MacAdam/Cage Publishing – förlag

You've met the characters in "The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure". They are the quirky visionaries and misguided dreamers we all know... and might even be. From the self-appointed historian of the title story to the frustrated wage slaves of "Our Spring Catalog" and "The Pipe" these are individualists far removed from mainstream ideals. Pendarvis draws his humour from the world of high school ambitions and misunderstood intentions allowed to blossom and grow. Always original but somehow familiar, these are stories plugged into the collec-tive unconscious of our imaginary lives. Infusing his laugh-out-loud funny stories with an underlying humanity, Pendarvis is a comedic literary talent of the highest calibre.

When fourteen-year-old Allie's mother, Mae, mysteriously disappears in the dark waters of the harbour, Allie begrudgingly sets off with Julia, an aunt she barely knows, to stay at the dairy farm where her mother grew up. As the days pass and the heat of the wet season swells, Allie waits for her mother's call, certain that she will reappear. While Julia -- determined to undo the damage her family has inflicted upon the land -- replants the trees of the forest, Allie lurks around the cabin belong-ing to her mother's first love, a man who still lives deep within the valley. But when the truth about Mae's childhood and Allie's mythical father, the balloon man, begins to surface, Allie must come to grips with the lies her mother has told her and the secrets buried within the mud-rich landscape. With gorgeous prose and lush imagery, Sarah Armstrong brings us an absorbing debut about sifting through the complicated stories that shape us and reclaiming them as our own.

Sunshine O'Donnell's arresting debut draws us into the secret, alluring world of professional mourners, where women are trained extensively and paid handsomely to cry at the funerals of complete strangers. At the center of the story is Memone of the few remaining American girls in this illegal profession, who will eventually become a renowned wailer after enduring her mother's ancient, emotionally abusive, cult-like training rituals. But Mem's infamy brings with it unwanted attention, from both the families of the deceased and the authorities. Interweaving poetic prose and artifacts spanning six thousand years and seven continents, Open Me is an utterly original novel about mothers and daughters, dark underworlds, and the play between fact and fiction.