Dear BookBrowsers,
In this issue, we bring you two highly anticipated novels that allude to stealing in their titles. Allison Epstein's
Fagin the Thief follows the infamous Fagin from Dickens'
Oliver Twist, who teaches pickpocketing to young boys.
Theft, the latest from Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, trails three people whose paths cross in early 2000s Tanzania, one of whom is falsely accused of stealing from his employers.
We also cover several works of fiction about women and girls on
…more personal journeys. Emily St. James' Woodworking focuses on a closeted trans woman in a South Dakota town who makes the fraught decision to come out to one of her high school students. Kristen Arnett's Stop Me If You've Heard This One is about a part-time clown attempting to go professional as she deals with her brother's death. In Emily J. Taylor's new YA offering The Otherwhere Post, a daughter sets out to uncover her father's past by posing as an apprentice for a magical postal system. Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell tells the story of a wife and mother who escapes an abusive marriage with no clear way forward. And Saou Ichikawa's Hunchback, translated into English by Polly Barton, portrays a disabled woman's exploration of pleasure.
Are you and the young readers in your life wondering how to take action on book bans? Banned Together, edited by Ashley Hope Pérez, provides concrete information for people of all ages and affecting writing from multiple YA authors. Our accompanying Beyond the Book article spotlights Maia Kobabe, author of the frequently banned graphic memoir Gender Queer. For coverage of another book addressing topical issues, check out our First Impressions readers' comments on Laila Lalami's tech-dystopian novel The Dream Hotel, and our examination of the concept of "pre-crime" in the story and real life.
Along with more reviews and articles, we feature April Books We're Excited About, author interviews, previews, and a new Wordplay.
Thank you for subscribing to BookBrowse!
— The BookBrowse Team
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