to dedicate herself to genius.'" —El País "Zoé Valdés is a very important Cuban writer who lives in exile in France. She is very well known in the Spanish-speaking community for the quality of her work and for her courageous fight against Cuban dictatorship in particular and, in general, her criticism of all authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, and for her permanent defense of human rights and journalists and writers who are persecuted all over the world."—Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Miguel de Cervantes Prize
£14.24
Belle Point Press In the Morning, the City Is the Prairie
Book Synopsis
£14.24
Little, Brown & Company Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (light novel)
Book SynopsisUnable to get around without a wheelchair, the doll-like Josee leads a solitary,housebound existence. But when she meets her new live-in caretaker, a recent collegegraduate named Tsuneo, everything in her life is upended. "Josee, the Tiger and theFish" depicts the fragile, strangely erotic relationship that blossoms between these twoyoung people. In addition to the title story, this collection also includes seven shorttales centering on working women and the myriad loves and partings of their lives.
£14.39
