An Exaltation of Larks (Venery)

"Laqueur challenges herself and her readers... With a voice that is completely unique, gorgeous writing, and characters so three-dimensional you'd swear you could touch them." - The Angry Reader Winner of the Grand Prize in the 2017 Writer's Digest Book Awards First Place Winner in the 2019 North Street Book Prize Two tragedy-laden September 11ths. Three lives bound across three decades. One unforgettable epic of love, resilience, and survival. September 11, 1973: Eleven-year-old Alejandro Penda watches Santiago, Chile fall to a violent military dictatorship. Disappeared from his home and torn from his family, Alex escapes alone to America, where he is taken in by the prominent Lark family of Guelisten. Burdened by grief, he builds a life grounded in loyalty, eventually marrying Valerie Lark. September 11, 2001: Javier Landes, a high-earning Manhattan male escort, guards his heart behind a wall of luxury and emotional distance. But when the fall of the Twin Towers leaves him as the sole guardian of his orphaned nephew, Jav is forced to confront the suppressed pain of his own past. When Alex, Valerie, and Jav cross paths, an magnetic and unexpected connection forms-one that spans decades and continents. As unresolved histories surface, all three must face the truth about grief, sexual identity, and what it truly means to belong to a family. "An exploration of how people find a new family... the strength of this book was the characters' rich inner lives-their yearning for love and devotion to one another." - Jendi Reiter, author and North Street Book Prize Judge