A
propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal
to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows—her father.
Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she
carries with her everywhere, when she is unexpectedly reunited with her father,
Nate, fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car. He takes her from the front
of her school into a world of robbery, violence, and the constant threat of
death. And he does it to save her life.
Nate made dangerous enemies in prison—a gang called Aryan Steel has put out
a bounty on his head, counting on its members on the outside to finish him off.
They’ve already murdered his ex-wife, Polly’s mother. And Polly is their next
target.
Nate and Polly’s lives soon become a series of narrow misses, of evading the
bad guys and the police, of sleepless nights in motels. Out on the lam, Polly
is forced to grow up early: with barely any time to mourn her mother, she must
learn how to take a punch and pull off a drug-house heist. She finds herself
transforming from a shy little girl into a true fighter. Nate, in turn, learns
what it’s like to love fiercely and unconditionally—a love he’s never quite
felt before.
"From its bravura prologue to its
immensely satisfying ending, this first novel comes out with guns blazing and
shoots the chambers dry. It’s both a dark, original take on the chase novel and
a strangely touching portrait of a father-daughter relationship framed in
barbed wire." - Booklist (starred review)
Five-year-old Daisy Gonzalez’s father is always waiting for her at the bus
stop. But today, he isn’t, and Daisy disappears. When Daisy goes missing,
nearly everyone in town suspects or knows something different about what
happened. And they also know a lot about each other. The immigrants who work in
the dairy farm know their employers’ secrets. The hairdresser knows everything
except what’s happening in her own backyard. And the roadkill collector knows
love and heartbreak more than anyone would ever expect. They are all connected,
in ways small and profound, open and secret.
“Moving…Complex, interlocking plotlines…A narrative
that shifts its lenses continually and deliberately, playing with degrees of
identification as it slides among more than a dozen viewpoints…Well-crafted,
humane, and energetic novel.” - New York Times Book Review
Vivian is a cosmopolitan Taiwanese-American tourist who
often escapes her busy life in London through adventure and travel. Johnny is a
15-year-old Irish teenager, living a neglected life on the margins of society.
He has grown up in a family where crime is customary, violence is a necessity,
and everything--and anyone--can be yours for the taking.
As Vivian looks to find her calling professionally, she delights in exploring
foreign countries, rolling hillsides, and new cultures. And as a young, single
woman, she has grown used to experiencing life on her own. But all of that
changes when, on one bright spring afternoon in West Belfast, Vivian's path
collides with Johnny and culminates in a horrifying act of violence.
In the aftermath of the incident, both Johnny and Vivian are forced to confront
the chain of events that led to the attack. Vivian must struggle to recapture
the woman that she was and the woman she aspired to be, while dealing with a
culture and judicial system that treats assault victims as less than human. Johnny,
meanwhile, flees to the sanctity of his transitory Irish clan.
"A heart-wrenching depiction of a dreadful crime and its horrifying
aftermath. Brave, raw and strikingly original, it is a story that will resonate
for many years." - Daily Mail (UK)
Melissa Scrivner Love, LOLA
The Crenshaw Six are a small but up-and-coming gang in South
Central LA who have recently been drawn into an escalating war between rival
drug cartels. To outsiders, the Crenshaw Six appear to be led by a man named
Garcia . . . but what no one has figured out is that the gang's real leader
(and secret weapon) is Garcia's girlfriend, a brilliant young woman named Lola.
Lola has mastered playing the role of submissive girlfriend, and in the man's
world she inhabits she is consistently underestimated. But in truth she is
much, much smarter--and in many ways tougher and more ruthless--than any of the
men around her, and as the gang is increasingly sucked into a world of
high-stakes betrayal and brutal violence, her skills and leadership become
their only hope of survival.
"Achingly beautiful...Lola is going to get compared to Lisbeth
Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo…But Scrivner Love does better than
Steig Larson by creating a female character who is not just standing up to
males, she’s actually reconstructing gender for herself and her community.”
- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Ann and Wade have carved out a life for themselves from a rugged landscape in
northern Idaho, where they are bound together by more than love. With her
husband’s memory fading, Ann attempts to piece together the truth of what
happened to Wade’s first wife, Jenny, and to their daughters. In a story
written in exquisite prose and told from multiple perspectives—including Ann,
Wade, and Jenny, now in prison—we gradually learn of the mysterious and
shocking act that fractured Wade and Jenny's lives, of the love and compassion
that brought Ann and Wade together, and of the memories that reverberate
through the lives of every character in Idaho.
In a wild emotional and physical landscape, Wade’s past becomes the center of
Ann’s imagination, as Ann becomes determined to understand the family she never
knew . . .
“You know you’re in masterly hands
here. [Emily] Ruskovich’s language is itself a consolation, as she subtly
posits the troubling thought that only decency can save us. . . . Ruskovich’s
novel will remind many readers of the great Idaho novel, Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping.
. . . [A] wrenching and beautiful book." - The New York
Times Book Review
