The village of Hemlock Flat, New Hampshire is deep in the torpor of record-breaking heat, when Jimmy Baker, after seventeen years of no contact, returns for the funeral of his great-aunt, Altoona Baker. When sixteen-year-old Eliza Johnson disappears on a trail run, and one of the Johnson farm’s prized Highland cattle is found mangled and partially eaten by a mysterious predator, fear grips the village. A frantic search for Eliza, led by Jimmy’s uncle, George Baker (the county sheriff), sweeps the area. Adrift in his great-aunt’s old house, in the shadow of the Croydon Mountains, Jimmy finds himself pulled back to times he has worked hard to forget and discovers that his great-aunt, though in her grave, has things to tell him about his past and his future.
(CW: Oppressed group & person depicted in an image including chattel chains in original cover)
I Am Jayvyn has been described as a compelling work of historical fiction positioned to remind readers of the key role enslaved people have played in the successful development of America, written as a reminder of the systemic racism still plaguing the nation today. This story follows the life of a 12-yr-old Jola boy kidnapped and forced into the transatlantic slave trade in 1710 and is told from his perspective. From the horrors of the middle passage, to “seasoning” on a sugar plantation in Barbados and life on a rice plantation in South Carolina, love, hate, and cruelty coexist as Jayvyn experiences a range of human virtue and evil. It is a tale of pain and suffering, but also one of true faith and deliverance.
A Place To Land: More Stories from the Coast of Maine
Catherine J. S. Lee
Sea Smoke Press
Sometimes, the right place is exactly where you imagine it. Sometimes, it's where you least expect it. And sometimes, it's where you've been all along. In these fifteen short stories set on the remote and rural coast of Maine, all are seeking refuge. A homemaker attempts to run beyond a family tragedy. A musician thinks he’s covered his tracks and won’t be found. A lawyer rejects the life plan his father lays out for him. An Englishman finds himself the possessor of a house a world away from home. In this companion to the author's award-winning first collection, Island Secrets: Stories from the Coast of Maine (Sea Smoke Press, 2022), choice, necessity, history, and serendipity combine to lead seekers and fugitives to discover the places where they truly belong.
Matty Wheet’s grandmother, Abigail, holds secret knowledge of the family’s ancestry which no one else believes. In 1978, when Matty learns she is descended from leaders of the Native Wampanoag nation who defended themselves against Plymouth Colony in King Philip’s War (1675), she must wrestle with previously held beliefs. Tim Romney, her life-long friend, searches ancient history and helps educate Abigail, leading her to take pride in their ancestors.
Twenty-three-year-old Rose Worthington is content to manage her family’s country estate, but her cruel cousin forces her into London’s high society, where her burgeoning magic becomes harder to hide. When the enigmatic Lady Nightingale invites her into a secret society of witches, Rose learns more about her powers—but also attracts the attention of deadly witch hunters. Torn between her cousin’s threats of an arranged marriage, lingering feelings for her childhood friend left behind in the country, and the charms of London’s most eligible bachelor, Rose must decide who to trust before a dangerous mistake costs her magic, her heart, and her future.
Winner of the 2024 Chad Walsh Chapbook Prize, LEFT is an autobiographical sequence unusual for a poet whose four previous books focus on nature and the environment. Kevin Prufer writes of this collection, “In terse lyric poetry, Alexander creates characters that seem alive in their contradictions. Like a memoir distilled into poetry, this book is alive, frightening, and humane, suggesting, always, how little we might know of each other’s inner lives. This is one of the best poetry collections I have read in years.” Alexander's earlier books won the Yale and Iowa poetry prizes, and she taught at Oberlin College and MIT for many years.
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