Make Believe: Poems for Hoping Again

by Victoria Hutchins Narrated by Victoria Hutchins

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

For anyone struggling with the past, present, future, or all of the above, these words bring healing, hope and happiness to the weary mind.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER ¿ An exquisite poetry collection from the creator of The Daily Victorian that celebrates the hidden versions of ourselves, and unveils the healing power of nostalgia, imagination, and hope

“This is for anyone who doesn't see deep feeling as a bad thing but would appreciate a warm and talented companion while they do it.”-Mari Andrew, New York Times bestselling author of Am I There Yet?

Maybe you're not old enough yet to believe in fairy tales again. But you can take a walk with optimism. You can hear her out when she tells you the universe is conspiring in your favor, and can keep your eyes peeled for signs that she's right.

Victoria Hutchins's debut Make Believe is a reclamation of wonder and an invitation to return to childlike joy, wielding nostalgia and memory as lenses to imagine a fuller life. These poems pave a path of reconnection to our bodies, our past, our desires, and our wonder-beckoning readers to discover a world worth holding on to.

Make Believe is for anyone who wants to take back the narrative of their life, whose body often feels like an enemy to their soul, or who might be struggling to stick around. This book will inspire readers to go out looking, heart in hand, for joy, purpose, and healing.

With Hutchins's trademark sensory and evocative language throughout, Make Believe contains both viral spoken-word pieces and never-before-shared writing. Ultimately pointing readers toward transformation, Hutchins invites you to imagine: What would happen if you allowed yourself to believe again-in dreams and miracles, but mostly in yourself?

Product Details

BN ID:	2940192153772
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	03/18/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

welcome to the world

Welcome to the world. You’re going to get hurt here. Your friend will tell you she’s staying in and then you’ll see a picture of her at the mall with your other friends. You’ll get strep throat every winter. You’ll get a new shirt that you love. Then, you’ll get teased about it at school and change into your gym clothes for the rest of the day. A stranger will drag their car key across the paint of your mom’s new car that made the whole family proud. A giant pimple will sprout on the tip of your nose the day before prom. You’ll say something hateful to your sister and learn that the worst punishment is the hurt you see on her face. One Tuesday, the person who held your hand on the bus for three months will wordlessly sit with someone else. And if I’m honest, that’s just the beginning.

But—has anyone told you about fireflies? And have you been to the beach? Have you looked at a leaf closely enough to notice its veins—closely enough to understand it’s the same thing as you? Have you had a McDonald’s Coke? And did you know that in the three seconds before you kiss someone for the first time, you can feel your heartbeat in your eyelids? Or that someday, when you finally tell someone about the thing you’re sure makes you irredeemable, and you search their eyes for disgust—you’ll find only love?

Welcome to the world. You’re going to get hurt here, and then you’ll beg for seconds:

Can I have just a few more seconds?

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