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Review: Death & Maia by A.C. Jolly

“...And then–then–she laughs. It wouldn’t be much of one from any other person on earth, nothing more than a smile with wind. But it’s like she’s never done it before, ever, and her face changes aspect, or the light shining on it changes colour.” (p. 35) ★★★★★ 🌶🌶🌶 Review: An all-consuming sapphic romance Death has come for Maia, but Maia’s final request ignites a burning longing in Death, rendering her enthralled. I am left speechless. Death & Maia is a poetic and deliciously emotional sapphic fantasy written as Maia’s stream of consciousness. Its intensity is absorbing, making it feel like a full sensory experience. I cannot remember the last time a book transformed me so powerfully. These are pages you will want to savor. I was searching for an evocative sapphic romance, and it found me. I am so thankful to the author for mailing me a gifted copy from across the Atlantic. Audience : adult Trigger warnings : death, rape, murder, violence, grief R...

Release Blitz: The Patron Saint of Lost Girls by Maureen Aitken




Literary Fiction / Short Story Collection

Date Published: 09-16-2025

Publisher: Wayne State University Press



In 1970s and '80s Detroit, the city wrestles with an unending economic downturn, increasing violence, and white exodus to the suburbs. Amid all of this is twentysomething Mary who is just trying to grapple with her identity in a world filled with uncertainty.

In this collection of linked stories, we follow Mary as she seeks to cope with and withstand hardship and confront her fears of exploitation, abuse, and death. Along the way, she delves into the complex yet nurturing relationships with her family and friends who teach her to love better, live fuller, and question power. The Patron Saint of Lost Girls presents an unflinching tale of life in the late twentieth-century postindustrial Midwest.

 

About the Author


Maureen Aitken’s short-story collection, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls, received a Kirkus star, the Nilsen Prize, and the Foreword Review INDIE Gold Prize for General Fiction. It will be reissued in September, 2025 by Wayne State University Press. Her stories have earned a Minnesota State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative Grant, a Loft Mentor Award, an award from Ireland’s Fish Short Story Prize, and two Pushcart Prize nominations. It was also nominated for a Minnesota Book Award. Her stories have been published in Prairie Schooner and New Letters, among others. This is her second story featured in The Missouri Review’s Blast section.


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