INCREASE EVERY VOICE When Cole Arthur Riley grew up, she didn’t talk. “This is no exaggeration,” she writes in her first book, “This Here Flesh,” which interweaves three generations of family stories with reflections on spirituality and liberation. “Apart from the family who shared a house with me, I was non-verbal with most of the people I encountered until I was 7. It’s called selective mutism and it’s an anxiety disorder.”
Riley describes how she squeezed her hand between a sliding glass door and a screen door when she was 4 or 5 years old – how she was silent, imprisoned, until her sister ran into her, pryed the doors open and insisted that the two practice screaming together in the backyard. She writes: “Our squeak goes through the glass. Inhale. Again. And the whole house comes running.”
That primal scream echoes throughout “This Here Flesh,” which debuts this week at No. 9 on the Advice, Instructions, and Miscellaneous list. Having found her voice, Riley is now a spiritual teacher in residence at Cornell University and the writer and creator of @blackliturgies on Instagram, where she explores themes of anger and dignity through literature and prayer. She is also the narrator of her own audiobook, clocking in at six hours and eight minutes. Click on the sample on Libro.fm and you will hear Riley: “I have a favorite sound. To be precise, it is not a singular sound, but a multiple.” She comes across as calm and soothing, with the determination of a woman who has thought long and hard about what to say.
LOUD AND PROUD Did someone say feminist retelling of…? If you’re the parent of a 14 year old who is drawn to stories along the lines of HBO’s “Euphoria” – yes, I’m aware it’s a hugely inappropriate show for this age group, but everyone is watching – then you too could seize the opportunity to bring Axie Oh’s “The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea” into your hedonistic flock. In this fantastic reprise of a beloved Korean folktale, Mina, a young girl who has descended into the spirit realm, must figure out how to get her voice back (can you sense a theme?), awaken the Sea God and her people. to save. Our reviewer described Mina as “a character who is one of our great YA heroines. She’s smart, rebellious, assertive and, after everything she and her people have been through, she’s crazy.” Oh’s fourth book appears at number 2 on the hardcover list for young adults.