You see them every day, the suicide flowers. They bloom from the cracks and crevices of concrete sidewalks. From between asphalt creases and gaps. Yet these flowers blossom and prosper until the careless foot tramples. Others wither and fade, having survived, despite their strained and dubious foundations. Raeburn Messiah, the Messiah of Metal, sings for a living. Currently, he's on the downward spiral that unfaithful fame loves so dearly. He feels that he's got it bad, his life is over. That is, until he meets one of his most adoring fans, Gabriel, who has but months to live due to the complications of leukemia. They are men, both dying slow, painful deaths. But, each carries a secret that could save the other. For Raeburn and Gabriel are the suicide flowers, doomed to be trampled, destined to flourish.

The disturbing chronicle of Daniell's transition from a passive young girl to a modern woman explores the myths of white male supremacy and the pampered Southern belle.

When Emily loses her brother after a long illness, she feels alone, angry, and very, very sad. With the understanding and support of her parents, Emily learns that it helps when she snuggles with her parents. It helps when she talks about her feelings and asks questions about Ben. And it helps when she does regular kid stuff, too. But mostly, she learns that remembering Ben and their happy life together builds healthy and helpful images that soothe her sad feelings and provide much comfort to her and her family. A Note to Parents describes the psychological issues that children confront when a sibling dies, and offers practical strategies and guidance to parents for navigating the child and their family through the grieving process.

When Lester Desjarlais, a young Ojibwa boy, took his own life, what began as a routine inquiry into yet another Native suicide grew into a wide-ranging examination not only of his community but of the larger society which failed to save him. The 1991 inquest into his death, scheduled to last a day, broadened into one of the longest in Manitoba's history -- uncovering a tragic story of abuse, family suffering, and finally, tragedy. The author of this book, a journalist for the Winnipeg Free Press, covered the inquest.

Violet Holt has already met Death once. After a failed suicide attempt, she finds herself dumped by her callous mother on the doorstep of her family’s desolate oceanside estate. With only the company of her estranged grandmother, comatose grandfather, and the monsters in her head, at least there was no one to interfere with her plans to try again on her eighteenth birthday. No one, except maybe Jack: a skeleton of a boy who says he’s there to rake her grandmother’s leaves, yet seems more experienced at stalking than grounds-keeping. She knows he’s keeping a secret behind his gentle smiles and aloofness, but it’s difficult for Violet to be put off by his untimely thin-air appearances when figuring out the mystery of his true identity makes for such a good distraction. Violet’s trauma is deeper than the wound on her wrist though, and it cannot be simply whisked away in a whirlwind of guessing games and pleasant gestures. She struggles to reconnect with her grandmother, find forgiveness for her mother, and closure with her grandfather’s dire condition, all while battling the strain of it all on her family. Even with a flicker of something hopeful blossoming within herself, Violet knows her birthday plans must be inevitable. Death wouldn’t be there for her if it wasn’t.

Mud Flower: Surviving Schizophrenia and Suicide Through Art shows the perspective of a person who has a serious mental illness, who survives extreme treatments, who both family and the health system have given up on, but who defies all expectations and common beliefs of what is possible. Along the way, the author describes the role of art in her survival, grappling with how the life force can be either nurtured or destroyed by elements in our environment, such as nature, beauty, and art versus dehumanization and coercion.

I am the reason girls are told not to trust strangers. I am their cautionary tale.

"Iraq's poets have suffered imprisonment, exile, and death for the truths they have dared to tell. Poetry is not a luxury in Iraq, but a vital part of the struggle for the nation's future. This is poetry that is feared by tyrants and would-be tyrants. You will find joy here as well as struggle. Arabic poetry has a long and rich tradition of ecstatic love, whimsical humor, and philosophic insight. Remarkably, charm and lightness of touch abound. Even the war invites you to a picnic from which you will not return untouched. Many of these poems were written in response to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. "Tomorrow the War Will Have a Picnic," for instance, was composed on the eve of the "shock and awe" campaign against Baghdad. We see here, through Iraqi eyes, the fall of Saddam's statue, his trial, the ongoing sectarian violence, and the foreign invaders on both sides of the struggle."--BOOK JACKET.

A thought-provoking exploration of life's most profound transition • With candor and refreshing perspective, Nancy Cobb infuses the oft-avoided subject of death with light, presenting it as a natural process to be honored rather than feared. "This meditation on grieving is personal and persuasive — sustenance for the mind and the soul." —Wally Lamb, #1 New York Times bestselling author “An elegant book ... that lets readers know they aren’t alone.”—The Wall Street Journal “Grieving is as natural as breathing, for if we have lived and loved, surely we will grieve. . . .” Nancy Cobb meets death in the most vital of places—in the lives of everyday people—and in doing so has found a way to make the darkest of subjects more approachable, and the deaths of those she has loved—and death itself—a subject to explore rather than to avoid. Cobb's personal experiences become a point of departure for what amounts to a deeper conversation about loss. She shares moments of her own mourning and draws others into the conversation as well: among them, a bank teller who still dreams of her deceased grandmother, two small children who bury a wild bird in its final nest beneath a maple tree, and a hospice nurse who acts as an end-of-life midwife. Cobb invites us to explore death through the shared humanity of everyday people, allowing their voices to demystify the inevitable while offering solace. Whether you are mourning a loved one, caring for someone at the end of life, or seeking wisdom on this universal experience, In Lieu of Flowers is a deeply comforting companion. Its gentle candor and hard-won insights will inspire you to embrace grief fully while finding light in life's final transition.

"A provocative new author. A fascinating debut novel. Read it!” —Jeff VanderMeer In Rachel Heng's debut set in near future New York City—where lives last three hundred years and the pursuit of immortality is all-consuming—Lea must choose between her estranged father and her chance to live forever. Lea Kirino is a “Lifer,” which means that a roll of the genetic dice has given her the potential to live forever—if she does everything right. And Lea is an overachiever. She’s a successful trader on the New York exchange—where instead of stocks, human organs are now bought and sold—she has a beautiful apartment, and a fiancé who rivals her in genetic perfection. And with the right balance of HealthTechTM, rigorous juicing, and low-impact exercise, she might never die. But Lea’s perfect life is turned upside down when she spots her estranged father on a crowded sidewalk. His return marks the beginning of her downfall as she is drawn into his mysterious world of the Suicide Club, a network of powerful individuals and rebels who reject society’s pursuit of immortality, and instead choose to live—and die—on their own terms. In this future world, death is not only taboo; it’s also highly illegal. Soon Lea is forced to choose between a sanitized immortal existence and a short, bittersweet time with a man she has never really known, but who is the only family she has left in the world.