The Leaving Room

A teen steward acting as a bridge to the afterlife wonders if there’s more to her existence in this achingly tender verse romance by McBride (Onyx & Beyond). Gospel is a Keeper, a being tasked with helping Leavers—the recently deceased—make peace with their deaths. As a Keeper, Gospel must follow a core set of rules: don’t lie, don’t enter another Keeper’s room, don’t review the memories collected from Leavers. Despite these mandates, Gospel watches her Leavers’ memories and chafes against the reality that “Keepers can’t feel./ We Just are. We keep.” Nonetheless, Gospel takes pride in her duties, preparing meals for the young spirits in her care to ensure that they “find joy in whatever is next.” Over the course of her work, Gospel becomes especially affected by five-year-old Maple and eight-year-old Suvi, and after beautiful and enchanting violinist Melodee, another Keeper, enters Gospel’s room, the encounter sparks within Gospel a desire to experience things beyond her perceived purpose. Through quiet, in-between-feeling moments rendered in an eerie, philosophical tone, McBride considers the liminal spaces between life and death, as well as the weight of grief and loss on children, particularly Black youth. Richly imagined settings pulled from Leavers’ memories (“Haint-­blue ceilings/ & rocking chairs to sit/ & watch giant willows weep”) evoke Black Southern gothic imagery, adding texture to this wholesome speculative novel. Ages 12–up. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Heirloom Literary. (Oct.)