Shelfology Book Pairing

A Biomythography

by Audre Lorde

A new Penguin Vitae hardcover edition of Audre Lorde’s trailblazing biomythography that cemented the poet’s legacy as a leading voice in intersectional feminism and 20th century literature. In her 1982 genre-fluid memoir, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Audre Lorde reflects on how her identity was formed by her relationships with women throughout her life, from her early memories of her mother attempting to shield her from the racism and sexism ingrained in American society to the solidarity she found in lesbian communities in downtown New York in the 1950s and among women whom she worked beside. With candor and trenchant yet simple detail, Lorde paints an intimate portrait of her life, granting readers a window into the formative experiences of one of the greatest writers and feminist thinkers of the 20th century. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name will be the second Lorde title to be featured in the Penguin Vitae collection and will feature a new foreword.

by Khaled Hosseini

Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, the #1 New York Times bestseller A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love. “Just as good, if not better, than Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling first book, The Kite Runner.”—Newsweek Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today. Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival. A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.