{"product_id":"the-shape-of-dreams-9780593316863","title":"The Shape of Dreams","description":"\u003cb\u003eA trio of women bond in friendship as a neighborhood tries to seek justice from a system that has forgotten them. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Shape of Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e is a powerful prayer, a novel that indicts the injustice for which there is no quick solution. . . . [It is] a song of furor and tenderness that will leave its mark.\" --Walter Mosley, bestselling author of the Easy Rawlins series \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt's the mid-eighties in East Harlem: a twelve-year-old black boy's murdered body is found by Mathilda \"Twin\" Johnson, an unlikely hero who is both the neighborhood's troublemaker and its conscience. When she breaks a cardinal rule--\"don't call the cops\"--her decision ensnares a community and brings unmanageable grief to a mother. Anita, a postal worker and army widow, is determined to solve her son's Tyrone's murder, and her quest galvanizes the neighborhood, which is itself a complex character in this teeming novel, with its Mets fans and gossips, immigrant shop owners and latch-key kids. The local dreamers include a charismatic man of the cloth, a teenage girl with a Whitney Houston voice and no prospects, and Anita's opinionated friend Wanda, whose truant son the police harass and arrest on a regular basis. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEveryone is struggling. Anita, Wanda and Twin, the triad of this vibrant novel, are drawn into the neighborhood drug trap, while a singer, a preacher, and the church ladies who follow him believe their dreams can shape a city. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWill the three be able to break away from crack's dangerous allure? Will the reverend's pressure on the authorities to find Tyrone's killer yield answers? Will justice come to East Harlem? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the end, during the New York Mets' banner summer of 1986, this community will come together to mourn, fight for a better life, and shape their dreams as best they can.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e April Reynolds\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Knopf Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/03\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.20w x 1.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593316863\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/08\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAPRIL REYNOLDS is the author of the novel \u003ci\u003eKnee-Deep in Wonder\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Zora Neale Hurston\/Richard Wright Foundation Award and the PEN American Center: Beyond Margins Award. She co-wrote \u003ci\u003eThe Red Rooster Cookbook\u003c\/i\u003e with Marcus Samuelson and is co-editor, with Henry Louis Gates Jr., of \u003ci\u003eThe Toni Morrison Reader\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Zora Neale Hurston Reader\u003c\/i\u003e. Reynolds has taught creative writing at New York University and the 92nd Street Y, and currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. A former resident of East Harlem, she now lives in Astoria, Queens.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"April Reynolds \/ Hardcover \/ English","offer_id":47645093724317,"sku":"9780593316863","price":49.71,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_8a73ac89-a223-43c2-aa2b-6654f9a95481.jpg?v=1770750900","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/the-shape-of-dreams-9780593316863","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}