Book excerpt
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Decidedly red hair
Excerpt from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery This is an excerpt from the book Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. She had been watching him ever since he had passed her and she had her eyes on him now. Matthew was not looking at her and would not have seen what she…
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I, who had been erased by fire
Excerpt from The Journals of Susanna Moodie by Margaret Atwood These are three poems from the poetry book The Journals of Susanna Moodie by Margaret Atwood. First Neighbours The people I live among, unforgivingly previous to me, grudging the way I breathe their property, the air, speaking a twisted dialect to my differently- shaped ears…
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These women and their underwater lair
Excerpt from Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield This is an excerpt from the book Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield. Have you ever heard of the Tektite habitat? This was an underwater laboratory and living station designed and built round about the late 1960s as a base from which to…
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Who has the right?
Excerpt from Yellowface by R.F. Kuang This is an excerpt from the book Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO WRITE ABOUT SUFFERING? I once went to a Korean War exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History with Athena, back when I was still fooling myself that we could be good…
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The portrait had altered
Excerpt from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde This is an excerpt from the book The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. He got up and locked both doors. At least he would be alone when he looked upon the mask of his shame. Then he drew the screen aside and saw…
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My most insidious Blue
Excerpt from This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone This is an excerpt from the book This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. My most insidious Blue, How does one begin this sort of thing? It’s been so long since I…
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Watch. Just watch.
Excerpt from The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo This is an excerpt from the book The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo. It took another two days’ walk through the birch barrens before they came to the narrow beach of Lake Scarlet at dusk. The lake itself was almost perfectly…
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At the very beginning
Excerpt from The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith This is an excerpt from the book of short stories called The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith. I WILL START at the very beginning—the beginning we all were taught as children. Thousands of years ago, a dragon prince and a fairy spirit fell in love. They married,…
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Greatness / Nothing
Excerpt from She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan This is an excerpt from the book She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. They turned from the main road and saw a pinprick of light ahead, no brighter than a random flash behind one’s eyelids. It was the fortune-teller’s house. As they went…
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Your mother is back
Excerpt from The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai This is an excerpt from the book The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. I heard the door closing, moans, footsteps. “Hương,” Grandma called. “Your mother is back. Give us some light.” My mother? Could this be true? I fumbled in darkness, searching for…