Pilgrim Bell, by Kaveh Akbar

Staff Pick

Akbar’s sophomore collection beats with the same heart that animated his debut--Calling a Wolf a Wolf--while revealing the poet as a powerhouse of form and faith. Here Akbar pledges his commitment to look at the whole; no matter how flawed, here is the body, recovering, and here is the Divine’s landscape resurrected in the everyday. Pilgrim Bell peals; throughout the book, its ring and response mark the first and penultimate poem of each section. No matter how deep the speaker leads us into his religious upbringing or the body's wounds, there’s a moment of pause on the return in the end-stopped lines of each eponymous poem.

Pilgrim Bell: Poems By Kaveh Akbar Cover Image
$16.00
ISBN: 9781644450598
Availability: In Stock—Click for Locations
Published: Graywolf Press - August 3rd, 2021

Bride of the Sea, by Eman Quotah

Staff Pick
Quotah's debut novel sweeps you up in the secrets that cause a young mother, Saeedah, to flee Cleveland with her daughter, Hanadi. Sadie and Hannah (among other pseudonyms) cover ground from  Ohio to California as they're pursued by investigators hired by her abandoned ex-husband Muneer who just wants his daughter back. Told across generations, from Muneer and Saeedah's first flirtation in their native Jidda, Saudi Arabia, to their crumbling marriage in the cold of midwinter middle America, a now-adult Hannah discovers her mother's betrayal and attempts to piece back together the heritage she's been denied. Quotah's prose is rich and flows easily; whether the shores be those of the Red Sea or Lake Erie-- she captures effectively what it means to exist between two lands and two cultures.
Bride of the Sea By Eman Quotah Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781951142452
Availability: In Stock—Click for Locations
Published: Tin House Books - January 26th, 2021