The Verdigris Stories
by Mariana Sabino
ISBN 9781735934624
In The Verdigris Stories, the conditions of impermanence and interaction usher us into the world of the collection. The tone of these eleven stories shifts from lyricism to absurdity, conjuring the characters’ changing environments and interior lives. For some, the past is in pursuit, nipping at their heels; for others, present possibilities hold sway. In either case a sense of dislocation, either by choice or circumstance, is intrinsic to their lives — as perpetual wanderers or outsiders.
Among the wanderers we meet a bereaved lover on her return to a village in Brazil; a pair of estranged sisters warily reuniting in Prague; and a peculiar woman hosting ghosts in her home. In these and the other stories, lives separate and intersect; arrivals and departures become catalysts for change.
Advance Praise
“Mariana Sabino is an enormously gifted writer with immense insight into the complexity of her characters’ lives. Each gem of a story in her debut collection brings us into a fascinating world of travelers, misfits, and characters otherwise marginalized within their communities. The Verdigris Stories is, quite simply, cause for celebration.”
— Helen Fremont, author of The Escape Artist and the national bestseller After Long Silence
“There’s an immediacy to these stories that sucked me right in, an abundance of sense, color, and feeling that reflects both the untamed landscapes of Sabino’s settings and her characters themselves—travelers, expats, and repatriates—who are consumed by wanderlust, coping with loss, and in search of that elusive location called home. A remarkable book.”
— Adam Wilson, author of Sensation Machines
"Mariana Sabino is a gifted and sophisticated writer, moving easily between lyricism and realism--with a touch of the surreal—and evokes cities and atmospheres in far-flung places on the globe. This original collection is a treat."
— Lynne Sharon Schwartz, author of Truthtelling and Disturbances in the Field
"Mariana Sabino's The Verdigris Stories explores, with patience and insight, the tenderness born of wanderlust, of stretching oneself across time and space. Sabino's haunting prose illuminates--sometimes with gentle humor, sometimes with sharp critique, always with empathy--the boundary between one's interior landscape and the greater world. A beautiful and engrossing debut."
— Derek Palacio, author of The Mortifications
”The Verdigris Stories convinces me that Mariana Sabino has lived a thousand lives. Her writing is at once expansive and intimate. With nuanced understanding and unwavering respect, she illuminates international journeys and characters who reach across social divides. This is my favorite kind of writing. It invites us to read and reread whenever the world feels too small."
— Davin Malasarn, co-founder of the Granum Foundation
“Again and again Sabino surprises us with profound stories of place with the zing of a different current. Brilliant vignettes convey the heartbreak and mystery of daily life.”
— Susan Wooldridge, author of poemcrazy: freeing your life with words
About the Author
Raised in Brazil and the US, Mariana Sabino has lived in many countries. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from Bennington College. Shortlisted for the Granum Foundation Prize in 2021, her writing has also received support from the Kenyon Review. Still a nomad, she works as a freelance writer and feels most at home in the natural world, especially by the sea.
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A Season Unknown
by Keith Cohen
ISBN 9781735934600
View Brookline Booksmith launch on May 1st https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUuv7zi4iDM&t=22s
From the time he is a small child, Malach reveals unique and unexplained connections with the animals that inhabit the wilderness surrounding him. As Malach grows, so too does his knowledge of the workings and mysteries of the natural world. His mother, Judith, fearful for him and struggling to understand the gift her son possesses, is determined to protect him at all costs. While grappling with the uncertainty of where Malach’s future will lead, Judith must confront her own painful and secretive past.
Approaching adulthood, joined by his brilliant and fiery girlfriend, Ginny, Malach brings a profound awareness of the earth to a world facing a precariously changing climate and existential perils. Together they begin to deliver a message of transformation, sacrifice, and even revolution in how we live our lives. Their story of love, and triumph over loss, is at the heart of this urgent coming-of-age story where time is no longer a luxury.
Praise
“A Season Unknown is both a poetic parable about the beauty and fragility of our endangered earth and a compelling story of childhood and adolescence, love and friendship, families and fragile marriage. Cohen's kind and compassionate voice is a steady presence unifying realism and fantasy in this moving and timely novel about vulnerable young people who love, and are desperate to preserve, their vulnerable world.”
– Carol Robinson
”In this moving debut novel, author Keith Cohen explores the unique and unexplained connections that are possible between human and animal. And the urgent need, if we’re to save the earth, for us to realign our relationship with the natural world. Our judges called the concept original; the premise, strong and unique; the story, magical. A tale for our times. One to be read and reread, one to savor.”
– Independent Publishers of New England
"In A Season Unknown, child psychologist Keith Cohen inventively reimagines our relationship to the natural world. Malach’s emotional, mystical journey toward adulthood and activism reframes the often overwhelming climate crisis in terms that we can easily understand—those of a single human life."
— Mark Beauregard, author of The Whale: A Love Story, finalist for the 2016 Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Prize for First Fiction
“An imaginative and searing exposition of how strange, confusing, and unjust it must seem to young people to learn that nature is in peril and the climate is on the brink. A clear look at life in the last years we have to make a change. A Season Unknown belongs alongside Richard Powers’s The Overstory and Lydia Millet’s A Children’s Bible.”
— Spencer Glendon, Founder of Probable Futures
"In A Season Unknown, Keith Cohen creates a metaphysical novel with big ideas and bigger heart. Its ecological and environmental spirituality will remind readers of the works of Barbara Kingsolver. It is a profoundly magical yet sometimes tragic work, but the rich language, vivid characters, and beautiful moments will ultimately leave readers with an uplifting and needed story."
— Tim Huggins, bookselling entrepreneur & cofounder of Earfull
“This book will have you drawn to Malach with the same inexplicable intensity as those around him. Cohen’s slow, deliberate pacing lends the prose an almost dreamlike quality as Malach's story unfolds. Fans of Max Porter's Lanny and Catherine Lacey's Pew will love A Season Unknown.”
— Katherine Nazzaro, Porter Square Books
“A Season Unknown is an exceptionally powerful story that thoughtfully engages us to realize the increasing threats we face from our changing climate and the inherent risks to the wellbeing of all life on our fragile planet. Cohen's timely message is bound to inspire readers to reflect on how much is at stake, as we are moved to determine a path that leads to solutions for the most urgent environmental issues of our time. “
— Marcia Cooper, Environmental Activist and President of Green Newton
“A modern fable – a beautiful collision of Aesop and Franz Kafka – that offers a challenging yet hopeful exploration of our perilous times.”
— Nick Petrulakis, events coordinator at DIESEL, A Bookstore
About the Author
Keith Cohen is a clinical child and adolescent psychologist practicing in Westwood, MA. He lives outside of Boston with his wife. A Season Unknown is his debut novel.