A reminder that friendship has the power to validate, destroy, transform, and save lives.
Beautiful and Terrible Things offers a compelling portrait of modern life in a major city with its vibrant culture and rampant social issues. At once enlightening and entertaining, it reminds us that friendship has the power to validate, destroy, transform, and save lives.
Charley Byrne isn’t really living. At age 29, she hunkers down in her apartment above the bookstore she manages, afraid of a 7-year curse. Then quirky activist Xander Wallace lures her out of social exile with the prospect of friendship and romance. Charley joins Xander’s circle of friends diverse in their heritage, race, gender and sexual orientation. She thrives, even leaving her comfort zone to join protests in a city struggling with social justice ills.
But the new friendships bring back-to-back betrayals that threaten the bookstore—Charley’s haven—and propel her into a dangerous depression. Can her friends save the store? And Charley?
"The six protagonists have the type of friendship that makes the Reader think, 'I want to live in that city and be a part of that group.' They are almost like the Friends gang, only more diverse and set in the 2020s."
- Reedsy Discovery
"…a bustling contemporary backdrop, a sobering dose of stark realities, and a kaleidoscopic cast that is both flawed and fascinating…A potent juxtaposition of things painful to bear and inspiring to behold, [it] is an eloquent novel that fully lives up to its name."
- Indies Today
"Readers interested in tales of connection, trauma, recovery, and social discovery will find the many currents of transformation in Beautiful & Terrible Things give much food for thought…It's highly recommended for diverse audiences interested in how social and political consciousness evolves and how self-analysis influences that process."
- Midwest Book Review
Literary Titan Silver Book Award
