Watch How We Walk

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Sean Michaels

"In a finely woven series of flashbacks and correspondence, Lev Termen, the Russian scientist, inventor, and spy, tells the story of his life to his "one true love, " Clara Rockmore, the finest theremin player in the world. In the first half of the book, we learn of Termen's early days as a scientist in Leningrad during the Bolshevik Revolution, the acclaim he receives as the inventor of the theremin, and his arrival in 1930s New York under the aegis of the Russian state. In the United States he makes a name for himself teaching the theremin to eager music students and marketing his inventions to American companies. In the second half, the novel builds to a crescendo as Termen returns to Russia, where he is imprisoned in a Siberian gulag and later brought to Moscow, tasked with eavesdropping on Stalin himself. Throughout all this, his love for Clara remains constant and unflagging, traveling through the ether much like a theremin's notes. Us Conductors is steeped in beauty, wonder, and looping heartbreak, a sublime debut that inhabits the idea of invention on every level"--Provided by publisher.

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Jonathan Franzen

How I write is a celebrated work by Jonathan Franzen (National Book Award Winner, Pulitzer Finalist), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.

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Morgan Thomas

Ro and Liam live in a ramshackle cabin in a secluded stretch of Florida. Neither their home nor their sometimes tumultuous relationship is what the world would call perfect, but to Ro―newly diagnosed with autism and working as a patient navigator for people seeking gender-affirming care―their life, despite the deeply hostile political climate, is a kind of paradise. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what shatters their peace. There’s Quentin, the unpredictable teenager to whom Liam and Ro are quasi-parents, who visits on his way to college, where he plans to finally start T. There’s the appearance of *Mad Eden*, an online fantasy serial about heroic dragon riders that increasingly becomes Ro’s obsession. And then there’s a seemingly innocuous patient video call that results in consequences both unexpected and grave. This myriad of circumstances sends Liam and Ro’s world spinning toward disaster―unless Ro can become the real-life hero their situation demands without betraying who they are and who they love. With colossal heart and preternatural skill, Morgan Thomas has crafted a deliciously destabilizing debut novel that challenges us to confront and reconsider questions of language, sex, prejudice, identity, and the shifting scales of morality. Playing with the possible relationship between autism and time to forge an ingenious new kind of storytelling, *Mad Eden* imagines, with exhilarating courage, how we may yet joyfully live in a precarious world.

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Julie Myerson

Like Anita Shreve, Myerson writes in a literary and yet accessible manner. Her fifth book is a story of a troubled woman who falls for an outsider who has come to uncover the truth.