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Archives
A Marriage at Sea
The electrifying true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea: a mind-blowing tale of obsession, survival, and partnership stretched to its limits. Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He’s a loner, awkward and obsessive; she’s charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream—as we all dream—of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away? Most of us begin and end with the daydream. But Maurice began to study nautical navigation. Maralyn made detailed lists of provisions. And in June 1972, they set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves. What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests.
Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar
A man and a woman walk into a restaurant. The woman expects a lovely night filled with endless plates of samosas. Instead, she finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie. A short while after, her chest starts to ache. She walks into an examination room, where she finds out the pain in her breast isn’t just heartbreak—it’s cancer. She decides to call the tumor Maggie. Unfolding in fragments over the course of the ensuing months, Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar follows the narrator as she embarks on a journey of grief, healing, and reclamation. She starts talking to Maggie (the tumor), getting acquainted with her body’s new inhabitant. She overgenerously creates a “Guide to My Husband: A User’s Manual” for Maggie (the other woman), hoping to ease the process of discovering her ex-husband’s whims and quirks. She turns her children’s bedtime stories into retellings of Chinese folklore passed down by her own mother, in an attempt to make them fall in love with their shared culture—and to maybe save herself in the process. In the style of Jenny Offill and the tradition of Nora Ephron’s hilarious and devastating writing on heartbreak and womanhood, Maggie is a master class in transforming personal tragedy into a form of defiant comedy.
Notes on Infinity
A singular, extraordinary debut about Zoe and Jack, Harvard students who find themselves propelled into the intoxicating biotech startup world when they announce they’ve discovered the cure for aging. A different kind of love story where the thirst for achievement consumes and the stakes are forever.
My Other Heart
A mother’s missing child, a search for identity, and ever-changing notions of “home”—class and race intersect with belonging in this stunning debut novel of mothers, daughters and best friends
The Faceless Thing We Adore
It’s a tale as old as time: Dump your shitty boyfriend, travel to a foreign country to find yourself…end up in a sex-fueled commune worshiping an angry God. When Aoife stumbles across the Farmstead, she finds everything she’s been missing—a community that loves her, sexual freedom, a greater purpose. She could actually be happy here…If it weren’t for the teenager they keep locked up in a cabin with no windows. Or the glitching shadow-monster. Or that some of her new friends talk about their leader Jonah with more fear than love. When the god wakes up and it all goes wrong, it’s only Aoife who has the power to choose what will become of their tiny reality. Awkward, clumsy Aoife, who was always told she was weak, and is just now realizing the depths of her strength—and the pleasures of her rage.
Kaya Morgan’s Crowning Achievement
A vibrant and heart-warming novel about the unforgettable joys of the Renaissance Faire, overcoming grief through cherished memories, and remaining true to yourself—even in cosplay. For as long as she could remember, Kaya Morgan has spent her summers with her dad at the greatest place on Earth: The Renaissance Faire. Full of performers cosplaying as thieving pirates, enchanting fairies, and courageous heroes, the Ren Faire has always been a place where anyone could be anything they wanted to be. And for as long as she could remember, Kaya and her dad have dreamed of her someday being named the first Black Queen of the Faire. Unfortunately for the last two summers, Kaya has been known as something else: the girl with the dead dad. But she’s not going to let anyone stop her from taking her place as the Queen’s apprentice (the first step on her journey towards Queen). But when the role is given to the pretty and blonde Jessie, the only spot left for Kaya is the Court Jester (who doesn’t even come with a crown). It’s bad enough that it’s another summer at the Ren Faire without her dad, and that her family thinks her love of medieval times is weird. But with everyone around Kaya determined to put her in a role she doesn’t want to be in, Kaya must decide whether to hold onto her old dreams no matter what, or realize that it’s okay for new dreams to become reality.
The Girl and the Robot
An out-of-this-world story about friendship, empowerment, and…running from federal agents? E.T. meets cult classic The Iron Giant in this middle grade light sci-fi from Emmy Award-winner Oz Rodriguez and New York Times best-selling author Claribel A. Ortega, perfect for fans of Witchlings. With a little heart, you can fix anything. Mimi Perez fixes things. Phones, tablets, speakers, printers. She gets it from her dad—helping him at the family e-repair shop was always one of Mimi’s favorite things to do. But ever since Papi was deported, there’s a lot more than electronics that need fixing in Mimi’s world. Things too big for any twelve-year-old to handle on her own. Mimi hustles around her Brooklyn neighborhood trying to earn enough money to finally fix her family. There’s no time for school or friends, but Mimi knows it will all be worth it the day Papi comes home. Then her ex-friends approach her with a proposition: enter a robotics competition with them, and they could win $50,000. It could be her chance. Not part of the plan? A mysterious robot crashing to earth. From space. The robot is scared, alone, and broken, and federal agents are after her. Mimi does what any street-smart electronics repair person would do: she takes the robot home, fixes her up, and in the process, makes herself a friend. Suddenly, Mimi is anything but alone. She’s part of a robotics team. She’s sheltering a robot. She’s dodging federal agents. And keeping all of it a secret from her mom. Join a girl and a robot on their life-changing sci-fi adventure in this coming-of-age story that celebrates kids in STEM, first-gen communities, and the power of friendship.
Shampoo Unicorn
Shampoo Unicorn: (noun) 1. A shower hairstyle in which one styles their lathered hair into the fluffiest soapy unicorn horn possible. 2. A podcast by two mysterious hosts exploring rural queer life—the isolation, the microaggressions, the boredom, and occasionally, the sky-shattering joy. In the small town of Canon, West Virginia, most people care about three things: God, country, and football. Brian is more into Drag Race, Dolly Parton, and his gig as one of the mystery hosts of his podcast, Shampoo Unicorn. Greg’s life should be perfect as the town’s super-masc football star, but his secret is he’s just as gay as Brian. Leslie is a trans girl living in nearby Pennsylvania, searching for reasons to get out of bed every day. Her solace is listening to her favorite podcast.…When a terrible accident occurs, it’s Shampoo Unicorn that brings the three teens’ lives together. And what begins as a search for answers becomes a story of finding connection. Sawyer Lovett’s powerful and ultimately joyful debut novel is about three teens, one podcast, and carving out a rainbow pocket in an otherwise red state.
Dreamslinger
Amari and the Night Brothers meets Pokémon in this thrilling start to Graci Kim’s brand-new fantasy series where dragons and phoenixes roam the skies of Seoul; meals magically appear based on your mood; and dreams literally come to life. Fourteen-year-old Aria Loveridge lives at the Resthaven Home for Dreamslingers, a safe haven for children born with a genetic mutation that transports them to a powerfully magical realm while they sleep. But this magic can be unpredictable—even deadly. After all, it was only ten years ago when members of the Royal League of Dreamslingers caused the Great Outburst—a tragedy that killed hundreds of people, including Aria’s mom. Since then, Aria’s dad has become leading expert on Dreamslinger Welfare, which means Aria knows better than most what it takes to keep society safe from her, and others like her: separation, identification, and most importantly, power suppression. So when the Kingdom of Royal Hanguk—home of the Dreamslinger League—announces the first Dreamslinger trials where teenage slingers from around the world are invited to compete for a chance to join the League and learn how to use their powers, Aria knows what she must do: join the trials and take down the League from the inside. But the Trials introduce Aria to a world of wonderous magic and friendship, a world where she finally feels like she belongs. And as dark secrets from the past are revealed—ones that make Aria question her very identity—she becomes even more determined to discover the truth for herself. She just has to survive the trials first.