Cummins gives flesh and countenance to the myriad of stories standing at the border seeking refuge from all manner of violence, hunger, and desperation. They are people - Lydia, Luca, Rebeca, Soledad, Beto, El Chacal, Choncho, Ricardin, Slim - whose stories are so beautifully crafted that we walk away understanding what forces a person to leave all that is known for whispers of both the nightmares and dreams of the unknown. After Lydia and her eight-year-old son Luca's entire extended family has been murdered in a cartel hit, Lydia knows their only hope of survival is to head north as inconspicuously as possible. Kindness, selflessness, compassion, cruelty, viciousness, and vengefulness meet them at every turn, but knowing who harbors which motivation makes this a compelling thriller. Pit the cartel's cruelty and might against the fierce love of a mother, and you have a book that will destroy and repair hope so often you will wonder how you survived the reading. It’s difficult to imagine how those who travel these roads survive the actual journey.
A library with whispering books, a school for magical kids trying to determine their roles in vague prophecies, magical teachers - some of whom may be murderers or just narcissists. Sound a bit familiar? It is, but add to that mix a private investigator who is the bitter non-magical twin of one of the professors, a gruesome murder, a strong mix of heavy drinking, fluid sexuality, and the feel of a noir novel and you have Magic for Liars. Fun with a serious investigation of the loneliness permeating modern society!
On the surface, this is the story of nine people who in completely different ways come to understand that we are intricately connected to the natural world, to trees in particular, but that is like saying King Lear is about a father/daughter relationship. It is about families whose legacies shape their descendants in wholly unintended ways and about the conversations we hold with beings our souls recognize as sentient though reason and society claim otherwise. It is about the desperate delusions of cultural suicide and the hope that there will be survivors. There are passages in this book you will want to reread for the depth of wisdom, some for the beauty of the language, and some for the utter tragedy of our tale. Few books monumentally shift the plates upon which our world view sits, so that upon their conclusion, we find ourselves staring at objects and people we have looked at every day through a completely different lens. What kind of bookseller would I be if I didn't make sure all of you read this?
An Indies Introduce debut, this is an exquisitely literary novel about the connections that allow us to see beyond our preconceived and culturally prescribed notions of the other and a painful reckoning of privilege unchecked. Shalini is a privileged, naïve young woman from Bangalore, India. In the wake of her mother’s untimely death, she travels to a remote village in northern Kashmir seeking answers to questions that have plagued her since childhood. She discovers in Kashmir’s political upheaval a terribly different reality than the public has been offered, and as she grows to love those she meets, she is faced with choices that test her compassion. Listen to the audio from Libro.fm and you’ll find yourself transformed by the poetry of the prose, the power of the characters and a story that transcends place.
Taggert walks uncomfortably with the likes of Tracker, gives Frodo a powerful shove and tells him to human-up, and asks Spider-Man to consider exactly to whom that great responsibility is owed. Beautifully wrapped inside a page-turning sci- fi adventure mystery are the questions of great literature: what happens to the children our world abuses and discards? What kinds of damage can damaged people enact? What happens when the wisp of family ties wraps those on the edge into embrace? Now what happens if these people have powers? Welcome to the world of Liminal People! Now we just need an in-conversation with Marlon James and Ayize. Now THAT would be awesome!
