Nobody's Magic

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Pub Date 08 Feb 2022 | Archive Date 13 Sep 2023

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Description

“The magic here is not the supernatural kind, but rather an attention to the grace of the ordinary. It is the magic of watching these women come into their power.”—New York Times

A GMA Buzz Pick!

A Most Anticipated Book by Essence · The Millions · Atlantic Journal Constitution · Glamour · Teen Vogue · Bustle · BookPage · Nashville Scene · Ms. Magazine · Parnassus Musing

A Best Book of February by Washington Post · Nylon · BookRiot

In this glittering triptych novel, Suzette, Maple and Agnes, three Black women with albinism, call Shreveport, Louisiana home. At the bustling crossroads of the American South and Southwest, these three women find themselves at the crossroads of their own lives.   

Suzette, a pampered twenty-year‑old, has been sheltered from the outside world since a dangerous childhood encounter. Now, a budding romance with a sweet mechanic allows Suzette to seek independence, which unleashes dark reactions in those closest to her. In discovering her autonomy, Suzette is forced to decide what she is willing to sacrifice in order to make her own way in the world.

Maple is reeling from the unsolved murder of her free‑spirited mother. She flees the media circus and her judgmental grandmother by shutting herself off from the world in a spare room of the motel where she works. One night, at a party, Maple connects with Chad, someone who may understand her pain more than she realizes, and she discovers that the key to her mother's death may be within her reach.

Agnes is far from home, working yet another mind‑numbing job. She attracts the interest of a lonely security guard and army veteran who’s looking for a traditional life for himself and his young son. He’s convinced that she wields a certain “magic,” but Agnes soon unleashes a power within herself that will shock them both and send her on a trip to confront not only her family and her past, but also herself.
 
This novel, told in three parts, is a searing meditation on grief, female strength, and self‑discovery set against a backdrop of complicated social and racial histories. Nobody's Magic is a testament to the power of family—the ones you're born in and the ones you choose. And in these three narratives, among the yearning and loss, each of these women may find a seed of hope for the future.

“The magic here is not the supernatural kind, but rather an attention to the grace of the ordinary. It is the magic of watching these women come into their power.”—New York Times

A GMA Buzz Pick!

A...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781538721391
PRICE $28.00 (USD)
PAGES 368

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Average rating from 17 members


Featured Reviews

Such a beautiful book with characters I'll be thinking about for a long time. The distinct voices of each woman impressed me the most. It really feels like being invited into the vivid, fully realized lives of three different women. Also, as a Black woman living in the Ark-La-Tex area, the Shreveport setting was excellent and also made me feel seen in a way that many books don't. A fantastic debut.

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This is such an exquisite novel, and I adored the characters and their worlds. From staggeringly developed interiority to the ways each entry in this triptych resonates with the other entries, this is massively compelling literary fiction. I thought I was in a slump from reading lit fic, but this convinced me otherwise.

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I had an inkling that I would enjoy this--especially when I saw that Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, provided the blurb on the front cover. Sure enough, I loved it. Nobody's Magic features the mesmerizing stories of three black women with albinism who find themselves at a crucial moment in their lives. These women are dealing with real problems (grief, depression, loneliness, and more) but the book never feels heavy. I will say that if you found yourself turned off by either Luster or Real Life (by Raven Leilani and Brandon Taylor, respectively), you might not respond well to Destiny O. Birdsong's characters. For others, myself included, Nobody's Magic is a shimmering, transportive read full of vibrant characters.

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