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Grow Where They Fall
by Michael Donkor'Michael Donkor is a real talent' SARAH WINMAN, author of Still Life'Hugely enjoyable and very moving, Donkor's frank, clear-eyed and funny prose is so refreshing - an important voice in contemporary British fiction' DIANA EVANS, author of Ordinary PeopleBright and precocious ten-year-old Kwame Akromah knows how to behave. He knows the importance of good manners, how to stay at the top of the class and out of the way when his mother and father are angry with each other. But when his charismatic cousin Yaw arrives from Ghana to live with the family while he looks for work, the rules Kwame has learned about the world can no longer guide him.Twenty years later, Kwame is a secondary-school teacher, popular with his students and depended on by his friends. His is a life spent elegantly weaving between the classroom, the labyrinth of Grindr politics and increasingly intermittent visits to his parents’ home. Behind the confident façade, however, he is as driven by caution as he was as a boy.But when electrifying changemaker Marcus Felix is appointed as headteacher, Kwame must reckon with himself as he never has before. Can he face the ghosts of his childhood? How will he learn to move through the world without losing who he is? And where does existing stop and living begin?Grow Where They Fall is a beautifully written, spirited and deeply moving novel about a young man finding the courage to expand the limits of who he might become, from the acclaimed author of Hold.---'Brilliant ... Donkor shapes lives that are so rich in texture that you genuinely care about who they are and what they’re going through' JEFFREY BOAKYE'Radiant, deeply felt ... I loved every shining moment' GUY GUNARATNE'A masterclass in immersive storytelling ... Donkor's words make me proud to be a Black British man' ASHLEY HICKSON-LOVENCE
Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir
by Curtis ChinAn American Library Association Stonewall Honor BookMost Anticipated This Fall in TIME, San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, Goodreads, Lamba Literary Review, Kirkus Reviews, and PinkNewsThis &“vivid, moving, funny, and heartfelt&” memoir tells the story of Curtis Chin&’s time growing up as a gay Chinese American kid in 1980&’s Detroit (Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers). Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung&’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone—from the city&’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples—could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal. Here was where, beneath a bright-red awning and surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age; where he learned to embrace his identity as a gay ABC, or American-born Chinese; where he navigated the divided city&’s spiraling misfortunes; and where—between helpings of almond boneless chicken, sweet-and-sour pork, and some of his own, less-savory culinary concoctions—he realized just how much he had to offer to the world, to his beloved family, and to himself. Served up by the cofounder of the Asian American Writers&’ Workshop and structured around the very menu that graced the tables of Chung&’s, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant is both a memoir and an invitation: to step inside one boy&’s childhood oasis, scoot into a vinyl booth, and grow up with him—and perhaps even share something off the secret menu.
Geographies of Us: Ecosomatic Essays and Practice Pages (Routledge Studies in Theatre, Ecology, and Performance)
Geographies of Us: Ecosomatic Essays and Practice Pages is the first edited collection in the field of ecosomatics.With a combination of essays and practice pages that provide a variety of scholarly, creative, and experience-based approaches for readers, the book brings together both established and emergent scholars and artists from many diverse backgrounds and covers work rooted in a dozen countries. The essays engage an array of crucial methodologies and critical/theoretical perspectives, including practice-based research in the arts, especially in performance and dance studies, critical theory, ecocriticism, Indigenous knowledges, material feminist critique, quantum field theory, and new phenomenologies. Practice pages are shorter chapters that provide readers a chance to engage creatively with the ideas presented across the collection. This book offers a multidisciplinary perspective that brings together work in performance as research, phenomenology, and dance/movement; this is one of its significant contributions to the area of ecosomatics.The book will be of interest to anyone curious about matters of embodiment, ecology, and the environment, especially artists and students of dance, performance, and somatic movement education who want to learn about ecosomatics and environmental activists who want to learn more about integrating creativity, the arts, and movement into their work.
Geographies of Us: Ecosomatic Essays and Practice Pages (Routledge Studies in Theatre, Ecology, and Performance)
by Sondra Fraleigh Shannon Rose RileyGeographies of Us: Ecosomatic Essays and Practice Pages is the first edited collection in the field of ecosomatics.With a combination of essays and practice pages that provide a variety of scholarly, creative, and experience-based approaches for readers, the book brings together both established and emergent scholars and artists from many diverse backgrounds and covers work rooted in a dozen countries. The essays engage an array of crucial methodologies and critical/theoretical perspectives, including practice-based research in the arts, especially in performance and dance studies, critical theory, ecocriticism, Indigenous knowledges, material feminist critique, quantum field theory, and new phenomenologies. Practice pages are shorter chapters that provide readers a chance to engage creatively with the ideas presented across the collection. This book offers a multidisciplinary perspective that brings together work in performance as research, phenomenology, and dance/movement; this is one of its significant contributions to the area of ecosomatics.The book will be of interest to anyone curious about matters of embodiment, ecology, and the environment, especially artists and students of dance, performance, and somatic movement education who want to learn about ecosomatics and environmental activists who want to learn more about integrating creativity, the arts, and movement into their work.
Go Lightly: The funny, sharp and heartfelt bisexual love story
by Brydie Lee-Kennedy'Sharp and funny and humane ... Brydie skewers everyone equally, but always with empathy, warmth and wit.' Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually'A novel that really nails the chaos, panic and joy of being young' Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable'Captures twentysomething chaos ... Very funny' THE TIMESA funny and tender twenty-first century story of family, friendship, love – and how getting it wrong is sometimes the only way to get it right.WHO IS ADA?With Sadie she's an Aussie girl in London, a performer, a ball of creativity and a lover of food.With Stuart she's funny and quirky, capable of finding romance in a dinner of crisps on a cold harbour and long train rides.With her family she's the joker, the peacekeeper, the entertainer.But she doesn't have to choose which version of herself to be… right?Ada's answer to most questions is: yes. Every night is an opportunity to be thrilled and every morning a chance to recount it to her friends, so when she falls for Sadie and Stuart at the same time, she sees no reason not to pursue them both.But as the realities of modern life begin to catch up with her, and everyone wants Ada to define herself in relation to them, she feels the weight of the questions: which version of yourself is most true? And do other people enhance your best self, or distort it?Go Lightly is a tribute to party girls who'd rather enjoy the present than fear the future or regret the past, and a love letter to the community you find when you're far from home.'Funny, perceptive and effortlessly engaging … I loved this novel' Lily Lindon, author of Double Booked
Go Lightly: The funny, sharp and heartfelt bisexual love story
by Brydie Lee-Kennedy'Sharp and funny and humane ... Brydie skewers everyone equally, but always with empathy, warmth and wit.' Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually'A novel that really nails the chaos, panic and joy of being young' Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable'Captures twentysomething chaos ... Very funny' THE TIMESA funny and tender twenty-first century story of family, friendship, love – and how getting it wrong is sometimes the only way to get it right.WHO IS ADA?With Sadie she's an Aussie girl in London, a performer, a ball of creativity and a lover of food.With Stuart she's funny and quirky, capable of finding romance in a dinner of crisps on a cold harbour and long train rides.With her family she's the joker, the peacekeeper, the entertainer.But she doesn't have to choose which version of herself to be… right?Ada's answer to most questions is: yes. Every night is an opportunity to be thrilled and every morning a chance to recount it to her friends, so when she falls for Sadie and Stuart at the same time, she sees no reason not to pursue them both.But as the realities of modern life begin to catch up with her, and everyone wants Ada to define herself in relation to them, she feels the weight of the questions: which version of yourself is most true? And do other people enhance your best self, or distort it?Go Lightly is a tribute to party girls who'd rather enjoy the present than fear the future or regret the past, and a love letter to the community you find when you're far from home.'Funny, perceptive and effortlessly engaging … I loved this novel' Lily Lindon, author of Double Booked
Sure Of You: Tales of the City 6 (Tales of the City #6)
by Armistead MaupinThe sixth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga.‘Maupin's adeptness at fluid dialogue, his flair for shaping characters who thread the needle between pop archetypes and singular human beings… are all on display’ New York Times____________________A fiercely ambitious TV talk show host finds she must choose between national stardom in New York and a husband and child in San Francisco. Caught in the middle is their longtime friend, a gay man whose own future is even more uncertain. Wistful and compassionate yet subversively funny, Sure of You is Armistead Maupin’s addictively entertaining observation on family, friendship and every relationship in between.Hurdling barriers both social and sexual, Maupin leads the eccentric tenants of Barbary Lane through heartbreak and triumph, through nail-biting terrors and gleeful coincidences in 1980s San Francisco. The result is a glittering and addictive comedy of manners that continues to beguile new generations of readers.
Redoing Gender: How Nonbinary Gender Contributes Toward Social Change
by Helana DarwinRedoing Gender demonstrates how difficult it is to be anything other than a man or a woman in a society that selectively acknowledges those two genders. Gender nonbinary people—who identify as other genders besides simply “man” or “woman”—have begun to disrupt this binary system, but the limited progress they have made has required significant everyday labor. Through interviews with 47 nonbinary people, this book offers rich description of these forms of labor, including “rethinking sex and gender,” “resignifying gender,” “redoing relationships,” and “resisting erasure.” The final chapter interrogates the lasting impact of this labor through follow-up interviews with participants four years later. Although nonbinary people are finally managing to achieve some recognition, it is clear that this change has not happened without a fight that continues to this day. The diverse experiences of nonbinary people in this book will help cisgender people relate to gender minorities with more compassion, and may also appeal to those questioning their own gender. This text will also be of keen interest to academics across Sociology and Gender Studies.
The Mars House: A Novel
by Natasha PulleyA compulsively readable queer sci-fi novel about a marriage of convenience between a Mars politician and an Earth refugee.As Recommended By: Amazon * LitHub * Gizmodo * New Scientist * LGBTQ Reads * Reactor Magazine * KOBO Canada * BookRiotIn the wake of an environmental catastrophe, January, once a principal in London's Royal Ballet, has become a refugee in Tharsis, the terraformed colony on Mars. There, January's life is dictated by his status as an Earthstronger-a person whose body is not adjusted to lower gravity and so poses a danger to those born on, or naturalized to, Mars. January's job choices, housing, and even transportation are dictated by this second-class status, and now a xenophobic politician named Aubrey Gale is running on a platform that would make it all worse: Gale wants all Earthstrongers to naturalize, a process that is always disabling and sometimes deadly.When Gale chooses January for an on-the-spot press junket interview that goes horribly awry, January's life is thrown into chaos, but Gale's political fortunes are damaged, too. Gale proposes a solution to both their problems: a five year made-for-the-press marriage that would secure January's future without naturalization and ensure Gale's political success. But when January accepts the offer, he discovers that Gale is not at all like they appear in the press. They're kind, compassionate, and much more difficult to hate than January would prefer. As their romantic relationship develops, the political situation worsens, and January discovers Gale has an enemy, someone willing to destroy all of Tharsis to make them pay-and January may be the only person standing in the way.Un-put-downably immersive and utterly timely, Natasha Pulley's new novel is a gripping story about privilege, strength, and life across class divisions, perfect for readers of Sarah Gailey and Tamsyn Muir.
Long Live Queer Nightlife: How the Closing of Gay Bars Sparked a Revolution
by Amin GhazianiIt&’s closing time for an alarming number of gay bars in cities around the globe—but it&’s definitely not the last danceIn this exhilarating journey into underground parties, pulsating with life and limitless possibility, acclaimed author Amin Ghaziani unveils the unexpected revolution revitalizing urban nightlife.Far from the gay bar with its largely white, gay male clientele, here is a dazzling scene of secret parties—club nights—wherein culture creatives, many of whom are queer, trans, and racial minorities, reclaim the night in the name of those too long left out. Episodic, nomadic, and radically inclusive, club nights are refashioning queer nightlife in boundlessly imaginative and powerfully defiant ways.Drawing on Ghaziani&’s immersive encounters at underground parties in London and more than one hundred riveting interviews with everyone from bar owners to party producers, revelers to rabble-rousers, Long Live Queer Nightlife showcases a spectacular, if seldom-seen, vision of a queer world shimmering with self-empowerment, inventiveness, and joy.
Long Live Queer Nightlife: How the Closing of Gay Bars Sparked a Revolution
by Amin GhazianiIt&’s closing time for an alarming number of gay bars in cities around the globe—but it&’s definitely not the last danceIn this exhilarating journey into underground parties, pulsating with life and limitless possibility, acclaimed author Amin Ghaziani unveils the unexpected revolution revitalizing urban nightlife.Far from the gay bar with its largely white, gay male clientele, here is a dazzling scene of secret parties—club nights—wherein culture creatives, many of whom are queer, trans, and racial minorities, reclaim the night in the name of those too long left out. Episodic, nomadic, and radically inclusive, club nights are refashioning queer nightlife in boundlessly imaginative and powerfully defiant ways.Drawing on Ghaziani&’s immersive encounters at underground parties in London and more than one hundred riveting interviews with everyone from bar owners to party producers, revelers to rabble-rousers, Long Live Queer Nightlife showcases a spectacular, if seldom-seen, vision of a queer world shimmering with self-empowerment, inventiveness, and joy.
It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
by Jack LoweryShortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas PrizeThe story of art collective Gran Fury—which fought back during the AIDS crisis through direct action and community-made propaganda—offers lessons in love and grief. In the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and communities of color in America, and disinformation about the disease ran rampant. Out of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an art collective that called itself Gran Fury formed to campaign against corporate greed, government inaction, stigma, and public indifference to the epidemic. Writer Jack Lowery examines Gran Fury&’s art and activism from iconic images like the &“Kissing Doesn&’t Kill&” poster to the act of dropping piles of fake bills onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Lowery offers a complex, moving portrait of a collective and its members, who built essential solidarities with each other and whose lives evidenced the profound trauma of enduring the AIDS crisis. Gran Fury and ACT UP&’s strategies are still used frequently by the activists leading contemporary movements. In an era when structural violence and the devastation of COVID-19 continue to target the most vulnerable, this belief in the power of public art and action persists.
Global LGBTQ Activism: Social Media, Digital Technologies, and Protest Mechanisms
by Paromita PainFocused on understanding and analyzing LGBTQ activism and protest globally, this edited collection brings together voices from different parts of the world to examine LGBTQ protests and their impact.Through the lens of media, culture, and sociopolitical structures, this collection highlights how cultural and technical factors like the emergence of social media and other digital platforms have impacted LGBTQ activism. This book draws on studies from countries as varied as Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Morocco, China, and the US. The contributions provide important insight into how social media and digital platforms have provided space for self-expression and protest and encouraged advocacy and empowerment for LGBTQ movements. It also examines the diversity and similarities between different national contexts and the various obstacles faced, while spotlighting countries that are traditionally understudied in Western academia, in an important step toward decolonizing research. Each chapter, through the voices of activists and media scholars, moves beyond an oversimplified examination of queer protests to show, in rich detail, the exciting yet complicated terrain of queer protests throughout the globe.This book is suitable for media, communication, and cultural studies students; researchers; academics; and LGBTQ activists, as well as students and scholars from related academic disciplines.
Floating Hotel: a cosy and charming read to escape with
by Grace Curtis'Smart, bold and so much fun . . . I'm officially a member of the Grace Curtis fan club' AMIE KAUFMANThe Grand Budapest Hotel in space, Floating Hotel is a hopeful story of misfits, rebels and found family, perfect for fans of Becky Chambers, Martha Wells and Aliette de Bodard.Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. Year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury - and a magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby intray? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver's conference? And perhaps most pertinently - who is driving the ship?At the centre of these mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It's the love of his life and the only place he's ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl's comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final question: when is it time to let go?** AUTHORS LOVE GRACE CURTIS **'A beautiful novel . . . You will turn every page hoping for one hundred more' HANNAH KANER'Curtis oozes charm and humour' TAMSYN MUIR'An absolute marvel' BETH REVIS'A real treat' MAX GLADSTONE'Bittersweet and breathtaking' JULES ARBEAUX'Beautiful and clever, sad and hopeful, subtle and profoundly moving . . . A heartbreak and a hug' CLAIRE NORTH'If you read one sci-fi novel this year, make it this one' KATE DYLAN** READERS LOVE FLOATING HOTEL **'I was completely immersed ' Netgalley, Five Stars'Made me laugh and tear up and restore a little hope in humanity' Netgalley, Five Stars'Grace Curtis is a wonderful writer' Netgalley, Five Stars'Unique and brilliant' Netgalley, Five Stars'Deliriously divine' Netgalley, Five Stars
The New Life: Winner of The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2024
by Tom CreweWinner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award *Shortlist, Debut Fiction, 2023 Nero Book Awards * The Sunday Times Novel of the Year *London, 1894. John and Henry have a vision for a new way of life. But as the Oscar Wilde trial ignites public outcry, everything they long for could be under threat.'Beautifully written' Graham Norton'Subtle, sexy and beautifully crafted' Sarah Waters'Lavishly imagined' Sunday Times______________After a lifetime spent navigating his desires, John has finally found a man who returns his feelings. Meanwhile, Henry is convinced that his new unconventional marriage will bring freedom.United by a shared vision, they begin work on a revolutionary book arguing for the legalisation of homosexuality.Before it can be published however, Oscar Wilde is arrested and their daring book threatens to throw them, and all around them, into danger. How high a price are they willing to pay for a new way of living?______________'A very fine new writer' Kate Atkinson'I loved this book' Zadie Smith'Some of the best writing on desire I've read' Douglas Stuart'Extraordinary' Jonathan Bailey'Filled with nuance and tenderness . . . charting the lives of men and women who inspired not only political progress but an entire new way of living and loving' Colm Tóibín
Rainbows, Unicorns, and Triangles: Queer Symbols Throughout History
by Jessica Kingsley PublishersIn the past, being different has often been dangerous, and people couldn't always be open about how they wanted to dress, what gender they wanted to be, and who they loved...Within these pages, you'll learn about how LGBTQIA2S+ people have used signs and symbols throughout history to communicate with each other, create safe spaces, and celebrate who they are!You'll recognise the rainbow flags of Pride Month, but what about the Labrys, the Lambda or the Lavender Rhino? This beautifully illustrated guide takes you on a journey through everything from the green carnations of Oscar Wilde and the violets of Sappho to the black rings of asexuality and the reclaimed pink triangles of persecution. A wonderful guide for children 5+ to the visual worlds of queer life.
Mona of the Manor (Tales of the City #10)
by Armistead Maupin'A breeze' The Times‘Delightful comedy of manners' iPaper‘A welcome tenth instalment of his iconic Tales Of The City saga’ Mail on Sunday‘A witty novel about identity and finding a family in 1980s England’ Woman&Home'The message still shines out in the new book: find the people who love and understand you' The Scotsman____________________The tenth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga.When Mona Ramsey married Lord Teddy Roughton to secure his visa—allowing him to remain in San Francisco to fulfil his wildest dreams—she never imagined she would, by age 48, be the sole owner of Easley House, a romantic country manor in the UK. Now, with her adopted son, Wilfred, Mona has opened Easley’s doors to paying guests to keep her inherited English manor afloat.As they welcome a married American couple to Easley, Mona and Wilfred discover their new guests’ terrible secret. Instead of focussing on the imminent arrival of old friend Michael Tolliver and matriarch Anna Madrigal, Mona will need to use her considerable charm, willpower and wiles to set things right before Easley’s historic Midsummer ceremony.Hurdling barriers both social and sexual, Maupin leads the eccentric tenants of Barbary Lane through heartbreak and triumph, through nail-biting terrors and gleeful coincidences in 1980s San Francisco and beyond. The result is a glittering and addictive comedy of manners that continues to beguile new generations of readers.
Queer Victimology: Understanding the Victim Experience
by Shelly Clevenger Shamika Kelley Kathleen RatajczakThis book provides a much-needed focus on the victimization experiences of those within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Queer, intersex, or asexual (LGBTQIA) communities. With original research and scholarly work relating to victimization, supplemented by stories and poems detailing firsthand accounts by people in LGBTQIA communities, the volume editors shine a light on the experiences of those who have been harmed or who have suffered because of who they are. Allowing the reader to gain a deeper understanding of Queer victimization and LGBTQIA victims, the volume delves into how and why people are victimized, as well as how the criminal justice system and other social services interact with victims and each other. The creative pieces included give a direct voice to those who have most often been silenced in the past.Queer Victimology is essential reading for scholars and students in the areas of criminology, victimology, sociology, gender studies, education, counseling, and/or psychology as well as anyone engaged with Queer, critical, and feminist criminologies, gender studies, diversity, and criminal justice.
I Heard Her Call My Name: A memoir of transition
by Lucy Sante'Powerful' LIT HUB'Absorbing' KIRKUS'Poignant, arresting and ultimately affirming' BOOKLISTLucy Sante has often felt like an outsider. Born in Belgium to conservative Catholic working-class parents, she was transplanted to the United States without ever entirely settling here. But a feeling of home finally arrived when she moved to New York City in the early 1970s amidst her fellow bohemians. Through those electric years, some of her friends would die young, from drugs and AIDS, and others would become jarringly famous. Lucy flirted with both fates, on her way to building a glittering career as a writer. But she could never shake that feeling.When she was finally ready, Lucy decided to confront the façade she’d been presenting to everyone, including herself, over these years. I Heard Her Call My Name is the story of that confrontation, of a life with a missing piece that with transition, falls into place. This a memoir of grace and wit that parses the issues of gender identity and far beyond with unbounding humility and hope.'Radical, humble and wise' HERMIONE HOBY'An astonishing, once-in-a-lifetime achievement' HUA HSU'Vivid, encompassing and compassionate' CATHERINE LACEY
Scattered Showers: Nine Beautiful Short Stories
by Rainbow RowellRainbow Rowell has won fans all over the world by writing about love and life in a way that feels true. In her first short story collection Scattered Showers, she gives us nine beautifully crafted love stories. Illustrated throughout by Jim Tierney. Girl meets boy camping outside a movie theater. Best friends debate the merits of high school dances. A prince romances a troll. A girl romances an imaginary boy. And Simon Snow himself returns for a holiday adventure.It’s a feast of irresistible characters, hilarious dialogue, and masterful storytelling, in short, everything you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell book.
The Brightonians Under Siege
by Daren KayHistory, mystery, and enough bitchery to meet your daily nutritional requirement for snark, secrets, and sweet sentiment! The Brightonians Under Siege is about a group of warring socialites coping with the bonkersness of the first lockdown. But on a broader level, it's about how resourceful people can be when they feel under attack. Under siege you might say! The important role played by humour and friendship. And in the case of our Brightonians: dabbling in the dark arts, too! Beginning in 2020 with an ominous card-reading that the fortune-teller hasn't drawn for 40 years, one question preys on his mind. Could this scary new virus he's read about be as devastating as the one that killed so many of his friends in the mid-80s? Only time will tell. But as countries close their borders and people are told to stay at home, one set of Brightonians becomes transfixed by his reading. Especially the Saxon symbols on which the cards are based. Deprived of their usual battlegrounds of parties and social events, they take to the internet - and the occasional illegal gathering - in a race to be the first to capitalise on this ancient magic. Peppered with flashbacks to the hedonistic 80s, before the arrival of that 'other' pandemic and the darker period ushered in as a result, The Brightonians Under Siege explores how differently the world responded to both viruses. But far from being a sad tale, this is a joyously, funny story. Perhaps not so surprising when the key narrator is a 73-year-old ex-porn star turned drag queen, keen to reminisce about outrageous gay discos and leather fetish clubs! At a time of unprecedented crisis, the stakes couldn't be higher. What answers might the symbols offer in the fight against this new virus? And more importantly, who will be victorious in the battle to control this most colourful of social circles? Too soon to reminisce about lockdown? Not on your nelly. Cut yourself a slice of banana bread and let the socially distanced party begin! Following the success of The Brightonians - described variously on goodreads.com as evoking the style of E F Benson's Mapp & Lucia, P G Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster and Maupin's Tales of the City - The Brightonians Under Siege is written in the same satirical style. Of interest to fans of The Brightonians, the sequel is a standalone work aimed at readers not familiar with the first novel.
Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder (Penguin Modern Classics)
by Evelyn WaughEvelyn Waugh's beloved masterpiece, with an introduction by Paula Byrne The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian Flyte at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognise his spiritual and social distance from them.'Lush and evocative ... Expresses at once the profundity of change and the indomitable endurance of the human spirit'The Times
Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America
by Ibi ZoboiEdited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and black. “A powerful collection that opens the reader’s eyes to the breadth and diversity of contemporary experience in America” June Sarpong, author of DIVERSIFY Black is male, Black is female, Black is straight, Black is gay, Black is urban, Black is rural, Black is rich. And poor. Black is mixed-race, Black is immigrants, Black is more. There are countless ways to be BLACK ENOUGH. Featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling American black authors writing for teens today, Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and black. Whether you are in America, the UK, or anywhere across the globe, this powerful collection of stories will remind you of our shared humanity. With an Introduction by June Sarpong, author of DIVERSIFY Stories from: Renee Watson, Varian Johnson, Leah Henderson, Lamar Giles, Kekla Magoon, Jason Reynolds, Brandy Colbert, Tochi Onyebuchi, Liara Tamani, Jay Coles, Rita Williams-Garcia, Tracey Baptiste, Dhonielle Clayton, Justina Ireland, Coe Booth, Nic Stone and Ibi Zoboi
Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray
by Rosalind RosenbergThroughout her prodigious life, activist and lawyer Pauli Murray systematically fought against all arbitrary distinctions in society, channeling her outrage at the discrimination she faced to make America a more democratic country. In this definitive biography, Rosalind Rosenberg offers a poignant portrait of a figure who played pivotal roles in both the modern civil rights and women's movements. A mixed-race orphan, Murray grew up in segregated North Carolina before escaping to New York, where she attended Hunter College and became a labor activist in the 1930s. When she applied to graduate school at the University of North Carolina, where her white great-great-grandfather had been a trustee, she was rejected because of her race. She went on to graduate first in her class at Howard Law School, only to be rejected for graduate study again at Harvard University this time on account of her sex. Undaunted, Murray forged a singular career in the law. In the 1950s, her legal scholarship helped Thurgood Marshall challenge segregation head-on in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. When appointed by Eleanor Roosevelt to the President's Commission on the Status of Women in 1962, she advanced the idea of Jane Crow, arguing that the same reasons used to condemn race discrimination could be used to battle gender discrimination. In 1965, she became the first African American to earn a JSD from Yale Law School and the following year persuaded Betty Friedan to found an NAACP for women, which became NOW. In the early 1970s, Murray provided Ruth Bader Ginsburg with the argument Ginsburg used to persuade the Supreme Court that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution protects not only blacks but also women - and potentially other minority groups - from discrimination. By that time, Murray was a tenured history professor at Brandeis, a position she left to become the first black woman ordained a priest by the Episcopal Church in 1976. Murray accomplished all this while struggling with issues of identity. She believed from childhood she was male and tried unsuccessfully to persuade doctors to give her testosterone. While she would today be identified as transgender, during her lifetime no social movement existed to support this identity. She ultimately used her private feelings of being "in-between" to publicly contend that identities are not fixed, an idea that has powered campaigns for equal rights in the United States for the past half-century.
The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist
by Sophie GonzalesWhat happens when the fictional 'perfect guy' comes to life and is convinced you're his soulmate? While her parents are away for the week, sixteen-year-old Ivy Winslow plans on binge-watching her favourite TV show and hanging out with her best friend, Henry. But things quickly go downhill on the very first morning, when Ivy wakes up to find Weston, the gorgeous lead character of her favourite show, in her bedroom. And, oh yeah, he thinks that she's his soulmate.Ivy realizes that her writing has somehow brought Weston as she's imagined him to life, and now he's living out her fanfiction dreams. But those fairytale dreams soon turn into disasters. Mack, Ivy's best-friend-turned-enemy who lives next door, and Henry get involved and the three of them need to figure out why Weston is here and how to get rid of him. As Ivy and Mack grow closer again, old feelings resurface and they finally face the fallout of their broken friendship, and question if they've both secretly always wanted something more . . . The new sapphic YA friends-to-enemies-to-lovers novel from bestselling author Sophie Gonzales, with her trademark humour and heart.