Nice Big American Baby

A blazingly original, profoundly moving new work of fiction by a writer whose world–and imagination–knows no boundaries. “I don’t know what planet Judy Budnitz comes from,” said Newsweek on the publication of her fiction debut, Flying Leap, “but I’m happy to have her. Tremendous . . . funny, dark, adventurous, slanted, and enchanted.” These twelve astonishingly inventive stories–which take us into the heart of America and around the globe, from suburban backyards and swimming pools to war-torn streets and fallout shelters–are riveting, seductive, and impossible to forget. In “Flush,” a mammogram prompts a dark comedy of blurred identities between a mother and her two adult daughters. In “Elephant and Boy,” a surrogate mother-and-son bond, tinged with the erotic, is formed when a philanthropist attempts to “civilize” a young elephant handler. “Nadia” sounds the depths of a young woman’s complex feelings toward a friend’ s mail-order bride from Eastern Europe. “Preparedness”–an Orwellian tale in Technicolor–imagines rapture in the wake of imminent apocalypse. And in “Where We Come From,” a pregnant woman’s many failed attempts to cross the border do not lessen her resolve to give birth on U.S. soil to a “nice big American baby.” Magical, poignant, often transcendent, these are virtuoso modern fables that mine our stores of hidden urges, misunderstandings, and blind passions, inviting us on a voyage through places and times at once deeply familiar and wondrously strange.

A New York Times Notable Book The shocking truth about postwar adoption in America, told through the bittersweet story of one teenager, the son she was forced to relinquish, and their search to find each other. “[T]his book about the past might foreshadow a coming shift in the future… ‘I don’t think any legislators in those states who are anti-abortion are actually thinking, “Oh, great, these single women are gonna raise more children.” No, their hope is that those children will be placed for adoption. But is that the reality? I doubt it.’”[says Glaser]” -Mother Jones During the Baby Boom in 1960s America, women were encouraged to stay home and raise large families, but sex and childbirth were taboo subjects. Premarital sex was common, but birth control was hard to get and abortion was illegal. In 1961, sixteen-year-old Margaret Erle fell in love and became pregnant. Her enraged family sent her to a maternity home, where social workers threatened her with jail until she signed away her parental rights. Her son vanished, his whereabouts and new identity known only to an adoption agency that would never share the slightest detail about his fate. The adoption business was founded on secrecy and lies. American Baby lays out how a lucrative and exploitative industry removed children from their birth mothers and placed them with hopeful families, fabricating stories about infants' origins and destinations, then closing the door firmly between the parties forever. Adoption agencies and other organizations that purported to help pregnant women struck unethical deals with doctors and researchers for pseudoscientific "assessments," and shamed millions of women into surrendering their children. The identities of many who were adopted or who surrendered a child in the postwar decades are still locked in sealed files. Gabrielle Glaser dramatically illustrates in Margaret and David’s tale--one they share with millions of Americans—a story of loss, love, and the search for identity.

Si buscas un descubrimiento, aquí lo tienes: se llama Judy Budnitz. Sus historias son impactantes, y combinan la extravagancia y la cercanía de un modo magistral: tan pronto nos sentimos cerca de sus personajes como notamos una jarra de agua helada cayendo sobre nuestras ideas. Estos doce relatos son imposibles de olvidar. Nos llevan del corazón de América a una ciudad en guerra del Este de Europa; conocemos a una madre que quiere a toda costa que el bebé que espera nazca en Estados Unidos, o cómo una mamografía puede desatar una oscura comedia de identidades; bucea, por ejemplo, en los sentimientos que genera la esposa «por catálogo» de un amigo o en la reacción de unos padres ante un hijo que es muy diferente de cómo lo esperaban... American Baby es la obra de un talento sin límites. Mágicas, certeras, trascendentes, estas fábulas contemporáneas nos invitan a viajar a lugares y momentos que son a la vez profundamente familiares y maravillosamente extraños. «Esta colección es original, inolvidable y completamente conmovedora. Te lo crees todo, y no puedes pasar las páginas lo suficientemente deprisa. Es una de las más sólidas y valientes jóvenes escritoras que tenemos.» Dave Eggers, editor de McSweeneys «Excelente... Joven y con un talento precoz, Budnitz escribe relatos que hacen pensar con una imaginación salvaje... El choque entre el sentido político de Budnitz con su subversiva imaginación da a estos cuentos su particular atmósfera.» Tom Perrotta, New York Times Book Review «Estas historias magistrales emocionarán a los lectores de ficción literaria que tengan sed de una innovadora voz americana.» Publishers Weekly «American Baby te llevará al otro lado del espejo (al lado de Judy Budnitz) donde siempre ocurre algo emocionante. Todo el mundo debería leer esto.» Hannah Tinti, autora de Animales sueltos «Poderosa... Elegante y original...» Lydia Millet, Washington Post Book World «No tiene igual entre los jóvenes escritores literarios de hoy. Algún día una generación deberá pensar un nuevo nombre para este tipo especial de narración; hasta entonces, agradezcamos haberlo leído los primeros.» Matthew Pearl, autor de El club Dante

“Mesmerizing . . . a dark fairy tale of New York, full of magic and loss, myth and mystery, love and madness.”—Marlon James, author of the Dark Star trilogy SOON TO BE AN APPLE TV+ SERIES STARRING LAKEITH STANFIELD • ONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF ALL TIME Winner of an American Book Award, a Locus Award for Best Horror Novel, a British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel, a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel • Nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award, an International Dublin Literary Award, a Mythopoeic Award for Literature When Apollo Kagwa’s father disappeared, he left his son a box of books and strange recurring dreams. Now Apollo is a father himself—and as he and his wife, Emma, settle into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll. Apollo’s old dreams return and Emma begins acting odd. At first Emma seems to be exhibiting signs of postpartum depression. But before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act and vanishes. Thus begins Apollo’s quest to find a wife and child who are nothing like he’d imagined. His odyssey takes him to a forgotten island, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever. NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST HORROR BOOKS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • USA Today • The New York Public Library • NPR • BuzzFeed • Kirkus Reviews • Book Riot “The thriller you won’t be able to put down.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Intense, riveting . . . The story is a long, slow burn with a lingering sizzle.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “A modern-day tale of terror rooted in ancient myth and folklore, brimming with magical revelation and emotional truth.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Come travel back to a different but vaguely familiar world. Journey to a time when inflation barely existed, gasoline was cheap, cars had big gas-guzzling engines, and people almost never locked their front doors. Written in the first person, An Innocent Man follows the life and time of Edgar Rice Baker from his childhood as he encounters all of the trappings, joys, and nuances of the Baby Boomer years. It was an age of innocence, when kids walked to school, when beer and liquor were the worst things your kids could get in to, and when getting a drivers license and a set of wheels (where the heater worked and the engine ran) were the most important first steps in transitioning to adulthood. If you are over fifty, do you remember the good old days? Those were happy days of wine and roses, when life was simpler, and we all were more innocent. An Innocent Man transports us back to the fifties and sixtiesfor a nostalgic walk down the primrose lane.

When best friends Aggie and Fiona drift apart in fifth grade, Aggie grows to understand that fading friendships are normal, and she makes a new friend who shares more of her interests.

The first book in the New York Times bestselling epic fantasy trilogy by award-winning author Laini Taylor Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

A woman is caught in a gripping moral dilemma that resonates far beyond her place in time and history in #1 New York Times bestseller Jodi Picoult's latest novel. A young woman and her husband, admitted to hospital to have a baby, request that their nurse be reassigned--they are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is black, to touch their baby. The hospital complies, but the baby later goes into cardiac distress when Ruth is on duty. She hesitates before rushing in to perform CPR. When her indecision ends in tragedy, Ruth finds herself on trial, represented by a white public defender who warns against bringing race into the courtroom. As the two come to develop a truer understanding of each other's lives, they begin to doubt the beliefs they each hold most dear. Praise for Small Great Things “I couldn’t put it down. Her best yet!”—New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman “A compelling, can’t-put-it-down drama with a trademark [Jodi] Picoult twist.”—Good Housekeeping “It’s Jodi Picoult, the prime provider of literary soul food. This riveting drama is sure to be supremely satisfying and a bravely thought-provoking tale on the dangers of prejudice.”—Redbook “Jodi Picoult is never afraid to take on hot topics, and in Small Great Things, she tackles race and discrimination in a way that will grab hold of you and refuse to let you go. . . . This page-turner is perfect for book clubs.”—Popsugar