girlhood
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
“My mother had not believed in friendships among women. She said women weren’t to be trusted. Keep your arm out, she said. And keep women a whole other hand away from the farthest tips of your fingernails. She told me to keep my nails long.” Another Brooklyn is short yet vibrant novella. August, a Black […]
MoreA Crooked Tree by Una Mannion
“That summer when I so desperately tried to reel us all in, I didn’t understand the forces spinning us apart.” The opening of A Crooked Tree is certainly chilling. Libby, our fifteen-year old narrator, is in the car with her siblings. When their squabbling gets too much their mother dumps twelve-year old Ellen on the […]
MoreThe Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a compelling fiction debut from a promising author. As the title suggests the stories in this collection are centred on Black women who have complex relationships to their church and to God. In a concise and stirring prose Deesha Philyaw explores the lives, desires, and fears of her […]
MoreBefore You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self is a fantastic collection of short stories. Having loved Evans’ latest release, The Office of Historical Corrections, I had high hopes for this first collection and it did not disappoint. Each short story delivers, there isn’t one ‘weak’ or boring story. Although they explore similar themes and subjects […]
MoreThe Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
The Office of Historical Corrections is a striking collection of short stories, easily the best one to be published this year. Unlike many other collections—which tend to have a few forgettable or ‘weaker’ stories—The Office of Historical Corrections has only hits. There isn’t one story that bored me or wasn’t as good as the rest. […]
MoreSea Monsters by Chloe Aridjis
In spite of its lively premise and its lovely cover art Sea Monsters is one of the most lacklustre books I’ve read this year. Thankfully, Sea Monsters is a slight novel, just around 200 pages. Then again, those 200 pages are a drag. The summary for this novel is somewhat misleading as it promises the […]
MoreCrooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford
“My father wasn’t a wound or even a scar, not a black hole or a dry desert. He just wasn’t. Not for me anyway. Mom was my sun and my moon. I was her all, too, and that was us.” In Crooked Hallelujah Kelli Jo Ford presents her readers with a nonlinear exploration of the […]
MoreMilk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz
“She was of that special age where she knew both nothing and everything, and no matter where or at whom she looked, she saw her own reflecting glimmering back like a skim of oil. She could be anyone, still.” Milk Blood Heat is a promising debut, one that I’m sure will be well-received by readers […]
MoreVida by Patricia Engel
“I lay in the darkness, the song of Bogotá humming several stories below the window.” Patricia Engel’s Vida is a collection of nine short stories centred around the Sabina, daughter of Colombian parents, who grows up in the suburbs of New Jersey. Each chapter reads like a self-contained story, capturing a particular phase or moment […]
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