Maria posted five books from Bedlam Farm for sale on her blog yesterday. Two sold immediately, and three remain. I can vouch for all of them, and she has also provided links to additional information if people want it.
It’s a great deal, and we are happy to see books we love go to blog readers who like us. These three are all special.
The three novels are The Fox Wife by Yangsee Choo, The Morningside by Tea Obreht, and Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange. Each is beautifully written and compelling.
The Fox Life is one of the most imaginative books I’ve read in years. It is full of mysticism and supernatural figures, both human and animal.
The Morningside is the first book I’ve read about the apocalypse that was neither depressing nor frightening. Obreht has done an excellent job capturing a story that has yet to figure out how to tell without going for gore and horror.
It’s the story of a mother and her child and how they deal with a different way of life. It’s a beautiful, other-type story, wonderfully creative. I was impressed that Obreht didn’t go the easy way and try to portray the end of the world. This isn’t about the end of the world but the beginning of a different one. It’s very original.
Tommy Orange’s book was more challenging for me; it is a novel, a dark story of torture, cruelty, and genocide suffered by Native American children in the religious schools that adopted them and destroyed many at the same time. It’s a depressing book, and I couldn’t read all of it in one sitting. This is an important story, and Orange tells it beautifully. I don’t want to mislead anyone; it’s challenging reading.
These are not stories with happy endings.
The other two were delights, and I recommend them both without reservation. They are also perfect examples of young female writers transforming book publishing and storytelling with beautiful books. Both are imaginative and breathtaking. They tell complex stories with a different feel.
You can read more about each one on Maria’s blog here.
It would be a shame to pass up beautiful books like this at such a low price. If you are interested in buying one or the other, please contact Maria at [email protected]. More good books will be offered shortly. This is a fated path for books we love, much better than spending decades on shelves.