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Three Must-Reads This Summer 

1) "City of Girls" by Elizabeth Gilbert 

Until I had a chance encounter on a plane with a cousin of Elizabeth Gilbert’s, I had no idea she was publishing a new novel! I actually like Gilbert’s novels better than her nonfiction work — even though “Eat Pray Love” made her world-famous.

“City of Girls," which publishes in early June, is a story inspired by a conversation Gilbert had with a former 1940s showgirl from New York. Gilbert told People Magazine that the novel is both historical and contemporary, political and funny. “It’s the lightest, funniest thing I’ve written,“ she said, “out of the darkest grief.”

2) “Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls” by T Kira Madden

I couldn’t get to T Kira Madden’s memoir, “Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls” when it came out in March, but it’s on my list this summer. Addiction, absent parents, sexuality, privilege, body image and tenderness mark the essays in this debut. Kirkus Reviews calls it “arresting, fearless and unsparingly honest.”

3) "The Testaments" by Margaret Atwood

And then, there’s Margaret Atwood. “The Testaments," the sequel to "The Handmaid’s Tale," won't arrive until early September, which means that I’ll be in a lather of anticipation all summer. The publisher says Atwood reveals what’s happened to Offred in the 15 years since we last saw her. Finally, all will be known!

-Kerri Miller

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