To & Fro

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

Forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press (May 2024)

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.

Advance Praise:

Leah Hager 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)

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

Playful and provocative.

—Publishers Weekly

[To & Fro] subvert[ed] my expectations at every stage of the reading process. . . . It is a book about loneliness that ultimately forms a community from its readers. And that is a feat I have not seen before.

—Bookishly Jewish

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

This poignant, unique novel made me feel like a child again in the best way! There’s a magical, soulful feeling to it and the girls’ search for a friend who truly understands them really hits home. I would recommend this to pretty much anyone.

—Rae Titcomb, Titcomb’s Bookshop (East Sandwich, MA)

To & Fro is brilliantly told in two mirrored narratives and captures the unique opportunities childhood wonder provides. Don’t underestimate the thought put into this carefully constructed puzzle of a narrative—it makes all the sense when it really shouldn’t. Against all odds Leah Hager Cohen succeeded. Magical, witty, and a genre of its own.

—Jacque Izzo, Books Are Magic (Brooklyn, NY)

Physics class taught me that if I jumped into a tube that extended all the way through the earth, I’d fall endlessly from pole to pole, borne back and forth by gravity. Leah Hager Cohen made me feel the same sensation with To & Fro, a twin-tale novel about a pair of young girls questing through separate (but are they?) realms fantastical and realistic. Their stories reflect light upon each other, and both are full of intelligence, humor, and deep feeling. It’s as if Eloise and Alice walked hand-in-hand through the looking glass and I was able to follow them.

—James Crossley, Leviathan Bookstore (St. Louis, MO)