Showing titles in Coming of Age

Not every story has a happy ending. Since her brother's death, eight-year-old Egg Murakami has been living day-to-day on the family ostrich farm near Bittercreek, discovering life to be an ever-perplexing condition. Mama Murakami has curled up inside a bottle, and Papa has exiled himself to the barn with the birds. Big sister Kathy tells stories to Egg so that the world might not seem so awful.

The art world falls in love with Dixie Stammers when it is discovered that not only are her pots mechanically perfect spheres, they are also identical, despite the fact that they are made entirely by hand, without benefit of a wheel, measuring device, or any other tool. Her teenage son, Judas, is pathologically shy, and retreats into a world of anonymous sexual encounters at a roadside rest area. What he really longs for though is a relationship with one of the boys at the private school he attends.

Ray Shepard is a wealthy architect who has mystified his friends by marrying Evelyn, a woman who works at a nail salon. Evelyn, in turn, hides a secret past about her former life in the circus, her ex-husband's mysterious death, and the colorful tattoos she carefully conceals under her clothes. When Evelyn starts to cave under the pressure of living in Ray's rarified world, she suggests they take in Ingrid, a 16-year-old girl with blue hair, a pet iguana, and no place to stay for the summer.

Two years after his partner, Francesco, died, 28-year-old Kevin Doyle is dusting off his one good suit jacket for yet another funeral, yet another loss in their close-knit group. They had all been young, beautiful, and living the best days of their lives, though they didn't know it. That was before New York City began to feel like a war zone, its horrors somehow invisible, and ignored by the rest of the world. Some people might insist that Francesco is in a better place now, but Kevin definitely isn't.

Farah moves into Liberty House - an arcadia, a community in harmony with nature - at the tender age of six, with her family. The commune's spiritual leader, Arcady, preaches equality, non-violence, anti-speciesism, free love, and uninhibited desire for all. At 15, Farah learns she is intersex, and begins to go beyond the confines of gender, as she explores the arc of her own desires. What, Farah asks, is a man or a woman? What does it mean to be part of a community? What is utopia when there are refugees nearby seeking shelter who cannot enter?

Meet the hapless Jeremy: a man in his late 50s, he scrapes together a living in Paris by writing soft-core pornography under the saucy guise of "Nathalie Cray". When his all-but-estranged sister tells him their father is on his deathbed, Jeremy reluctantly travels back to his parental home in the depths of the English countryside. Confronted with a life that he had always been eager to escape, his return marks the start of an emotionally fraught journey into the family's checkered past.

An honest story about recovery and coping with both past and present, framed by the meteoric rise and fall of the band Nirvana and the wide-reaching scope of the #metoo movement, Nirvana is Here explores issues of identity, race, sex, and family with both poignancy and unexpected humor. Deftly told intertwining stories with rich, real characters are reminiscent of the sensuality and haunting nostalgia of Andre Aciman's Call Me By Your Name blended with the raw emotion of Kurt Cobain's lyrics.

Conrad Aybinder is a boy with a secret; 16 and ready for anything. A chemistry genius, he has spent the summer on an independent-study project with his favorite teacher, Sammy Tampari. Sammy is also Conrad’s first love. But the first day of senior year, the students are informed that Mr. Tampari is dead. Rumors suggest an overdose. How can it be? Drugs are for unhappy people, Conrad is sure, not for people who have fallen in love.

At 19, almost 20, Ron Bancroft is newly out as transgender and finds himself adrift: kicked out by his family, jilted by his girlfriend, and unable to afford to return to college in the fall. So he heads out to Wyoming for a new start, a chance to prove that - even though he was raised as a girl, even though everyone in Boston thinks of him as transgender - he can live as a man. A real man. In Wyoming, he finds what he was looking for: rugged terrain, wranglers, and a clean slate. He also stumbles into a world more dangerous than he imagined, one of bigotry and violence.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE. A sweet and subversive coming-of-age novel by award-winning memoirist and screenwriter Ariel Schrag. When Adam Freedman—a skinny, awkward, inexperienced teenager from Piedmont, California—goes to stay with his older sister Casey in New York City, he is hopeful...

A Story of a Boy: Finding Light in the Shadows of Self-Acceptance is a compelling journey through the life of a young man as he navigates self-doubt, societal expectations, and self-discovery. This heartfelt narrative explores the challenges of identity, relationships, and resilience, offering a message of hope and empowerment for those on similar journeys.

When Michael Dawouk is disowned by his Muslim family for being gay, he turns his back on the religion and culture he grew up with. He is forced out onto the street, only to be taken in by a former high school teacher who offers him room and board in exchange for sex. Michael is soon left with nothing to believe in, until he meets Wyatt, a successful Texan businessman who takes him under his wing. But what Michael can’t see is that his mentor is just as lost as he is.

An entire family comes of age simultaneously in this funny and poignant novel, narrated by a gay 22-year-old son torn between embracing and rejecting his quirky suburban kin. After abandoning a planned suicide, Joshua Royalton returns to his childhood home to unravel the elaborate tales, theories, and neuroses he developed while growing up, including a fictional history of Chinese restaurants, a mortal fear of crows, an obsession with singer Carly Simon, and his parents' addiction to jigsaw puzzles.

A chance encounter on a park bench in the subtropical dark. A one-night stand. And suddenly young, Scottish Jonty finds himself involved with Canary Islander Theo across 2,000 miles of silver sea. But matters become complicated when a previous adventure comes back to haunt Jonty—as Nigerian Maxwell turns up homeless at Jonty's door in Glasgow; when Theo's sister disappears to Canada with one of Jonty's friends; when ex-pupil Chris makes further demands on Jonty's heart and time.

Anstatt nach zwei Wochen Sommerurlaub nach Hause zurückzukehren, ihre Karriere als Synchronsprecherin wieder aufzunehmen und die Beziehung zu Rosa zu retten, bleibt sie an der Atlantikküste. Sie beginnt im Surfcamp zu arbeiten, verliebt sich in zwei Frauen auf einmal und scheint sich mit jedem Tag in den Wellen etwas leichter zu fühlen. Doch mit dem Herbsteinbruch holt sie das wieder ein, was sie eigentlich hinter sich lassen möchte.

Breaking Chains is not just a novel—it’s a scroll unsealed. Written by Joshua M. Vargas, this groundbreaking work weaves together spirituality, sexuality, ancestry, and awakening. Follow Juan, a gifted young preacher navigating love, fire, and calling in the tension between church and flesh, glory and grief, Grindr and God. From Pentecostal pulpits in the Midwest to sacred nights in Puerto Rico, from queer nightclubs that pulse with presence to altars soaked in oil and tongues, Juan’s journey is one of raw becoming.

A dreamy debut novel about the summer love that changes two girls at the edge of adulthood. In the heat and the green haze that seemed to surround us both like a physical presence, I felt intensely awake. One afternoon at the start of summer, a teenage girl watches a new girl move in across the...

Clayton appreciates the comfort of his pub in Lodi, California, but he still feels the draw of the open road. He fears connecting with one special person will rob him of the freedom he cherishes. Then, he steps into the Rainbow Coffee Shop in Stockton, California and meets Sawyer, wearing a homemade rainbow bracelet.

Bujar inventa continuamente se stesso e la propria storia, come un impostore che si appropria dei frammenti che carpisce agli altri, del passato delle persone che ha amato, dei loro nomi, perché può scegliere chi vuole essere, il paese da cui proviene, i dettagli della propria esistenza. Perché, come dice lui stesso, «nessuno è tenuto a rimanere la persona che è nata, possiamo ricomporci come un nuovo puzzle».

Auren Solven thought they had buried the past. But when dreams lead them to a forgotten bookstore and a mysterious antique mirror, they step into a world shaped by one decision they never made. In this parallel version of reality, everything seems better: a thriving career, a love that stayed, and a life that feels... almost perfect. But something isn’t right. As cracks begin to show, Auren must ask: Is this the life I was meant to live—or just a haunting echo of regret? As timelines blur and old wounds resurface, Auren must face the version of themselves they tried to forget.