Sephy is a Cross \'97 a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought \'97 a \'93colourless\'94 member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that\'s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don\'t mix.
Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum \'97 a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together?
House Rules:
Do your own dishes.
Knock before entering the bathroom.
Never look up your roommate online.
The Wheatons are infamous among the east coast elite for their lack of impulse control, except for their daughter Clara. She's the consummate socialite: over-achieving, well-mannered, predictable. But every Wheaton has their weakness.
When Clara's childhood crush invites her to move cross-country, the offer is too much to resist. Unfortunately, it's also too good to be true. After a bait-and-switch, Clara finds herself sharing a lease with a charming stranger. Josh might be a bit too perceptive—not to mention handsome—for comfort, but there's a good chance he and Clara could have survived sharing a summer sublet if she hadn't looked him up on the Internet...
Once she learns how Josh has made a name for himself, Clara realizes living with him might make her the Wheaton's most scandalous story yet. His professional prowess inspires her to take tackling the stigma against female desire into her own hands. They may not agree on much, but Josh and Clara both believe women deserve better sex. What they decide to do about it will change both of their lives, and if they're lucky, they'll help everyone else get lucky too.
A story about the meaning of life and death, and the value of companionship.
A woman describes a series of encounters she has with various people in the ordinary course of her life: an ex she runs into by chance at a public forum, an Airbnb owner unsure how to interact with her guests, a stranger who seeks help comforting his elderly mother, a friend of her youth now hospitalized with terminal cancer. In each of these people, the woman finds a common need: the urge to talk about themselves and to have an audience to their experiences.
The narrator orchestrates this chorus of voices for the most part as a passive listener, until one of them makes an extraordinary request, drawing her into an intense and transformative experience of her own.
In What Are You Going Through, Nunez brings wisdom, humor, and insight to a novel about human connection and the changing nature of relationships in our times. A surprising story about empathy and the unusual ways one person can help another through hardship, her book offers a moving and provocative portrait of the way we live now.
The Growing Season tells the inspiring story of how a scrappy rural childhood gave Frey the grit and resiliency to take risks that paid off in unexpected ways. Rather than leaving her community, she found adventure and opportunity in one of the most forgotten parts of our country. With fearlessness and creativity, she literally dug her destiny out of the dirt.
One tenacious woman's journey to escape rural poverty and create a billion-dollar farming business--without ever leaving the land she loves.
Survivor Song thrusts us into a chillingly prescient tale of suspense and terror. Massachusetts is overwhelmed by a rabies-like virus, spread by saliva and with a terrifyingly short incubation period. The infected are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before succumbing to the disease. Amidst the chaos, hospitals are inundated, and society crumbles as the government's emergency protocols falter.
Dr. Ramola "Rams" Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician, receives a frantic call from Natalie, a pregnant friend whose husband has been killed by an infected neighbor. Bitten herself, Natalie's only hope is to reach a hospital for the rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and her unborn child.
What follows is a desperate odyssey through a landscape twisted into a barely recognizable terrain of danger and terror. Survivor Song is an all-too-plausible novel that not only races through the pages but shakes readers to their core, showcasing Paul Tremblay's mastery of the horror genre.
What does a kid do when it just won't stop? Kevin Burns has had enough. Today, the bullying stops. Today, he has easy access to his father's gun cabinet. Today, Kevin exacts his revenge. "You think I'm small? Maybe I am, but my gun is huge . . . Size does matter-the larger the gun, the larger the . . ." Jake Tracey's phone buzzes. It's a text from his brother, Kenny.
Where are you?
English class.
Stay there. Someone has a gun. Lock the door.
Bloomfield, Michigan, an affluent Detroit area suburb, is home to trial lawyer Zachary Blake. Other school districts envy Bloomfield, that is, until Kevin Burns commits shocking, all too familiar, acts of senseless violence. In the aftermath of the tragedy, everyone wonders 'why?'. Zack Blake seeks answers, justice for the victims, including his own son. How does a kid get a cache of weapons?
The sellers are politically powerful and cover up their role in the bloodbath. The 2nd Amendment protects them, doesn't it? And President Ronald John, Zack's old nemesis, is a friend. Can powerful evildoers be brought to justice? Can Zack expose a dark web weapons conspiracy and the abuse of absolute political power in court? How does a broken community heal?
In Betrayal High, a Zachary Blake legal thriller, award-winning author/attorney Mark M. Bello answers these questions and more in this fifth installment of what many readers are calling the country's best courtroom drama series. Prepare to get Betrayed . . . again.
How a New York Times bestselling author and New Yorker contributor parlayed a strong grasp of the science of human decision-making and a woeful ignorance of cards into a life-changing run as a professional poker player, under the wing of a legend of the game.
It's true that Maria Konnikova had never actually played poker before and didn't even know the rules when she approached Erik Seidel, Poker Hall of Fame inductee and winner of tens of millions of dollars in earnings, and convinced him to be her mentor. But in the end, Maria Konnikova is a writer and student of human behavior, and ultimately the point was to render her incredible journey into a container for its invaluable lessons. The biggest bluff of all, she learned, is that skill is enough. Bad cards will come our way, but keeping our focus on how we play them and not on the outcome will keep us moving through many a dark patch, until the luck once again breaks our way.
It's the wedding of the year. But someone won't survive it.
On a remote island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate the wedding of Jules Keegan and Will Slater. Will is a rising television star, handsome and charming. Jules is a smart, ambitious magazine publisher. Though the sea is a little choppy and the cell service spotty, their wedding is everything you'd expect of a young power couple: designer dress, four-tiered cake, boutique whiskey, vintage champagne. Every detail has been curated to perfection. All that's left to orchestrate is the happiness.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. It's not long after the cake is cut and the champagne popped that resentments and petty jealousies come out. Worse yet, the latest barometer reading shows the weather has shifted from FAIR to CHANGEABLE, and dark clouds are looming overhead.
Everyone on the island has a secret. Everyone has a motive. And someone won't leave this wedding alive...
Beach Read is a witty and heartfelt story that explores the unlikely relationship between two writers, each struggling with their own creative block. January Andrews is a bestselling romance novelist who has lost faith in love, while Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction known for his tragic endings. Despite their stark differences, they find themselves neighbors for the summer, both financially broke and unable to write.
Their worlds collide one evening, leading to an unconventional pact: Augustus agrees to try his hand at writing a story with a happy ending, and January decides to tackle the challenge of penning the next great American novel. January's mission to give Augustus a taste of romance includes field trips straight out of a romantic comedy montage, and Augustus takes January on a journey to interview survivors of a mysterious death cult. They agree to help each other break through their writer's block with the understanding that no romantic entanglements will ensue—or so they think.
Set against the backdrop of a sun-soaked summer, Beach Read is a delightful exploration of life, literature, and the unexpected ways love can rewrite our stories.
Liya Thakkar is a successful biochemical engineer, takeout enthusiast, and happily single woman. The moment she realizes her parents' latest dinner party is a setup with the man they want her to marry, she's out the back door in a flash. Imagine her surprise when the same guy shows up at her office a week later -- the new lawyer hired to save her struggling company.
What's not surprising: he's not too thrilled to see her either after that humiliating fiasco. Jay Shah looks good on paper...and off. Especially if you like that whole gorgeous, charming lawyer-in-a-good-suit thing. He's also arrogant and infuriating. As their witty office banter turns into late night chats, Liya starts to think he might be the one man who truly accepts her. But falling for each other means exposing their painful pasts.
Will Liya keep running, or will she finally give love a real chance?
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass is a compelling novel by Meg Medina that delves into the life of Latina teen Piddy Sanchez, who finds herself the target of a school bully. The story begins when Piddy is told that Yaqui Delgado hates her and is out to get her, despite Piddy having no idea who Yaqui is or what she might have done to provoke such animosity.
Yaqui's gripe seems to be that Piddy comes across as stuck-up, flaunts her figure, and doesn't fit the stereotypical Latin image due to her white skin, academic achievements, and lack of an accent. Facing an increasingly threatening situation, Piddy's initial concerns about understanding her absent father and managing her studies and weekend job become secondary as she tries to evade Yaqui and her gang.
The escalation of harassment forces Piddy to navigate the challenges of her life while being pushed to the brink. The novel is a poignant exploration of identity and resilience, as Piddy must ultimately confront the question of who she wants to be, in the face of adversity.
Eileen is sick of being 79. Leena is tired of life in her twenties. Maybe it's time they swapped places...
When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen's house for some overdue rest. Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She'd like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn't offer many eligible gentlemen.
Once Leena learns of Eileen's romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love. Meanwhile, Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbours and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and online dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another's shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.
Leena learns that a long-distance relationship isn't as romantic as she hoped it would be, and then there is the annoyingly perfect - and distractingly handsome - school teacher, who keeps showing up to outdo her efforts to impress the local villagers. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, but is her perfect match nearer home than she first thought?
Naomi Westfield has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They're preparing for their lavish wedding that's three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.
Naomi wants out, but there's a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas, too, has been feigning contentment, the two of them go head-to-head in a battle of pranks, sabotage, and all-out emotional warfare.
But with the countdown looming to the wedding that may or may not come to pass, Naomi finds her resolve slipping. Because now that they have nothing to lose, they're finally being themselves—and having fun with the last person they expect: each other.
Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power. In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her. In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels. And they're not the only ones.
La protagonista de Boulder se gana la vida como cocinera en un viejo barco mercante. Es la situaciĂłn perfecta: soledad, una cabina, el ocĂ©ano, algĂşn puerto en el que conocer mujeres y horas para encarar el vacĂo, para sentir la fuerza de la provisionalidad. Hasta que un dĂa una de ellas consigue que abandone el mar, acceda a vivir entre cuatro paredes y se implique en la gestaciĂłn asistida y en la educaciĂłn de un hijo. ÂżQuĂ© ha hecho la maternidad con la mujer que en su dĂa conociĂł en un bar de la Patagonia? ÂżQuĂ© hará ella, animal enjaulado en una casa unifamiliar de Reikiavik?
Todo ha cambiado excepto su apodo, Boulder: esas enormes piedras aisladas en medio del paisaje, expuestas a todo sin que nadie sepa de dĂłnde vienen ni porque están ahĂ.
DespuĂ©s de la exitosa Permafrost, esta es la segunda novela del trĂptico donde Baltasar explora la voz, la vida y el cuerpo de tres mujeres.
Once, a girl called Ace travelled the universe with the Doctor – until, in the wake of a terrible tragedy they parted company. Now, decades on, she is known as Dorothy McShane, the reclusive millionaire philanthropist who heads global organisation A Charitable Earth.
But Dorothy is haunted by terrible nightmares, vivid dreams that begin just as scores of young runaways are vanishing from the dark alleyways of London. Could the disappearances be linked to sightings of sinister creatures lurking in the city shadows? Why has an alien satellite entered a secret orbit around the Moon? Investigating the satellite with Ryan, Graham and Yaz, the Doctor is thrown together with Ace once more. Together they must unravel a malevolent plot that will cost thousands of lives.
But can the Doctor atone for her past incarnation’s behaviour – and how much must Ace sacrifice to win victory not only for herself, but for the Earth?
Vivid, visceral, utterly compelling, American Dirt is the first novel to explore the experience of attempting to illegally cross the US-Mexico border.
Yesterday, Lydia had a bookshop. Yesterday, Lydia was married to a journalist. Yesterday, she was with everyone she loved most in the world. Today, her eight-year-old son Luca is all she has left. For him, she will carry a machete strapped to her leg. For him, she will leap onto the roof of a high speed train. For him, she will find the strength to keep running.
Samantha and Mason are together. Everyone knows it. Not everyone is dealing with it. While Mason’s ready to give them the middle finger, there’s one not going away: Her mother. Threats are issued. Ultimatums are given. Even blackmail is used, but only Samantha can put a stop to Analise. However, when a trauma from her past is triggered, she may not have the courage or strength to do what’s needed. If she doesn’t, Mason’s future could be destroyed.
Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she's come up with seven directives to help her Get a Life, and she's already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family's mansion. The next items?
But it's not easy being bad, even when you've written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.
Redford 'Red' Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He's also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.
But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe's wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…
Mara and Owen are about as close as twins can get. So when Mara's friend, Hannah, accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn't know what to think. Can the brother she loves really be guilty of such a violent crime? Torn between the family she loves and her own sense of right and wrong, Mara is feeling lost, and it doesn't help that things have been strained with her ex-girlfriend and best friend since childhood, Charlie.
As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie navigate this new terrain, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits in her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault.
'You look the type to break your father’s heart.'
'Yeah, but he broke mine first.'
When Rosie Gennaro first meets Jimmy Hailler, she has walked away from life in Sydney, leaving behind the place on Dalhousie that her father, Seb, painstakingly rebuilt for his family but never saw completed. Two years later, Rosie returns to the house and living there is Martha, whom Seb Gennaro married less than a year after the death of Rosie’s mother. Martha is struggling to fulfil Seb’s dream, while Rosie is coming to terms with new responsibilities.
And so begins a stand-off between two women who refuse to move out of the home they both lay claim to. As the battle lines are drawn, Jimmy Hailler re-enters Rosie’s life. Having always watched other families from the perimeters, he’s now grappling, heartbreakingly, with forming one of his own.
An unforgettable story about losing love and finding love; about the interconnectedness of lives and the true nature of belonging, from one of our most acclaimed writers.
Maddie and Theo have two things in common:
After an "Oops, we made a mistake" kiss, neither one can stop thinking about the other. With Alexa's wedding rapidly approaching, Maddie and Theo both share bridal party responsibilities that require more interaction with each other than they're comfortable with. Underneath the sharp barbs they toss at each other is a simmering attraction that won't fade. It builds until they find themselves sneaking off together to release some tension when Alexa isn't looking.
But as with any engagement with a nemesis, there are unspoken rules that must be abided by. First and foremost, don't fall in love.
'In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore. Her brain cells, having run out of blood, were now completely deprived of oxygen. But they did not shut down. Not right away...'
For Leila, each minute after her death brings a sensuous memory: the taste of spiced goat stew, sacrificed by her father to celebrate the long-awaited birth of a son; the sight of bubbling vats of lemon and sugar which the women use to wax their legs while the men attend mosque; the scent of cardamom coffee that Leila shares with a handsome student in the brothel where she works. Each memory, too, recalls the friends she made at each key moment in her life - friends who are now desperately trying to find her.
Tiffy and Leon share an apartment. Tiffy and Leon have never met.
After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art.
Desperation makes her open-minded, so she answers an ad for a flatshare. Leon, a night shift worker, will take the apartment during the day, and Tiffy can have it nights and weekends. He'll only ever be there when she's at the office. In fact, they'll never even have to meet.
Tiffy and Leon start writing each other notes—first about what day is garbage day, and politely establishing what leftovers are up for grabs, and the evergreen question of whether the toilet seat should stay up or down. Even though they are opposites, they soon become friends. And then maybe more.
But falling in love with your roommate is probably a terrible idea…especially if you've never met.
Anxious People is a poignant comedy about a crime that never took place and a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air. It cleverly weaves together the lives of eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.
The narrative unfolds at an apartment open house that becomes a life-or-death situation when the failed bank robber takes everyone hostage. The hostages include a retired couple addicted to home renovations, a wealthy banker too busy to care for others, a young couple expecting their first child and struggling with agreement, and an octogenarian unafraid of a gunpoint threat. With each character harboring secrets and grievances, they all crave some form of rescue.
Surrounded by authorities and media, these strangers reveal surprising truths about themselves. Humorous, compassionate, and wise, Anxious People explores the power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope in the most anxious of times.
In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. When within this striving “Brotherhood of the Arts,” two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed—or untoyed with—by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley.
The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school’s walls—until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down. What the reader believes to have happened to David and Sarah and their friends is not entirely true—though it's not false, either. It takes until the book’s stunning coda for the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place—revealing truths that will resonate long after the final sentence.
As captivating and tender as it is surprising, Susan Choi's Trust Exercise will incite heated conversations about fiction and truth, and about friendships and loyalties, and will leave readers with wiser understandings of the true capacities of adolescents and of the powers and responsibilities of adults.
Queenie is a disarmingly honest, boldly political, and truly inclusive novel that speaks to anyone who has gone looking for love and found something very different in its place.
Queenie Jenkins is a twenty-five-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she's constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places—including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.
As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, "What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?"—all of the questions today's woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.
With fresh and honest prose, Queenie is a remarkably relatable exploration of what it means to be a modern woman searching for meaning in today's world.
Stanley, an out of work tech writer, is deeply unsatisfied with the lack of meaning in his life. Of the three places he feels should provide meaning in his life—religion, work, and family—only one gives his life purpose: family.
In PART ONE, his lack of meaning starts to change. Out of desperation to support his family, he takes a short-term contract job on the other side of the country. He cannot afford to fly, so he packs his car for the cross-country journey.
The trip gets strange almost immediately when he reluctantly picks up a hitchhiker who transforms Stanley's religious views by answering questions that have kept religion at arm's length.
The Huntress, by Kate Quinn, is a historical fiction narrative that intricately weaves the paths of a battle-haunted English journalist and a fearless Russian female bomber pilot with an extensive objective: to track down a Nazi war criminal hiding in America.
Nina Markova, fueled by her dreams to fly, joins the legendary Night Witches—an all-female night bomber regiment during World War II. Her survival and courage are tested when a disastrous encounter with the Huntress, a lethal Nazi murderess, puts her life on the line. In a surprising twist of fate, the hunter becomes the hunted.
Meanwhile, Ian Graham, a journalist who has seen the horrors of war, is on a mission to seek justice. He partners with Nina to find the elusive Huntress, but to succeed in their quest, both must confront a shared secret that could derail everything.
In post-war Boston, young Jordan McBride's aspirations to become a photographer are met with a wave of skepticism when her father brings home a new German fiancée. Suspicions about her stepmother's past set Jordan on a troubling path that might unbury secrets too dangerous to confront.
Kate Quinn offers a story of grit, suspense, and the relentless pursuit of justice.
Las heroĂnas de Perras de reserva son mujeres fuertes, decididas a resolver por sĂ mismas sus problemas porque saben que si con algo no pueden contar es con la ayuda de Dios. Como mucho, se encomiendan al Diablo, ya que ante la perspectiva de convertirse en vĂctimas –usadas, explotadas o muertas– prefieren optar por la sangre ajena. Como Yuliana, la macabramente entrañable heredera al trono de un capo del narcotráfico, que no va a aceptar que sus compañeras de escuela se burlen de su look. O la adolescente que antes de dejarse arrinconar por la pobreza y el hambre se vuelve una malandrina de calle con principios, que solo desvalija a gente bien. O la bruja que recurre al Señor de las Tinieblas para que le ayude con la vecina cuyos perros hacen sus necesidades en su patio.
Sean sicarias o universitarias, influencers o amas de casa, beatas o prostitutas, las memorables protagonistas de estos relatos comparten las dificultades y los peligros derivados de haber nacido mujer.
Con un talento desbordante para reflejar el habla de la calle y no pocas dosis de humor negro, la autora mexicana Dahlia de la Cerda nos recuerda en este genial libro que «la vida es una perra, por eso hay que patearle la jaula».
When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn't the hard part—they've only been dating for five months, and he can't even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans...
At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik's rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He's even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik's social media blows up—in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of LA, a handsome doctor like Carlos can't be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes.
Casi siempre comienza en los hogares. Ya se registran miles de casos en Vancouver, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Oaxaca, y se está propagando rápidamente a todos los rincones del mundo. Los kentukis no son mascotas, ni fantasmas, ni robots. Son ciudadanos reales, y el problema —se dice en las noticias y se comparte en las redes— es que una persona que vive en BerlĂn no deberĂa poder pasearse libremente por el living de alguien que vive en SĂdney; ni alguien que vive en Bangkok desayunar junto a tus hijos en tu departamento de Buenos Aires. En especial, cuando esas personas que dejamos entrar a casa son completamente anĂłnimas.
Los personajes de esta novela encarnan el costado más real —y a la vez imprevisible— de la compleja relaciĂłn que tenemos con la tecnologĂa, renovando la nociĂłn del vouyerismo y exponiendo al lector a los lĂmites del prejuicio, el cuidado de los otros, la intimidad, el deseo y las buenas intenciones. Kentukis es una novela deslumbrante, que potencia su sentido mucho más allá de la atracciĂłn que genera desde sus páginas.
In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price.
As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through.
Exit West follows these remarkable characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.
Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.
But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.
It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.