Author:Camryn Garrett

'An ode to first love, being seen, and finding your joy'- Buzzfeed
It's too late for a Sweet Sixteen, but what if Mahalia had a coming-out party? A love letter to romantic comedies, sweet sixteen blowouts, Black joy, and queer pride.
Mahalia Harris wants.
She wants a big Sweet Sixteen like her best friend, Naomi.
She wants the super-cute new girl Siobhan to like her back.
She wants a break from worrying-about money, snide remarks from white classmates, pitying looks from church ladies . . . all of it.
Then inspiration strikes: It's too late for a Sweet Sixteen, but what if she had a coming-out party? A singing, dancing, rainbow-cake-eating celebration of queerness on her own terms.
The idea lights a fire beneath her, and soon Mahalia is scrimping and saving, taking on extra hours at her afterschool job, trying on dresses, and awkwardly flirting with Siobhan, all in preparation for the coming out of her dreams. But it's not long before she's buried in a mountain of bills, unfinished schoolwork, and enough drama to make her English lit teacher blush. With all the responsibility on her shoulders, will Mahalia's party be over before it's even begun?
A novel about finding yourself, falling in love, and celebrating what makes you you.
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"Camryn Garrett writes with wholehearted sincerity-sharp edged truth braided with irrepressible joy. Mahalia's story lives, breathes and glows. I'm in love with it every day of the week!" -Becky Albertalli, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda
"A perfect ode to romantic comedies, wrapped in a dazzling rainbow dress." -Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl
"Camryn Garrett writes with wholehearted sincerity-sharp edged truth braided with irrepressible joy. Mahalia's story lives, breathes and glows. I'm in love with it every day of the week!"
—— Becky Albertalli, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homosapiens Agenda"A perfect ode to romantic comedies, wrapped in a dazzling rainbow dress."
—— Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Five Feet Apart and She Gets the GirlThis is non-fiction writing at its best - uncluttered, evocative and well-researched... This is not a polemic. Elliott bears witness but does not preach; she shows but rarely tells. She does not pretend to be a neutral bystander (how could you immerse yourself in a struggling family for eight years and not root for them?) but does not intrude on her own storytelling. It is not a morality play either. The villains are too elusive and the heroes too flawed for that. This is structural, generational poverty at work in all its gruesome, demeaning inhumanity and punitive, institutional brutality.
—— Gary Younge , New StatesmenA gripping and propulsive work of narrative non-fiction . . . [an] indelible, virtuosic portrait of contemporary America
—— Financial TimesA triumph of in-depth reporting and storytelling ... a visceral blow-by-blow depiction of what 'structural racism' has meant in the lives of generations of one family ... above all else it is a celebration of a little girl-an unforgettable heroine whose frustration, elation, exhaustion, and intelligence will haunt your heart.
—— Ariel LevyAn intimate exploration of poverty and racism in the U.S., as well as a portrait of a young person's resilience
—— TimeInvisible Child is hands down the best book I have read in years. Astonishing, remarkable, shocking, powerful, gripping, compelling. All of these words apply and more. This is a book of immense importance, written with tremendous craft and skill, but also compassion and verve . . . For those who have not read Invisible Child I am jealous, you are in for an extraordinary ride. Simply put, this is a masterpiece.
Sure to linger in the minds of many readers long after the last page has been turned... What easily could have been, in lesser hands, voyeuristic or sensational is instead a rich narrative, empathetically told. Elliott is a masterful storyteller and, by sharing Dasani's story, she calls on all of us to dismantle the systems that so often failed her and countless others
—— NPRA tour de force
—— The iAn eye-opening, heartbreaking and deeply enraging book about the realities of contemporary US inequality
—— Irish TimesA tender portrait of a family, and a tour of America's broken welfare systems and racist policies.
—— The AtlanticA fascinating and powerful epic
—— StylistA towering feat of reporting that paints, layer by layer, an extraordinary portrait of a child, a family, a city, and the nation that produced them. From start to finish, she sustains an insatiably curious and deeply empathetic focus on worlds that so many people work hard, if mostly unconsciously, to never really see.
—— Howard W. French, author of Born in BlacknessA wonderful and important book.
—— Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains Beyond MountainsInvisible Child is a tour de force of immersive reporting and a meticulous and unflinching depiction of intergenerational American poverty... Elliott exposes the granular texture of daily life with deep empathy, the punishing sameness of material want, and in the process paints a sweeping portrait of contemporary American life.
—— Anthony Lukas Prize Judge’s Citation , Nieman FoundationBoth a moving portrait and a devastating critique of America's enduring colour divide
—— Laura Spinney , New StatesmenSwiftly paced, unfussily structured, and in fluent and spirited prose, it racks the history of a magical city created by a demi-goddess.
—— Daily Telegraph, *Summer Reads of 2023*An epic adventure-filled saga, you'll be intoxicated by its magic.
—— GlamourA wonderfully entertaining literary hybrid, an intimate epic, a serious comedy of manners.
—— The TimesA vigorous, enjoyable epic that hymns the enduring might of narrative over more fleeting forces.
—— Mail on SundayThis latest addition to his great body of work deserves nothing but celebration and gratitude.
—— New StatesmanA joyous masterpiece that will remind the world that, aside from being a free speech hero, he is one of the planet's greatest writers.
—— Evening StandardThere is a welcome levity to his prose here as he riffs on myth-making, culture clashes or the nature of storytelling itself.
—— Daily MailVictory City has the tone of mischief Rushdie is always able to channel into his bright, fluid storytelling. Amid all the courtly intrigue and fantastic realism woven through the extensive cast of characters, fleeting dashes of wicked humour sit up and pierce the tale delectably. Rushdie's sharp, camouflaged satire speaks to everything, from religious extremism to greed to patriarchal misogyny. It all just seems to unspool from him without effort.
—— Irish IndependentThe best thing Salman Rushdie has written in years... One of the richest and most exuberant books he has given us.
—— ScotsmanRushdie's creation is vivid, compelling, and entirely his own.
—— Daily MirrorSalman Rushdie is a genius and I wish he could read me a story - or a chapter of his book - every night before bed. The scale and scope of his intellect and his imagination is googolplex.
—— A.M. Homes, author of THE UNFOLDINGIt does not resemble any other novel I could name. A major accomplishment by one of our greatest living writers.
—— Michael Cunningham, author of THE HOURSNo one, and I mean no one, can bring an entire world to life... like Salman Rushdie.
—— Gary Shteyngart, author of OUR COUNTRY FRIENDSMesmerising and soul-stirring. Victory City is an epic tribute to the power of words as well as the resilience of women. Rushdie is without a peer in proving that literature soars above tyranny and bigotry, and imagination roars louder than censorship
—— Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing TreesThis is Salman Rushdie at his most virtuosic.
—— Hari Kunzru, author of THE IMPRESSIONISTIt will show you the adult world in a whole new light. Only a master storyteller can do that.
—— Jarvis Cocker, author of GOOD POP, BAD POPA storyteller who reminds that death may take away a lot of things, but never the power of our words.
—— Colum McCann, author of LET THE GREAT WORLD SPINA capacious and sweeping telling in which writing about the past is a way of also staring dead on at the present.
—— Natasha Trethewey, author of NATIVE GUARDVictory City stands out as one of the year's literary highlights... that feels like an instant classic.
—— Bea Carvalho, Head of Fiction at WaterstonesRushdie is an assured storyteller at the height of his powers, revealing once again how important India is as a fount of his imagination.
—— ConversationVictory City is one of Rushdie's very best novels. It is also a luminous, italicised, vibrant reminder of the possibilities of free expression and of the untrammelled imagination. In this instance, the medium is indeed the message.
—— Tortoise MediaVictory City can, in many ways, be read as an entertaining jaunt through Indian history, though it is history through the kaleidoscopic and sweeping lens of a fairy tale... this brilliantly magical tale.
—— Irish IndependentThis sweeping, intricately crafted fairy tale is underscored by very human characters and Rushdie's signature wit.
—— Culture Whisper, *Books to Look Out For 2023*A grand entertainment, in a tale with many strands, by an ascended master of modern legends.
—— Kirkus ReviewRushdie's magical style unfurls wonders.
—— Washington PostRushdie's Victory City is another fabulous novel set in his native India... He's a master who never forgets that the main goal of a storyteller is to entertain rather than educate or pontificate.
—— New York Journal of BooksRushdie is, above all else...one of the most powerful defenders of story we have... Victory City is a victory for Rushdie - and for every reader who enters its gates.
—— Harper's BazaarRushdie succeeds in creating a kind of incantatory prose that befits the fabulist nature of the story... he can enchant readers like few other writers.
—— Literary ReviewThis is a man at his full-strength, high-tar best - with his deeply humane worldview, his brilliance at set-pieces and, above all, the thrilling wildness of his imagination on irresistible display.
—— Reader's DigestWith its carousel of shifting politics and history, Victory City is Rushdie's most textured and triumphant wonder tale yet.
—— HinduUtterly enchanting.
—— Eastern EyeRushdie's return to magic, myth, and India's ancient stories is dazzling. With mercurial prose and vivid renderings, Rushdie never loses us in Victory City's convolutions, but instead builds our trust to travail the many grand events of Pampa's imagined empire.
—— EsquireA rich, dramatic saga... The many moments of comedy...show Salman Rushdie's storytelling skills and his endearing sense of playfulness... the main feeling the reader gets is of a storyteller enjoying himself.
—— Tablet, *Novel of the Week*Rushdie is an expert at mixology; he's the DJ Shadow of text with references and allusions to high and low culture from Finnegans Wake to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... a well-told tale that gets bums on seats.
—— NationalThere's a magical thread of storytelling running through the veins of each character we meet in this book... a joy to read.
—— UK Press SyndicationA work of great imagination... In Victory City the power of the written word and of the storyteller remain triumphant.
—— NBRushdie’s sheer love of fiction is irrepressible.
—— Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year*A wonderfully entertaining literary hybrid
—— The Times, *Books of the Year*Victory City is Salman Rushdie at his imaginative best… sweeping the reader on a journey that feels epic in a mere 320 pages
—— i, *Books of the Year*From start to finish, the reader or listener can only be impressed by the literary flair of Rushdie's compelling storytelling... Victory City is a joy to listen to.
—— Entertainment Focus