Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin

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 Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead and Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn. 

“Even in death the boys were trouble.” The Nickel Boys (Doubleday, July 2019) by Colson Whitehead. Ninth book, seventh novel. Agent: Nicole Aragi. Editor: Bill Thomas. Publicist: Michael Goldsmith.

“Just two years shy of thirty, Patsy has nothing to show for it besides the flimsy brown envelope that she uses to shade herself from the white-hot glare of the sun.” Patsy (Liveright, June 2019) by Nicole Dennis-Benn. Second book, novel. Agent: Julie Barer. Editor: Katie Adams. Publicists: Cordelia Calvert and Michael Taeckens. 

“When I was a boy, my father, during our weekly phone conversations, used to tell me stories about the mythical kingdom of Camelot.” Roughhouse Friday (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2019) by Jaed Coffin. Second book, memoir. Agent: Betsy Lerner. Editor: Colin Dickerman. Publicist: Chloe Texier-Rose.

“the blood is red the blues is red the blues / is blood the red is dirt the dirt is brown”
& more black (Augury Books, July 2019) by t’ai freedom ford. Second book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Kate Angus. Publicist: Joe Pan.

“By the time we find him, he has been lying in a small pool of his own shit for several hours.” Notes to Self (Dial Press, June 2019) by Emilie Pine. First book, essay collection. Agent: Amelia Atlas. Editor: Whitney Frick. Publicist: Carrie Neill.

“No matter which way we turned the girl, she didn’t have a face.” Song for the Unraveling of the World (Coffee House Press, June 2019) by Brian Evenson. Fourteenth book, eighth story collection. Agent: Matt McGowan. Editor: Chris Fischbach. Publicist: Daley Farr.

“Of my self-creation is this legend / of my betrayals, my disloyalty to my origins.” Sightseer in This Killing City (Penguin Books, June 2019) by Eugene Gloria. Fourth book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Paul Slovak. Publicist: Sara Chuirazzi. 

“He said he could show me my ideal gate.” Vincent and Alice and Alice (Tyrant Books, July 2019) by Shane Jones. Eighth book, fourth novel. Agent: Sarah Bowlin. Editor: Giancarlo DiTrapano. Publicist: Kieran Danielson.

“We lived overlooking the walls overlooking the cemetery.” The Milk Hours (Milkweed Editions, June 2019) by John James. First book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Joey McGarvey. Publicist: Jordan Bascom.

“When my mother was a young woman a man used to follow her to work every morning and masturbate, in step behind her.” Three Women (Avid Reader Press, July 2019) by Lisa Taddeo. First book, nonfiction. Agent: Jennifer Joel. Editor: Jofie Ferrari-Adler. Publicist: Meredith Vilarello.

“Everything has gender / in Arabic: / History is male.” In Her Feminine Sign (New Directions, July 2019) by Dunya Mikhail. Fifth book, fourth poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Jeffrey Yang. Publicist: Mieke Chew.

“Mother’s brought them all this time—the entire bin of loons.” Costalegre (Tin House Books, July 2019) by Courtney Maum. Third book, novel. Agent: Rebecca Gradinger. Editor: Masie Cochran. Publicist: Molly Templeton.