Never Look back is a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set in the Bronx in today’s New York City. The characters are Afro-Latinx, and the story interweaves Greek myth with Caribbean folklore. One of the best things about this book is the language. The text is straightforward and easy to read, but it has a beautiful rhythm to it that turns the characters’ casual dialogue into poetry.

The story owes a lot to Marcel Camus’ movie Orfeu Negro and the author’s own life experiences. Eury comes from Puerto Pico to visit family over the summer and recover from the loss of her home in Hurricane Maria. In New York, she meets Orpheus (Pheus to his friends), a talented young bachata musician who is trying to figure out what to do with his future. As in the original myth, the two fall in love and are parted by a sudden tragedy that Pheus can’t accept.

Eury is especially interesting. She is stalked by Ato, a spirit that is a manifestation of her chronic anxiety and her recent trauma. As a result of her real and symbolic battle with mental illness, she is both vulnerable and emotionally mature beyond her years. Orpheus is a thoughtful young man with good principles, but he is still a normal high schooler and struggles to figure out how to give Eury the support that she needs. That makes the final test in the “underworld” especially unfair. After spending the whole book learning how to be there for Eury, Pheus doesn’t have it in him to turn his back on her. Eury is no damsel in distress, though; she is strong and resilient. She and Pheus form a relationship based on mutual respect and trust that that allows them both to move forward, so that they can come to terms with their pasts and never need to look back. – Krishni Burns