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With little narrative structure to constrain her Woodward is free to wander her own thoughts and emotions tracing the scars death leaves behind. This is a strange catalogue of things imagined amid painful feelings all intertwined in a surprisingly bottled up package. Nominally a novel but in execution a keen synthesis of fact and fiction the book takes the form of 36 micro essays and stories presented alphabetically by title from “Afterlife” and “Birds in Art” through “Elton John” “Insects” “Rye Crackers” and “Xyz.” Death hangs over what narrative there is as in the title story whose narrator admits to having troubling visions of her own demise. She’d lost her troubled sister Vicky who died from a degenerative illness three weeks earlier. The other narrative thread involves a U.S. Army experiment conducted over Minneapolis in 1950 that caked the city in cadmium to simulate a nuclear attack. Punctuated by tiny fictions and brief unsettling reflections on her sister the narrator also touches on the works of novelist John O’Hara generational wreckage caused by Black Beauty and the nature of romance in Shulamith Firestone’s Dialectic of Sex. In one essay a poet ponders the nature of words while another essay asks what it means to eat insects and a third remarks on the casual sexism of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Not that the book isn’t funny from time to time: Sylvia Plath’s legacy is deemed “a fitting arc for a poet’s life: struggle success marriage extinction.” In another note the narrator drily comments “This shows you how generally inappropriate my reactions are to the backbone of my society.” By the time she talks at any length about her sister—“I wasn’t going to feel sorry for her. I wasn’t sorry”—readers may not know whether to believe her or not.
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Not long after Jordan Vance loses her job at a strip club for kicking someone who got handsy a stranger tries to kill her in a grocery store parking lot. Enter professional killer Dennis who intervenes with efficient brutality and saves her life. As he and Jordan drive to safety in her car—with the body of her recent assailant in the trunk—Dennis reveals that he’s been hired to protect her from Iranian general Qasim Vahidi who wants to use her as leverage to keep her father Michael from revealing his crimes. This comes as news to Jordan who thought both her parents were killed in a car accident years ago. It turns out that her dad was not merely an engineer but also a consultant to foreign governments; the accident was an attempt by Gen. Vahidi’s operatives to silence Michael who was a witness to some of the dictator’s horrific acts. Somehow Michael survived the accident however and he’s recently resurfaced. Now Dennis a freelance operative for the British government is on a mission to keep Jordan safe. Hotchkiss maintains a consistent pace grabbing the reader from the opening brawl. Jordan driven by revenge and a desperate need for freedom appealingly refuses to be a passive victim and instead seizes the opportunity to form a lethal but lasting partnership with her protector. It’s satisfying to watch an underestimated protagonist get the better of heartless misogynistic predators. Dennis initially inhabits the cliche of the stoic hit man: “This man had just killed another man in front of me with the casual precision of someone dusting crumbs off their shirt.” As the story goes on though his heart of gold eventually overrides his professional demeanor. The romantic dynamic with Jordan is particularly refreshing in that she chooses not to hide behind Dennis; she’s a formidable character who uses his protective instincts to achieve her own violent ends.
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Little black housecat Casper has spent many days (and five books in her eponymous series) walking across Africa in an effort to find her way home. In this outing she is rudely awakened first by a competitive dung beetle then by a group of 20 baby ostriches who can’t find their parents. The chicks’ leader the self-effacing Felicity asks Casper for her help in getting all 19 of her brothers to a safe haven with their cousins. The cat agrees and the group sets off but not without turmoil: Poisonous red-headed centipedes almost sting Casper and she is only spared by the timely intercession of the warthog Wigbert. Wigbert helps guide the group to the ostriches’ family and Casper chooses to spend extra time with them. Casper isn’t the only interested feline—a cheetah emerges to stalk the flock. Alongside Mzee the tortoise Casper and company must gather their courage and defend themselves against this common enemy. This early chapter book about self-confidence and cooperation will entice young readers interested in wildlife whether they’ve read the previous titles in the series or not. The lesson about rejecting labels is cleverly and naturally woven together with animal facts such as when Felicity worries that she isn’t intelligent because ostriches have small brains. (“‘You have to be pretty smart to know when to ask for help’ Casper said. ‘It’s not the size of the brain it’s how you use it.’”) Several pages of informative text and photos are included in the aftermatter which covers every creature mentioned in the story no matter how big or small their role. Bose’s bright doe-eyed illustrations are cute without sacrificing too much realism.
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Floo Flocky Doo (short for Florence Flockhart Doo-Faye) is an eccentric youngster with a supportive Mommy Doo and a friendly hummingbird pal named Peanut. All seems fine at first when Floo rescues a baby squirrel and takes him in as a pet but mild chaos ensues when she secretly brings the animal along on errands with her mother. The story unfolds in upbeat rhymes creating an energetic rhythm that’s well suited to read-aloud settings. Floo’s cheerful catchphrase (“Hootie Hoo Hootie Hoo”) is charming and easily repeatable creating opportunities for interactive storytelling and reader engagement. Rooney’s cartoon illustrations are appealing and colorful with a satisfying mix of full-page spreads and smaller-framed scenes that create action-packed montages. The variety keeps the story visually dynamic while also supporting the lively narrative pace. Floo’s misadventures result in little more than a disapproving look from Mommy Doo so it’s evident the book isn’t meant to emphasize a lesson about mischief. Instead it prioritizes Floo’s kindness toward animals and her zest for life to offer a quieter takeaway.
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In “Room” an unnamed narrator finds herself locked inside a white room in Vienna where she has come to finish a book and becomes increasingly agitated. “Night” the longest section by far brings us another unnamed narrator in a room. This woman—a German writer—suffers from insomnia and spends her hours sifting through her own memories imaginings and histories particularly those of women artists in pre–World War I Berlin. These pursuits swallow her present which appears as a surreal kaleidoscope reflecting an almost painful sensitivity to the world around her. Her only companions are the “nameless woman” she shares the room with—a bizarre mutable figure—and a neighbor she watches through the window. “Medusas” told in the third person follows a group of women and their children on a beach vacation. The women are glued to news of atrocities on their phones only roused when their children are badly stung by jellyfish. The book closes with “Burials” a second-person account of a mother and daughter visiting another family near a forest in central Europe. The mother (“you”) enjoys nature sleeps deeply and considers the family’s dog soon to be put down. Later she asks her friend to bury her up to her neck in soil so she may “lie down inside of the earth enter the womb.” The narrator of “Night” notes that the artists she studies all suffered from “war lovelessness mania” and the women Friedland fashions are no different. While its rapid shifts between thoughts and scenes can be jarring this book succeeds in constructing a “lineage” a “female history” (and thus an alternative and even reparative history) of women suffering through unprecedented times. In addition Friedland conveys a profound truth: Awareness of this lineage is a heavy burden. When holding the weight of one’s own memories and the memories of the many that have gone passed through oral storytelling archives and even the internet how could one possibly rest?
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Michael Harrier is no stranger to violence: At just 8 years old he witnessed his white supremacist father murder his mother an incident that sparked a lifetime of guilt and self-harm. After honing his own violent tendencies hunting poachers on the plains of Africa as a teenager the adult Michael resides in California and makes a living as an assassin-for-hire with one rule: he will only kill those he is “certain to see in Hell.” His violent but simple routine comes crashing down when he rescues Chensea Gray a former runner for a gambling ring who knows too much. As Michael tries to help Chensea find a way out of her predicament he must also complete the most unusual assignment of his career: murder a priest guilty of molestation and make it look like God’s divine judgment. All the while a nosy detective gets closer to uncovering his violent deeds. Michael finds himself struggling with the rules he has made and quickly running out of time to make things right. Cary has crafted an absorbing thriller that piles on the twists and turns before arriving at a brutally shocking conclusion. Despite a brief scene where unnamed fighters are unfortunately referred to simply by their race (“Two men standing the Asian and his bald sidekick”) the narrative voice maintains just the right amount of smoothness and snappiness to move things along. The real standout element is the character of Michael; haunted by his past he is a morally gray character with a death wish—in other words a delightfully complex protagonist whom readers will alternately love and loathe. The novel is both a nuanced and action-packed study of generational trauma and violence.
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Genevieve (Genna) Summerford a young psychotherapist from a socially prominent family and her beau Simon Shaw a captain in the Tammany political machine and the proprietor of a fledgling horse farm in upstate New York are at an auction in the City where Simon’s first yearling is up for bid. While they’re celebrating Fair Corner Farm’s first successful sale Genna’s longtime friend Bartie Matheson learns that his oyster business–owning father Edgar has just died in an accidental fall down the stairs. Within several days of the funeral Bartie and his brother Ned have their grief-stricken mother placed in a private sanitarium. When Genna under the guise of a family medical consultant visits their mother she realizes that not only has May been misdiagnosed as a hysteric but also that Edgar’s fatal plunge involves some serious questions. As she delves more deeply into the oyster industry on Long Island Sound she discovers that the business is rife with rivalries thievery and unsavory machinations that could point to murder. Threaded throughout Overholt’s intriguing cozy mystery (part of the Dr. Genevieve Summerford Mysteries series) are Genna’s and Simon’s painful backstories and the ongoing challenges of their socially unconventional relationship. She’s of high breeding while he’s a Catholic Irish immigrant who once worked as her father’s stable boy: “pedigree isn’t everything” he pointedly remarks to a blue-blooded horse fancier. While low on dramatic tension the novel firmly confronts the endemic mistreatment of female patients by the medical community and misogynistic attitudes toward female physicians. The most fascinating element is the author’s intricate depiction of the surprising complexities of the oyster industry on Long Island Sound. The novel is breezily narrated by Genna whose voice reveals a woman who knows her own mind and is determined to stand up to family and societal constraints.
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BeBe enjoys her comfortable life as a caterpillar munching leaves and crawling wherever she pleases. But after waking up with wings and long legs her world suddenly feels “strange.” She can no longer “crunch on her favorite milkweed or clover” and feels uncomfortable when “her big wings [follow] her everywhere.” The story uses BeBe’s transformation as a way to open a conversation for young readers about the difficulty of change—whether this comes in the form of growing up sudden illness or familial shifts. Inspired by the author’s real-life recovery after a seizure and brain surgery Bebe’s metamorphosis shows how frightening change can be but also how rewarding new experiences can follow. The prose flows easily and lines like “From above the world looked wider—and a little brighter” capture moments of hope as the adorable caterpillar grows to accept the unknown. Sir’s illustrations are warm and charming especially those of BeBe in her two forms—they recall the style of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969) with grainy textures and bright colors. The sudden shift from white daytime backdrops to a dark nighttime scene interrupts the visual rhythm but the overall atmosphere remains coherent and uplifting and should prove a delight for young readers.
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San Francisco defense attorney Joe Turner’s latest case takes him down south to Barton Georgia. He’s there on behalf of his investigator Chuck Argenal whose 18-year-old nephew is accused of fatally shooting the small town’s high school quarterback. There’s quite a bit of evidence (though no discernible motive) implicating Carl Ledbetter who’s on the autistic spectrum (“tracking other people’s emotions is just too intense too overwhelming for him. So he avoids eye contact social cues and buries himself in his own thoughts”); a witness claims to have seen him on the night of the murder and Carl tested positive for gunshot residue. Locals who practically worship their high school football team are wary of Joe’s presence since he’s an outsider. He gets the most flak from the judge trying Carl’s case and from the prosecuting district attorney. They seem convinced of the teen’s guilt and determined to close the case quickly presumably before the town gets too deep into the new football season. Luckily Joe has skilled people on his side: Chuck unsurprisingly takes on the investigator role to help his nephew and Joe’s archaeologist girlfriend Eddy Busier comes for a visit and lends a hand doing some investigating of her own. The trio’s most pressing objective is unmasking the culprit which entails identifying suspects and checking to see if their individual alibis hold up. At trial Joe must dispute the evidence and show the jury what he sees: an innocent kid who’s looking at serious time behind bars.
Bequette’s legal narrative moves briskly thanks to succinct chapters that bounce the story from scene to scene. The novel employs a narrative structure that ramps up suspense; scenes of Joe working the case are intercut with the nine-person jury deliberating post-closing arguments and flashbacks from before and the night of the murder. The jury scenes are especially good showcasing assorted personalities stuck in one room including a blatantly offensive and bigoted juror. Carl occasionally narrates too and provides welcome insight into a thought process that may seem unorthodox to some readers (in one scene someone bumps into him and angrily says “Watch yourself” which confuses Carl who takes everything literally). The story’s nonlinear mingling of scenes is easy to follow and maintains the mystery for much of the novel (the jurors don’t spoil moments from the trial that readers haven’t yet encountered). Joe is a likable series hero; there’s no question he’s an accomplished lawyer who fights hard for his clients. His believable flaws make him appealing as he struggles to retain his cool in the courtroom (he isn’t always successful) and his legal tactics sometimes fail miserably. As the narrative unfolds so do several surprises from crucial information a particular character chooses to withhold to an unexpected revelation regarding a potential suspect. There are a handful of viable murderers making it difficult to pinpoint who definitely did the deed—the story culminates with a doozy of an ending.
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To commemorate 75 years of the publishing house Thames & Hudson historian Nyburg contributes three essays chronicling its evolution from its founding in 1949 to the present. From the start Austrian émigré Walter Neurath and his partner Eva Feuchtwang aimed to produce a “museum without walls”: beautiful and affordable illustrated books on arts and culture. They chose to name their company after two important rivers in London and New York nodding to their international aspirations. Their inaugural volume published in 1950 was English Cathedrals. Early partnerships with the American publisher Abrams and the French publisher Fernand Hazan expanded their list and more international alliances followed; the company eventually had offices around the world. Titles often were suggested by the many cultural figures who served as T&H’s eyes and ears. As their publication of art books grew—100 titles about Picasso alone—so did their reputation for the high quality of their reproductions. Nyburg discusses the many series they developed over the years: Man and Myth edited by Joseph Campbell; The Past in the Present edited by archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes; World of Art edited by noted art historian Herbert Read; Art and Imagination; and the Library of European Civilization among scores more on architecture photography biography design music and fashion. After Neurath’s death in 1967 T&H was led by his son Thomas along with his daughter Constance and Feuchtwang; Thomas stepped down in 2005 leaving two daughters in key positions in a company that had expanded both in England and abroad. Alert to cultural and technological changes T&H titles came to include topics as diverse as countercultural movements and chocolate. The visually stunning volume contains 2000 illustrations 1800 in color.
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Emilia is both excited and nervous about spending the day outdoors. Her younger brother Nico is ready to go but Emilia feels unsure. Her grandmother arrives to pick up the kids and their parents and they all set out. Before long Emilia begins to notice the forest’s sights smells and sounds discovering the beauty of the plants and animals around her. Galindo’s illustrations capture the magic of hiking weaving detailed birds and woodland creatures into soft whimsical swirls that reflect a child’s sense of wonder and love. Harmony’s story highlights the joy of connecting deeply with both family and nature and the simple pleasures of exploring the outdoors together. Backmatter includes a brief guide to visiting public lands with tips for staying safe and caring for the environment. Readers will also find a list of sorpresas or surprises to spot throughout the artwork among them a monarch butterfly a red-tailed hawk and other wildlife. This bilingual picture book presents the full text in English alongside Spanish on each page. Emilia and her family are brown-skinned and Latine.
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When Redo Hauptshammer arrives from Vienna in the Prussian village of Szonden on the banks of the Oder River in the 1820s his first task is to bury his murdered young Spanish wife Odra—the victim of random gunfire—on the same plot of land where he hopes to raise sugar beets. But when he first places his spade in the soil he makes a startling discovery: the icebound body of a Prussian hussar soldier. Redo’s shock and sadness only grow as his repeated efforts to excavate a suitable gravesite reveal multiplying numbers of “dead frozen soldiers surrounded by their weapons under pools of coagulated blood that announced their presence a few feet farther down.” Each new dig discloses double the number of bodies until he has unearthed a total of 31 men from different eras. Meanwhile an albino witch named Ilse informs him more are yet to be discovered. To his rising frustration Redo must confront recalcitrant authorities—stretching from the local gentry and minor government functionaries all the way to the highest levels of the Prussian regime—who seem vaguely sympathetic to his plight but just as determined to delay a solution to the inexplicable problem. One finally admonishes “You understand it’s not convenient for death to cause such commotion in a country that is at peace.” As Redo muses on his brief period of marital bliss and deals with his grief over Odra’s death tenant farmer Hans and local historian Jakob Moltke provide support and consolation. Mora’s surreal premise and understated tone subtly mask a pointed critique of governments that don’t hesitate to send their citizens into battle while refusing to face the consequences of those fateful decisions.
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Eva an 18-year-old intern at London-based Low Slang Records wants to break into the A&R side of the music industry but spends her days fetching coffee for higher-ups who won’t give her the time of day. Then she finds 16-year-old Alora Storm-Jones. When Eva comes across a video of Alora singing she’s transfixed by her talent. If Eva can get Alora signed to the label both their lives might just change forever. Alora has loved to perform since early childhood inspired by her father Billy Storm-Jones a beloved musician. But it’s been years since Alora has seen Billy who left her and her neglectful mother Julia in their dingy Manchester apartment. Desperate to escape her dreary existence and become “an icon” Alora jumps at Eva’s offer of management. Together they take the music world by storm as Alora becomes an instant superstar with a No. 1 record sold-out stadium tour and millions in the bank. But it’s a well-trodden path—promising yet troubled young artist controlling record label problematic producer hounding paparazzi obsessive fans all the other sinister trappings of fame—and author Seddon does not deviate from expectations as both women’s lives predictably unravel. As the story is told from both perspectives in two different timelines—Alora in rehab after a livestreamed suicide attempt and Eva during Alora’s meteoric rise—the dark backstories betrayals mistakes and missteps of both women are slowly brought to light. The exploration of female ambition and the desperate decisions each woman makes to grab at power success and notoriety in an industry where men systemically withhold all the above make this story worth reading.
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In Fourspires familiars exist to serve their arcanists wresting power from bone botanicals blood and stone until overexertion kills them. Taro a bone familiar with an “unhealthy obsession with black eye liner” and an “attitude problem” dreams of running away with Nixie the love of her life. Nixie familiar to the head botanic arcanist despises Taro but she needs her skills to escape. On the night they intend to enact their plan the Thaumaturge drops dead triggering the countdown to the Slaughter a battle to the death for the crown between the four head arcanists and their familiars. Magically bound to the ritual Taro and Nixie will die if they try to leave. Their only hope of freedom is to find four lost relics before the Slaughter begins and break an ancient curse on their city but to succeed they need the help of a blood arcanist and a stone arcanist. This darkly humorous fantasy trilogy opener which will appeal to fans of Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Room trilogy starts strong with a fast pace driven by imminent life-or-death stakes irresistibly self-destructive characters and absorbing worldbuilding. An exploration of gender leans into a born-in-the-wrong-body narrative and one of the few brown-skinned characters in the largely white-presenting cast has an arc in this volume that echoes an unfortunate trope. A cliffhanger ending creates high anticipation for the sequel.
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“Welcome to Shipikisha Club” goes the traditional Zambian saying for women who are about to be married. “Shipikisha” meaning “to relentlessly endure” is also a synonym for marriage whose peaks and valleys the novel follows through the stories of three generations of women: Peggy the preacher’s wife; her daughter Sali a secondary-school teacher; and her daughter aspiring actress Ntashé. When Sali finds out she's pregnant she’s sure that her married lover a famous cardiologist she calls Doc will leave his wife to marry her. On her way to tell him the good news about the baby however Sali gets into a car accident with—of all people—Doc’s wife. Sali emerges relatively unscathed and Kasunga the starched-collared policeman who was at the scene of the crash takes an interest in her. His emergence in her life at first seems like a blessing saving her from a life of shame as an unmarried mother. Convinced he can have no children of his own he willingly accepts Ntashé Sali’s child with Doc as his own. As Ntashé grows up though the sweetness of her parents’ relationship sours as “her mother’s tongue grew venomous and her father’s temper shredded.” The poison escalates for decades until all three women find themselves in a courtroom while Sali is tried for her husband’s murder. Truths and half-truths flicker throughout the trial as each woman fights to persuade the audience—and perhaps themselves and each other—of their story. Against the courtroom backdrop unfolds the women’s struggle to survive amid the complexities of Zambian modernization folk tradition religion and a political system in which victims have few rights.
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In 1930 the Rosenthals were a bustling happy family. Friedel and Gina were two of six children their father a successful small businessman who managed three corner shops throughout Dusseldorf. Antisemitism was on the rise however and Hitler eventually came to power. The Rosenthals were systematically stripped of their businesses property possessions and humanity. The 13-year-old twins like other Jewish students were forced to leave school. The story follows the girls as they experienced the agony of being torn from their family members forced into degrading conditions in the Czestochowa ghetto and ultimately hauled off to concentration camps. Dronfield explains the historical facts simply and directly presenting painful truths and not minimizing the horrors of Nazi Germany. His well-drawn portrayal of Friedel and Gina is compelling; he shows them to be creative brave tenacious and somehow despite it all hopeful. Readers will be engrossed by each turn of their tale each new atrocity they somehow survive and will cling desperately to the hope that the sisters get a chance at the beautiful lives they should have had all along. This is a historical page-turner with two remarkable inspiring women at its center that deserves a place on library and classroom shelves.
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Tennis isn’t the only thing weighing on Leo: He’s gay and not out to anyone. He doesn’t always agree with his father legendary tennis player Johnny Chambers who retired to coach Leo after a multiple sclerosis diagnosis cut his own career short. After Johnny suffers a stroke that keeps him from traveling as much as usual Leo switches up his game and the success he finds in his father’s absence drives a silent gap between them. When Gabe comes out becoming the first openly gay male tennis pro on tour his coach quits and he attracts the homophobic attention of Sascha Volkov a Russian player who consistently ranks No. 1. Gabe and Leo are eventually able to bury the hatchet long enough to start practicing together only to find that their chemistry doesn’t stop at the tennis court. Even after realizing they play for the same team their secret romance is not without barriers. The things that divide Leo and Gabe become the things that bring them together: Sascha the media and their own fear. This is a well-written (very) slow burn that focuses much more on sports than on romance though the gradual thaw from enemies to lovers is highly satisfying. While the spice is relatively mild fans of gay sports romances will appreciate the snappy dialogue compelling characters and high-stakes pacing.
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“The shoes were packed. ‘Daddy loves you’” Josie’s father tells her “glancing around—had he left anything?” Martin Brier is halfway out the door first wife cast aside for the younger model destined to become his second. Shorr’s latest novel is a mid-20th-century Midwestern nearly father-free coming-of-age story that follows Josie her two brothers and their mother as they try to build a life for themselves in Martin’s cavernous absence. Shorr favors a close third-person point of view which hovers hummingbird-style outside her characters’ windows. It’s an effective strategy especially in Shorr’s fluidly engaging prose style which allows readers to access the thoughts of even the most difficult characters—Martin included. He shows us in the passage above for instance that he can’t focus on his daughter long enough to tell her he loves her without simultaneously wondering if he’s adequately packed his belongings. His selfishness is astounding. So is the psychological astuteness with which Shorr has loaded the sentence—and the rest of the book—which is in the end the portrait of a girl and her wider family as they adjust to a world whose parameters they have not set themselves. Shorr picks up the narrative in the mid-’50s and sets it down half a century later when Cleveland has changed irrevocably and Josie’s family has scattered. If the book putters out in the last two or three chapters that seems a small price to pay. The larger missed opportunity is that Lora Josie’s mother doesn’t seem fully rendered. As a momentarily penniless single mother of three she has to act decisively—and does. Still Shorr has cast her sights elsewhere and the result is a remarkable success.
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Stephanie Zamekova the queer daughter of immigrants from the Czech Republic has no recollection of what caused the fire that took the life of her best friend Matt; tore apart her friend group; and left her with a traumatic brain injury. Now ominously the survivors receive invitations to return to BREAKOUT to participate in “an escape room in honor of Matteo Luca Cesari.…Because secrets won’t keep themselves.” Someone wants their secrets to come out at any cost—and Steffi’s determined to get the answers she needs to solve the mystery of Matt’s death (and her potential role) but her former friends seem just as determined to keep what transpired under wraps. Wlosok steadily builds the tension leaving carefully crafted clues showing the complexity of the escape room puzzles and weaving in elements of misdirection as the clock ticks down and Steffi and her friends must figure out if there’s a traitor among them. The author doles out revelations from the past through newspaper articles social media chats courtroom transcripts and online gossip column posts—and all the while readers will wonder whether they can trust Steffi if she doesn’t even trust herself. There’s diversity in race and sexual orientation among the friend group.
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It’s 1990. Sixteen-year-old Morgan’s mom left when she was 10 but Morgan tries not to think about that; she has a decent life with her white commercial fisherman father. But Morgan finds it tough being Native in a largely white school. When she drops out her friend Skye who was expelled convinces her to join her at Kaien Island Alternate School. Morgan’s academic achievement took a nosedive after her mom’s departure and thanks to Skye’s influence she gets pulled into shoplifting and partying. But as Morgan gets to know “cute Native guy” Nate her priorities change. The more she learns about her family’s history with residential schools the more she realizes how this legacy affects her. Spencer who’s from the Gitxaala Nation writes with sincerity about a “fictionalized Indigenous community” examining how intergenerational trauma from residential schools affected families. The short easily digestible chapters sustain an effective pace and Morgan is a realistically drawn teen with conflicting emotions desires and needs. Over the course of two years she grows and changes. The early ’90s setting allows the author to examine politics and pop culture from the perspective of a young adult finding herself at a time when residential schools were still in existence.
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