BOOKS

Yonder by Jabari Asim Simon & Schuster, $27

They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They’re taught their captors’ tongues and beliefs but have a language and rituals all their own. In a world that would be allegorical if it weren’t saturated in harsh truths, Cato and William meet at Placid Hall, a plantation in the American South. Subject to the whims of their tyrannical and eccentric captor, Cannonball Greene, they never know what harm may befall them: inhumane physical toil in the quarry by day, a beating by night, or the sale of a loved one at any moment. It’s that cruel practice—the wanton destruction of love, the belief that Black people aren’t even capable of loving—that hurts the most.

It hurts the reserved and stubborn William, who finds himself falling for Margaret, a small but mighty woman with selfpossession beyond her years. And it hurts Cato, whose first love, Iris, was sold off with no forewarning. He now finds solace in his hearty band of friends, including William, who is like a brother; Margaret; Little Zander; and Milton, a gifted artist. There is also Pandora, with thick braids and long limbs, whose beauty calls to him.

Their relationships begin to fray when a visiting minister with a mysterious past starts to fill their heads with ideas about independence. He tells them that with freedom comes the right to choose the small things—when to dine, when to begin and end work—as well as the big things, such as whom and how to love.

In an elegant work of monumental imagination, Jabari Asim presents a beautiful, powerful, and elegiac novel that examines intimacy and longing in the quarters while asking a vital question: What would happen if an enslaved person risked everything for love?

The Italian Legacy in Philadelphia: History, Culture, People, and Ideas by Andrea Canepari and Judith Goode Temple University Press, $50

Italian arts and culture have been a significant influence on Philadelphia dating back to Thomas Jefferson and colonial times. Throughout the ensuing decades, Italian art and architecture styles flourished, and wealthy Philadelphians traveled to Italy and brought back objects to display in emerging institutions of art and culture. New immigrants formed neighborhoods, and Italian business leaders, politicians, artists, musicians and sports figures came to prominence and became part of the social fabric of the city.

This glorious volume celebrates the history, impact, and legacy of this vibrant community, tracing four periods of key transformation in the city’s political, economic, and social structures.

Essays, along with nearly 250 gorgeous images, it explores everyday cultural practices, memories, and traditions that became part of American culture, a legacy that thrives in contemporary Philadelphia.

Trust the Plan by Will Sommer Harper, $28.99

Over the last year, as the Covid-19 pandemic spread worldwide, so too did the proTrump cabal known as QAnon. What began as a fringe online conspiracy in the mid- 2000s is now embraced by millions of Americans across the country including new members of Congress and the thousands of Trump followers, armed with guns and a variety of makeshift weapons, who attacked the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, searching for lawmakers including the Vice President, shouting “hang Mike Pence.”

Following internet clues from a mysterious figure named “Q”—who has claimed to be a high-level government insider with a Qlevel clearance—QAnon adherents, fueled by paranoia and hatred of the left, believe that Donald Trump has been anointed by God to stop evil Democrats who sexually abuse, kill, and eat children; that Trump won the 2020 election and will soon order mass executions of Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, the Obamas, George Soros, and many others.

While in office, Trump praised QAnon believers, invited them to the White House, and retweeted their crazed messages on a neardaily basis. Though he is gone, the threat of widespread violence from his acolytes—”the Storm is coming”—remains high. What can we do about Q’s growing platform? Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer has been reporting on the QAnon conspiracy for years and has been targeted by the group. In this book, he explains the genesis of QAnon, his experience covering its members online and in the real world, Q’s lies and how they’re spread, how Q has overshadowed politics, and what the nation must do to address this growing danger.

End State Maintenance by Bill Clinton [editor’s note: not that one.] Palmetto Publishing, $22.99

You didn't know what this book was about until it was done. It’s about time and chance and choices. You improvised it all. You’re drinking wine. Red. Enjoying music. Blue. Maybe some more wine. You’re daydreaming. An idea dances around in your head. You follow it. More wine, more music. You begin to improvise a narrative on the idea. You conjure up some characters to live the story. More wine—who’s counting? You start upbeat, comical, absurd; then some sadness. Life is not all fun and games, you say. You struggle, and always hope. You rule your world and you’re having a great time making it up. But how do you get out of here? Okay, enough wine. You can’t end the story until you stop improvising. Literature is tough work you say as you adjust the couch pillows. You’ve got it! The perfect conclusion. You fall asleep, wake up, finish the wine and write it all down. There you go.

This is an enchanting, clever, sometimes humorous, always intriguing book.

City of the Dead by Jonathan Kellerman Ballantine Books, $28.99

Los Angeles is a city of sunlight, celebrity, and possibility. The L.A. often experienced by Homicide Lt. Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware, is a city of the dead. One morning, they find themselves in a neighborhood of pretty houses, pretty cars, and pretty people. The scene they encounter > 24