autobiographical fiction

An extraordinary debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born "with one foot on the other side." Unsettling, heartwrenching, dark, and powerful, Freshwater is a sharp evocation of a rare way of experiencing the world, one that illuminates how we all construct our identities. Ada begins her life in the south of Nigeria as a troubled baby and a source of deep concern to her family. Her parents, Saul and Saachi, successfully prayed her into existence, but as she grows into a volatile and splintered child, it becomes clear that something went terribly awry. When Ada comes of age and moves to America for college, the group of selves within her grows in power and agency. A traumatic assault leads to a crystallization of her alternate selves: As???ghara and Saint Vincent. As Ada fades into the background of her own mind and these selves, now protective, now hedonistic, move into control, Ada's life spirals in a dark and dangerous direction. Narrated from the perspective of the various selves within Ada, and based in the author's realities, Freshwater explores the metaphysics of identity and mental health, plunging the reader into the mystery of being and self. Freshwater dazzles with ferocious energy and serpentine grace, heralding the arrival of a fierce new literary voice.

"Tatsuta was an amateur artist who signed onto the dangerous task of cleaning up the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, which the workers came to call 'Ichi-F.' This is the story of that challenging work, of the trials faced by the local citizens, and of the...camaraderie that developed between the mostly blue-collar workers who had to face the devious and invisible threat of radiation on a daily basis"--Back cover.

Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in mid-nineteenth-century New England. Includes illustrated notes throughout the text explaining the historical background of the story.

"Fuses elements of autobiography, literary criticism, poetry and philosophy, in a headlong, often stream-of-consciousness style." Follows Ferlinghetti's own life from childhood to adulthood, including service during WWII, and his life as gypsy in Paris.

A young Brazillan man named Paulo sets off on a journey across South America with little more than his dreams of becoming a writer. Eventually landing in Amsterdam's Dam Square, Paulo meets a Dutch woman named Karla. Together, the pair make a journey along the hippie trail to Nepal alongside a cast of interesting characters.

While spending the summer with his extended family in New Jersey, Derek finds a team he can play baseball with and earns money to take his best friend to a Yankees game.

Presents a thinly fictionalized autobiography of Jack Kerouac's cross-country adventure across North America on a quest for self-knowledge as experienced by his alter-ego, Sal Paradise and Sal's friend Dean Moriarty (Kerouac's real life friend Neal Cassady).

Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young women in mid-nineteenth-century New England.

An autobiographical novel in which fifteen-year-old Jennifer Johnson convinces her parents to commit her to the Eating Disorders Unit of an upstate New York psychiatric hospital in 1988, where the treatment for her bulimia and anorexia is not what she expects.

Twelve-year-old Donnie takes the train to visit his grandparents on the farm at Eagle Pond, where Gramp milks the cows and entertains his grandson by speaking rhymed pieces; Donnie's eyes are drawn to an empty stall that houses a graceful, cobwebby sleigh that no one uses anymore, and when the gifts are exchanged and the remains of the Christmas feast put away, the air becomes heavy with fine snowflakes and everyone wonders, how will Donnie get back to his parents on time.