Book Club: Light from Uncommon Stars (Feb. 18)

Book Club Event Details

  • Date: Tuesday, Feb 18, 2025
  • Time: 7:00 p.m. for 75 minutes

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About the Book

Good Omensย meetsย The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planetย in Ryka Aoki’sย Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California’s San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.

Hugo Award Finalist
A National Bestseller
Indie Next Pick
New York Public Library Top 10 Book of 2021
A Kirkus Best Book of 2021
A Barnes & Noble Best Science Fiction Book of 2021
2022 Alex Award Winner

2022 Stonewall Book Award Winner

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.

When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.

But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan’s kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul’s worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline.

As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found.

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Written by 

John Dawe, MNA, CNP, RCP is Managing Director at PARSOL where he uses his personal experience as a person who is both a survivor and perpetrator of sexual harm to help others with similar life consequences to live healthy and productive lives through recovery coaching. He is is a professional writer, a trauma-informed credentialed recovery coach/case manager, and fan of treatment as prevention. He has a Masters in Nonprofit Administration is a Certified Nonprofit Professional with additional graduate certificates in leadership, governance, and fundraising.

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