FALL SPOTLIGHT: COURTNEY SUMMERS

Megan_Gunter

Courtney Summers, a bestselling author known for gripping thrillers like Sadie (2018) and The Project (2021) that unflinchingly explore social issues, returns with I’m the Girl (Wednesday Books, Sept. 13). She again centers young women finding ways to survive a culture in which powerful, corrupt forces; systemic misogynistic violence; and contradictory norms present them with impossible choices. Sixteen-year-old Georgia dreams of something beyond her small town; despite her late mother’s warnings, she’s sure that working at exclusive resort Aspera, where the whims of wealthy men are catered to, is her ticket out. When Georgia finds the battered body of Ashley, a young teen victim of sexual assault abandoned on the road to Aspera, she’s drawn into a world of secrets and danger—and a relationship with Nora, Ashley’s sister. Summers answered questions over email about her latest. I’m the Girl deals with heavy, gut-wrenching subjects, but at its heart there’s a deep current of love and triumphant sisterhood. My writing confronts the ways the patriarchy threatens young women’s bodily autonomy and impacts how they move through the world as well as our own complicity in upholding and enabling patriarchal power structures. My work is often defined by how brutally it portrays different expressions of violence against women and girls, but I believe its impact and emotional resonance stem from my deep commitment to believing women and taking their voices seriously. I’m the Girl is no exception.

Georgia is a character meant to challenge the type of reader who wouldn’t consider themself a misogynist but [who] reaches for victim-blaming rhetoric to justify the response they’re having to her actions throughout the book—because it’s easier to victimblame than to admit you haven’t completely escaped the influence of a society that actively conditions you to hate women. That might mean you still have some inner work to do, behaviors to unlearn. Part of that work is accessing a level of empathy we’re taught to deny victims and survivors, which is why it was important for me to reflect that empathy in the text. You see it in Georgia and Nora’s relationship, in Georgia’s mother’s fierce, though misguided, protectiveness of her daughter. These acts of solidarity and support might seem inconsequential compared to the systems they’re up against, but they aren’t. They become pathways to greater change. How do you choose new projects? I go where my anger leads me. I have yet to write a book that wasn’t informed, in some way, by it. I’m the Girl is based loosely on the [Jeffrey] Epstein case and the fury I felt about the systems protecting him and enabling his abuse of girls.

There’s a growing movement to restrict access to necessary books like yours. It’s horrific. We must meet censorship with resistance, [continue] to tell stories that need to be

told, stand with authors whose books are being challenged, and support the librarians, educators, and advocates who put themselves on the line every day just by handing a book to a reader who needs it.

What meaningful reader responses have you received? When your work is in conversation with topics like the patriarchy and rape culture, so too, is the response. I think it’s impossible to talk about novels like mine without revealing yourself in the process. My books are meant to offer a space where there’s nothing to lose by believing a girl and responding with empathy, and the readers who choose to do that remind me why I write these stories, especially in the face of responses that more mirror our current grimly misogynistic cultural landscape.

What reading shaped you as a teen? Robert Cormier’s unwillingness to compromise his stories for the sake of his readers’ comfort was a revelation for me.

Interview by Laura Simeon

never met in person—and a backpack full of poker chips, Jack sneaks into a secret gambling club in search of evidence to save his family and take down Carlevaro. The self-aware, conversational style of the first-person narration balances astute, snarky critique and a flair for drama. Each time Jack makes a move, the stakes increase. Honesty, accountability, and family stand out as significant themes in Jack’s character development. His allace friend group highlights the diversity of identities within the spectrum of asexuality and affirms the fluidity of sexuality. As well as Jack, who reads as White, the central characters include an aromantic, Latinx, gender-nonconforming boy; a Vietnamese American and German nonbinary teen; and an implied Black girl who is a hacker prodigy.

A fast-paced, thrilling diversion. (Thriller. 1418)

Gansworth, Eric Levine Querido (384 pp.) $21.99 | Nov. 1, 2022 978-1-64614-183-8

A Native son comes of age, tackling race, class, and masculinity. It’s 1992, and 25-year-old Brian is the only Indigenous journalist on staff at the Niagara Cascade, a small city newspaper. After failing to successfully pitch an article on the Love Canal toxic waste dump, Brian is told to stick to his beat by writing stories about life on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation where he grew up. Pressured to report on crimes committed by Indigenous people, Brian hears via the police blotter about a man who was severely assaulted on Moon Road, the center of the Rez. Through Eee-ogg, or gossip, Brian learns that the victim was Tim, a White man who is the brother of Gihh-rhaggs, his mom’s old boyfriend. No one on the Rez could understand Brian’s relationship with Tim. Spanning over two decades, the novel flashes back to Brian as a boy navigating a fraught adolescence in a house without heat, electricity, or gas. Enhanced with art by Gansworth (Onondaga, Eel Clan) as well as poetry and Brian’s newspaper articles, this masterwork of historical fiction asks whether peaceably straddling the realms of White and Indigenous people is possible. Rich, luxuriant, densely layered prose immerses readers in heartbreaking scenes and poignant dialogue as complex characters explore the confines and joys of male friendship.

(Historical fiction. 14adult) (This review is printed here for the first time.)

Giles, Lamar Scholastic (400 pp.) $18.99 | Sept. 20, 2022 978-1-338-75201-4

Trapped in an apocalyptic theme park, teens fight back. Jay has it pretty good, all things considered, in a not-too-distant future absolutely ravaged by droughts, fires, floods, and powder-keg instability. He and his family are live-in employees of Karloff Country, a mountaintop in Virginia taken over by a billionaire family who created their own version of Disneyland as a refuge for their similarly wealthy peers to cavort away from the destruction they helped create. But when the end times loom, Jay realizes that the new guests, the Trustees, are privileged to the point of sociopathy, torturing staff over perceived slights with impunity. Jay rebels along with fellow Karloff Academy seniors Zeke and Connie and Seychelle, his crush and an heir to the Karloff fortune (Chelle’s racist grandfather, Franklin Karloff, hasn’t gotten over her White mom’s having had a biracial Black baby). They’re all fast friends; “the Black kids always find each other.” Narrated through multiple points of view, the novel features Jay’s perspective most prominently, with some interludes from his friends, all presented in Giles’ signature strong, accessible voice. With hints of Cory Doctorow, Jordan Peele, and Richard Matheson, this book stands on its own as a dystopian adventure, but the deeper metaphors around servitude, privilege, class, and solidarity mean that there’s a lot to think about as the characters reckon with their proximity to and complicity in violence both local and far-flung.

coaster till the end. (Horror. 1318)

Gong, Chloe McElderry (528 pp.) $21.99 | Sept. 27, 2022 978-1-66590-558-9

Her code name: Fortune. Her purpose: atonement. Four years ago, in 1927, Rosalind Lang betrayed her gang. Her actions nearly led to Shanghai’s destruction. When scarlet fever swept through the city soon after, Rosalind was saved by a mysterious serum that left her with a nearly indestructible body trapped at age 19. Now, as penance, she hunts rogue White Flowers for the Nationalists who are embroiled in a civil war with the Communists and face a potential invasion by the Imperial Japanese Army. When the Nationalists connect a string of murders in Shanghai to a local newspaper published by the Japanese government–funded Seagreen Press, Rosalind is given a new mission and a partner: Orion Hong, the younger son of a Nationalist general. Posing as newlyweds, they infiltrate Seagreen and discover a web of false identities, undercover agents, and national traitors. Heart-pounding action and intrigue fill the pages of this thriller, set in a time when people’s allegiances are questioned at every turn and families are divided along stark political lines; Orion’s brother and Rosalind’s trans sister both serve the Communist cause. Friction between the grimly determined Rosalind and carefree Orion shifts into mutual understanding and then something more as demisexual Rosalind allows herself to see past Orion’s facade. An enjoyable cast of supporting characters adds levity and surprising twists. This series opener set in the world of Gong’s These Violent Delights duology is accessible to new readers.

Thrilling from start to finish. (Historical fantasy. 1318)

Hammonds, Jas Roaring Brook Press (384 pp.) $18.99 | Nov. 29, 2022 978-1-250-81655-9

Avery and her parents move to her mom’s hometown to care for her ailing grandma. Lately 17-year-old Avery feels like she needs a change of scenery, a break from Washington, D.C., and her singular focus on early admittance to Georgetown. When Avery’s mom, Zora, learns her mother is dying from cancer, she decides to move back home. After more than a decade away, Zora is not wholeheartedly embraced by Mama Letty. As a queer, biracial teen—Avery’s mom is Black, and her dad is White—Avery’s welcome in rural Bardell County, Georgia, population 9,127, is just as cold. Avery tries to understand what caused the rift between her mom and Mama Letty and what happened to her grandfather, but both women are reluctant to share. Avery befriends the pretty Black girl next door and the rich White girl whose family runs everything, and she discovers Bardell County is full of buried secrets. As in most small towns, everything and everyone is connected, and debut author Hammonds skillfully unpeels each layer of intrigue, keeping readers engaged until the last page. The tension between Mama Letty and Zora is complex and deep-seated, and the generational trauma revealed throughout is beautifully explored. Hammonds seamlessly weaves together mystery, romance, and a town’s racist history, crafting a gripping and emotional story.

(Fiction. 1418) (This review is printed here for the first time.)

Jackson, Tiffany D. Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $18.99 | Sept. 6, 2022 978-0-06-302914-9

Jackson’s latest retells Stephen King’s Carrie with electric social commentary. Springville, inspired by real towns in the United States that still have segregated proms, has a lot of learning to do. No one knows this better than Madison Washington, a light-skinned biracial girl who has grown up with her White father and has been passing for White her entire life. At least, until a surprise rainy day during gym class exposes her hair’s natural texture and her Black ancestry and she’s outed against her will. Her White classmates react by throwing pencils at her hair, and a video of the incident goes viral. White senior Wendy, concerned about looking good to potential colleges, decides to try to reverse the negative press by advocating for Springville’s first ever integrated prom. Feeling guilty about her role in Maddy’s bullying, she also convinces Kendrick Scott, her Black boyfriend, to ask Maddy to the prom as an act of goodwill. Fans of King’s novel and its film adaptations will know this doesn’t end well for anyone. Jackson’s expert reshaping of this tale highlights the genuine horrors of both internalized and externalized anti-Blackness, as with the way she weaponizes Maddy’s father’s hot comb as a symbol of terror and subjugation. In this masterwork novel, a teen girl—mistreated from birth by a racist society—finally gets her revenge.

Horror done right. (Horror. 1318)

Kimmerer, Robin Wall Adapt. by Monique Gray Smith Illus. by Nicole Neidhardt Zest Books (304 pp.) $39.99 PLB | Nov. 1, 2022 978-1-72845-898-4

An Indigenous botanist offers powerful guidance and inspiration for a sustainable—and sustaining—future in this young readers’ adaptation of her 2015 adult bestseller.

Sweetgrass—its planting, tending, picking, braiding, and burning—forms the organizing structure for this work in which scientific discovery and traditional wisdom form a harmonious, interconnected whole. Sweetgrass is important to many Indigenous nations as well as a potent example of the limitations of traditional Western notions of people existing in opposition to the natural world, as evidenced by the fascinating results of the graduate research project Kimmerer (Potawatomi) oversaw. Rather than humans’ presence inherently threatening nonhuman living beings, the Indigenous worldview persuasively and vividly offered is one in which we live by the guiding principles of the Honorable Harvest, enumerated here as: never take the first, ask permission, listen for the answer, take only what you need, minimize harm, use everything you take, share, be grateful, and reciprocate the gift. Smith (Cree, Lakota) skillfully adapts the original, including text boxes with definitions, thoughtful prompts for reflection and discussion, and pithy quotes featured within exquisite images of a circle of braided sweetgrass by illustrator Neidhardt (Diné). Additional art beautifully enhances teachings and tales from many nations, personal reminiscences, fascinating natural history, and other enriching content. Readers will feel as if they are in conversation with a caring, respected expert guide who offers a hopeful, nourishing vision.

(Nonfiction. 1218) (This review is printed here for the first time.)