Excerpt from The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Really?" she'd asked, looking toward the house where Mama was sewing in her usual spot.

"It's your hair," I'd said. "And you're eighteen now, technically an adult, so..."

She'd plopped down in the seat, taken a deep, shoulder-lifting breath, and said, "Cut it." And so I had. When Mama got a look at her a good thirty minutes later, she merely shook her head and went back to her work, mumbling something about "shoulda stopped at one," which made Sarah and me laugh.

After Eva proclaimed she was going to be a street sweeper when she grew up, the conversation turned to other things, like could Sarah please, please, please get a new dress for graduation? Lawrence needed new shoes again. His feet had now surpassed the size of Tommy's, leaving him with no options for hand-me-downs any longer. Hannah, nervously chewing her strawberry-blond hair, mentioned quietly that her best friend Mary's birthday was coming up and she needed to buy her a gift. And Eva wanted a new doll, because the one she had was permanently headless after Harrison's last wrestling match with it.

Everyone looked from me to Harrison, the only two who hadn't chimed in with any needs.

"Looks like Harrison and I are doing just fine, right, buddy?" I said, running my hand over my little brother's soft brown hair.

"I want a truck," he said and we all laughed. He always wanted a new truck.

"Well," Mama said, looking anywhere but at Tommy, who provided most everything for us now. Even over a year into the arrangement she still felt shame for not being able to support us on her own. "I think I can cover a gift for Mary with some sewing money."

I looked to Sarah. "I know it might not be new from a store," I said. "But one of the dresses I took in last week had enough fabric cut off of it to fashion a whole other dress. The fabric is beautiful and the blue color would look amazing on you. I can make it any style—"

"I want it to be the new style everyone's wearing!" Sarah said, cutting me off. I nodded.

"I'll start on it tomorrow. I may even have a little sparkle to add to it."

"Anything you make from scratch is like getting it from a fancy store anyway," she said. "Thank you, Z."

"And I think I can manage shoes and a new doll," Tommy said. "But just. So everyone try to hold off on needing anything else, okay?"

After dinner we scattered as usual. Sarah helped Mama clean up the kitchen, Lawrence went upstairs to finish some homework, the youngest two pulled out a can of marbles and played with them on the threadbare living room rug, Hannah wandered off on silent feet to read or write or daydream, and Tommy and I went out front and sat on the porch steps like we always did when he came home for too-brief a visit.

"How's Jennie," I asked.

"Patient," he said with a wry grin.

"Her folks putting pressure on you?"

"Nah. Well, maybe a little." He shrugged. "They'd love for me to get back to school, get a good job, and for us to get married. Give her a home of our own for her to manage... Babies... Her pa likes to bring up other job opportunities I could look into. Something more 'suitable for a young man with a mind like yours.' But they're all jobs that require the schooling I gave up and..." He sighed and stared blindly across the street.

"I've been thinking of getting a job," I said. "Outside the house. Maybe something in town at one of the boutiques."

"Mama would never let you. You know what she thinks of downtown."

"I'm an adult. She can't tell me no."

"But she can make you feel guilty as hell every day for leaving her saddled with five kids and a pile of sewing that needs to get done fast to bring in as much money as possible."

"I don't understand why she hates the city so much."

"Alcohol. Women. Bad ideas." Tommy ticked the list off on his fingers. We'd heard it a thousand times from her. Downtown was no good. It was filled with people wanting things they didn't need and shouldn't have.

Excerpted from The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar. Copyright © 2023 by Noelle Salazar. Excerpted by permission of Mira Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.