With so many good books being published every month, some literary titles worth exploring can get lost in the stacks. Page One offers the first lines of a dozen recently released books, including The Orchestra of Wind Chimes by Geoffrey Jacques and Ada’s Room by Sharon Dodua Otoo.
“This morning, I read that repeating the name of the deceased can quiet the mind when grieving for a complicated person.” Take What You Need (Viking, March 2023) by Idra Novey. Fifth book, third novel. Agent: PJ Mark. Editor: Laura Tisdel. Publicist: Sara DeLozier.
“At intersections I knew to look both ways / As she had taught me” Trace Evidence (Tin House, March 2023) by Charif Shanahan. Second book, poetry collection. Agent: Tanya McKinnon. Editor: Alyssa Ogi. Publicist: Becky Kraemer.
“We are strange creatures, my dog and I, migrating north as the summer wanes.” North Country: A Pedagogical Almanac (Black Lawrence Press, February 2023) by Carolyn Dekker. First book, essay collection. Agent: None. Editor: Diane Goettel. Publicist: None.
“Our words are what is they say what we make” The Speak Angel Series (Fonograf Editions, February 2023) by Alice Notley. Forty-fifth book, forty-second poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Jeff Alessandrelli. Publicist: None.
“We came with the drought.” Welcome Me to the Kingdom (Random House, February 2023) by Mai Nardone. First book, story collection. Agents: Rob McQuilkin and Max Moorhead. Editor: Marie Pantojan. Publicist: Abdi Omer.
“Out of a storm so thick with dust, a storm so charged with first-rate prelightning ions that the grit flashes and the car dials fade, a storm so dark no taillight shines through, though drivers have flicked on every emergency switch, out of a storm even this dust bowl state stops for, I spot my brother with a shovel.” Dog on Fire (University of Nebraska Press, March 2023) by Terese Svoboda. Nineteenth book, sixth novel. Agent: Margaret Sutherland Brown. Editors: Ron Hansen and Courtney Ochsner. Publicist: Tayler Lord.
“what happened to the beautiful language?” The Orchestra of Wind Chimes (Wayne State University Press, March 2023) by Geoffrey Jacques. Fifth book, fourth poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Michael Delp and M. L. Liebler. Publicist: Kelsey Giffin.
“balsam pear. wrinkled gourd. / leafy thing raised from seed.” Feast (Alice James Books, March 2023) by Ina Cariño. First book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Carey Salerno. Publicist: Sarah Cassavant.
“My bloodline descended from the Women Who Were Blind.” Black Chameleon: Memory, Womanhood, and Myth (Henry Holt, March 2023) by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton. Second book, first memoir. Agent: Kirby Kim. Editor: Retha Powers. Publicist: Clarissa Long.
“During the longest night of the year, blood clung to my forehead and my baby died.” Ada’s Room (Riverhead Books, March 2023) by Sharon Dodua Otoo, translated from the German by Jon Cho-Polizzi. Third of five books, first novel. Agent: Markus Hoffmann. Editor: Laura Perciasepe. Publicist: Ashley Garland.
“I walk out to South Point.” Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood (Norton, February 2023) by Tanya Frank. First book, memoir. Agent: Emma Finn. Editor: Jill Bialosky. Publicist: Erin Lovett.
“Of all the protagonists in this story—both real and imagined—just Joey, the boy, owned an Easy-Bake Oven.” Sink (Grand Central, February 2023) by Joseph Earl Thomas. First book, memoir. Agent: PJ Mark. Editor: Maddie Caldwell. Publicist: Roxanne Jones.
