Book cover of Bitters

Book description

The giant metal man has stood for hundreds of years, head tilted back, mouth open. All the dead of the town are disposed of this way, carried up the long, staircase that winds around him and tipped in. At his toe emerges the Bitters, the lifeblood of the town, keeping…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Bitters as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The intoxicating promise of such an elaborately different world to our own immediately drew me in from the cover. What was this gigantic statue, and who were the people living beneath it?

The history of the ‘metal man’, as revealed in the first few pages, was enough to make me want to read more, but the character of McNubbin kept me there. After noticing ‘broken girl’ after ‘broken girl’, he’s driven to speak up and take action, as we all should in an ideal world. I love writing characters who take action myself! The ending is beyond perfect.

If you love Bitters...

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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