LETRAS

In the early 1980s, Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng are three teenagers drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and desire for something different. “Allied in the weirdest parts of themselves,” they envision each other as artistic collaborators and embark on a future defined by freedom and creativity. By the time they are adults, their dreams are murkier. As a performance artist, Giselle must navigate an elite social world she never conceived of. As a coder thrilled by the internet’s early egalitarian promise, Jackie must contend with its more sinister shift toward monetization and surveillance. And as a community activist, Ellen confronts the increasing gentrification and policing overwhelming her New York City neighborhood. Over time their friendship matures and changes, their definitions of success become complicated, and their sense of what matters evolves. Moving from the predigital 1980s to the art and tech subcultures of the 1990s to a strikingly imagined portrait of the 2040s, Memory Piece is an innovative and audacious story of three lifelong friends as they strive to build satisfying lives in a world that turns out to be radically different from the one they were promised.

In the summer of 1995, ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s violence, seeking refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. Half a century ago, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass--only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in Memphis. This wasn’t the first time violence altered the course of Joan’s family’s trajectory, and she knows it won’t be the last. Longing to become an artist, Joan pours her rage and grief into sketching portraits of the women of North Memphis--including their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who seems to know something about curses. Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of voices, Memphis weaves back and forth in time to show how the past and future are forever intertwined. It is only when Joan comes to see herself as a continuation of a long matrilineal tradition--and the women in her family as her guides to healing--that she understands that her life does not have to be defined by vengeance. That the sole weapon she needs is her paintbrush.

Countless books and blogs have extolled the virtues of the Cat Lady—now photographer David Williams celebrates cat-owning men and the precious kitties who have stolen their hearts. His subjects represent a cross-section of American society—musicians and artists, soldiers and CEOs, truck drivers and tattoo artists—with one very furry common denominator. These fun, fuzzy, and offbeat portraits are full of personality, and the accompanying stories share everything from “how we met” to how the cats earned their names.

Hay veranos que te cambian la vida Tessa no sabía que ese verano sería el último que pasaría en Punta Javana. Tampoco sabía que sería la última vez que vería a su novio Enzo, ni que las aguas de su infancia guardaban un secreto como ese. Y, por supuesto, no sabía que, desde que lo escuchase por primera vez, un nuevo nombre retumbaría en su mente para el resto de sus días. Helena. Arrastrada a una nueva vida bajo las aguas, Tessa descubrirá un mundo que jamás se habría imaginado en el que paz pende de un hilo. ¿Se atreverá a aceptar su destino y a poner el deber por encima del amor?

Brooklyn Wainwright, experta en libros raros y antigüedades, participa en unas jornadas sobre encuadernación organizadas por el Bay Area Book Arts de San Francisco, en las que se subasta, entre otros, la primera edición de Oliver Twist, de Charles Dickens. A los pocos días del inicio del evento, la directora, Layla Fontaine, aparece muerta por una herida de bala y Brooklyn decide investigar el crimen. Aunque el asesino intentará que ella pase página, las mentiras son como hojas sueltas... imposibles de encuadernar con la verdad. ¡Contiene un glosario de encuadernación!

Theo y Kit han compartido muchas cosas: una gran amistad, ligues secretos, una relación de pareja y, ahora, rumbos distintos. Tras romper en pleno vuelo de camino al viaje por Europa con el que siempre soñaron, sus vidas se separaron definitivamente. Lo único que aún les une es el vale para el tour europeo que no hicieron hace cuatro años. Con el viaje a punto de caducar, a Theo y Kit les parece una idea genial hacer el viaje ahora. En solitario. Por su cuenta. Sin embargo, cuando suben al autobús de la agencia en Londres descubren que han pensado lo mismo, y ahora les esperan tres semanas de convivencia sin escapatoria posible. Eso sí, con paisajes impresionantes y sabores exquisitos en las ciudades más románticas de Francia, España e Italia. Pero no pasa nada, porque definitivamente han superado lo que ocurrió.