New Books by Peace Corps Writers — February 2019

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — Click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards.

We now include a one-sentence description — provided by the author — for the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers  1) to order the book and 2) to volunteer to review it. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at peacecorpsworldwide@gmail.com, and we’ll send you a copy along with a few instructions.

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The Rink Girl: Stories
Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991–93)
Press Americana
September 2018
$15.00 (paperback), $6.99 (Kindle)

The Rink Girl may have a small geographic setting—an ice arena in an unassuming Ohio town—but it’s wide in thematic scope: from depression and war to the perils and pleasures of parenting and the thrill (and aching brevity) of first love.

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The Searing (Kindle Edition)
John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962-64
Crossroad Press
195 pages
February 8, 2019
$3.99 (Kindle)

Her body seemed out of her control … her hips and pelvis jumped involuntarily, thrust forward, as the warm blood burst through her body … Another shuddering. Another rage of thick pleasure … And then, just as suddenly, it was over … As their frequency and ferocity increased, the women of Renaissance Village became terrorized by these inexplicable “attacks.” But even as the death toll mounted, who could expect that the key to stopping the assaults would be an eleven-year-old Autistic girl?

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Frontier Cabin Story: The Rediscovered History of a West Virginia Log Farmhouse
Joseph  Goss (Afghanistan 1967–69)
Peace Corps Writers
December 2018
208 pages
$14.95 (paperback)

Frontier Cabin Story is an architectural biography of the author’s long-forgotten 18th-century log farmhouse in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, which uncovers who the first owner was and goes on to take in the full sweep of the region’s unique history from pre-colonial times to the present.

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Adorable Airport
(poetry)
Jacqueline Lyons (Lesotho 1992–95)
Barrow Street Press
October, 2018
90 pages
$16.95 (paperback)

“. . . sophisticated and enchanting musings on time, seasons, love, and, yes, airports.” — Mark Brazaitis.

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I Am Farang: Adventures of a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand
Amy McGarry (Thailand 2003–05)
Self-published
January 2019
213 pages
$14.95 (paperback)

With raw honesty and humor, I Am Farang details the trials and triumphs of a woman trying to cope and succeed as  a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand.

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