To & Fro - by Leah Hager Cohen (Paperback)

About the Book

"Ani, journeying across a great distance accompanied by a stolen kitten, meets many people along her way, but her encounters only convince her that she is meant to keep searching. Annamae, journeying from childhood to young adulthood alongside her mother, older brother, and the denizens of her Manhattan neighborhood, never outgrows her yearning for a friend she cannot describe. From their different worlds, Annamae and Ani reach across the divide, perhaps to discover--or perhaps to create--each other. Told in two mirrored narratives that culminate in a new beginning, To & Fro unleashes the wonders and mysteries of childhood in a profound exploration of identity, spirituality, and community"--

Book Synopsis

A tale of two girls--one living in a parable, the other in Manhattan

Ani, journeying across a great distance accompanied by a stolen kitten, meets many people along her way, but her encounters only convince her that she is meant to keep searching. Annamae, journeying from childhood to young adulthood alongside her mother, older brother, and the denizens of her Manhattan neighborhood, never outgrows her yearning for a friend she cannot describe. From their different worlds, Ani and Annamae reach across the divide, perhaps to discover--or perhaps to create--each other.

Told in two mirrored narratives that culminate in a new beginning, To & Fro unleashes the wonders and mysteries of childhood in a profound exploration of identity, spirituality, and community.

Review Quotes

Praise for To & Fro

American Library Association/RUSA Sophie Brody Medal Honor Title
Massachusetts Book Awards Longlist
Republic of Consciousness Prize Longlist

"A literary jewel with multiple facets. . . . With its unconventional form and probing content, To & Fro invites rereading and deserves an honored place on the shelves of any serious fiction reader." --Washington Post

"Dreamy." --Moment Magazine

"Intriguing and beautiful." --Hadassah Magazine

"Dances with lyrical playfulness and emotional depth." --Jewish Book Council

"A plucky structure-bending novel of girlhood discovery and adventure." --Lilith Magazine

"[To & Fro] satisfies readers. It reminds them of the joys and mysteries of childhood and recalls the ubiquitous desire to find one's place in this world." --Shelf Unbound

"Cohen's magnificent turn-and-read novel To & Fro is a tour de force peek into the wilds and wounds of childhood. . . . With 'nary an end' and triumphs aplenty, To & Fro is a luminescent novel that makes treasures of childhood wonder, whose heroines' curiosity reflects the wisdom of sages." --Foreword Reviews (starred review)

"Like Carol Shields's Happenstance and Ali Smith's How to be both, each story mirrors and illuminates the other. Whether readers go 'to' or 'fro, ' the journey is worthwhile, and the novel will enchant." --Library Journal (starred review)

"In Annamae [Cohen] creates a character worthy of Judy Blume. But it's fans of Neil Gaiman and Lewis Carroll who should pay attention; Cohen creates two wondrous, funny, and fantastical worlds. Most impressively, Cohen knows that there is nothing more fantastic than the vastness of a young girl's mind, and she lets her heroines shine." --Booklist

"Delightful. . . . A magical celebration of language, stories, and youthful curiosity." --Shelf Awareness

"Playful and provocative." --Publishers Weekly

"To & Fro is a luminous, charming, and utterly original novel filled with pleasures and provocations at every turn. Through some strange alchemy, Leah Hager Cohen has combined character-driven storytelling with brilliant philosophical forays into what it feels like to decipher the world, honor its mysteries, and stay open to its aches and gifts." --Elizabeth Graver, author of The End of the Point and Kantika

"Leah Hager Cohen's writing is a wonder. Here are worlds nested inside worlds, each unfolding like a delicate paper staircase leading to destinations unknown. To & Fro is a gorgeous, captivating riddle of a book." --Rachel Kadish, author of Tolstoy Lied: A Love Story and The Weight of Ink

Select Praise for Leah Hager Cohen

"A masterful writer on every level." --Lily King

"One of our most gifted and insightful writers." --Ann Packer

"Cohen writes about difficult subjects with unfailing compassion and insight." --Tom Perrotta

"Cohen is one of our foremost chroniclers of the mundane complexities, nuanced tragedies and unexpected tendernesses of human connection." --Susann Cokal, New York Times Book Review

"Cohen creates gorgeous, uncommon descriptions that sound like grace notes on her pages." --Sarah Pekkanen, Washington Post

"Cohen's empathy is sure-footed and seemingly boundless; her writing gifts its characters with glints of ordinary human radiance." --Leslie Jamison, San Francisco Chronicle

"A masterful talent." --People

"Cohen has secured a place in the lineup of today's great writers." --BookPage

About the Author

Leah Hager Cohen is the author of seven novels, including To & Fro, and five works of nonfiction, including Train Go Sorry. Among other honors, her books have been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, named a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and selected as best books of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Globe and Mail, Christian Science Monitor, and Kirkus Reviews. Cohen is the Barrett Professor of Creative Writing at the College of the Holy Cross. She lives in Belmont, Massachusetts.