Tuscaloosa (Or, in April, Harpies)

 

This is a gorgeously written, beautiful book that contends with the fallout of devastation, and with the space for transformation that devastation often creates.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Esther and Kennedy Blake have barely spoken to each other all semester. Esther, a moony poet of a college freshman, is still searching for a sense of belonging, resentful to no longer be included in her sister’s circle. Kennedy, a junior, is an overachiever preoccupied by sorority obligations and an uneasy reunion with her ex-boyfriend. But when a tornado tears through their college town, Esther and Kennedy must put aside their differences, risking safety and relationships to find each other in the aftermath.

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About the Author

MARGARET EMMA BRANDL’s writing has appeared in journals such as Gulf Coast, The Cincinnati Review, Yalobusha Review, Pithead Chapel, Cartridge Lit, and CHEAP POP. She earned her PhD at Texas Tech University and her MFA at Notre Dame; and she currently teaches at Austin College. Visit her website (https://margaretemmabrandl.tumblr.com/) or say hi on twitter (@margaret_emma).

Advance Praise for Tuscaloosa (Or, In April, Harpies)

“No one explores the fault line between girlhood and womanhood better than Margaret Emma Brandl. Tuscaloosa (Or, In April, Harpies) depicts a rift between sisters caught in two disparate currents as they navigate college and the futures that await them. When a tornado deepens the rift and threatens to make it permanent, they must navigate a ruined city rife with dangers to try and find each other again. Set against the background of the 2011 Tuscaloosa–Birmingham tornado, Brandl’s novella speaks to all the treacherous ways our climate continues to change today and the way relationships shift and swirl as we come of age. Reader, be warned: Kennedy and Esther’s falling out—and the possibility of falling back together—carries every bit of force as an EF4’s 190-mph winds. Take care, when you read, to hold onto something, lest you and your heart be stolen by the storm.”

Katie Cortese, author of Make Way for Her and Other Stories, and Girl Power and Other Short-Short Stories

“In Tuscaloosa (or, in April, Harpies), Margaret Emma Brandl expertly weaves together the story of two estranged sisters, Grecian mythology, and a single day’s aftermath of the Tuscaloosa tornado in April 2011. As the sisters search for one another in the wake of the storm, they also grapple with their alienation from one another, their own trauma, and ultimately, their own self-determination. This is a gorgeously written, beautiful book that contends with the fallout of devastation, and with the space for transformation that devastation often creates.”

Anne Valente, author of The Desert Sky Before Us, Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down, and By Light We Knew Our Names
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