Imagine at nineteen loving a man so deep that you would risk your entire life for him? Loving him so hard that despite his small pockets, you love him for love . Freedom McGurrry loved Ghost like no other. Even though she was nineteen and he was a bit older, broke and trying to trap, she loved him. One night in 2009 causes her to rethink things and she disappears off the face of the earth. She leaves Ghost wondering what ever happened to his love?Liberty, Freedom's twin loved her man Pook. After he caught a drug case, she loved him so much that she would have held him down to the end of time. That is until she sees another woman pregnant with his baby and wearing the same exact ring he had gifted to her. Leaving the courtroom, pregnant and confused, she has no clue what to do. Priest has been raised by his older sister, who is drying from lung disease. She's all he has known. When she passes, she leaves behind three daughters, who Priest must raise. A college student himself, how is he supposed to put money on the table for three little girls? Putting down his books, he goes to see Ghost to provide for his family. On the back of the bus in 2009, he comes across Justice McGurry, Freedom and Liberty's younger sister. A quick smile and a few words are exchange before they both exit the bus and go their own ways. Ten years later, Ghost is the head nigga in charge in Staten Island. All the hard work and broke days sculpted him into the trap king that he is today. With his baby brother, Staten, and Priest by his side, nothing moves in Staten Island unless they know about it. Find out how ten years changed all these people's lives and how life forces them to come back together.

From the award-winning author of Melissa, a phenomenal novel about queerness past, present, and future. Sam is very in touch with their own queer identity. They're nonbinary, and their best friend, TJ, is nonbinary as well. Sam's family is very cool with it... as long as Sam remembers that nonbinary kids are also required to clean their rooms, do their homework, and try not to antagonize their teachers too much. The teacher-respect thing is hard when it comes to Sam’s history class, because their teacher seems to believe that only Dead Straight Cis White Men are responsible for history. When Sam’s home borough of Staten Island opens up a contest for a new statue, Sam finds the perfect non-DSCWM subject: photographer Alice Austen, whose house has been turned into a museum, and who lived with a female partner for decades. Soon, Sam's project isn't just about winning the contest. It's about discovering a rich queer history that Sam's a part of -- a queer history that no longer needs to be quiet, as long as there are kids like Sam and TJ to stand up for it.

A Marine Corps Officer, Everett Smith, served overseas for nearly three years including 1944 and 1945 in the Pacific Theater. Eighty years after the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan ended WW II, the massive conflict that engulfed every corner of the planet is increasingly a distance memory. Its toll on an entire generation in lost and maimed lives and destruction of entire cities has faded into the history books. While the conclusion of the European war was being celebrated with VE Day on May 8, 1945, U.S. armed forces were still engaged in a vicious battle against Japanese combatants on Okinawa Island. By early August, preparations code named Operation Downfall were well underway for a massive invasion of Japan’s mainland islands. Everett expected to participate in that final campaign and privately believed he would not survive it. For military personnel serving overseas, letters from loved ones were critical lifelines. This book is a compilation of letters Everett wrote to his wife. In them, he describes the battle’s progression (censured), his dreams for their future together, and especially his love for Ruth during their many months of separation

“An endearing combination [of] memoir and Baedeker . . . serves up factoids and ruminations” along with illustrations of NYC sights from a native artist (The New York Times). Anyone who hearts New York will love this illustrated homage to the city. Artist, author, and New Yorker Julia Rothman brings humor and tenderness to an eclectic assortment of historical tidbits (how the New York Public Library lion sculptures got their names), idiosyncratic places to visit (where to find the tennis courts at Grand Central Station), interviews with locals (thoughts on love from a Hasidic Jewish landlord), and personal recollections from growing up in the Bronx (fried fish at Johnny’s Reef)—all illuminated in her beloved signature style. A uniquely entertaining and informative city guide, this slice of the Big Apple will delight New York locals and visitors alike. “The perfect book if you’ve been to the city a million times, live here or have it on your bucket list.” —Design Sponge “From bodegas to bras, a visual serenade to Gotham's emblems and eccentricities.” —Maria Popova, Brain Pickings “This ‘illustrated love letter to the five boroughs’ is also a guidebook full of details, including where the original Original Ray’s was, and a journal about oddly memorable New York moments.” —Time Out NY “ . . . A whimsical, kaleidoscopic perspective on a city that's changing by the second.” —Fast Company

From the urban affairs correspondent of the New York Times--the story of a city through twenty-seven structures that define it. As New York is poised to celebrate its four hundredth anniversary, New York Times correspondent Sam Roberts tells the story of the city through bricks, glass, wood, and mortar, revealing why and how it evolved into the nation's biggest and most influential. From the seven hundred thousand or so buildings in New York, Roberts selects twenty-seven that, in the past four centuries, have been the most emblematic of the city's economic, social, and political evolution. He describes not only the buildings and how they came to be, but also their enduring impact on the city and its people and how the consequences of the construction often reverberated around the world. A few structures, such as the Empire State Building, are architectural icons, but Roberts goes beyond the familiar with intriguing stories of the personalities and exploits behind the unrivaled skyscraper's construction. Some stretch the definition of buildings, to include the city's oldest bridge and the landmark Coney Island Boardwalk. Others offer surprises: where the United Nations General Assembly first met; a hidden hub of global internet traffic; a nondescript factory that produced billions of dollars of currency in the poorest neighborhood in the country; and the buildings that triggered the Depression and launched the New Deal. With his deep knowledge of the city and penchant for fascinating facts, Roberts brings to light the brilliant architecture, remarkable history, and bright future of the greatest city in the world.

It was 1798 when the Morningstarr twins arrived in New York with a vision for a magnificent city: towering skyscrapers, dazzling machines, and winding train lines, all running on technology no one had ever seen before. Fifty-seven years later, the enigmatic architects disappeared, leaving behind for the people of New York the Old York Cipher--a puzzle laid into the shining city they constructed, at the end of which was promised a treasure beyond all imagining. By the present day, however, the puzzle has never been solved, and the greatest mystery of the modern world is little more than a tourist attraction. Tess and Theo Biedermann and their friend Jaime Cruz live in a Morningstarr apartment--until a real estate developer announces that the city has agreed to sell him the five remaining Morningstarr buildings. Their likely destruction means the end of a dream long held by the people of New York. And if Tess, Theo, and Jaime want to save their home, they have to prove that the Old York Cipher is real. Which means they have to solve it.

"African american women writer Audre Lorde and poet Pat Parker first met in 1969; they began exchanging letters regularly five years later. Over the next fifteen years, Lorde and Parker shared ideas, advice, and confidences through the mail. They sent each other handwritten and typewritten letters and postcards often with inserted items including articles, money, and video tapes. This book gathers this correspondence for readers to eavesdrop on Lorde and Parker as they discuss their work as writers as well as intimate details of their lives, including periods when each lived with cancer."--Publisher.

In this moving memoir, Tia Angelo takes us on her crazy journey growing up in Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York, with her incredibly dysfunctional family. Living with a mother suffering from alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, having an absentee father, and struggling to cope with the circumstances at home, Tia and her sister were shuttled between aunts, grandparents, and other relatives for most of their childhood. With a mom too sick to care for her children and often hospitalized, Tia witnessed firsthand the effects of addiction and the emotional scars it leaves behind. Hungry for stability, she finds refuge with her girlfriends and their families, spending most of her time in their homes and seeking solace as she navigates her crazy family life. Tia shows us how her desire for normalcy and happiness leads her to explore her inner conflict created by her family of origin. Throughout her journey of self-exploration, Tia has triumphed, coming out stronger and more determined to share her experiences with the hopes to help others find their path. With love, courage, forgiveness, and a bit of WTF?, Tia shares her crazy family stories as well as her journey in turning her life around and finding her rainbow in what she calls a life of storms. Tia is available for book clubs, select readings, and lectures. You can contact her at [email protected]