Cholera, a virulent, intestinal disease spread by contaminated water, emerged from South Asia in 1830, devastating the cities of Europe as it moved west. By 1832, it appeared in Canada, and, despite efforts to prevent its arrival, the U.S. didn’t have long to wait. Kelton meticulously documents the disease’s spread across the country and the […]
Bored with life in Toronto, attractive young Priscilla Tempest left Canada for London, where she’s serving as press officer at the famed Savoy Hotel. Her title might as well be Miss Fix-it, since she’s the one who’s called to deal with all sorts of problems, from hungover guests to temperamental actors who refuse to rehearse. […]
Laia Grace Shirzan lives a perfect, happy life in beautiful New York City with a daily routine involving meditation and manifestations, makeup and skin care (whale semen for the faceful of multivitamins!), the most delicious lattes, Pilates (where she never sweats), and content creation for her moderately successful profile. Tonight there’s an important brand event […]
Della Farley embodies the classic fairy-tale heroine of a working-class woman whose dreams stretch far beyond her responsibilities of scrubbing floors and dusting shelves. When she discovers a mysterious book lying in the street, she’s captured by the tale of an intergalactic bounty hunter named Ansel Tulzok. In the next chapter, Ansel himself finds a […]
In distinct contrast to the general run of introductions to volcanoes, which tend to be full of melodramatic images and tales of widespread disaster, this survey goes for cute. Wagstaffe does acknowledge the perils of being anywhere near an erupting volcano’s gigantic emissions of gas and flows of lava and ash, pyroclastic or otherwise, but […]
An unseen narrator who has a story to tell is also tasked with keeping all the participants’ contributions “nice, polite, and appropriate for kids.” Five animals assemble, along with a talking taco, a tan-skinned pirate, and a pale-skinned child astronaut. But as the narrator explains the guidelines (“I want us all to agree you will […]
Zoe can’t wait to throw a party for her friends and their toys. She’s even built a little house out of blocks, with a pool on the roof for the occasion. But Car and Miles—a figure who, like Zoe, uses a manual wheelchair—can’t climb the steps to the roof. Chagrined, Zoe sets out to build […]
Francine Garcia’s parents must leave her and her toddler brother, Alfond, with Auntie Flora; Francine’s infant brother Ramón needs heart surgery, and her parents will be spending the next month in Atlanta while he undergoes the procedure. Though Francine’s upset about the disruption to her routine and the separation from her parents, she finds solace […]
Clayton combines speculative fiction with Catholic theology in this reflective self-helper. Through 35 guided meditations, readers are encouraged to imagine themselves on a quest led by Ignatian principles. The author, who believes that stories reflect divine truths, proposes spiritual practices for worldbuilding, including trusting your imagination, being specific, seeing the world as grace-filled, and embracing […]
Raised in France by a single mother (who, per the author, reveled in manipulation and emotional abuse), at age 19 Ranucci put an ocean between them by moving to New York City. The New Age movement emerging at the time resonated with her own spiritual questions, feelings of interconnectedness, and hope for transformation and self-knowledge. […]