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Shark Heart: A Love Story
Emily Habeck
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Newlyweds face the unimaginable in this epic tale about marriage, motherhood, and enduring love.
“Surprising and pleasurably uncategorizable. Shark Heart is wild, in every sense of the word” (The New York Times Book Review).
For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams.
At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with a college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds.
Woven throughout this bold novel is the story of Wren’s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents’ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren’s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.
A sweeping love story that is at once lyrical and funny, airy and visceral, Shark Heart is an unforgettable, gorgeous novel about life’s perennial questions, the fragility of memories, finding joy amidst grief, and creating a meaningful life. This daring debut marks the arrival of a wildly talented new writer abounding with originality, humor, and heart.
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Posts about this title from The Inky Phoenix
The Inky Phoenix\
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Kathryn Budig\
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• May 7 2024
Inky Phoenix Picks as Met Gala Looks
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The Inky Phoenix Cocktail Library is BACK!
The Inky Phoenix Cocktail Library is BACK!
I’ve paired each of our 2023 picks with a corresponding drink (illustrated by the amazing @stephaniechinnart) and want to know what pairings you’d make!
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• Oct 8 2023
Shark Heart: A Love Story | Zoom Discussion
For anyone who missed our SHARK HEART conversation with author Emily Habeck! We explored the concept of loss, surrender, transformation, and why it just wouldn’t be all that interesting to mutate into a cat.
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The Inky Phoenix\
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Kathryn Budig\
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• Oct 4 2023
Free Cookies: Episode 2 | Bonus Content
Emily Habeck reads the original agent query (and title!) for her best-selling book SHARK HEART: A LOVE STORY.
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Kathryn Budig\
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• Sep 23 2023
Dressed as Inky Phoenix Books!
Here’s a sneak peek of our amazing friends dressing up as Inky Phoenix covers for our Inky Phoenix Press launch party @bluebicyclebooks ! A huge thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate, and we recorded my talk and loads of fun bits that will be available to subscribers soon! Become a member in our bio link. 💫
Slide 1: @kathrynbudig and Ragnar dressed as THEY’RE GOING TO LOVE YOU
Slide 2: @ashley.be.well dressed as HOOP MUSES
Slide 3: Mama Budig dressed as WHEN WE LOST OUR HEADS
Slide 4: @kca_fleming dressed as WILD BEAUTY
Slide 5: @itzlauren_ dressed as SHARK HEART
Slide 6 + 7: @katefagan3 and @tesscarver dressed as THE BOOK OF LONGINGS
Slide 8: My amazing @bluebicyclebooks family dressed as STILLNESS IS GHE KEY, TOMORROW AND TOMORROWAND TOMRROW (genius!), and LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE
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Kathryn Budig\
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• Sep 15 2023
Amazon's Best Books of September 2023 with Kathryn Budig of The Inky Phoenix + Seira Wilson
The Inky Phoenix founder Kathryn Budig talks with Amazon Books Senior Editor about their Best Books of September 2023 including: Happiness Falls by Angie Kim, Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood, Wellness by Nathan Hill, Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll, and Inky Phoenix pick, Shark Heart by Emily Habeck.
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Cover Couture — Shark Heart: The Love Story Edition
Fashion will always be a huge part of The Inky Phoenix, so I'm pleased to introduce Cover Couture! Try-on videos of me searching for the perfect outfit to capture the essence of our book picks! All outfits provided by www.hampdenclothing.com
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The Inky Phoenix\
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Our September pick is here: SHARK HEART by @emily.habeck !\
\
This is unlike any book you’ve read before, and it is as creative as it is heartbreaking (in the most beautiful kind of way).\
\
Signed copies available at @bluebicyclebooks
Our September pick is here: SHARK HEART by @emily.habeck !
This is unlike any book you’ve read before, and it is as creative as it is heartbreaking (in the most beautiful kind of way).
Signed copies available at @bluebicyclebooks
2 books
Posts about this book from across Bindery
Sarah Does Bookish Stuff\
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Sarah\
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• Jul 9
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We've done it. We've made it to the halfway mark of the year! I can't believe it's half over already. 2026 has been a banner year for me with reading and coming out on top reading some incredible books I never thought I would get the chance to read. \
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I've had so many opportunities and changes and experiences in the last 6 months I almost feel like a different person sitting here typing this up. I've read ARCs, connected with authors, joined a writing cohort, taken on a job doing developmental edits, started a podcast, started an interview series... \
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All because I just like to talk about my weird and wonderful books. \
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So, halfway through 2026, let's talk about those wonderful books and what's been a 5-star read for me this year. \
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The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon\
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My first five star read of the year. Candon built this incredible, lush, weird, amazing world I wanted to live in. Fever dream mech fantasy about a man trying to figure out how to be normal and escape a past that won't let him go. Sunai makes horrible choices, but all of them consistently lead him back to the one place he never really left. I loved how wild and bizarre this was. I was left wanting more and more of this world and I hope so hard that Candon continues this series. \
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Slewfoot by Brom\
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If you want me to rate your book five stars, make it about female rage and killing puritans. Brom outdid himself with this one. He wrote Abitha with such conviction there's no way his wife didn't advise him on it, I refuse to believe a man capable of capturing the frustration and rage about the female experience so accurately. I love the tapestry of witchcraft and small mindedness and the blindness of religion and the effects of patriarchy on us all. This was so delightful and 5 stars well earned. \
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The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman\
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Book so good I emailed the author. I've never emailed an author before. Finn was the first. This book is a retelling of a real 13-century fairytale that was the first example of fiction in medieval France. Longman turned it into a beautiful test of prose, writing styles, and an exploration in chronic illness, queer identity, and what it means for love to endure. This book was so full of yearning and so beautifully written I finished it in a day and I bullied several other people into reading it after. \
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Shark Heart by Emily Habeck\
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I picked this up on a whim because the premise was bizarre. A man is slowly turning into a great white shark because of a genetic disorder? And someone said it wrecked them? Okay, bet. And bet I did. I walked away sobbing over this heart wrenching, existence examining piece on caretaking, loss, illness, and love. Shark Heart does not get enough love for what it did.\
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Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir\
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Muir is incapable of writing something that isn't five stars. Her use of prose and style, turning the writing itself into a character... nobody does it like Muir does. Every book in this series is different, it changes you. Nona was her solarpunk installation that gave me so many painful, beautiful moments of seeing characters I loved overcome and endure for each other. It also made me mad at Jod.\
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Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson\
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I am a Malazan bro because of this book. MoI was the culmination of two books - 1800 pages - worth of trust in a process I was unsure could be trusted. Erikson delivered on every single front. He gave readers something incredible in this book and really proved to me how multifaceted and gifted he is at world building and writing. This was an incredible installment. \
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Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang\
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I am a different person because of this book. Because of Sciona, unlikable heroine and dogged in her pursuit of knowledge. Because of Thomil who understands the cost of power and pushes to make Scion see it, too. I adored this book and how it addressed the importance of intersectionality and listening to marginalized voices. It was so beautiful and fearless and Wang knows exactly how to break your heart to teach you something important. This book should be required reading.\
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Headlights by C.J. Leede\
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This was the first ARC I have ever given five stars to. I was a mess. A disaster. If you had told me a book about an unretired FBI agent investigating wild killings where victims are skinned and the perpetrators have no memory would change me, I would never have believed you. I adored every second of this. It was about wildness and fear and loss and love and so, so much more than I can articulate in a single post. If I had my Bindery a few months sooner, I would have written pages upon pages about this. Leede's writing is poetry, her symbolism is subtle and unique, her approach to loss and grief is spellbinding. \
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The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes\
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Ennes will go down as one of the most stunning writers in the modern era. They have a grasp of language that I can only hope to have a fraction of. This book was weird and stunning and unforgiving. It made me forget I was reading about bugs because I was constantly engrossed in the characters and the world and the slow collapse of this bizarre government. It accosted my senses in incredible ways and showed the costs of power without question. I adored the characters and I will forever be rooting for Guy and his love of the theater. Ennes made politics, art, and theater inextricable from each other. One begets the others, every time. I am so, so impressed at this book. \
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The Soft Touch by Daniel Polansky\
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How did one man pack so much into a novella? Really. I finished this, stared at the cover, and bought everything Polansky has ever written. I loved this world. I loved how stubbornly optimistic Wren was and how he refused to let pessimism win in a town where pessimism already believed it had won. He was clever and sharp, the writing was witty and dry, and everything was so alive in such a short time. I didn't want it to end, this wild blend of steampunk magic. This novella made me realize the draw of urban fantasy. \
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The Butcher of Nazareth by David Scott Hay\
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I have a whole post about this book and I can never stop saying wonderful things about it. Hay created a masterwork here, just an absolute class in how to leverage the physicality of writing to meet the story and create something beautiful and tragic. II was so sad and so hurt for the Butcher, but I was in his grief with him in ways I didn't think I could be in a book. I am deeply impressed by this story and how David crafted it. Everyone should read it, especially if you love religious horror. \
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So this has been my year in favorites so far. I've read 100 books on the nose so far and this is the sliver of those who really changed something about me. Every five star I give out changes a piece of me - my perspective, my sense of self, my understanding of a genre, something. I walked away from each of these books with something new in my bones that wasn't there before. I love all our popular series just as much as the next person, but my heart will always be with books that dig deep and demand things of me nothing else does.
Meeting Up Halfway
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Sarah Does Bookish Stuff\
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Sarah\
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• Jun 21
Join for free
Everyone has books that live in their bones. Some sediment of emotion or change that has settled into their marrow and left them changed in a way they can't articulate. Over time, that sediment calcifies and those books become part of who we are. They shape our morality, our world views, our empathy... they become us.\
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I have my five books that have historically settled and fossilized and are inextricably linked to me as a person. I also have the modern, recent reads that I just know are doing something to me. Taking my ligaments apart and putting them in new places. Making room in my muscles and viscera for something new to grow and change me.\
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So... What are they?\
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The Butcher of Nazareth by David Scott Hay\
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This book was something entirely different. New. Hard to let go of. It touched on grief and faith and the importance of community in processing loss. Hay did something amazing with turning his lessons learned into a biblical cautionary tale to show his readers how unprocessed loss in isolation can turn you into someone you don't recognize. It can cost you everything.\
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The care and love this was crafted with is incredible. Paper weights, font styles, later inclusions of page stamps, text coloring... everything about this book from the contents to the structure was deliberate. It delivers a brutal message made all the more impactful by the love with which it was sent.\
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The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes\
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Never have I seen more beautiful, mad prose in a book. Ennes writes with a paintbrush the likes of which I rarely see in books. I am treated like I'm smart, I'm respected by the material, and they take the opportunity to show me what I am capable of. The characters are never what you think and never who you believe them to be. Nobody is all one thing and the character who are suffer because of it. It talks about denial and loss and art and politics and what it means to let someone be who they are.\
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The weirdness of this book never feels offputting or gross. It feels like texture and color and sound. Ennes proved that a book can live with me long after I finished it and make me rethink and turn over its lessons again and again without exhausting what I find in it. This was such a beautifully unexpected read that is feeding off of my attention.\
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Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang\
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I have never been forced to confront myself like I have in this book. Wang is fearless, direct, and wastes no time worrying about your feelings. She immediately makes you uncomfortable and forces you to look at horrible truths about yourself whether you like it or not. Some folks said this was too on the nose, but I disagree. I believe this book is exactly what it must be. Subtlety won't always get people to confront themselves and their biases. Wang found a way to dispense with the subtlety and not make it feel preaching or taunting. Instead, she takes you by the chin and asks, "Is this who you are deciding to be?"\
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The themes of otherness, inclusivity, intersectionality, and whether or not a haven is truly a haven if it's paid for in blood? Stunning. Layered. I'm still thinking about it months later.\
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Headlights by C. J. Leede\
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This rocketed to the top of my list when it made me bawl my eyes out at 10pm on a Saturday. It reads like a procedural turned folkloric horror, but it's so much more than that. It sinks its teeth into the rose-colored glasses of childhood memory. What does it mean to love and lose? Where do we put our grief when it's too big to hold onto? How do the ghosts of our past become a part of us? Leede puts Danny through so much to learn how to love wild things and make peace with the people he loves no longer being there for him to lean on. She made me consider what it is to let someone in, the fear of leaving a part of yourself with someone and trusting them to care for it.\
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This book told a wild story in such weird and wonderful ways that thinking about it still makes me tear up and wonder if I really saw everything she had to say or if there's more.\
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Shark Heart by Emily Habeck\
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How did a book about a man turning into a shark become a beautiful, bittersweet, hopeful story about how to love someone through chronic illness and the strain of love and resentment held by caretakers? I opened this book expecting a weird, wonderful story and instead I learned so much about the weight we carry when we have no power to help someone we love. Living through chronic illness and caring for someone through it are tragic, beautiful, complicated experiences Habeck articulated perfectly in this book. Habeck shows how different degrees of loss take a toll on people, they all add a new straw to the back of that camel that eventually breaks.\
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But she also showed us how when its broken, there exists only one choice: stay broken or stand up and go on. At some point, optimism and hope and survival are a choice. We have to look grief and hardship in the face and decide not to let it drown us. Hope is a choice. Habeck illustrates that phenomenally.
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The Inky Phoenix\
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• May 7 2024
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my top 11-20 books of 2023
I swear, I don't ONLY love books that emotionally devastate me, but, uh, mostly all of these did. I honestly didn't even notice until I was watching back after editing lmao.
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What are you reading right now? #booktok #booktokfyp #books #carahunter #emilyhabeck #sharkheart #murderinthefamily
What are you reading right now? #booktok #booktokfyp #books #carahunter #emilyhabeck #sharkheart #murderinthefamily
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• Oct 23 2023
The Inky Phoenix Cocktail Library is BACK!
The Inky Phoenix Cocktail Library is BACK!
I’ve paired each of our 2023 picks with a corresponding drink (illustrated by the amazing @stephaniechinnart) and want to know what pairings you’d make!
The Inky Phoenix\
\
Kathryn Budig\
\
• Oct 8 2023
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Upgrade for $5 or login](https://inkyphoenix.binderybooks.com/item/f1f6QNnAt1wssdOK3JWB/)
Shark Heart: A Love Story | Zoom Discussion
5
The Inky Phoenix\
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Kathryn Budig\
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• Oct 4 2023
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Upgrade for $5 or login](https://inkyphoenix.binderybooks.com/item/PB8JjOM7WyqqhOIlQAh8/)
Free Cookies: Episode 2 | Bonus Content
Emily Habeck reads the original agent query (and title!) for her best-selling book SHARK HEART: A LOVE STORY.
1 book
8
4
The Inky Phoenix\
\
Kathryn Budig\
\
• Sep 23 2023
Dressed as Inky Phoenix Books!
Slide 1: @kathrynbudig and Ragnar dressed as THEY’RE GOING TO LOVE YOU
Slide 2: @ashley.be.well dressed as HOOP MUSES
Slide 3: Mama Budig dressed as WHEN WE LOST OUR HEADS
Slide 4: @kca_fleming dressed as WILD BEAUTY
Slide 5: @itzlauren_ dressed as SHARK HEART
Slide 6 + 7: @katefagan3 and @tesscarver dressed as THE BOOK OF LONGINGS
Slide 8: My amazing @bluebicyclebooks family dressed as STILLNESS IS GHE KEY, TOMORROW AND TOMORROWAND TOMRROW (genius!), and LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE
The Inky Phoenix\
\
Kathryn Budig\
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• Sep 15 2023
Amazon's Best Books of September 2023 with Kathryn Budig of The Inky Phoenix + Seira Wilson
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The Inky Phoenix\
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Kathryn Budig\
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• Sep 12 2023
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Upgrade for $5 or login](https://inkyphoenix.binderybooks.com/item/93Br7gDxCcwgtJF8UfGv/)
Cover Couture — Shark Heart: The Love Story Edition
1 book
14
6
The Inky Phoenix\
\
Kathryn Budig\
\
• Sep 1 2023
Our September pick is here: SHARK HEART by @emily.habeck !
This is unlike any book you’ve read before, and it is as creative as it is heartbreaking (in the most beautiful kind of way).
Signed copies available at @bluebicyclebooks
2 books