Friday Night Bookish Lyme returns with ‘This Could Be Forever’
Rebel Women Lit tackles ‘Babel’
Published:Sunday | August 31, 2025 | 6:01 PMRuth-Ann Briscoe/Gleaner Writer
Friday Night Bookish Lyme (FNBL) is back with a compelling romance.
The book club, with its fortnightly meetings and virtual question-and-answer author sessions, is featuring This Could Be Forever by American author Ebony LaDelle.
The second book by LaDelle, This Could Be Forever, was published at the end of May of this year. It tells the story of Deja, a determined black girl chasing her dreams and Raja, an aspiring artist defying his traditional Nepali parents to follow his artistic passions. Over one transformative summer, the two fall in love and fight to choose futures that feel like their own.
“[ This Could Be Forever] is a story that is both tender and affirming, and it felt like the perfect choice to sink into during this season,” shared Shanique ‘Shanz the Book Fairy’ Sinclair, founder of FNBL, about the recent pick. “I also have a soft heart for young adult literature, and her previous book, Love Radio, did not disappoint.”
LaDelle, who focuses on centring black, female voices, told Living, “I hope readers across the world, particularly other BIPOC ( black, indigenous, and people of colour), can see the connections we all share. And most importantly, I hope it shows everyone how black girls and women should be loved and treated always, even if our experiences are different from theirs”.
FNBL will host a virtual Author Chat session with LaDelle tonight on the @shanzlitadventures Instagram page at 7 p.m.
BEYOND THE PAGE
Chapters and the Rebel Women Lit book clubs will also be wrapping up their August selections this month. Chapters is reading Me Dying Trial by Patricia Powell, and Rebel Women Lit, Babel, from R.F. Kuang.
Referencing Chapters Book Club’s mission to introduce their members, known as Pageturners, to more local authors, Founder Jameika Johnson’s current pick, Me Dying Trial, was first published in 1993. The novel explores the role of Jamaican mothers in the home and how the choices and behaviours of others affect them and those around them.
“The book has allowed for much discussion about how Jamaican women are presented in literature, whether their representation is relatable, what happens to women who are victims of abuse, how it affects them and the choices they subsequently make,” Johnson said.
Powell’s novels include A Small Gathering of Bones, The Pagoda and The Fullness of Everything.
The Rebel Women Lit book club list often includes selections with anti-colonial and feminist themes. Its founder, Jherane Patmore, believes their current pick, Babel, is highly relevant for discussing the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Patmore says the 2022 historical fantasy includes themes of “settler colonialism, language as a tool of empire, and the moral complexities of resistance”.
Continuing, Patmore explains, “it allows us to use fiction to examine the real-world complicity of Western institutions, including universities, media, and governments, in perpetuating the Israeli occupation … It encourages readers to critically examine the narratives and institutions that present themselves as neutral or benign but are…integral to maintaining a status quo of violence and injustice”.
A bestselling author, Kuang released her newest book, Katabasis, on Tuesday. It follows her 2023 Yellowface.
The book clubs will wrap up readings at the end of this month. Rebel Women Lit met in person on August 24 and will meet online this Sunday. Chapters will also meet in person on Sunday.