THE BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER

All Adults Here is the newest book from bestselling author (and owner of the amazing bookstore, Books Are Magic) Emma Straub. Taking place in a fictional small town, in upstate New York, Clapham, All Adults Here tells the story of the Strickland family. It’s a story of family, letting go of the past (past insecurities, past regrets, past mistakes), making brave decisions, and moving forward.  When Astrid Strickland witnesses a tragic bus crash, a repressed memory from her younger parenting days resurfaces. Astrid begins to question if she really was as good of a parent as she had thought she was. Her grown children are also questioning their parenting skills. Eldest son Elliot can’t let go of a conversation he overheard between his parents years ago, letting it affect the choices he’s making now, in both his personal and professional life. Middle daughter Porter is choosing to have a child on her own, while revisiting an affair with her high school boyfriend. Youngest son Nicho...

November 25, 1960, sisters Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa Mirabel are found dead at the bottom of a cliff in the Dominican Republic, along with their driver, after visiting their husbands in prison. The Mirabel sisters, known as las mariposas, the butterflies, are part of an underground political movement to overthrow the dictator, Rafael Trujillo. A fourth sister,  Dede, survi ves to tell their story. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, tells a fictionalized story of the Mirabel sisters. From their childhood, to their time away at school, from their crushes to marrying the love of their lives, and, eventually, as they become outspoken adults who join the Movement of the Fourteenth of June. The story tells of the sisters, not as legends of a myth, but as genuine, relatable women. Alvarez introduces the readers to Dede, the sister who survived, and now runs a museum that honors her sisters. She reminisces about their childhood and how close they were. We read Pa...