January 15, 2026, Seward Folly by Jessica Peck for Dreamland Books and Yarn

Have you ever read the same book as someone else and realized that, somehow, you each experienced a completely different story? I actually love that feeling. For me, it’s like sharing a secret, a glimpse into someone else’s point of view, where the story you thought you knew suddenly feels new and surprising all over again. 

Perspective is endlessly fascinating to me, whether it’s art that invites interpretation, memory that shifts over time, or moments that replay endlessly on our screens. Yet the spectrum of perspectives for the same experience can be as wildly different as… oh, I don’t know… a Chihuahua and a Great Dane. Same species, but worlds apart in every other way. 

The book I want to share this week is the debut novel “Women and Children First” by Alina Grabowski. The story is set in a fading, touristy coastal town in Massachusetts. When a teenage woman dies under mysterious circumstances at a high school party, the tragedy rattles a fragile town already on edge. Across ten chapters, each narrated by a different woman from the town, readers follow ten different perspectives on the tragic night and its aftermath. 

This reader, who happens to have grown up in and loves her own small, “touristy,” coastal town, immediately recognized in Grabowski’s writing the charm, quirks, and, yes, the sometimes claustrophobic feeling of a tight-knit community. It felt so genuine, in fact, that I found myself researching the author to see if she had drawn from her own experience — and yep, turns out she did! The story is inspired by her own Massachusetts coastal hometown, and bringing that authenticity to her atmospheric and character-focused writing creates a fully immersive reading experience. 

If you enjoyed the slowly revealing, interconnected stories of “Disappearing Earth” by Julia Phillips, or the mosaic of perspectives in “Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout, “Women and Children First” might be the perfect next read. 

Happy Reading!