Following the trial of their rapist in The Way I Am Now (2023), Eden, Gennifer, and Amanda face the debilitating fear and anxiety that come in the wake of Kevin’s sentencing to a mere 180 days in prison. Their lives reflect the forces that shaped each of them. Amanda, a senior in high school whose […]
After a passel of animal musicians pass through the forest, a wandering cricket finds an abandoned violin. “Oh, how practical! A house that can play music. I’m moving in.” During the day she makes pottery and noodles, but by evening she plays wonderful tunes that entrance the other insects and small animals. All is well […]
In the 1964 film A Hard Day’s Night, it’s Ringo who wanders the back streets of London with camera in hand. The other Fabs, though, were just as interested in photography, chronicling their travels and lives on film. Paul McCartney was technically the best behind the lens, as witness his fine 2023 portfolio 1964: Eyes […]
Olivia Sol is a Harmonic who spends her time calculating possibilities and ensuring proper distribution, stabilization, and efficiency in her work for the Heldfast government and in her personal life. As she works to keep her society in balance, she rationalizes cutting off resources to various groups while maintaining compliance within the system’s metrics. When […]
Brownell’s book begins with Vee Haines waiting for her 9-year-old son, Ray, to come home. Their ramshackle homestead is in Starve-Out, New Mexico, a place so obscure that it’s not on any map. Vee tells Ray bedtime stories about her own childhood as the oldest daughter of a well-to-do banker in Chicago. Privately, she remembers […]
Wilder’s novel unfolds entirely within the uninterrupted narration of Warner Truman, an 18-year-old high school graduate whose tendency to self-aggrandize is immediately apparent: “I’m going to be president one day. No doubt about it.” Warner also announces that he is a hero, promising to eventually explain the tumultuous events that he feels have earned him […]
In her nonfiction debut, Calambichis offers advice and guidance to “those who want to build a food business with passion, discipline and purpose.” She provides worksheets and reference cards designed to translate her organizational ideas into practical real-world applications, focusing on three key frameworks: the “Blueprint Operating Model,” the “Blueprint Profit Framework,” and the “Blueprint […]
It’s 1930, and famous movie star Garland Westover is dead. Gracie Perkins and six other girls in the steno pool at Kaplan Talking Pictures are the only people who know this; they are also covering up his murder. Keeping this all a secret proves especially hard for Gracie, a 21-year-old who had been conducting an […]
Knowing that it’s wrong but attracted by the excitement of big, easy bucks, 17-year-old Ohioan Elliott allows himself to be drawn into the schemes of his troubled longtime friend, Felix Thurman. Felix, who struggles with his disengaged adoptive parents, has a new girlfriend, “tech goddess” Céline Moreau, whose dad “went to prison / for some […]
Kelly joins a new gym run by the Olympic coach, but she’s unsure of herself in the shadow of her “bubbly, / beautiful, confident” best friend, Jenny. Through Jenny, she meets Brandon, a cute boy she believes she doesn’t have a chance with since she’s “‘stocky.’ / And sad.” Kelly is devastated over the recent […]