Playground Zero by Sarah Relyea
Thanks to Stephanie Barko, I am giving away one print copy to the U.S. only ebook copy to Canada Only of ‘Playground Zero’ by Sarah Relyea.
Description Playground Zero by Sarah Relyea
1968. It’s the season of siren songs and loosened bonds—as well as war, campaign slogans, and assassination. When the Rayson family leaves the East Coast for the gathering anarchy of Berkeley, twelve-year-old Alice embraces the moment in a hippie paradise that’s fast becoming a cultural ground zero. As her family and school fade away in a tear gas fog, the 1960s counterculture brings ambiguous freedom.
Guided only by a child’s-eye view in a tumultuous era, Alice could become another casualty—or she could come through to her new family, her developing life. But first, she must find her way in a world where the street signs hang backward and there’s a bootleg candy called Orange Sunshine.
Praise Playground Zero by Sarah Relyea
Semi-finalist for the Black Lawrence Press 2018 Big Moose Prize.
“An eerily compelling déjà vu of the free, wild, and jeopardy-ridden kid scene in late-1960s Berkeley. Uncanny and powerful.”- Charles Degelman, Editor, Harvard Square Editions
“Like a trip through the Looking Glass, Sarah Relyea’s engrossing debut novel takes you by the hand back to the sixties, where social rules were being challenged and political upheaval was the norm. Relyea tells the absorbing story of twelve-year-old Alice and her family through a series of narrators as they each experience the kaleidoscope streets of Berkeley. But she saves her most lyrical and beautiful language for the disintegration Alice sees and the heartbreak she experiences.”- Patricia Hurtado, Brooklyn writer and journalist with Bloomberg News
About Sarah Relyea
Born in Washington, D.C., Sarah Relyea left the Berkeley counterculture at age thirteen and processed its effects as a teenager in suburban Los Angeles. She would soon swap California’s psychedelic scene to study English literature at Harvard. Sarah is the author of Playground Zero: A Novel and Outsider Citizens: The Remaking of Postwar Identity in Wright, Beauvoir, and Baldwin.
She remains bicoastal, living in Brooklyn and spending time on the Left Coast.
Website: https://sarahrelyea.com/
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Giveaway Playground Zero by Sarah Relyea
This giveaway is for one print copy U.S. only or one ebook Canada onlyand ends on June 26, 2020 midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
Fascinating era and story. Thanks.
This sounds like a really interesting perspective on life in the 60s. I’d love to have a copy. Thanks!
Sounds intriguing
I am not much older than the Alice in the novel. This reminds me of the novel “Go Ask Alice”. Or was it a biography and not a novel. It’s been a long time since I read it. And the girl on the cover looks a bit like Janis Joplin. This book brings back a lot of memories.
Interesting era from the eyes of a twelve year old.
Thank you, Teddy Rose, for sponsoring this spotlight and book giveaway!
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