June Sylvester Saraceno’s The Girl from Yesterday excavates bloodlines, legacy, birthright, and dissolution with bravery and honesty. Saraceno's poems about her son, father, mother, and ultimately “the blue plate of marriage smashed,” transcend the ordinary and illuminate the human experience of love, loss, and redemption. These poems ultimately teach us about relationships, memory, liberation—and the resilient grace of a remarkable poet.
—Lee Herrick
Feral, North Carolina, 1965 caught my breath and shot it back to girlhood so deeply I felt my ten-year-old spine shiver. June Sylvester Saraceno has so profoundly entered the voice and body and sight of a girl from the rural south—image by image, thought by thought, sensory perceptions crescendoing into that ferocious beautiful knot made from place and being, both pushing down too hard on the body of a girl and yet pushing her toward flight. A love letter to all the girls who run in the world with their hair on fire. A heartsong to girlhood.
—Lidia Yuknavitch
Feral, North Carolina 1965 showcases not just bright, spunky, curious Willie, but also author June Sylvester Saraceno’s talents. This might be her debut book, but readers will want to hear from her again.
Southern Literary Review : A Magazine for Literature of the American South
"Saraceno wants her students to be inspired and interested in class. She is a passionate teacher who asks a lot of questions and provokes energetic class discussions."
Terra Breeden
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Photograph by Carolina Cruz Guimarey