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The bandit queens : a novel / by Shroff, Parini,author.;
"A young Indian woman falsely rumored to have killed her husband finds a way to make her unfortunate reputation surprisingly useful--but complications arise when other village women seek her help offing their husbands--in this provocative, razor-sharp debut. "The Bandit Queens heralds a prodigious and sophisticated literary talent." Taea Obreht, New York Times bestselling author of Inland. In the five years since her husband's disappearance, Geeta has become accustomed to a solitary life; you'd be surprised how difficult it is to make friends when your entire village believes you're a witch who murdered your husband. And since she can't convince anyone that she didn't murder him, she figures she might as well use her fearsome reputation to protect herself as a woman on her own. But when other women in the village decide that they, too, want to be "self-made" widows and rid themselves of their abusive husbands, Geeta's reputation becomes a double-edged sword--the very thing that's meant to keep her safe is now threatening everything she's built as she unwittingly becomes the go-to consultant for village husband-disposal. Unfortunately, Geeta finds that even the best-laid plans of would-be widows tend to go awry, and the women find themselves caught in a web of their own making--and long-estranged friendships will have to be re-formed if they hope to make it out of their mess alive. Acerbic, insightful, and full of dark humor, Parini Shroff's The Bandit Queens--with its unique combination of poignant social commentary and irreverence--is an absolutely unforgettable novel"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Black humor.; Novels.; Female friendship; Villages; Widows; Wife abuse;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Very bad company / by Rosenblum, Emma,author.;
"A gripping, darkly comic novel from the national bestselling author of Bad Summer People about a team of wealthy and powerful executives on retreat in Miami when one of them goes missing ... Every year, executives at the trendy tech startup Aurora gather the company's top employees for an exclusive retreat in Miami and this year, Caitlin Levy-Aurora's newest hire-is joining the team as Head of Events. The benefits are outstanding: a seven-figure salary, stock shares, a discretionary bonus, limitless vacation days-what could possibly go wrong? When another high-level executive vanishes after the first night, the disappearance has the potential to derail the future of the company's sale and cost everyone on the team millions. Now, more than ever, Caitlin and her colleagues must continue the charade-partaking in team building exercises, group brainstorms, dinners-in order to keep the future of Aurora afloat amid all the fatal speculations. Compulsively readable, Very Bad Company is a slick send up of corporate culture wrapped in a captivating mystery"--
Subjects: Black humor.; Novels.; Corporate culture; Management retreats; Missing persons;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Bad nature : a novel / by Courage, Ariel,author.;
"Armed with a terminal diagnosis, a grudge, and a rental car, forty-year-old Hester sets out to fulfill her lifelong dream of killing her father in this brilliantly subversive and bleakly funny novel. It's Hester's fortieth birthday when she's diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she knows immediately what she must do: abandon her possessions and drive to California to kill her estranged father. With no friends or family tying her to the life she's built in New York City, she quits her wildly lucrative job in corporate law and sets off. She hasn't made it far when she runs into John, an environmental activist in need of a ride to different superfund sites across the United States. From five-star Midwestern hotels to cultish Southwestern compounds, the two slowly make their way across the country. But will the revelations they make along the way dissuade Hester from her final goal? Ragingly singular and surprisingly moving, Bad Nature is a story of stunning detours and twists until its final destination. Part road trip novel, part revenge tale, part a lament of our ongoing ecological crisis, it's ultimately a deft examination of the indulgence of holding grudges, moral ambivalence, and the eternal possibility of redemption"--
Subjects: Black humor.; Road fiction.; Novels.; Interpersonal relations; Life change events; Revenge; Terminally ill;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A beginner's guide to bear spotting / by Robinson, Michelle(Michelle Jane),1977-; Roberts, David,1970-;
"A young aspiring bear spotter ventures into bear country. But coming face-to-face with the furry creatures themselves, whether black or brown, can be dangerous, and our protagonist, accompanied by a trusty teddy bear, might need to use some unconventional means to stay out of trouble and avoid being (gulp!) eaten"--Provided by publisher.LSC
Subjects: Humorous fiction.; Bears;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Post-traumatic : a novel / by Johnson, Chantal V.,author.;
"To the outside observer, Vivian is a success story--a dedicated lawyer who advocates for mentally ill patients at a New York City psychiatric hospital. Privately, Vivian contends with the memories and aftereffects of her bad childhood--compounded by the everyday stresses of being a Black Latinx woman in America. She lives in a constant state of hypervigilant awareness that makes even a simple subway ride into a heart-pounding drama. For years, Vivian has self-medicated with a mix of dating, dieting, dark humor and smoking weed with her BFF, Jane. But after a family reunion prompts Vivian to take a bold step, she finds herself alone in new and terrifying ways, without even Jane to confide in, and she starts to unravel. Will she find a way to repair what matters most to her?"
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Adult child sexual abuse victims; Families; Hispanic Americans; Women lawyers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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I might be in trouble / by Aleman, Daniel,author.;
"A suspenseful dark comedy about a struggling writer who wakes up to find his date from the night before dead-and must now decide how far he's willing to go to spin the event into his next big book. A few years ago, David Alvarez had it all: a six-figure book deal, a loving boyfriend, and an exciting writing career. His debut novel was a resounding success, which made the publication of his second book-a total flop-all the more devastating. Now, David is single, lonely, and desperately trying to come up with the next great idea for his third manuscript, one that will redeem him in the eyes of readers, reviewers, the entire publishing world ... and maybe even his ex-boyfriend. The issue is, good ideas are hard to come by, and the mounting pressure of a near-empty bank account isn't helping. But when David connects with a sexy stranger on a dating app, he figures a wild night out in New York City may be just what he needs to get his creative juices flowing. Lucky for him, his date turns out to be handsome, confident, and charming-everything David's been looking for, really-not to mention the perfect distraction from yet another evening staring at a blank screen. After one of the best nights of his life, David wakes up hungover but giddy-only to find prince charming dead next to him in bed. Horrified, completely confused, and suddenly faced with the implausible-but-somehow-plausible idea that he may have actually killed his date, David calls the only person he can trust in a moment of crisis: his quirky literary agent, Stacey. Together, David and Stacey must untangle the events of the previous night, cover their tracks, and spin the entire misadventure into David's career-defining novel-if only they can figure out what to do with the body first"--
Subjects: Gay fiction.; Queer fiction.; Black humor.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Authors; Dating (Social customs); Dead bodies (Law); Gay authors; Gay men; Literary agents;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Bellevue Square : a novel / by Redhill, Michael,1966-author.;
Jean Mason has a doppelganger. At least, that's what people tell her. Apparently it hangs out in Kensington Market, where it sometimes buys churros and shops for hats. Jean doesn't rattle easy, not like she used to. She's a grown woman with a husband and two kids, as well as a thriving business, and Toronto is a fresh start for the whole family. She certainly doesn't want to get involved in anything dubious, but still ... why would two different strangers swear up and down they'd just seen her--with shorter hair furthermore? Jean's curiosity quickly gets the better of her, and she visits the market, but sees no one who looks like her. The next day, she goes back to look again. And the day after that. Before she knows it, she's spending an hour here, an afternoon there, watching, taking notes, obsessing and getting scared. With the aid of a small army of locals who hang around in the market's only park, she expands her surveillance, making it known she'll pay for information or sightings. A peculiar collection of drug addicts, scam artists, philanthropists, philosophers and vagrants--the regulars of Bellevue Square--are eager to contribute to Jean's investigation. But when some of them start disappearing, it becomes apparent that her alleged double has a sinister agenda. Unless Jean stops her, she and everyone she cares about will face a fate stranger than death.
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Black humor.; Doppelgängers; Paranoia;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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Sky full of elephants / by Campbell, Cebo,author.;
One day, a cataclysmic event occurs: all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charles Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he's now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from someone he wasn't even sure existed: his daughter Sidney, a nineteen-year-old who watched her white mother and step-family drown themselves in the lake behind their house. Traumatized by the event, and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. Desperate for help, she turns to the father she never met, a man she has always resented. Sidney and Charlie meet for the first time as they embark on a journey across America headed for Alabama, where Sidney believes she may still have some family left. But neither Sidney or Charlie is prepared for this new world and how they see themselves in it. When they enter the Kingdom of Alabama, everything Charlie and Sidney thought they knew about themselves, and the world, will be turned upside down. Brimming with heart and humor, Cebo Campbell's astonishing debut novel is about the power of community and connection, about healing and self-actualization, and a reckoning with what it means to be Black in America, in both their world and ours.
Subjects: Apocalyptic fiction.; Magic realist fiction.; Novels.; African American college teachers; African American fathers; African Americans; Death; Fathers and daughters; Mass extinctions; Voyages and travels;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Everyone in this room will someday be dead : a novel / by Austin, Emily,author.;
This hilarious and profound debut for fans of Mostly Dead Things and Goodbye, Vitamin, follows a morbidly anxious young woman--"the kindhearted heroine we all need right now" (Courtney Maum, New York Times bestselling author)--who stumbles into a job as a receptionist at a Catholic church and becomes obsessed with her predecessor's mysterious death. Gilda, a twenty-something, atheist, animal-loving lesbian, cannot stop ruminating about death. Desperate for relief from her panicky mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local Catholic church, and finds herself being greeted by Father Jeff, who assumes she's there for a job interview. Too embarrassed to correct him, Gilda is abruptly hired to replace the recently deceased receptionist Grace. In between trying to memorize the lines to Catholic mass, hiding the fact that she has a new girlfriend, and erecting a dirty dish tower in her crumbling apartment, Gilda strikes up an email correspondence with Grace's old friend. She can't bear to ignore the kindly old woman, who has been trying to reach her friend through the church inbox, but she also can't bring herself to break the bad news. Desperate, she begins impersonating Grace via email. But when the police discover suspicious circumstances surrounding Grace's death, Gilda may have to finally reveal the truth of her mortifying existence. A delightful blend of warmth, deadpan humor, and pitch-perfect observations about the human condition, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is a crackling exploration of what it takes to stay afloat in a world where your expiration-and the expiration of those you love-is the only certainty.
Subjects: Humorous fiction.; Black humor.; Lesbians; Receptionists; Death;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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We love you, Bunny : a novel / by Awad, Mona,author.;
"The highly anticipated follow up to the viral sensation Bunny, a brilliantly written, laugh-out-loud funny, dark, and delirious novel set in the Bunny-verse-a world that Margaret Atwood declared "soooo genius." In the cult classic novel Bunny, Samantha Heather Mackey, a lonely outsider student at a highly selective MFA program in New England, was first ostracized and then seduced by a clique of creepy-sweet rich girls who call themselves "Bunny." An invitation to the Bunnies' Smut Salon leads Samantha down a dark rabbit hole (pun intended) into the violently surreal world of their off-campus workshops where monstrous creations are conjured with deadly and wondrous consequences. When We Love You, Bunny opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they've been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it's her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies' side of the story. One by one, they take turns holding the axe, and recount the birth throes of their unholy alliance, their discovery of their unusual creative powers-and the phantasmagoric adventure of conjuring their first creation. With a bound and gagged Sam, we embark on a wickedly intoxicating journey into the heart of dark academia: a fairy tale slasher that explores the wonder and horror of creation itself. Not to mention the transformative powers of love and friendship, Bunny. Frankenstein by way of Heathers, We Love You, Bunny is both a prequel and a sequel, and an unabashedly wild and totally complete stand-alone novel. Open your hearts, Bunny, to another dazzlingly original and darkly hilarious romp in the Bunny-verse from the queen of the fever-dream, Mona Awad"--
Subjects: Paranormal fiction.; Black humor.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Female friendship; Kidnapping; Women authors;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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