2023 Rebel Women Lit Book Club Picks
30 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MYSELF BY Radhika Sanghani
JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2023
When Nina Mistry's life hits rock bottom, she decides to change her stars by falling in love...with herself.
Nina didn't plan to spend her thirtieth birthday in jail, yet here she is in her pajamas, locked in a holding cell. Unfortunately, it gives Nina plenty of time to reflect on how screwed up her life is.
Just as Nina falls into despair, a book lands in her cell: How to Fix Your Shitty Life by Loving Yourself. It must be destiny. With literally nothing left to lose, Nina makes a life-changing decision to embark on a self-love journey. By her next birthday, she's going to find thirty things she loves about herself.
Fearing The Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Dr Sabrina Strings
MARCH & APRIL 2023
Where does our preference for thinness really come from?
There is an obesity epidemic in the USA and poor black women are particularly stigmatized as "diseased" and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago.
The God of Good Looks by Breanne Mc Ivor
MAY & JUNE 2023
Bianca Bridge has always dreamt of becoming a writer. But Trinidadian society can be unforgiving, and having an affair with a married government official is a sure-fire way to ruin your prospects. So when Obadiah Cortland, a notoriously tyrannical entrepreneur in the island’s beauty scene, offers her a job, Bianca accepts, realizing that working on his magazine is the closest to her dreams she’ll get.
As Bianca begins to embrace her power and creative voice, her ex-lover threatens everything she’s rebuilt, jeopardizing all she’s come to love about her new life, she’s surprised to find support from the most unlikely ally and, finally, draws the strength to fight back like her mother taught her.
Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy BancrofT
JULY & AUGUST 2023
In this groundbreaking bestseller, Lundy Bancroft—a counselor who specializes in working with abusive men—uses his knowledge about how abusers think to help women recognize when they are being controlled or devalued, and to find ways to get free of an abusive relationship.
He says he loves you. So...why does he do that?
Glimpse edited by Leone Ross
SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2023
Glimpse is the first anthology of speculative fiction by Black British writers, showcasing a variety of distinctive and exclusive narratives. They include Afrofuturistic, magic realism and transformational stories, glancing into different worlds and new lives. These stories create a dichotomy between the comfortable and the mysterious, tantalizing in their mystique and refreshing in their insight. The contributors include award winning and internationally renowned fiction writers, poets and visual artists: Patience Agbabi, Muli Amaye, Alinah Azadeh, Judith Bryan, Patricia Cumper, Joshuah Idehen, Melissa Jackson-Wagner, Peter Kalu, Ronnie McGrath, Katy Massey, Claudia Monteith, Chantal Oakes, Irenosen Okojie, Koye Oyedeji, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, Jeda Pearl, Aisha Phoenix, Akila Richards, Ioney Smallhorne and Gemma Weekes.
Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn
NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2023
A celebration of love in all its forms, featuring conversations with: Philippa Perry on falling in love slowly * Candice Carty-Williams on friendship * Alain de Botton on the psychology of being alone * Dolly Alderton on vulnerability * Emily Nagoski on the science of sex * Diana Evans on parenthood * Lisa Taddeo on the loneliness of loss * Esther Perel on unrealistic expectations * Stephen Grosz on accepting change * Roxane Gay on redefining romance