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Welcome to the Late-September edition of MWPA's Ex Libris Maine.
This edition offers new books by Maine authors in the categories of Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Memoir, Poetry,Children's, and Young Adult / Young Readers.
For more information on any title below, simply click on the book's cover.
Shaken by problems at home, confused by the motives of a new love, and reeling from a public meltdown, high school hockey star Walt McNamara joins an exclusive new leadership program controlled by the ultra-wealthy summer residents of Whaleback Island, a granite oasis off the coast of Maine. But this is no paradise; secrets lurk in its murky waters. As Walt and his fellow misfits, including the determined Aubrey and fierce Tess, are pushed by ex-military instructors, exposed truths from the island’s past and present slowly reveal the reasons behind their training. With danger mounting, Walt, Aubrey, Tess, and the others must use their new skills to sort friend from foe and find a way to survive. In The Islanders, award-winning author Lewis Robinson has crafted his most irresistible book yet: a suspenseful reckoning of class conflict in America, with a vivid tale of friendship and family at its heart.
This contemporary novel illuminates a Rocky Mountain landscape in the throes of rapid development, as experienced by and shared through a diversity of characters. A family fractures under the pressure of a lie, with former wildlife biologist Nik Delaney facing unanticipated outcomes of earlier well-intentioned decisions. Nik has left a respected career to return home and look after Charlie, her aging father. Antagonistic brother Phelan provides financial security for his college-age son, but Finn wants to follow Nik’s footsteps into a conservation internship in the land of the Aboriginal mother he’s never known. Uncharacteristically undecided, Nik fears she must expose the secret Finn’s mother asked her to hold twenty years ago. Her alternative focus on missing dog Zolo feels more sharply defined. The search introduces her to scattered residents of the remote high desert, but failure hounds her every move.
Unnamed
Margaret Horton
The Telling Room
Stuck in Khusali, the planet’s last surviving village, Niolai longs for something she can’t quite grasp. So when the chief asks for a volunteer to explore a newly discovered jungle, she takes the rare opportunity to escape. It’s not long before Niolai realizes—the jungle is no ordinary place. The towering trees are home to magical creatures and secrets that threaten to unravel history as she knows it. Cataloging mysterious new species and navigating the jungle’s magical rules, Niolai must learn to decipher between destiny and decision, and how much weight is held in a name.
Surely the Darkness Will Cover Me: A Memoir in Prose & Lyrics
Natalia Mbadu
The Telling Room
In her debut book, a memoir, Natalia Mbadu weaves together poems, prose, and song lyrics that tell a story about hope in times of darkness and doubt. Growing up in an Angolan Christian household and moving to the United States at seven years old, Natalia contends with the pressure of navigating life as an immigrant in Portland, Maine. As mental health challenges and questions of faith surface, Natalia starts to sink. She asks herself where she will seek refuge. Where is God in the midst of all the chaos? God knows her, but does she know God? Surely the Darkness Will Cover Me asks the question: How do we find the light in our darkest times?
Brackish
Josie Ellis
The Telling Room
All around us yet often unnoticed. Polluted and protected, worshiped and neglected. Water is within us, beneath us, and above us all at the same time. In her debut poetry collection, Josie Ellis explores the deeper ways in which water shapes and touches us in this world. Through the expansive mirrors of three sections of poems, "Tidal Pools," "Tributaries," and "Watershed," Ellis reflects on young adulthood and connection. Drawing from her own experiences and memories of lakes and oceans, pools, and bays—from a river baptism to the smell of chlorine on one’s skin—she attempts to uncover and celebrate how and why we value water in the way we do. Most of all, she urges us to see “what a privilege it is to feel / water in one’s hands.”
What's So Wrong with a Pity Party Anyway? is a collection of poems that explore where grief comes from—grief for our loved ones who die by suicide, as well as what it means to grieve people in community after unnecessary tragedy. It is a collection that begs the question, in the midst of grief, is there any room to celebrate?
A White House dog teaches lawmakers how to be better humans in this hilarious picture book told in presidential memos. Good dog Chester Barkingham moves into his forever home—the White House!—when he’s adopted by the president’s daughter. The president sends memos to let everybody know about Chester joining the staff, and, soon enough, the trouble he gets into. The president has other things to worry about, though. Congress can’t seem to get along, and bills are getting stalled as both sides argue and debate. Chester knows just what to do about the deadlock…if anybody would listen to him. When Chester starts sending memos of his own, Capitol Hill turns upside down—which may be just what everybody needs.
Meet Nisse Nils. He is a little Norwegian elf who is friends with all the animals on the farm and in the forest. And Nisse Nils has magic! He can speak to the animals. The animals come to Nisse Nils when they need help, and he solves all their problems. One day he loses his red hat to the wind. Sadly, without his hat, he loses all his magic. His animal friends try to help him find his hat. But, oh no! When Nisse Nils finds that an owl mother has taken the hat for her baby owlets nest, he knows he must wait until the owlets learn to fly. Will sad little Nisse Nils get his hat back along with his magic? Will he be able to talk to the animals once again?
It’s the summer of 1980-something, and valedictorian Claire Hart has nothing to do. Her summers have always been meticulously planned—a class here, educational camp there—so her last summer before college she quickly becomes lost in the possibilities. She can’t believe her luck when she’s swept up in the storied world of the Tooheys, heirs to a plumbing fortune and the richest, quirkiest family in Keech Harbor, Maine. She’s found a perfect summer, full of Toohey hijinks. As she follows the Toohey clan from one party to another, she starts to feel like she belongs somewhere other than in the library with her nose in a book. But perfection isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and Claire has to decide whether she wants to live a perfect life—or one that’s perfect for her, whatever that may be.
At the Corner of Christopher Street
Madeleine Turgelsky
The Telling Room
Eighteen-year-old Catherine Davis is the latest in a long line of starry-eyed people looking to New York City for a fresh start. Disappointingly, she discovers a new place doesn’t fix old problems. . .until she meets Frankie, a denim-clad lesbian with a sharp smile and too much confidence for her own good. Frankie grabs Catherine’s hand and drags her downtown, into a queer world of quick quips and crowded dance floors, populated by couch surfers and the apartments that welcome them. And, apparently, Catherine. She’s finally found somewhere to belong. But the year is 1984, and nothing is easy. The early AIDS crisis is devastating gay communities, and as tragedy closes in on her newly found family, Catherine is forced to decide what and who she’ll fight for.
SUBMISSIONS If you are a current Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance member, and you would like to announce your new book in ExLibris Maine, click HERE. If you are not a member, click HERE to learn more about our member benefits.
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