THE GIRL, THE RING & THE BASEBALL BAT

Gomera-Tavarez’s sophomore novel brings three New Jersey teens together with talismans that are seemingly tailor-made for their struggles.

Dominican Caro seeks to escape from Mami’s constant critiques by defying her standards at nearly every turn, while her younger sister, Rosie, seeks an out through academic success. When Zeke, the new Jamaican kid from Miami, tags along on the sisters’ covert trip to Queens, he finds his own outlet through their burgeoning friendship. The first-person narrative shifts among all three protagonists, highlighting each one’s perspective on shared events, their particular struggles, and the discovery of their magical powers through the enchanted objects they find—a jacket, a baseball bat, and a pink stone. Rosie wrestles with her sense of justice and expectations of meritocracy as her dream of transferring to elite Innovation Technical Institute is stolen. Caro seeks to reform her rebellious ways but struggles with finding her own identity rather than one rooted in opposition to her mom. Though Zeke seems the most sure of who he his, his queer identity, and his ethos of living in the moment, he too struggles with a complicated maternal relationship, grieving the mom he felt never truly knew him. Though a coming-of-age quest for identity is at the heart of the unfolding drama, family challenges, generational trauma, and critiques of carceral systems and the underfunding of public schools are woven throughout, adding deep subplots leading up toward the ultimate climax.

An original voice spins an urban, magically realistic, modern tale.