Lawless Spaces
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of Deb Caletti, this “powerful, absorbing, and beautiful” (Booklist) coming-of-age novel in verse follows a teen girl who connects with the women of her maternal line through their journals and comes to better understand her fraught relationship with her mother.
Mimi’s relationship with her mother has always been difficult. But lately, her mother has been acting more withdrawn than usual, leaving Mimi to navigate the tricky world of turning sixteen alone. What she doesn’t expect is her mother’s advice to start journaling—just like all the woman in her family before her. It’s a tradition, she says. Expected.
But Mimi takes to poetry and with it, a way to write down the realities of growing into a woman, the pains of online bullying, and the new experiences of having a boyfriend. And all in the shadows of a sexual assault case that is everywhere on the news—a case that seems to specifically rattle her mother.
Trying to understand her place in the world, Mimi dives into the uncovered journals of her grandmother, great-grandmother, and beyond. She immerses herself in each of their lives, learns of their painful stories and their beautiful sprits. And as Mimi grows closer to each of these women, she starts to forge her own path. But it isn’t until her mother’s story comes to light that Mimi learns about the unyielding bonds of family and the relentless spirit of womanhood.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Haydu's (Ever Cursed) powerfully told verse novel centers toxic familial legacies and women's experiences with stereotyping and the male gaze via the lens of a single family's tradition. On her 16th birthday, presumed-white social media influencer Mimi Dovewick's mother gives her a blank notebook, instructing her to fill it as generations of Dovewicks have done before. The same day, Mimi's mother disappears, having made accusations of sexual assault against a Hollywood director she knew when she was a 16-year-old aspiring actor. Alone, struggling with a memory of her own, and with only the journals of past Dovewick women to guide her, Mimi begins to unravel the experiences that have contributed to the creation of her own curated online persona. Through journal entries penned in 1924, 1954, 1971, and 1999, Mimi's matrilineal ancestors, who share the teen's short stature, curves, and blond hair, recount things otherwise left unsaid, including mistreatment by men and complicated relationships with their mothers. Haydu's adept use of verse and structure add a sense of intimacy to the contemporarily resonant narrative, vividly conjuring the story and the women at its heart. Ages 14–up.
