magic realism (literature)

When thirteen-year-old Safiya's mother falls into a coma, Safiya comes to terms with their complicated relationship and discovers more about herself through dreams that transport her to her mother's childhood in Kuwait.

"After being placed in foster care with her estranged uncle, Rhi is hoping for a fresh start in the woods working at the Happy Valley Wildlife Preserve. Instead, she stumbles upon a surreal sight: a pair of wolves guarding four feral and majestic girls. She ushers the girls to civilization, where they're met with societal uproar and scrutiny, dubbed by the media and true crime junkies as 'The Wild Girls of Happy Valley.' After Rhi gains the trust of the girls, they reveal that they're lost princesses from another land, raised by a magical prophet they call Mother--and they believe Rhi is their lost fifth sister, prophesied to help them return home. Rhi knows the girls are deluded, but at the same time she's drawn in by their boldness and authenticity--traits she is afraid she has lost within herself. As Rhi grows closer to the girls, witnessing strange phenomena that just might be magic, the line between fantasy and reality blurs. Now, as the hunt for answers intensifies, Rhi must make a decision that will change the course of her life--and the lives of her Wild Girls--forever"--Provided by publisher.

"Selby hates homework. She would rather watch TV--anything to escape the tedium of school, her parents' bookshop and small-town busybodies. So Selby didn't plan to read Hamlet. She certainly never planned to meet him. This novel transports Selby, and the reader, into the cold and crime-ridden play itself. Here she meets Hamlet: heavy with grief, the young prince is overthinking and over everything. Selby can relate. But unlike Hamlet, Selby isn't afraid of making decisions. In her world, Selby is used to feeling overlooked. But in the bloody, backstabbing world of Shakespeare, Selby's good conscience and quiet courage might just save some lives, hopefully before Hamlet stabs one of her classmates"--Provided by publisher.

Anna enters a surreal hotel where no one ever leaves, and when the clock strikes midnight, she will be trapped there forever, unless she decides to break all her rules to break free from its magic.

"A boy escapes his troubled home to a bakery where the wizard makes baked goods tailored to each customer's whimsical fantasy. Owing to this magical place, he regains his speech and memory"--OCLC.

"Vern--seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised--flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world. But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes. To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future--outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it"--Provided by publisher.

"The Greek goddess Aphrodite recounts two tales of tragic love during WWI to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, in a luxe Manhattan hotel room at the height of World War II. She seeks to answer the age-old question: 'Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another?' but her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music revealing that War is no match for the power of Love"--OCLC.

"The Greek goddess Aphrodite recounts two tales of tragic love during WWI to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, in a luxe Manhattan hotel room at the height of World War II. She seeks to answer the age-old question: 'Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another?' but her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music revealing that War is no match for the power of Love"--OCLC.

"Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars. At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo. They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect"--Provided by publisher.

"Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart -- he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone -- but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees." -- Provided by publisher.