Book cover of The Private Life of Jane Maxwell

Book description

Some people are born to greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them… and some are just drawn like that.

As the creator of a popular new comics franchise, Jane Maxwell knows a thing or two about heroes, but has no illusions of being one herself. All of that is shattered,…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Private Life of Jane Maxwell as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Years ago, Jane Maxwell created a comic book series about a group of superheroes, using herself and her friends as inspiration. Now, she’s pulled into a parallel universe to stand in for the missing Superhero version of herself from the comic. 

This is an amazing book with a nice, twisty plot that keeps you guessing. Jane starts the story still mourning the death of her wife, only to find herself confronted with the parallel universe version of her, and all of the emotions that stir up.

I love all the twists that come with this plot, and how real Jane’s…

From Molly's list on The best sapphic superhero novels.

Jane is a comic book artist whose work is inspired by an alternate universe in which she, her friends, and her dead wife are all supers. Due to executive interference in her comics, however, the fiction and alternate reality don’t completely line up. Jane of course gets dropped into this alternate universe and has to survive the kinds of adventures she’s only written about before. The great thing about this one is that it’s not just a superhero story that happens to be a novel. It’s a love letter to the comic book format, with an incredibly visual prose style.

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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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