First Novel

Sabrina’s Window

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On a chilly morning in Taos, New Mexico, a 17-year-old paperboy breaks the window of a 31-year-old hair stylist — an accident that marks the beginning of an instant, inexplicable bond between them. In the course of one high-desert summer, Joshua and Sabrina share confidences, intercede in each other’s love lives, go on a date that scandalizes the town, and confront questions of fidelity, desire, and the nature of love.

Praise for Sabrina's Window ...

“Sabrina’s Window is a pure pleasure to read. Al Riske does an excellent job of creating colorful, realistic characters.”
— Paige Lovitt, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“This book invites you in and then shuts the door quietly behind you, allowing you to share moments between characters in a private space with an atmosphere of intimacy that may leave you afraid to breathe for fear of intruding.”
— Douglas Edwards, author of I’m Feeling Lucky

“With his trademark grace, elegance and economy, Al Riske captures the heart and teases the imagination in Sabrina’s Window.”
— Greg Bardsley, author of Cash Out

“Al Riske's writing is a gift. With uncommon grace and clarity, he arranges the details of our everyday lives into a sort of poetry. In Sabrina's Window, seventeen-year-old Joshua and 31-year-old Sabrina are searching for themselves when they find each other, forming a bond that is as unlikely as it is deep and abiding. Reading Riske's novel, I was reminded of how fragile and magnificent we humans are, how silly and petty ... and absolutely generous we can be.”
— Judy Clement Wall, writer, doodler, love warrior

 “Al Riske has packed so much emotional punch in this 217-page slice-of-life novel [Sabrina's Window] that I’m still thinking about the people that inhabit the pages … Reading it was much like hearing a piece of music. I know I’ll read it again, and re-discover the nuances of something beautiful.”
— Katherine Adams, Goodreads

“The prose in Al Riske’s first novel, Sabrina’s Window, is clear and simple and elevates the book into something truly wonderful.”
— Mark Richardson, Thoughts on Writing and Reading

“Al Riske captures the currents of love, desire and temptation coursing through all of us, and shows us how an unlikely friendship helps a boy become a man.”
— Robert Baty, author of Vintage Conner and The Girl in the MGA

“His nuanced, subtle novel has much to share about relationships and art and the power and strength of friendships throughout our lives.”
— Alta Drawson, BiblioQuill