Uncovering the past can save the future. Sixteen-year-old Orion Candor has always felt like an outsider. Concealing her weird, unexplained abilities hasn't been easy, and a near-death experience turns her world upside down. She learns she has elemental powers and must train at an elite academy in Isoria, a hidden country for sorcerers. But dark forces begin to test Orion in ways she couldn't have imagined. Fear and treachery haunt Isoria's streets as the country's most malicious sorcerer, Cyril Obsidian, craves domination. But Orion discovers her late grandmother hid clues leading to a relic that can turn the tide of evil. Determined to solve the mysteries of her past, Orion finds herself on the run from Cyril and entangled in a spy ring with questionable motives-the same spy ring her grandmother once belonged to. In a world that thrives on deception, Orion must choose her allies carefully. One wrong move and she could lose Isoria's last chance at freedom-along with her life.

Finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics’ Circle Award for Criticism By one of Mexico's greatest contemporary writers, this investigation into state violence and mourning gives voice to the political experience of collective pain. Grieving is a hybrid collection of short crónicas, journalism, and personal essays on systemic violence in contemporary Mexico and along the US-Mexico border. Drawing together literary theory and historical analysis, she outlines how neoliberalism, corruption, and drug trafficking—culminating in the misnamed “war on drugs”—has shaped her country. Working from and against this political context, Cristina Rivera Garza posits that collective grief is an act of resistance against state violence, and that writing is a powerful mode of seeking social justice and embodying resilience. She states: “As we write, as we work with language—the humblest and most powerful force available to us—we activate the potential of words, phrases, sentences. Writing as we grieve, grieving as we write: a practice able to create refuge from the open. Writing with others. Grieving like someone who takes refuge from the open. Grieving, which is always a radically different mode of writing.” “A lucid, poignant collection of essays and poetry. . . . deeply hopeful, ultimately love letters to writing itself, and to the power of language to overcome the silence that impunity imposes.” —New York Times Book Review "For all the losses tallied, the pieces are imbued with optimism and an activist’s passion for reshaping the world." —The New Yorker

Whether you are planning a romantic Italian getaway, packing a knapsack for your junior year abroad, or just want to engage your Italian business associate in everyday conversation, Italian Made Simple is the perfect book for any self-learner. Void of all the non-essentials and refreshingly easy to understand, Italian Made Simple includes: * basics of grammar * vocabulary building exercises * pronunciation aids * common expressions * word puzzles and language games * contemporary reading selections * Italian culture and history * economic information * Italian-English and English-Italian dictionaries Complete with drills, exercises, and answer keys for ample practice opportunities, Italian Made Simple will soon have you speaking Italian like a native.

“Impressive . . . [Cristina García’s] story is about three generations of Cuban women and their separate responses to the revolution. Her special feat is to tell it in a style as warm and gentle as the ‘sustaining aromas of vanilla and almond,’ as rhythmic as the music of Beny Moré.”—Time Cristina García’s acclaimed book is the haunting, bittersweet story of a family experiencing a country’s revolution and the revelations that follow. The lives of Celia del Pino and her husband, daughters, and grandchildren mirror the magical realism of Cuba itself, a landscape of beauty and poverty, idealism and corruption. Dreaming in Cuban is “a work that possesses both the intimacy of a Chekov story and the hallucinatory magic of a novel by Gabriel García Márquez” (The New York Times). In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the novel’s original publication, this edition features a new introduction by the author. Praise for Dreaming in Cuban “Remarkable . . . an intricate weaving of dramatic events with the supernatural and the cosmic . . . evocative and lush.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Captures the pain, the distance, the frustrations and the dreams of these family dramas with a vivid, poetic prose.”—The Washington Post “Brilliant . . . With tremendous skill, passion and humor, García just may have written the definitive story of Cuban exiles and some of those they left behind.”—The Denver Post

Surreal and gothic, The Iliac Crest is a masterful excavation of forgotten Mexican women writers, illustrating the myriad ways that gendered language can wield destructive power. On a dark and stormy night, two mysterious women invade an unnamed narrator’s house, where they proceed to ruthlessly question their host’s identity. The women are strangely intimate―even inventing together an incomprehensible, fluid language―and harass the narrator by repeatedly claiming that they know his greatest secret: that he is, in fact, a woman. As the increasingly frantic protagonist fails to defend his supposed masculinity, he eventually finds himself in a sanatorium. Published for the first time in English, this Gothic tale is “utterly weird yet deeply resonant in its portrayal of gendered violence” (The Millions). Through layered and haunting prose, Cristina Rivera Garza unravels the cultural and political histories of Mexico, probing at the misogyny that fuels the disappearance of women in literature and in real life. "Astounding and thought-provoking." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An intelligent, beautiful story about bodies disguised as a story about language disguised as a story about night terrors. Cristina Rivera Garza does not respect what is expected of a writer, of a novel, of language. She is an agitator.” —Yuri Herrera, author of Kingdom Cons

How's adulting going? Here's a book to track your progress. Your first real job. The first plant you kept alive. The first relationship you kept alive (until further notice). This hand-lettered and illustrated guided journal is a charming and cheeky celebration of what it means to finally be a grown-up (sort of). From the first time you visited home without bringing dirty laundry to the first time you truly felt comfortable in your own skin, the small victories and meaningful milestones in this quirky and insightful journal make it a great gift and a fun experience for anyone winning at adulthood – the good, the bad and the OMG.

“In climbing the Seven Summits, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado did nothing less than take back her own life—one brave step at a time. She will inspire untold numbers of souls with this story, for her victory is a win on behalf of all of us.”—Elizabeth Gilbert Endless ice. Thin air. The threat of dropping into nothingness thousands of feet below. This is the climb Silvia Vasquez-Lavado braves in her page-turning, pulse-raising memoir chronicling her journey to Mount Everest. A Latina hero in the elite macho tech world of Silicon Valley, privately, she was hanging by a thread. Deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse she’d suffered as a child, she started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascent—the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains and death’s close proximity—woke her up. She then took her biggest pain as a survivor to the biggest mountain: Everest. “The Mother of the World,” as it’s known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn’t go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her. It was never easy. At times hair-raising, nerve-racking, and always challenging, Silvia remembers the acute anxiety of leading a group of novice climbers to Everest’s base, all the while coping with her own nerves of summiting. But, there were also moments of peace, joy, and healing with the strength of her fellow survivors and community propelling her forward. In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, an appetite for risk, and faith in our own resilience.

Cristina di Savoia is the life story of a Royal French princess, daughter of a famous Italian Queen, Maria de Medici, and brought up at the Paris Court of Louis XIIIth. When she was married at the early age of 13, to an older Italian Prince of the Savoia dynasty, to become the Duchess of Savoy, she found herself the center of embattled cultural controversies that made her the focus of the Torino court's interests. To story possesses all the ingredients for captivating its readers, as it deals with a young, strong, and fascinating heroine, living in a political 17th Century courtly environment, that breeds intrigue, love, adventure, and war.Her refined artistic taste makes of her the inspirational source of 17th Century Piedmontese cultural revival.

The New York Times bestselling author and cooking show host shares 150+ delicious and satisfying recipes for bringing people together. Family, friends, cooking, and food are a passion for Cristina Ferrare. And she brings that irrepressible enthusiasm to A Big Bowl of Love, a homey collection of recipes for everyday meals and celebrations. From appetizers and soups to pastas, risottos, and hearty entrees, each dish has been tested, enjoyed, and cherished around Cristina’s table—as well as by viewers of her popular cooking series, Cooking with Cristina, featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Beyond the recipes themselves, this busy professional, wife, and mother shows readers how to shop, set up a pantry, and use “cook once, eat twice” recipes to make preparing and enjoying meals easy and fun.