Releasing in a new paperback edition, Ann Napolitano’s 2004 debut novel charts the emotional life of three generations of an Irish-Catholic family. Shaken reluctantly into self-examination by the unexpected pregnancy of its youngest member, the McLaughlin family is forced to confront ghosts of both past and present, and to reappraise its values in a world of rapid change. Narrated through six subjective first-person accounts --- the pregnant Gracie, her sister Lila, their parents, their matriarchal grandmother, and a family outsider with a curious connection --- WITHIN ARM’S REACH dissects the markedly variant responses that such supposedly similar people can have to the same events.

Crossing over to adult fiction, celebrated young adult author Meg Rosoff still focuses on young people --- viewed through the lens of an old, world-weary narrator --- in WHAT I WAS, a most unusual coming-of-age novel about friendship and humanity.