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NO CONTACT

Name: NO CONTACT
Author: Jenny Bartoy
ISBN: 9781646223114

WRITERS ON ESTRANGEMENT

edited by Jenny Bartoy ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 28, 2026

An uneven but noble amplification of under-heard voices.

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A search for compassion and conversation surrounding the decision to cut ties with family.

Editor Bartoy strives to chip away at the myth that “adult family members belong together, that we can solve our differences, that blood is indeed thicker than water.” The collection’s narratives and poems each articulate a severed bond and reckon with the grief, uncertainty, and potential healing that emerges from that estrangement. In “The Cost of a Mother,” Hannah Bae recounts her parents’ abuse and mental instability while reconciling with her Korean roots. In “Clearing My Throat,” noam keim writes about their Arabic heritage: “I am trying to heal my mother wound, to complete a cycle, to free myself.” Bartoy’s introduction claims these stories “[shine] a light on the many facets of this difficult experience,” but the book struggles with its lack of variety, as a tonal consistency hinders its potential. The prose throughout many texts feels bloggy in its self-reflective candor, and many stories are similarly fleshed out with vivid memories of seemingly trivial details. The collection’s cultural representation is commendable, but nearly all works are written by cisgender women questioning their notion of daughterhood. Ultimately, the standout texts go against this grain: Geneva Phillips’ exceptional “Dichotomy of the Rejected” recounts the author’s incarceration and loss of her children to an “uncompassionate and corrupt Children’s Services Department.” “My name appears on their birth certificates,” she writes, “but of motherhood I have no proof, other than a series of one-sided memories and unreturned affections.” Cheryl Strayed’s “The Empty Bowl” buzzes with a refreshing sense of confidence, expertly balanced between a micro-memoir and an inspirational essay. While the collection’s stylistic uniformity is disappointing, the unity of voices effectively showcases how the idea of family can be so similarly upended for such a myriad of lives. “If stories teach us empathy,” Bartoy explains, “then a chorus of them can help drive a shift in ingrained perspectives.”

An uneven but noble amplification of under-heard voices.

Pub Date: April 28, 2026

ISBN: 9781646223114

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Catapult

Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026

Categories:

FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS

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THINK YOU'LL BE HAPPY

MOVING THROUGH GRIEF WITH GRIT, GRACE, AND GRATITUDE

by Nicole Avant ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2023

Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.

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Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.

“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”

Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023

ISBN: 9780063304413

Page Count: 288

Publisher: HarperOne

Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023

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THE MINOTAUR AT CALLE LANZA

by Zito Madu ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2024

An intriguing but uneven family memoir and travelogue.

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An author’s trip to Venice takes a distinctly Borgesian turn.

In November 2020, soccer club Venizia F.C. offered Nigerian American author Madu a writing residency as part of its plan “to turn the team into a global entity of fashion, culture, and sports.” Flying to Venice for the fellowship, he felt guilty about leaving his immigrant parents, who were shocked to learn upon moving to the U.S. years earlier that their Nigerian teaching certifications were invalid, forcing his father to work as a stocking clerk at Rite Aid to support the family. Madu’s experiences in Venice are incidental to what is primarily a story about his family, especially his strained relationship with his father, who was disappointed with many of his son’s choices. Unfortunately, the author’s seeming disinterest in Venice renders much of the narrative colorless. He says the trip across the Ponte della Libertà bridge was “magical,” but nothing he describes—the “endless water on both sides,” the nearby seagulls—is particularly remarkable. Little in the text conveys a sense of place or the unique character of his surroundings. Madu is at his best when he focuses on family dynamics and his observations that, in the largely deserted city, “I was one of the few Black people around.” He cites Borges, giving special note to the author’s “The House of Asterion,” in which the minotaur “explains his situation as a creature and as a creature within the labyrinth” of multiple mirrors. This notion leads to the Borgesian turn in the book’s second half, when, in an extended sequence, Madu imagines himself transformed into a minotaur, with “the head of a bull” and his body “larger, thicker, powerful but also cumbersome.” It’s an engaging passage, although stylistically out of keeping with much of what has come before.

An intriguing but uneven family memoir and travelogue.