Thursday, September 18, 2014

Fresh Ink: Spotlight on Debut Books of All Kinds

http://bit.ly/1usDEXB

Margaritte is a sharp-tongued, drug-dealing, sixteen-year-old Native American floundering in a Colorado town crippled by poverty, unemployment, and drug abuse. She hates the burnout, futureless kids surrounding her and dreams that she and her unreliable new boyfriend can move far beyond the bright lights of Denver that float on the horizon before the daily suffocation of teen pregnancy eats her alive.

Filled with complex characters overcoming and being overcome by circumstances of their surroundings, Crazy Horse's Girlfriend thoroughly shakes up cultural preconceptions of what it means to be Native American today.

Read an interview with the author HERE.



Praise for the book:
"There's no horror flick or disaster movie scarier than a teenager's life. Erika T. Wurth writes about a young woman's longing with such heart and soul, it made me want to cry. Here she chronicles the poor with compassion and respect, and depicts their moments of joy with the only language worthy of such heights-poetry." ~Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street
"Erika T. Wurth's first novel, Crazy Horse's Girlfriend, is gritty and tough and sad beyond measure; but is also contains startling, heartfelt moments of hope and love. In my opinion, a writer can't do much better than that." ~Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time

"A compelling and affecting look at the ineluctable awfulness of some teens’ lives." ~Booklist

"Wurth infuses her debut novel with impassioned teen spirit..." ~Kirkus Reviews
"Wurth captures the violence and terrifying instability of domestic abuse with gritty language and emotional appeal." ~Foreword Reviews

"[...]Wurth has created a plethora of hardened teens and their means of survival in unforgiving conditions. The story's protagonist narrator is Margaritte, whose insistence on not becoming a loser truly earmarks her as an underdog, as she struggles to go against the grain of her impoverished society. The language Wurth uses, which includes Lakota terminology, is raw and visceral, reflecting just how tough these teens are, especially Margaritte. [...] Kudos to Wurth for producing a gripping and heart-wrenching narrative that is not only a must read for young adult and older readers, but also a wonderful addition to Native American literature." ~Story Circle Reviews 

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