
by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith
Readers of well-crafted historical fiction such as Trust by Hernan Diaz will be drawn in by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith's sure-footed Mutual Interest, which is set in turn-of-the century Manhattan, in the aftermath of the Gilded Age, with occasional excursions to Hollywood, Calif., and Utica, N.Y. Wolfgang-Smith (Glassworks) is nothing short of virtuosic in her wry and witty world-building, which immediately immerses readers into a rough-and-tumble capitalist quagmire where the stakes are incredibly
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by Lida Maxwell
For most people, Rachel Carson is synonymous with her Silent Spring exposé of unregulated chemicals destroying the sustainability of American agriculture. In Rachel Carson and the Power of Queer Love, Boston University professor Lida Maxwell examines letters Carson exchanged with her intimate friend Dorothy Freeman and argues that Carson's environmentalism was inextricably intertwined with queer frameworks of love.
Maxwell draws on writers from many disciplines, including Black and queer studies, to
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by Renée Watson
Coretta Scott King Award winner and Newbery Award honoree Renée Watson (Piecing Me Together) uses poetry and lyrical prose to sculpt All the Blues in the Sky, a deeply affecting window into healing that skillfully manages to be both heartbreaking yet full of hope.
A month ago, on 13-year-old Sage's birthday, her best friend was killed by a drunk driver. Since then, Sage struggles to understand why "sometimes no one sees death coming," especially when it suddenly and senselessly comes for a best friend
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by Kira Jane Buxton
A tiny Italian village facing destitution catches a whiff of hope in the vivacious, feel-good comedy Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton (Hollow Kingdom, Feral Creatures).
The village of Lazzarini Boscarino has seen better days. Tourists only come into town if they're lost, and all the bars and restaurants have closed save Bar Celebrità, which "could perhaps use one of the potent espressos made by its bartender." The village's first female mayor, Delizia--who narrowly won the election against "a donkey of legal
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by Kay Sohini
A probing, curious mind interrogates a fascination with New York City in Kay Sohini's gorgeously detailed debut graphic memoir, This Beautiful, Ridiculous City. Sohini, who holds a Ph.D. in English from Stony Brook University, explores her life to see how and why she became infatuated with New York, a city with which her "attachment can never be explained in the realm of the logical." She begins with an image that's repeated two more times later in the book: a plane sitting on the tarmac at JFK airport in
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by L.M. Elliott
A conservative teenager serves as a congressional page and begins to open her mind to different worldviews in this astounding historical novel jam-packed with the real-life events and issues that crowded headlines in 1973.
When 17-year-old Patty spends a year serving as one of the first female pages in the U.S. Senate, her personal social, sexual, and political awakenings coincide with some of the biggest upheavals in U.S. history, including the Watergate hearings, the battle to pass the Equal Rights Amendment,
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by Olivia Abtahi, illus. by Monica Arnaldo
Olivia Abtahi (Perfectly Parvin) and Monica Arnaldo's first picture book collaboration, The Interpreter, is an earnest and endearing depiction of a child who becomes overwhelmed while serving as translator for her Spanish-speaking parents.
While some kids have only one job--"to be a kid"--Cecilia has two: in addition to school and soccer, she acts as interpreter for her Spanish-speaking parents. Cecilia goes with her caretakers to all sorts of "grown-up places" and assists with appointments, making small talk
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