"Twelve-year-olds Alec and Josie communicate with each other in the same house-100 years apart.
"In 1915, Josie's emotionally abusive mother, Lavinia, a former actress, is a well-known spiritualist, operating from their newly built home in small Edwardstown, New York, where Josie and her 6-year-old sister, Cassie, are schooled by a tutor. Alec moves into the house with his mother in 2015, after his parents' separation. When he and new friends Danny and Harold discover a "talking board" in a drawer, they are astonished when the glass planchette begins to move: "W-E A-R-E Y-O-U-N-G L-A-D-I-E-S." An old photographic portrait of a girl labeled "Josephine Clifford, 1915," and the words "HELLO ALEC" carved into the attic windowsill confirm for Alec the presence of something unexplained. The connection between the children is carefully constructed and revealed, sometimes running along similar paths in their respective Novembers (1915 and 2015) and sometimes diverging. A packet of letters, hidden for a century for Alec to discover, and visits by Alec and Danny to the local library and historical archives add to the rich storyline. Lavinia's discovery of Josie's friendship is sinister and frightening, amping the tension, but Alec's research allows him to reassure Josie and readers that she and Cassie will escape-and find their own futures. The book assumes a white default.
"
Mattie has a few obsessions-jazz records, Star Trek, vintage dresses-but not even her best friend, Stella, knows about the one that propels her to the home of Miyu Miyake: her desire to learn how to pick locks and escape from straitjackets.
Escapology legend Akiko Miyake came from Japan, settling in Rhode Island before she died in a plane crash, leaving her tools and methods with her daughter. Miyu is a gruff 30-something who would much prefer to be secluded in her crumbling home than train the relentlessly persistent white teenager who turns up uninvited. Mattie keeps meeting the outrageous demands of her curmudgeonly mentor, including being pushed from her private comfort zone into public performance the summer before senior year. Will, a white basketball player with a secret, finds himself pulled into Mattie's orbit. A seemingly mismatched friendship develops between the two, and within their growing trust, they find the space to express their genuine selves. Stella, who is white, returns from a prestigious academic summer program to discover, and fully embrace, this radically bold version of Mattie. She ushers 14-year-old Azorean-American boy genius Frankie Campos into the mix, and the four become an inseparable crew, offering each other the space they need to be their overachieving, weird, or queer true selves.
"An exciting and nuanced portrayal of the terror of vulnerability and the exalted freedom of authenticity. (Fiction. 14-17)"
Excerpt: "
The characters are appealing and engaging, and Wheeler's character evolves and matures with perfect timing. This is a must-read for anyone interested in topics as varied as such as war, friendship, and mystery."
Excerpt: "[T]he illustrations in the book...are one of its funniest features. Wetta has taken medieval and Renaissance paintings of monks and digitally reconfigured them so that at second glance you realise the joke he is playing: there are monks as disc jockeys, monks as weight-lifters, monks as darts throwers, monks taking selfies and so on. In case you might think this is a very puerile kind of humour, I assure you it isn't..."
An Immovable Feast9781621642336
(4/27) Interview with Morning Glory; 6:45 am (CT), live phone interview.
Excerpt: "While political affairs are often a touchy subject, Tom Epperson makes a case for the corrupt political tensions and scandals plaguing journalists and the indigenous peoples of South America in Roberto to the Dark Tower Came. Dark and gruesome, yet written in a very matter-of-fact, Murakami-esque style that will appeal to fans of all genres, Epperson's latest work offers a searing look at political turmoil from a new perspective."
"South American journalist Roberto has been chronicling the massacres in jungle villages and the complicity of the ruling government in many deaths. For his honesty, he is warned that he must leave the country within ten days or be killed. Taking the threat seriously, he says goodbye to his family and friends and prepares to head to Santa Lucia where his girlfriend is living. He gets rid of his apartment and car, then suddenly he is offered the scoop of a lifetime and returns to the jungle to write his last great story before the end of the ten days. Epperson (The Kind One; Sailor) is no stranger to blood and violence in his works. His graphic depiction of the unmitigated brutality of the militias in the jungle is heart-stopping. While readers can't help admiring Roberto's investigative persistence, they will probably be shouting, "Get out before the ten days are up!" VERDICT This page-turning novel, which proceeds to tell the story of Roberto's life day by day, will be enjoyed by readers who like their fiction dark."-Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS
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