Trauma recovery and healing get a lot of attention these days, but in situations of war and violence trauma is also a social experience set within the larger conflict context. The authors examine an ancient biblical story full of violence and trauma that makes most readers turn the page quickly. The reader is invited instead to sit with the story, listen to the voices of the characters, and feel the full range of their emotions. There is much to be learned through the story that offers insight for trauma healing and reconciliation, and motivation for deep and abiding social change. The biblical story becomes a doorway into a journey of discovery about traumatized people, specifically women, who choose not to remain as victims. Instead, they rise up in transformative nonviolent action. The authors lift up the Rizpah story and contemporary stories of “Daughters of Rizpah” from around the world to inspire hope amid the traumatizing turmoil of the twenty-first century.

“The Holy Roman Empire is the setting for [this] historical romance . . . focusing on the Byzantine princess who ruled as regent for her son, Otto III.”—Kirkus Reviews The powerful story of the tenth-century Byzantine princess Theophano, who was sent to be the wife and Empress of Otto II, son of Otto the Great, the Holy Roman Emperor. It is a long journey from the surviving Roman Empire in the East to the devastated Empire in the West. Theophano must apply all her Byzantine skills to truly become the Empress of the West, winning first her new husband’s devotion, and then the love of her new people. But when Otto II dies unexpectedly, leaving the empire to his four-year-old son, the Empress Theophano must fight one of the greatest wars of succession of the Dark Ages. For Otto II’s cousin, Henry of Burgundy, would have the Regency for himself and the Throne as well—if he can take them. Brimming with suspenseful battles and seductive court politics, the second book in Judith Tarr’s Three Queens series is perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell and Kate Quinn.

In 1987, more than a decade before the dawn of queer theory, Ifi Amadiume wrote Male Daughters, Female Husbands, to critical acclaim. This compelling and highly original book frees the subject position of 'husband' from its affiliation with men, and goes on to do the same for other masculine attributes, dislocating sex, gender and sexual orientation. Boldly arguing that the notion of gender, as constructed in Western feminist discourse, did not exist in Africa before the colonial imposition of a dichotomous understanding of sexual difference, Male Daughters, Female Husbands examines the structures in African society that enabled people to achieve power, showing that roles were not rigidly masculinized nor feminized. At a time when gender and queer theory are viewed by some as being stuck in an identity-politics rut, this outstanding study not only warns against the danger of projecting a very specific, Western notion of difference onto other cultures, but calls us to question the very concept of gender itself.

Turning his inspired anthologizing skills to a subject all readers can relate to, celebrated writer and editor Alberto Manguel offers an exceptional collection of complete short stories about the relationship between mothers and daughters. Contributors include Dorothy Allison, Daphne du Maurier, Carson McCullers, Katherine Mansfield, Edith Wharton, Janet Frame, and others.