Black Cake meets The Most Fun We Ever Had in this triumphant family story and sharply observed exploration of privilege, identity, and love in all its forms, following four estranged siblings—April, May, June, and July—whose lives collide in the lead-up to a family wedding, when new clues surface about their long-missing father. From the author of Indie Next Pick The Work Wife.April, May, June, and July Barber don’t have much in common anymore. An upcoming family wedding will place the four siblings in the same room for the first time in years. But shortly before, when April spots their father who went missing while serving overseas a decade ago, their reunion becomes entirely more complicated.
While the siblings’ search for the truth about their father forces them back into each other’s lives, it also intensifies their private dramas. April loves her husband, but seeks excitement outside their marriage. May had big dreams for the future, but she’s still stuck living at home. June is eager to marry her girlfriend, so why does she need a drink at every wedding-related event? And then there’s baby brother July, whose unrequited love for his straight roommate has him more confused than ever.
Confronting the past together, April, May, June, and July will find not only answers about their father, but new romance, hope, and understanding as they learn to embrace the beauty of their shared history.
Alison B. Hart is the author of The Work Wife. Her writing has appeared in The Cut, Joyland Magazine, Literary Hub, and The Missouri Review, among others. She is the co-founder of the long-running reading series at Pete's Candy Store and received her MFA from The New School. Raised in Los Angeles, she now lives in North Carolina with her family. Visit her website, alisonbhart.com, or find her on Twitter, @alisonbhart, and on Instagram, @alisonhart800.
Julia Ridley Smith: Sex Romp Gone Wrong is Julia Ridley Smith’s first story collection. Her first book, The Sum of Trifles, is a memoir published by the University of Georgia Press (2021) as a title in their Crux literary nonfiction series. Julia’s short stories and essays have appeared in the Alaska Quarterly Review, American Literary Review, Arts and Letters, the Carolina Quarterly, Chelsea, Ecotone, Electric Literature, the Greensboro Review, the New England Review, Southern Cultures, and The Southern Review, among other places. Julia teaches creative writing at UNC Chapel Hill.
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Flyleaf Books, 750 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-5700, United States,Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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