Under Story

Chloe Benjamin

'We wake up to tomorrow, never yesterday.'Epic, tender, breathtakingly ambitious, Under Story is a once read, never forgotten exploration of the power of second chances, and the hope that the impossible might also be true.At an isolated research station in Antarctica, biologist Laurel Salter washes dishes for a living ten hours a day, six days a week. She tells no one why she left her career or why her marriage ended.But even in this remote outpost, Laurel cannot outrun her past. When a visual disturbance known as the Arc draws a group of physicists to McMurdo, Laurel realises that her former husband Eli is about to re-enter her life.Whether it is circumstance or fate that has brought them back together, Laurel and Eli each sense a possibility about the Arc's its glow; the way it seems almost alive. And while Eli is reluctant to test the scientists' wilder theories, it is Laurel who is willing to risk everything to fix the burden that hangs between them--to turn back the clock and live their story a second time.But this time, live it differently.

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The Endless Tryout: Reclaiming Childhood from Relentless Competition

Jay Caspian Kang

From New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian Kang, a provocative, mordantly funny, autobiographical rejection of the toxic competitiveness that has come to define the lives of American parents and children alike—and a search for a better way for allEvery year, the rat race begins earlier and earlier for the next generation of American kids. Parents hustle ever-younger—and increasingly anxious—children from one extracurricular and afterschool activity to another. The financial cost of soccer practice, Kumon, or ballet lessons keeps rising. But the apparent social costs of not building a differentiated résumé for an eight-year-old seem to rise even faster. Otherwise, what hopes are there for a spot at the “right” educational institution later in life? American parents white-knuckle their way through a hierarchical game that seemingly cannot be won, only lost. Running this gauntlet, the middleclass—far removed from the lives of the ultrarich who always have on hand consultants and tutors—will jettison their stated political ideals and commitments in the blink of an eye, if it means their kids have a fractionally better shot with the admissions office. Who built this Hunger Games-style arena of personal development? And—as most measures of mental health for parents and kids deteriorate further—whose interests does it serve, if anyone? Jay Caspian Kang, for one, has had enough.In his distinctively thoughtful, hilarious, lacerating style—which has made his columns and op-eds for the New York Times and The New Yorker famous—Kang takes aim at this culture of competition, optimization, and hypocrisy, pointing the finger with as much ferocity at himself as at the rest of us. He writes with startling candor about his precocious eight-year-old daughter, Frankie, and their adventures together in the baroque world of youth soccer. He skewers the affected and overwrought milieu, in which he, a writer for legacy media outlets, and his family finds themselves as a card-carrying members of the so-called “coastal elite,” having relocated from Brooklyn to Berkeley. And he confronts the intractable dilemma of “screen time,” and its attendant alienation, with sangfroid and a spirit of pragmatism.At once an accusation and a confession, The Endless Tryout promises both catharsis and salvation for parents at the end of their rope. In his imitable voice, Kang captures like no one has before the special hybrid of panic and cruel calculation that gives American parenting its uniquely stressed-out emotional texture. At heart, his book is a desperately creative attempt to imagine a better—no less high-achieving but more realistic, honorable, and humane—world for parents and children alike, as well as a love letter to his own kids. For Frankie and her little brother, Anzan, he would do or sacrifice anything—including his dignity and reputation.

set status

The Endless Tryout: Reclaiming Childhood from Relentless Competition

Jay Caspian Kang

From New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian Kang, a provocative, mordantly funny, autobiographical rejection of the toxic competitiveness that has come to define the lives of American parents and children alike—and a search for a better way for allEvery year, the rat race begins earlier and earlier for the next generation of American kids. Parents hustle ever-younger—and increasingly anxious—children from one extracurricular and afterschool activity to another. The financial cost of soccer practice, Kumon, or ballet lessons keeps rising. But the apparent social costs of not building a differentiated résumé for an eight-year-old seem to rise even faster. Otherwise, what hopes are there for a spot at the “right” educational institution later in life? American parents white-knuckle their way through a hierarchical game that seemingly cannot be won, only lost. Running this gauntlet, the middleclass—far removed from the lives of the ultrarich who always have on hand consultants and tutors—will jettison their stated political ideals and commitments in the blink of an eye, if it means their kids have a fractionally better shot with the admissions office. Who built this Hunger Games-style arena of personal development? And—as most measures of mental health for parents and kids deteriorate further—whose interests does it serve, if anyone? Jay Caspian Kang, for one, has had enough.In his distinctively thoughtful, hilarious, lacerating style—which has made his columns and op-eds for the New York Times and The New Yorker famous—Kang takes aim at this culture of competition, optimization, and hypocrisy, pointing the finger with as much ferocity at himself as at the rest of us. He writes with startling candor about his precocious eight-year-old daughter, Frankie, and their adventures together in the baroque world of youth soccer. He skewers the affected and overwrought milieu, in which he, a writer for legacy media outlets, and his family finds themselves as a card-carrying members of the so-called “coastal elite,” having relocated from Brooklyn to Berkeley. And he confronts the intractable dilemma of “screen time,” and its attendant alienation, with sangfroid and a spirit of pragmatism.At once an accusation and a confession, The Endless Tryout promises both catharsis and salvation for parents at the end of their rope. In his imitable voice, Kang captures like no one has before the special hybrid of panic and cruel calculation that gives American parenting its uniquely stressed-out emotional texture. At heart, his book is a desperately creative attempt to imagine a better—no less high-achieving but more realistic, honorable, and humane—world for parents and children alike, as well as a love letter to his own kids. For Frankie and her little brother, Anzan, he would do or sacrifice anything—including his dignity and reputation.

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Some People

Parini Shroff

A man on the brink of divorce is forced to care for his injured future-ex-mother-in-law in this powerful, heartfelt novel from the nationally bestselling author of The Bandit Queens. Malti Patel is absolutely fine. Concussed and bruised, maybe, but fine. Certainly fine enough to not need her daughter's soon-to-be-ex-husband, Nathan Whitlock, playing nurse in her home while she recuperates. And yet, that's exactly the quandry in which she finds herself. Her doctor insists on in-home supervision for seven days, and with her daughter, Kavya, abroad at grad school in India, Nathan proves too much of a do-gooder to let Malti rehabiliate alone. Seven days of Nathan, the man divorcing her daughter for all manner of cultural misunderstanding, emotional walls, simmering hostility...most of them having to do with Kavya's scars from her childhood with Malti. They want nothing to do with one another. But over the course of the week, as Malti grapples with the shadows of her past and Nathan ponders the wreckage of his marriage, they learn that they are the two people who know Kavya best—and the ones who have hurt her so deeply that she's left them both entirely. Rich with emotional depth, Some People paints a nuanced portrait of love, forgiveness, and our timeless quest for understanding and acceptance.

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Karro: The exquisite, glimmering new novel from the author of What A Time to Be Alive

Jenny Mustard

FROM THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE'A novel of rare emotional intensity ... An exceptional achievement' Elaine FeeneyKarro is on the cusp of her fortieth birthday and wants for nothing. She is mother to a beautiful son, wife to a rising star in British politics, heir to an esteemed Swedish publishing house, and moneyed enough to wile away her days at home in affluent Highgate, with literature (and the occasional dose of opium) for company.But then Karro is introduced to visiting American artist Won-sik, and falls for him entirely, embarking on an affair which will derail her sedate existence. The societal repercussions will be immediate and severe. As she confronts her own desires and abandons her son in a desperate pursuit of happiness, her world and her sense of self begin to unravel.Intelligent, sensual and searingly honest, Karro moves slickly between London, a Swedish archipelago, New York City, and the Côte d’Azur, and asks what it means to fall from grace in the twenty-first century. It paints a psychologically astute portrait of a woman trying – and failing – to find herself in motherhood, and forces us to weigh up our obligations to family, to society, and most importantly, to ourselves.‘A measured and gorgeous writer, in command of the senses in a way that makes the reader feel alive' The New York Times Book Review'With echoes of Raven Leilani, Natalia Ginzburg and even Virginia Woolf ... I was blown away. Karro is easily Mustard’s masterpiece’ Molly Aitken

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Karro: The exquisite, glimmering new novel from the author of What A Time to Be Alive

Jenny Mustard

FROM THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE'A novel of rare emotional intensity ... An exceptional achievement' Elaine FeeneyKarro is on the cusp of her fortieth birthday and wants for nothing. She is mother to a beautiful son, wife to a rising star in British politics, heir to an esteemed Swedish publishing house, and moneyed enough to wile away her days at home in affluent Highgate, with literature (and the occasional dose of opium) for company.But then Karro is introduced to visiting American artist Won-sik, and falls for him entirely, embarking on an affair which will derail her sedate existence. The societal repercussions will be immediate and severe. As she confronts her own desires and abandons her son in a desperate pursuit of happiness, her world and her sense of self begin to unravel.Intelligent, sensual and searingly honest, Karro moves slickly between London, a Swedish archipelago, New York City, and the Côte d’Azur, and asks what it means to fall from grace in the twenty-first century. It paints a psychologically astute portrait of a woman trying – and failing – to find herself in motherhood, and forces us to weigh up our obligations to family, to society, and most importantly, to ourselves.‘A measured and gorgeous writer, in command of the senses in a way that makes the reader feel alive' The New York Times Book Review'With echoes of Raven Leilani, Natalia Ginzburg and even Virginia Woolf ... I was blown away. Karro is easily Mustard’s masterpiece’ Molly Aitken

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Tilted Sky

Yao Emei

Is it too much to ask for an ordinary, boring life? All Bai Jian has ever wanted is a warm bed to sleep in, a safe place to return to at the end of the day, enough food to fill his belly, and a dad who’s not just going to abandon him on a whim. From author Yao Emei and translator Kelly Zhang comes a heart-rending, emotional middle grade novel about a sixth-grade boy in China searching for a home and a family – and whose resourcefulness and generous heart carry him through. Readers who fell in love with Because of Winn-Dixie and Ghost will discover an inimitable voice in Bai Jian that will stay with them forever.

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Tilted Sky

Yao Emei

Is it too much to ask for an ordinary, boring life? All Bai Jian has ever wanted is a warm bed to sleep in, a safe place to return to at the end of the day, enough food to fill his belly, and a dad who’s not just going to abandon him on a whim. From author Yao Emei and translator Kelly Zhang comes a heart-rending, emotional middle grade novel about a sixth-grade boy in China searching for a home and a family – and whose resourcefulness and generous heart carry him through. Readers who fell in love with Because of Winn-Dixie and Ghost will discover an inimitable voice in Bai Jian that will stay with them forever.

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City Like Water

Dorothy Tse

The city you grew up in is gone, as if sunk to the bottom of the ocean. So much has vanished with it—classmates, teachers, counterfeit watches, the erotic toe cleavage that used to lead the way down secret passages. Yet you still catch snatches of conversation lingering in the air and glimpse sun-dazzled residents retreating into dark crevices.People seem to keep disappearing. Your mother joins in a housewives’ protest, each woman waving the fake, bloody lotus roots they were sold until police helicopters unleash a glittery spray that turns them into statues. Then it’s just you and your father at home, until he is quietly absorbed into the enormous new TV gifted by the government, and you spot him doing tai chi or picking through leftovers in the background of soap operas. And didn’t you once have a little sister, before she flew away in her school uniform? As the police go undercover and transform your neighborhood into a violent labyrinth you can no longer navigate, where does this leave you?Lucid, nightmarish, and indelible, City Like Water is a wondrous and pointed message in a bottle from a city not so different from your own.

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City Like Water

Dorothy Tse

The city you grew up in is gone, as if sunk to the bottom of the ocean. So much has vanished with it—classmates, teachers, counterfeit watches, the erotic toe cleavage that used to lead the way down secret passages. Yet you still catch snatches of conversation lingering in the air and glimpse sun-dazzled residents retreating into dark crevices.People seem to keep disappearing. Your mother joins in a housewives’ protest, each woman waving the fake, bloody lotus roots they were sold until police helicopters unleash a glittery spray that turns them into statues. Then it’s just you and your father at home, until he is quietly absorbed into the enormous new TV gifted by the government, and you spot him doing tai chi or picking through leftovers in the background of soap operas. And didn’t you once have a little sister, before she flew away in her school uniform? As the police go undercover and transform your neighborhood into a violent labyrinth you can no longer navigate, where does this leave you?Lucid, nightmarish, and indelible, City Like Water is a wondrous and pointed message in a bottle from a city not so different from your own.

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The Man Who Died Seven Times

Yasuhiko Nishizawa

Hisataro, a young member of the wealthy Fuchigami family, has a mysterious ability. Every now and then, against his will, he falls into a time-loop in which he is obliged to re-live the same day nine times. Little does he know how useful this ability will be, until one day, his grandfather mysteriously dies... As he returns to the day of the murder time and again, Hisataro begins to unravel its secrets. With a sizeable inheritance up for grabs, motives abound, and everyone is a suspect. Can Hisataro solve the mystery of his grandfather's death, and prevent it, before his time-loop ends?

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Some People

Parini Shroff

A man on the brink of divorce is forced to care for his injured future-ex-mother-in-law in this powerful, heartfelt novel from the nationally bestselling author of The Bandit Queens. Malti Patel is absolutely fine. Concussed and bruised, maybe, but fine. Certainly fine enough to not need her daughter's soon-to-be-ex-husband, Nathan Whitlock, playing nurse in her home while she recuperates. And yet, that's exactly the quandry in which she finds herself. Her doctor insists on in-home supervision for seven days, and with her daughter, Kavya, abroad at grad school in India, Nathan proves too much of a do-gooder to let Malti rehabiliate alone. Seven days of Nathan, the man divorcing her daughter for all manner of cultural misunderstanding, emotional walls, simmering hostility...most of them having to do with Kavya's scars from her childhood with Malti. They want nothing to do with one another. But over the course of the week, as Malti grapples with the shadows of her past and Nathan ponders the wreckage of his marriage, they learn that they are the two people who know Kavya best—and the ones who have hurt her so deeply that she's left them both entirely. Rich with emotional depth, Some People paints a nuanced portrait of love, forgiveness, and our timeless quest for understanding and acceptance.

set status