Narrative theme: coming of age

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Book SynopsisTHE MILLION-COPY AWARD-WINNING JAPANESE BESTSELLER "Onda''s rich descriptions capture often elusive topics?music and longing?and bring the classical repertoire to vivid life." ?People, BEST NEW BOOK Tender and intense, Honeybees and Distant Thunder is the unflinching story of love, courage and rivalry as three young people come to understand what it means to truly be a friend.In a small coastal town just a stone''s throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competition is underway. Over the course of two feverish weeks, three students will experience some of the most joyous?and painful?moments of their lives. Though they don''t know it yet, each will profoundly and unpredictably change the others, for ever. Aya was a child prodigy who abruptly gave up performing after the death of her mother, and is now trying for a comeback; Masaru, a childhood friend of Aya who came to the piano through her insistence that he learn to play, is now reunited with her after many years, and is equally invested in both his and her success; Akashi, who is older and married, works in a music store and is the ?old man? of the competitors, hoping for a final chance at success; and Jin, a sixteen-year-old prodigy, the free spirited son of a beekeeper who travels constantly, and has no formal training (and doesn?t even own a piano) yet whose mesmerizing insight into music has brought him to the attention of one of the world?s most celebrated pianists, the late Maestro Von Hoffman. Each of them will break the rules, awe their fans and push themselves to the brink. But at what cost? Beloved in Japan, Riku Ondaimmerses us in the world of music?from piano masterpieces to the buzz of bees and the rumble of thunder?whichcrescendos to a surprising ending in thisrich and vibrant novel.

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Book SynopsisPlayfully, poetically unstable . . . What compels a woman to turn to the wilderness? What brings one, after a decade of caregiving, to exchange a terminal parent’s final vigil for the company of strangers? Goldblatt poses these questions with great assurance. —Lisa Locascio, The New York Times Book ReviewDenny works nights as a tech in a labyrinthine facility outside of D.C., readying fruit flies for experimentation. Her life’s routine is straightforward, limited. But when her father announces that he won’t be treating his recurrent, terminal cancer, she responds by quietly dismantling her life. She constructs in its place the fantasy of perfect detachment. Unsure whether her impulse is monastic or suicidal, she rents a secluded cabin in the mountains. Without saying goodbye, she leaves her parents behind and enters a new, solitary world. It’s not without disruption: her blowsy trash bag of an imaginary pal is still lingering. And then a house cat appears out of nowhere. And after a bad storm rips through the mountainside, someone else shows up, too. Her time in the wilderness isn’t the perfect detachment she was expecting. Denny is forced to reckon with this failure while confronting a new life with its own set of pleasures and dangerous incursions.Morbidly funny, subversive, and startling, Hard Mouth, the debut novel from 2018 NEA Creative Writing Fellow Amanda Goldblatt, unpacks what it means to live while others are dying.The novel begins existential (think: Camus as an intersectional feminist), and ends with a gut punch that somehow manages a deeply felt sympathy for its characters. —Rebekah Frumkin, NYLON

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the PEN Translation PrizeThe internationally beloved author of Kitchen and Dead-End Memories returns with a beautiful and heartfelt story of a young woman haunted by her childhood and the inescapable bitterness that inevitably comes from knowing the truthYayoi, a 19-year-old woman from a seemingly loving middle-class family, has lately been haunted by the feeling that she has forgotten something important from her childhood. Her premonition grows stronger day by day and, as if led by it, she decides to move in with her mysterious aunt, Yukino.No one understands her aunt’s unusual lifestyle. For as long as Yayoi can remember, Yukino has lived alone in an old gloomy single-family home, quietly, almost as though asleep. When she is not working, Yukino spends all day in her pajamas, clipping her nails and trimming her split ends. She eats only when she feels like it, and she often falls asleep lying on her side in the hallway. She sometimes wakes Yayoi at 2:00 a.m to be her drinking companion, sometimes serves flan in a huge mixing bowl for dinner, and watches Friday the 13th over and over to comfort herself. A child study desk, old stuffed animals—things Yukino wants to forget—are piled up in her backyard like a graveyard of her memories.An instant bestseller in Japan when first published in 1988, The Premonition is finally available in English, translated by the celebrated Asa Yoneda.

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of The Seed Collectors comes a darkly comic take on power, privilege, and the pressure put on young women to fit in—and be thin—at their all-girls boarding schoolIt's already the second week of term when Natasha, the daughter of a Russian oligarch, arrives at a vast English country house for her first day of boarding school. She soon discovers that the headmaster gives special treatment to the skinniest girls, and Tash finds herself thrown into the school's unfamiliar, moneyed world of fierce pecking orders, eating disorders, and Instagram angst.The halls echo with the story of Princess Augusta, the White Lady whose portraits—featuring a hypnotizing black diamond—hang everywhere and whose ghost is said to haunt the dorms. It's said that she fell in love with a commoner and drowned herself in the lake. But the girls don't really know anything about the woman she was, much less anything about one another. When Tash's friend Bianca mysteriously vanishes, the routines of the school seem darker and more alien than ever before. Tash must try to stay alive—and sane—while she uncovers what's really going on.Darkly hilarious, Oligarchy is Heathers for the digital age, a Prep populated with the teenage children of the European elite, exploring youth, power, and affluence. Scarlett Thomas captures the lives of these privileged young women, in all their triviality and magnitude, seeking acceptance and control in a manipulative world.

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Book SynopsisA Novel of Redemption from Addiction and a Broken Family “A Clean Heart picks at the knot of addiction and recovery insistently and with a wholesomeness intriguingly at odds with its subject. I enjoyed this book.” –Thomas Beller, author of The Sleep-Over Artist Carter Kirchner struggles to stay sane and sober as a counselor at Six West, an adolescent drug treatment center run by Sister Mary Xavier, a hard-drinking nun with an MBA. The young Kirchner is caught between Sister Mary’s plan to rescue the center by reforming a hard-case kid and the dysfunctional staff’s clumsy plan to intervene on their boss’s drinking. Meanwhile, Carter’s mother―who never forgave him for giving up a promising hockey career to treat his own addiction―lands in the hospital with an advanced case of cirrhosis. Before Carter can help the young addict commissioned to his care or safely navigate the staff’s dysfunctional intervention effort, he must rescue himself from his family’s broken past. A Clean Heart is a novel by John Rosengren, a writer and recent nominee for a Pulitzer Prize who knows the territory of addiction. He went through treatment at age 17 and has been clean and sober since 1981. He also worked in adolescent treatment centers when he was younger. John Rosengren’s articles have appeared in more than 100 publications, including The Atlantic, New Yorker, Reader’s Digest, Sports Illustrated, and Utne Reader. If you are a fan of the 2018 films Ben is Back or David Sheff’s Beautiful Boy or have read addiction memoirs such as If You Love Me or We All Fall Down, you will love reading John Rosengren’s A Clean Heart.

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Book SynopsisJoanna, a retired Muay Thai champion, takes in a troubled foster teen and decides to train her, until the teen finds herself entangled with a dangerous group of criminals running underground fights and Joanna must return to the ring to save her... and keep their new family together.After the devastating loss of her Muay Thai championship title, Joanna decided to walk away from competition, start a family, and open her own gym. But her quiet life gets disrupted when an old friend asks her to temporarily foster a troubled teen. Just as Joanna believes she is starting to break through Mari's walls, a misunderstanding drives Mari to run away and join an underground fighting ring. Joanna vows to do anything to get Mari back, even if that means stepping back into the ring... When writing powerhouse Stephanie Phillips (Grim, Harley Quinn) and star newcomer Giulia Lalli join forces, it's sure to be a tag team you won't forget.

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Book SynopsisOn the fringes of the music scene in a Southern college town, a lonely young student driven to fl ee a troubled adolescence pursues and forms a life-altering relationship with an acclaimed artist-musician. Their understanding develops in a pattern of sex and reticence, soon impacting both their paths and greatly shifting expectations. Written “as if telling the truth was a matter of survival” (Andrew O’Hagan), it is a queer bildungsroman.Trade Review"This slim novel, the story of an obsessive love between a young man and the older musician who keeps himself at a distance, is a pitch-perfect summer read: it’s intense, sexy, gratifying even while it’s breaking your heart."—Corinne Segal, Literary Hub"I’d internalized something from Outline of My Lover, less a lesson than a sensibility, or maybe a hunger. From a permission it had become a goad: write well, or why write anything?"—Hugh Ryan, Literary Hub“There is a reverence in Douglas Martin’s writing composed of equal parts language and love. Outline of My Lover strips away the dross, leaving you with the pure mood of youth.”—Dale Peck “Douglas Martin takes you through the heat of family, the electricity of want, and the watch-what-you-wish-for gift of an elusive, famous, lover. This novel feeds you.”—Michelle Tea"Outline of My Lover was the first book I read when I moved to Brooklyn. For me, it isn’t just a 'queer story' or a 'queer narrative' or 'queer characters.' It queered structure. It queered syntax and vocabulary. It queered tense. It gave me permission to question and fuck with and break from the literary structures that were built to keep my voice and my experience and my life and my thought process on the margins. The story told me: Tell your own. Even, and especially if, it occurs strangely to you. Told me: Map your strangeness in words. Told me: Keep going. Keep going. Keep. Going."—Tommy Pico“Spare and elegant, Martin’s book is a worthy companion piece to Duras’ The Lover. It is his elegy on passion and loss.”—Darcey Steinke“Douglas Martin has a very beautiful voice. It is a thing of grace.”—Dennis Cooper"This book is full of hard-won, fraught, unsparing emotional truth. It is a love story between a raw and damaged boy-narrator and a famously mysterious rock star. But more than that, it is a piece of stylish and ferociously sharp prose. I love its fierce concentration and levels of obsession."—Colm Tóibín

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Book Synopsis"STUNNING." —Susan Power, author of The Grass DancerA moving and deeply engaging debut novel about a young Native American man finding strength in his familial identity, from a stellar new voice in fiction. Oscar Hokeah’s electric debut takes us into the life of Ever Geimausaddle, whose family—part Mexican, part Native American—is determined to hold onto their community despite obstacles everywhere they turn. Ever’s father is injured at the hands of corrupt police on the border when he goes to visit family in Mexico, while his mother struggles both to keep her job and care for her husband. And young Ever is lost and angry at all that he doesn’t understand, at this world that seems to undermine his sense of safety. Ever’s relatives all have ideas about who he is and who he should be. His Cherokee grandmother, knowing the importance of proximity, urges the family to move across Oklahoma to be near her, while his grandfather, watching their traditions slip away, tries to reunite Ever with his heritage through traditional gourd dances. Through it all, every relative wants the same: to remind Ever of the rich and supportive communities that surround him, there to hold him tight, and for Ever to learn to take the strength given to him to save not only himself but also the next generation. How will this young man visualize a place for himself when the world hasn’t made room for him to start with? Honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, Calling for a Blanket Dance is the story of how Ever Geimausaddle finds his way home.

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Book SynopsisThe perfect read for fans of Succession or The White Lotus “As a novelist, Tarkington is the real deal. I can’t wait to see this story reach a wide audience.”—Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife When Charlie Boykin was young, he thought his life with his single mother on the working-class side of Nashville was perfectly fine. But when his mother arranges for him to be admitted as a scholarship student to an elite private school, he is suddenly introduced to what the world can feel like to someone cushioned by money. That world, he discovers, is an almost irresistible place where one can bend—and break—rules and still end up untarnished. As he gets drawn into a friendship with a charismatic upperclassman, Archer Creigh, and an affluent family that treats him like an adopted son, Charlie quickly adapts to life in the upper echelons of Nashville society. Under their charming and alcohol-soaked spell, how can he not relax and enjoy it all—the lack of anxiety over money, the easy summers spent poolside at perfectly appointed mansions, the lavish parties, the freedom to make mistakes knowing that everything can be glossed over or fixed? But over time, Charlie is increasingly pulled into covering for Archer’s constant deceits and his casual bigotry. At what point will the attraction of wealth and prestige wear off enough for Charlie to take a stand—and will he? For readers of Wiley Cash, Ann Patchett, and Pat Conroy, The Fortunate Ones is an immersive, elegantly written story that conveys both the seductiveness of this world and the corruption of the people who see their ascent to the top as their birthright.Trade Review“Ed Tarkington’s wonderful second novel, The Fortunate Ones, feels like a fresh and remarkably sure-footed take on The Great Gatsby, examining the complex costs of attempting to transcend or exchange your given class for a more gilded one. Tarkington’s understanding of the human heart and mind is deep, wise and uncommonly empathetic. As a novelist, he is the real deal. I can’t wait to see this story reach a wide audience, and to see what he does next.” —Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin “There's a sharpness to Ed Tarkington's view of the world, an exacting truthfulness of how things work, but he marries it to such an open-hearted and resonant humanity in his writing that it's hard not to place him easily in the company of Pat Conroy and Alice McDermott. In The Fortunate Ones, Tarkington examines privilege and friendship with that same incredible perspective, and he helps us see the difficulties of trying to hold onto yourself even as you want so badly to be transformed. An amazing, thought-provoking novel by one of our most generous writers.” —Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here “The Fortunate Ones has echoes of Gatsby . . . Tarkington [is] a talented and compassionate writer . . . [and] aspects of The Fortunate Ones echo a slew of classic novels, including As I Lay Dying, A Separate Peace, The Moviegoer, and Big Fish . . . Tarkington’s insight into the meaning of home rings true.” —The Washington Post “Readers who love a good wallow in the Southern Gothic steam bath of a Pat Conroy novel (The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini) are always ready to investigate a possible literary heir. The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington, set in Nashville through the 1980s and ’90s, bears all the markings of this lineage.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune “Tarkington’s prose glows like the sun hitting the chlorine-scented pool chairs lining the lush backyards . . . [H]is portrayals of quirky teachers, black tie galas and mysterious benefactors are biting and real. The Fortunate Ones is filled with good characters behaving badly, and vice-versa, perhaps best articulated by Charlie’s thoughts on his landmark painting: ‘I wanted it to express a feeling, an emotion I considered to be complex—the juxtaposition of allure and revulsion, guilt and desire, remorse and indifference.’ Tarkington succeeds, reminding the reader that the South is never perfect and privilege will always have a price.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution “A gorgeous, deep probing treatise on the myriad manifestations of love, envy, privilege, and longing… A fathoms-deep exploration of love, loyalty, and the ties that bind, written masterfully from all angles. It’s a laser-sharp look at the underbelly of power and privilege’s repercussions as told through the power of story.” —New York Journal of Books “In a narrative that smacks of privilege while also reckoning with its insidiousness, Ed Tarkington spins a southern yarn about manhood, family and desire . . . Although the relationship between [Charlie and Arch] could certainly be classified as toxic, it also compels the reader, and the intrigue intensifies as the novel depicts the reflections of the now-grown Charlie interspersed throughout his own coming-of-age story . . . I found myself rooting for a character that made deeply flawed decisions while still seeming like a deeply human (and indeed, humane) person.” —Jackson Free Press “In this well-considered coming-of-age novel set in Nashville, a boy learns that the trappings of wealth hide secrets, and he faces truths about loyalty and idealism.” —Shelf Awareness “The essence of Jay Gatsby’s self-destroying discontent charges the pages of The Fortunate Ones.” —Christian Science Monitor “For anyone disappointed in Tennessee’s response to any of this year’s crises, The Fortunate Ones is not to be missed.” —Memphis Flyer “Tarkington is a gifted storyteller, largely because he knows how to let his finely developed characters do the heavy lifting . . . An impressive literary balancing act that entertains as it enriches.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review “Delicious with drawn-out tension and intrigue, The Fortunate Ones is an atmospheric triumph.” —Booklist “[A] spirited coming-of-age story . . . Tarkington’s strong story of loyalty and the corruption of privilege transcends.” —Publishers Weekly “Ed Tarkington perfectly captures the heady, conflicted emotions that come with proximity to privilege—both the irresistible longing and the heartbreaking disillusionment. I’m recommending The Fortunate Ones to every book club I know.” —Mary Laura Philpott, author of I Miss You When I Blink “To the great literature of anointment, of the young person plucked from obscurity and given a place at the glittering table, we can now add Ed Tarkington’s lovely novel of a young man mystified by his good fortune until the reasons behind it are revealed and the cost is extracted. A beautiful read.” —Ann Packer, author of The Children’s Crusade

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Book SynopsisThe 10th Winner of the 2019 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, Awarded by Barbara Kingsolver “What a read this is, right from its startling opening scene. But even more than plot, it’s the richly layered details that drive home a lightning bolt of empathy. To read At the Edge of the Haight is to live inside the everyday terror and longings of a world that most of us manage not to see, even if we walk past it on sidewalks every day. At a time when more Americans than ever find themselves at the edge of homelessness, this book couldn’t be more timely.”—Barbara Kingsolver, author of Unsheltered and The Poisonwood Bible Maddy Donaldo, homeless at twenty, lives with her dog and makeshift family in the hidden spaces of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. She thinks she knows how to survive and whom to trust until she accidentally witnesses the murder of a young man. Her world is upended as she has to face not only the killer but also the police and then the victim’s parents, who desperately want Maddy to tell them about the life their son led after he left home. And in a desire to save her since they could not save their own son, they are determined to have Maddy reunite with her own lost family. But what makes a family? Is it the people who raised you if they don’t have the skills to look after you? Is it the foster parents whose generosity only lasts until things become more difficult? Or is it the family that Maddy has met in the park, young people who also have nowhere else to go? Told with sensitivity and tenderness and set against the backdrop of a radically changing city, At the Edge of the Haight is narrated by a young girl just beginning to understand herself. The result is a powerful debut that, much like previous Bellwether winners The Leavers, by Lisa Ko, or Heidi Durrow’s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, grapples with one of the most urgent issues of our day.Trade Review“What a read this is, right from its startling opening scene. But even more than plot, it’s the richly layered details that drive home a lightning bolt of empathy. To read At the Edge of the Haight is to live inside the everyday terror and longings of a world that most of us manage not to see, even if we walk past it on sidewalks every day. At a time when more Americans than ever find themselves at the edge of homelessness, this book couldn’t be more timely.”—Barbara Kingsolver, author of Unsheltered and The Poisonwood Bible “A terrific novel, half murder-mystery, half a tale of growing up. The heroine and her friends are unique in my reading experience—homeless young people living in Golden Gate Park, with their own community and their own rules—and their story is suspenseful and touching throughout.”—Scott Turow “Katherine Seligman's new novel makes alive and visible the lives of people we often walk past, sometimes as quickly as we can.” —NPR “At the Edge of the Haight inspires empathy for San Francisco’s unhoused. A journalist who has written extensively about homelessness and mental health issues, particularly in California, Seligman is a keen observer of the wealth gap in San Francisco and the challenges facing those experiencing homelessness. Seligman’s writing is at its best when it juxtaposes the experiences of living in San Francisco for those who have and those who have not . . . The book is a compassionate and probing character study of the type of street kids Seligman knows people tend to overlook or even scorn when they see them begging on the sidewalk." —San Francisco Chronicle “An incisive look at homelessness in the Haight.” —7x7“[A] gripping debut novel, At the Edge of the Haight explores a community on the edge of a historic setting and on the edge of getting by, with a compelling protagonist and an array of problems to wrestle with . . . In this quietly compassionate novel, a young homeless woman stumbles onto a crime scene on the edge of Haight-Ashbury, and eventually reconsiders how she got there." —Shelf Awareness“At the Edge of the Haight brims with empathy for the overlooked and the underserved. It's a deep, dark, and necessary look into lives often discarded and disregarded—an urgent and important read and a startling debut.”—Ivy Pochoda, author of These Women “This book pulled me deep into a world I knew little about, bringing the struggles of its young, homeless inhabitants—the kind of people we avoid eye contact with on the street—to vivid, poignant life. The novel demands that you take a close look. If you knew, could you still ignore, fear or condemn them? And knowing, how can you ever forget?” —Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound “Through careful observation, Seligman seeks to humanize a community that is often ignored and misunderstood . . . Winner of the 2019 PEN/Bellweather Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, At the Edge of the Haight is a thoughtful look at modern homelessness.” —Booklist “[An] intense, personal drama about wayward lives positioned between redemption and disaster. Putting a human face on those who live at society’s margins, At the Edge of the Haight is an intimate novel whose young characters struggle for survival and a little bit of dignity. —Foreword Reviews "I love Maddy Donaldo. I can’t wait for you to meet her. Not since Carson McCullers’s Frankie Addams have I seen a character so defined by her deep dualism—an electric desire to be both invisible and seen, free and bonded."—Mesha Maren, author of Sugar Run"Subtle yet compelling . . . written in delicate, understated prose, At the Edge of the Haight not only offers unexpected insights into the daily life of those who are young and on the streets, but into the confusion of tenderness, hurt, fear and fierceness that tumble within the minds of many. An enlightening read for anyone of any age.”—Helen Benedict, author of Wolf Season “I loved this novel: its tenderness, its toughness, its brilliantly-named protagonist Maddy—these days, what thoughtful person isn’t mad? Maddy is a Holden Caulfield for our times, smart, streetwise, a survivor who is not jaded. Seligman’s vivid portrait leads us to understand San Francisco’s street people not as “the other” but as extensions of our friends, our families, our neighbors, ourselves. If there is hope for our species, it begins there.” —Fenton Johnson, author of At the Center of All Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life "At the Edge of the Haight is a novel of rare grace and compassion that opens a window onto a world to which we often keep ourselves closed. With a keen sense for setting and state of mind, Katherine Seligman takes us on a journey into the hidden spaces of America, where the friction created between the need to be seen and to disappear, to remember and to forget sets little fires that help us see better, help us stay warm." —C. Morgan Babst, author of The Floating World"Seligman is to be commended for an insightful portrayal of homelessness . . . heartfelt . . . brave." —Kirkus Reviews"Seligman has a strong sense of the city and of the challenges faced by the homeless. [Her] portrayal of life as a homeless young person is immersive." —Publishers Weekly

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Book Synopsis“[Swamy’s] prose is so assured . . . The Archer dazzles as it asks: How does a woman remain an artist?” —The New York Times Book Review Recommended by: BuzzFeed * The Millions * Book Riot * Literary Hub * Bookmarks * Ms.* Bookish * Goodreads * Library Journal * San Francisco Chronicle FINALIST FOR THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE In this original and transfixing novel, Vidya comes of age in 1960s- and 1970s-era Bombay, her childhood marked by the shattering absence and then the bewildering reappearance of her mother and baby brother at the family home. Restless, observant, and longing for connection with her brilliant and increasingly troubled mother, Vidya one day peeks into a classroom where girls are learning kathak, a dazzling, centuries-old dance form that requires the utmost discipline and focus. Her pursuit of artistic transcendence and escape through kathak soon becomes the organizing principle of her life, even as she leaves home for college and falls in complicated love with her best friend. As the uncertain future looms, she must confront the tensions between romance, art, and the legacy of her own imperfect mother. Lyrical and deeply sensual, Shruti Swamy’s The Archer is a bold portrait of a singular woman striving toward life as an artist while navigating desire, duty, and the limits of the body. It is also an electrifying and utterly immersive story about the transformative power of art, and the possibilities that love can open when we’re ready.Trade Review'Set in 1970s Bombay, the novel explores art, ambition, gender roles and class with the same shimmering prose of Swamy’s first book, the story collection A House Is a Body.' —San Francisco Chronicle '[A] sublime, boundary-pushing exploration of sexuality, creativity, and love.' —NPR Longlisted for the 2021 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize “Mesmerizingly poetic . . . The Archer’s beauty resides in Swamy's sequential narrative form, which reads like music—at times almost exactly like reading a musical score—but with something more; her words carry the visceral power of a dancer's intersection with air . . . [A] sublime, boundary-pushing exploration of sexuality, creativity, and love . . . A sensual, artful dance, powerfully told.” —NPR “This novel swallowed me whole. The Archer is the kind of book you always hope for: lush and sensual, tasted and felt, with striking images that play out like film behind the eyes. Swamy evokes an India that resists flat stereotype and teems with exuberance, beauty, and life. The Archer is timeless yet utterly modern as it asks what it means for a woman to make a life of art.” —C Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold “Shruti Swamy is a writer to celebrate. Her fiction is provocative, precise, and gorgeously inventive.” —Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning “With its coiled energy and feverish imagery, The Archer often reads more like a lucid dream than a novel, oceans of wild feeling roiling just below the surface . . . Swamy writes about the imperatives of an artist’s life with bright, furious poetry: the singular will of a body that burns to be in motion, and a mind set free.” —Entertainment Weekly “[A] visceral first novel . . . The Archer blends the corporeal and the spiritual in a story about what it means to be a woman and an artist. Swamy’s writing is transportive, precise and almost hypnotic . . . The author’s perceptive and observant eye misses nothing.” —BookPage “Set in 1970s Bombay, the novel explores art, ambition, gender roles and class with the same shimmering prose of Swamy’s first book, the story collection A House Is a Body.” —San Francisco Chronicle “A searing portrait of the woman artist . . . Shruti Swamy has defined herself as a bold new voice in not only South Asian diaspora literature, but modern literature as a whole.” —Chicago Review of Books “Every page of The Archer holds evidence of Swamy’s talent, each sentence a performance so strong as to appear effortless. But just as with an elite dancer, only in the recognition of the effort can we truly appreciate the art. Like any rapt audience, readers will delight and despair in the fiercely wrought world of The Archer, fully aware they are witnessing greatness.” —Chapter16 “Lush and poetic.” —Ms. Magazine “Swamy’s prose is incantatory and often lovely, swirling in dancelike rhythms that sweep the story along. She builds a complex character in Vidya, whose urge toward autonomy brings results that range from ecstatic to tragic. A young woman seeks freedom through art in a mesmerizing coming-of-age story.” —Kirkus Reviews “A saga as rich and gorgeous as Kathak itself.” —Library Journal “As in her lauded debut collection, A House Is a Body, Swamy examines women’s ownership of their very selves… [and] challenges expectations and exposes the limitations of being female.” —Booklist “[An] affecting debut novel . . . Swamy confidently evokes the time and place with spare, precise prose. This writer continues to demonstrate an impressive command of her craft.” —Publishers Weekly “This is a singular work, a story of a dancer, and of a hungry self seated at the table of womanness and desire and art, told with unparalleled originality and elegance. Swamy writes with a thrilling clarity of vision that wakes the sleepwalker right into joyful consciousness. Every word is intimate, honest, ecstatic—utterly alive.” —Meng Jin, author of Little Gods “The Archer is a stunning novel, as intimate and visceral as an expertly executed dance. Swamy's arresting and immersive prose vibrates with attention, and does what the best writing does: it leaves me more alive in my own body, and renders the world around me richer—more layered—with meaning. Meditating on what it means to be an artist (and a woman), Swamy has created her own wondrous work of art—singular, unforgettable, and important.” —Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin “Alive with desire, Shruti Swamy's prismatic language glimmers with the force that drives her characters to dance, beating against the restrictions of body, society, tradition, sexuality, and the fallible self toward a liberatory devotion to life. A gorgeous, taut, deeply embodied reading experience, The Archer further establishes Swamy as a writer of thrilling talent.” —Asako Serizawa, author of Inheritors “The Archer unfolds like an urgent dream, its heroine’s desire—for artistic transcendence, love, and liberation—its driving pulse. This novel, and the many keenly rendered moments within its pages (a swirl of bright fabric, the temperature of a lover’s skin, the abrupt chilling of a mood) lodged themselves in my consciousness long after. Shruti Swamy is one of the most gifted, excitingly unpredictable writers working today.”—Mimi Lok, author of Last of Her Name “Shruti's Swamy's The Archer combines exquisite prose with a kind of rare narrative propulsion. I found myself reading slower and slower, to make the sentences last even longer. By the end I was exhilarated and deeply moved. The Archer is a flat-out gorgeous piece of work.”—Peter Orner, author of Maggie Brown Others

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Book SynopsisTold in a series of voices, Calling for a Blanket Dance takes us into the life of Ever Geimausaddle through the multigenerational perspectives of his family as they face myriad obstacles. His father's injury at the hands of corrupt police, his mother's struggle to hold on to her job and care for her husband, the constant resettlement of the family, and the legacy of centuries of injustice all intensify Ever's bottled-up rage. Meanwhile, all of Ever's relatives have ideas about who he is and who he should be. His Cherokee grandmother urges the family to move across Oklahoma to find security; his grandfather hopes to reunite him with his heritage through traditional gourd dances; his Kiowa cousin reminds him that he's connected to an ancestral past. And once an adult, Ever must take the strength given to him by his relatives to save not only himself but also the next generation of family.How will this young man visualize a place for himself when the world hasn't given him a place to start with? Honest, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting, Calling for a Blanket Dance is the story of how Ever Geimausaddle found his way to home.Trade ReviewWinner of the PEN America/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel Finalist for the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize/Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction A TIME Must-Read Book of 2022 A BookPage Best Fiction Book of 2022 A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction and Best Debut Book of 2022 “With intricate prose and unflinching vernacular, Oscar Hokeah chronicles a family and a community. We learn trials and aspirations for each generation, and witness what is woven into complicated arrival. We need these characters and their testimonies. But more than that, we crave –I crave—this kind of honest storytelling. These rhythms. These dances. This beauty. This welcoming to a place where the people speak and are unafraid.” —Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois “A profound reflection on the intergenerational nature of cultural trauma… Hokeah’s characters exist at the intersection of Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican identity, which provides a vital exploration of indigeneity in contemporary American letters.” —The New York Times Book Review “Hokeah skillfully recreates the years leading up to and following Ever’s birth, capturing the traumas and complexities that shaped him into who he is and may determine who he becomes.” —TIME “Quaking with age-old righteous anger but nevertheless luminescent with hope.” —ELLE “Oscar Hokeah explores family and identity, past and present, in his debut novel… Above all, the book explores family relationships, obligation, resentment, and devotion.”—The Boston Globe “Hokeah’s prose is punchy and descriptive, filled with Native American words and phrases that come naturally to the characters. This blending of languages is still uncommon in contemporary fiction, but the current Indigenous literary and cultural renaissance promises that more voices will grow this singularity into a rich multitude. But of course, renaissance is the wrong word to use here. Hokeah, who is of Mexican heritage as well as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, shows that this tradition has been here the whole time, evolving and surviving.” —BookPage “This miraculous story presents a collective imagining not only of who its main character is, but who everyone else anticipated and dreamed he could become. It is a must-read.” — BuzzFeed “Drawing on a wealth of Indigenous tradition, Hokeah has produced in his debut a novel that underscores the quiet strength that arises when a family is true to its identity and the too common tragedy that results when identity is suppressed.” —The Millions “An auspicious debut . . . Recalling both Tommy Orange and Gabriel Garcia Marquez in its narrative structure . . . A book to deeply invest in.” —Chicago Review of Books “Remarkable.” —Shondaland “Told from a variety of voices, this story is one of love, loss, growth, tradition and evolution. Not to be missed.” —Ms. Magazine “[A] captivating debut . . . with striking insight into human nature and beautiful prose, this heralds an exciting new voice.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “What is wonderful about Hokeah’s debut is that each character gets to tell their own story, while also covering Ever’s life, who they each feel responsible for as part of their family and community. ... What we have with this book is a complete picture of one person as seen by others, and an entire community made up of Kiowa, Cherokee, and Mexican Americans, each with their own language, speech rhythms, and ways of seeing the world.” —Literary Hub “Hokeah’s debut will feel familiar to fans of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange . . . A novel that builds in richness and intricacy . . . Another noteworthy debut in what feels like an ongoing renaissance of Indigenous peoples’ literature, both reflecting this lineage and introducing an exciting, fresh new voice to the choir.” —Library Journal “As in the novels of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange, the chorus of voices—rendered in unadorned vernacular peppered with Indigenous words—evokes a close-knit Native community in all its varied humanity, anchored by tradition while marked by injustices past and present… Simply told and true to life.” —Kirkus Reviews “A masterwork of peripheral narration.” —Kirkus Reviews, "Best of 2022: A Year of the 'Fully Booked' Podcast" “Oscar Hokeah’s debut novel… reads like a Louise Erdrich novel. Yet, while this inspiration seems clear, Hokeah’s story is profoundly original.” —Chicago Review of Books “A moving symphony of voices, and a beautiful story about loss and belonging." —Book Riot “Hokeah's novel not only tells a story that is ultimately uplifting, but also immerses readers in Oklahoma's Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican communities… Ever and his family aren't looking for a way to define themselves within a larger national identity, but they are trying to pry their lives from the forces of generational trauma that shape their community.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “With beautiful prose and a deeply moving cast of characters, Calling for a Blanket Dance introduces Oscar Hokeah as an important and exciting new voice in literary fiction.”—Electric Literature “Speaking to a shared experience of many Indigenous peoples, this novel puts readers in the shoes of a people trying to make their way in a country that has stolen their place.” —Morning Brew’s Sidekick “A necessary and important addition to your TBR.” —The Young Folks “A coming-of-age tale that is uniquely Kiowa and Cherokee, and that celebrates connection, family and honor.” —Minnesota Public Radio / MPR News with Kerri Miller “A coming-of-age tale that is uniquely Kiowa and Cherokee, and that celebrates connection, family and honor.” —Minnesota Public Radio / MPR News with Kerri Miller “Riveting… Hokeah’s character’s work their way through and beyond so many obstacles. What emerges is an authentic cultural voice speaking on behalf of the many ways family bonds bend, break, and hold on forever.” —KCUR (Kansas NPR) / Up To Date “Filled with astonishing immediacy, and embellished with Hokeah’s authentic voice, these epic stories soar with indelible images of a proud, but challenged, people who find strength through their blood-lines and their enduring familial love. Some characters are so broken and bitter that I was moved to tears. But most characters persevere, and thrive, through the indomitable will and pride of their heritage. Hokeah has accomplished something unique here. In his quietly brilliant depiction of his Cherokee/Kiowa/ Mexican heritage he has dipped into his medicine bag and gifted us with a small but compelling masterpiece. This should be required reading for every American.” —Kiana Davenport, author of Shark Dialogues “The characters that populate Calling for a Blanket Dance are real, amazing, vulnerable and beautiful in their flaws and, even despair—Oscar Hokeah unveils their suffering and joy, their struggle to live with honor, care for family, walk right. What an accomplishment. Few writers have the courage or craft to pull this off. Oscar Hokeah beats the drum and stomps, announcing his power is back, the people have returned with powerful stories. He weaves a tale that is unforgettable and fortifying. I couldn’t put the book down.” —Jimmy Santiago Baca, author of A Place to Stand “Calling for a Blanket Dance is a stunning novel. Oscar Hokeah writes from deep inside the heart of his communities, bringing life to generations of voices who became so real to me they felt like relatives. The reader can’t help but invest in each character as they navigate bitter challenges, sometimes surprising themselves with their strength, their ability to survive and love. Hokeah’s prose gorgeously weaves authentic local vernacular with the lyrical notes of hard-won insight. This novel belongs on every recommended booklist for fans of literary fiction.” —Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer “Hokeah offers us a rich tapestry of interconnected narratives, a chorus of distinct voices battling against history, failing bodies, and barren landscapes. We move through decades, fall in love and despair with the Geimaussadle family. The scale and beauty reminds you of One Hundred Years of Solitude set in Oklahoma. Here’s a True American Epic.” —Gabriel Bump, author of Everywhere You Don’t Belong “As a plethora of voices accompany Ever Geimausaddle's upbringing, we learn of challenges and resilience, the multilingual language of hope and the grace of forgiveness. Their lives, tender and difficult, full of awe and learning, remind us that the borderlands are fluid regions where families have intermingled, overcome challenges, and danced together for centuries." —Cristina Rivera Garza, author of Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country “Oscar Hokeah is the real deal. A new voice with ancient music.” —Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels “Oscar Hokeah brings to life a kaleidoscope of characters from an unforgettable Native American family. His depiction of Indigenous cultures honors their strength of community with remarkable love and healing humor, sending out a vital drumbeat of hope for future generations.”—Christian Science Monitor “[Calling for a Blanket Dance] crosses multiple generations and cultures, always with a generous eye, connecting every strand in an indelible vision.” —Spectrum Culture “Author Oscar Hokeah and narrator Rainy Fields both give vivid, emotional performances in this intergenerational drama… Together, Hokeah and Fields bring this multifaceted novel to life, drawing listeners into the messy web of community and family that Ever inhabits.”—AudioFile Magazine “A lyrical, unputdownable multigenerational tale rooted in family and love.” —Portland Public Library “Hokeah’s debut novel proves the impact of generational resilience—what it means to pass down knowledge, tradition, and values… What sets the novel apart from a collection is that the characters refuse to stand alone, choosing to quilt their stories together. Calling for a Blanket Dance becomes a blanket, and, just like the stitches that bind them, it’s the love for community that holds the novel together.”—World Literature Today “A compelling book about how our family shapes how we are seen and who we become... Honest and powerful, great storytelling.”—The Southern Bookseller Review “A collective story about familial bonds that readers won’t soon forget.”—Tribal College: The Journal of American Indian Higher Education “A story of love and resiliency that is hard to put down. Calling for a Blanket Dance is a novel sure to remind many readers of their own families, the individuality that each person brings, the crucial role that community plays, and our interconnection."—Latinx in Publishing “Generations of struggles, questions, and trauma all come to a head in the person of Ever Geimausaddle, the Native American protagonist of this far-reaching story by Oscar Hokeah. As Ever struggles to figure out his place in the world and what his future looks like, stories from his parents, grandparents, and other members of his community intertwine with his in a tale that reaches far beyond just one man’s life.”—LifeSavvyWinner of the PEN America/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel Finalist for the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize/Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction A TIME Must-Read Book of 2022 A BookPage Best Fiction Book of 2022 A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction and Best Debut Book of 2022 “With intricate prose and unflinching vernacular, Oscar Hokeah chronicles a family and a community. We learn trials and aspirations for each generation, and witness what is woven into complicated arrival. We need these characters and their testimonies. But more than that, we crave –I crave—this kind of honest storytelling. These rhythms. These dances. This beauty. This welcoming to a place where the people speak and are unafraid.” —Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois “A profound reflection on the intergenerational nature of cultural trauma… Hokeah’s characters exist at the intersection of Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican identity, which provides a vital exploration of indigeneity in contemporary American letters.” —The New York Times Book Review “Hokeah skillfully recreates the years leading up to and following Ever’s birth, capturing the traumas and complexities that shaped him into who he is and may determine who he becomes.” —TIME “Quaking with age-old righteous anger but nevertheless luminescent with hope.” —ELLE “Oscar Hokeah explores family and identity, past and present, in his debut novel… Above all, the book explores family relationships, obligation, resentment, and devotion.”—The Boston Globe “Hokeah’s prose is punchy and descriptive, filled with Native American words and phrases that come naturally to the characters. This blending of languages is still uncommon in contemporary fiction, but the current Indigenous literary and cultural renaissance promises that more voices will grow this singularity into a rich multitude. But of course, renaissance is the wrong word to use here. Hokeah, who is of Mexican heritage as well as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, shows that this tradition has been here the whole time, evolving and surviving.” —BookPage “This miraculous story presents a collective imagining not only of who its main character is, but who everyone else anticipated and dreamed he could become. It is a must-read.” — BuzzFeed “Drawing on a wealth of Indigenous tradition, Hokeah has produced in his debut a novel that underscores the quiet strength that arises when a family is true to its identity and the too common tragedy that results when identity is suppressed.” —The Millions “An auspicious debut . . . Recalling both Tommy Orange and Gabriel Garcia Marquez in its narrative structure . . . A book to deeply invest in.” —Chicago Review of Books “Remarkable.” —Shondaland “Told from a variety of voices, this story is one of love, loss, growth, tradition and evolution. Not to be missed.” —Ms. Magazine “[A] captivating debut . . . with striking insight into human nature and beautiful prose, this heralds an exciting new voice.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “What is wonderful about Hokeah’s debut is that each character gets to tell their own story, while also covering Ever’s life, who they each feel responsible for as part of their family and community. ... What we have with this book is a complete picture of one person as seen by others, and an entire community made up of Kiowa, Cherokee, and Mexican Americans, each with their own language, speech rhythms, and ways of seeing the world.” —Literary Hub “Hokeah’s debut will feel familiar to fans of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange . . . A novel that builds in richness and intricacy . . . Another noteworthy debut in what feels like an ongoing renaissance of Indigenous peoples’ literature, both reflecting this lineage and introducing an exciting, fresh new voice to the choir.” —Library Journal “As in the novels of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange, the chorus of voices—rendered in unadorned vernacular peppered with Indigenous words—evokes a close-knit Native community in all its varied humanity, anchored by tradition while marked by injustices past and present… Simply told and true to life.” —Kirkus Reviews “A masterwork of peripheral narration.” —Kirkus Reviews, "Best of 2022: A Year of the 'Fully Booked' Podcast" “Oscar Hokeah’s debut novel… reads like a Louise Erdrich novel. Yet, while this inspiration seems clear, Hokeah’s story is profoundly original.” —Chicago Review of Books “A moving symphony of voices, and a beautiful story about loss and belonging." —Book Riot “Hokeah's novel not only tells a story that is ultimately uplifting, but also immerses readers in Oklahoma's Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican communities… Ever and his family aren't looking for a way to define themselves within a larger national identity, but they are trying to pry their lives from the forces of generational trauma that shape their community.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “With beautiful prose and a deeply moving cast of characters, Calling for a Blanket Dance introduces Oscar Hokeah as an important and exciting new voice in literary fiction.”—Electric Literature “Speaking to a shared experience of many Indigenous peoples, this novel puts readers in the shoes of a people trying to make their way in a country that has stolen their place.” —Morning Brew’s Sidekick “A necessary and important addition to your TBR.” —The Young Folks “A coming-of-age tale that is uniquely Kiowa and Cherokee, and that celebrates connection, family and honor.” —Minnesota Public Radio / MPR News with Kerri Miller “A coming-of-age tale that is uniquely Kiowa and Cherokee, and that celebrates connection, family and honor.” —Minnesota Public Radio / MPR News with Kerri Miller “Riveting… Hokeah’s character’s work their way through and beyond so many obstacles. What emerges is an authentic cultural voice speaking on behalf of the many ways family bonds bend, break, and hold on forever.” —KCUR (Kansas NPR) / Up To Date “Filled with astonishing immediacy, and embellished with Hokeah’s authentic voice, these epic stories soar with indelible images of a proud, but challenged, people who find strength through their blood-lines and their enduring familial love. Some characters are so broken and bitter that I was moved to tears. But most characters persevere, and thrive, through the indomitable will and pride of their heritage. Hokeah has accomplished something unique here. In his quietly brilliant depiction of his Cherokee/Kiowa/ Mexican heritage he has dipped into his medicine bag and gifted us with a small but compelling masterpiece. This should be required reading for every American.” —Kiana Davenport, author of Shark Dialogues “The characters that populate Calling for a Blanket Dance are real, amazing, vulnerable and beautiful in their flaws and, even despair—Oscar Hokeah unveils their suffering and joy, their struggle to live with honor, care for family, walk right. What an accomplishment. Few writers have the courage or craft to pull this off. Oscar Hokeah beats the drum and stomps, announcing his power is back, the people have returned with powerful stories. He weaves a tale that is unforgettable and fortifying. I couldn’t put the book down.” —Jimmy Santiago Baca, author of A Place to Stand “Calling for a Blanket Dance is a stunning novel. Oscar Hokeah writes from deep inside the heart of his communities, bringing life to generations of voices who became so real to me they felt like relatives. The reader can’t help but invest in each character as they navigate bitter challenges, sometimes surprising themselves with their strength, their ability to survive and love. Hokeah’s prose gorgeously weaves authentic local vernacular with the lyrical notes of hard-won insight. This novel belongs on every recommended booklist for fans of literary fiction.” —Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer “Hokeah offers us a rich tapestry of interconnected narratives, a chorus of distinct voices battling against history, failing bodies, and barren landscapes. We move through decades, fall in love and despair with the Geimaussadle family. The scale and beauty reminds you of One Hundred Years of Solitude set in Oklahoma. Here’s a True American Epic.” —Gabriel Bump, author of Everywhere You Don’t Belong “As a plethora of voices accompany Ever Geimausaddle's upbringing, we learn of challenges and resilience, the multilingual language of hope and the grace of forgiveness. Their lives, tender and difficult, full of awe and learning, remind us that the borderlands are fluid regions where families have intermingled, overcome challenges, and danced together for centuries." —Cristina Rivera Garza, author of Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country “Oscar Hokeah is the real deal. A new voice with ancient music.” —Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels “Oscar Hokeah brings to life a kaleidoscope of characters from an unforgettable Native American family. His depiction of Indigenous cultures honors their strength of community with remarkable love and healing humor, sending out a vital drumbeat of hope for future generations.”—Christian Science Monitor “Calling for a Blanket Dance stitches an intergenerational quilt of rich themes… unassuming, accessible, and profound.”—PopMatters “[Calling for a Blanket Dance] crosses multiple generations and cultures, always with a generous eye, connecting every strand in an indelible vision.” —Spectrum Culture “Author Oscar Hokeah and narrator Rainy Fields both give vivid, emotional performances in this intergenerational drama… Together, Hokeah and Fields bring this multifaceted novel to life, drawing listeners into the messy web of community and family that Ever inhabits.”—AudioFile Magazine “A lyrical, unputdownable multigenerational tale rooted in family and love.” —Portland Public Library “Hokeah’s debut novel proves the impact of generational resilience—what it means to pass down knowledge, tradition, and values… What sets the novel apart from a collection is that the characters refuse to stand alone, choosing to quilt their stories together. Calling for a Blanket Dance becomes a blanket, and, just like the stitches that bind them, it’s the love for community that holds the novel together.”—World Literature Today “A compelling book about how our family shapes how we are seen and who we become... Honest and powerful, great storytelling.”—The Southern Bookseller Review “A collective story about familial bonds that readers won’t soon forget.”—Tribal College: The Journal of American Indian Higher Education “A story of love and resiliency that is hard to put down. Calling for a Blanket Dance is a novel sure to remind many readers of their own families, the individuality that each person brings, the crucial role that community plays, and our interconnection."—Latinx in Publishing “Generations of struggles, questions, and trauma all come to a head in the person of Ever Geimausaddle, the Native American protagonist of this far-reaching story by Oscar Hokeah. As Ever struggles to figure out his place in the world and what his future looks like, stories from his parents, grandparents, and other members of his community intertwine with his in a tale that reaches far beyond just one man’s life.”—LifeSavvyWinner of the PEN America/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel Finalist for the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize/Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction A TIME Must-Read Book of 2022 A BookPage Best Fiction Book of 2022 A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction and Best Debut Book of 2022 “With intricate prose and unflinching vernacular, Oscar Hokeah chronicles a family and a community. We learn trials and aspirations for each generation, and witness what is woven into complicated arrival. We need these characters and their testimonies. But more than that, we crave –I crave—this kind of honest storytelling. These rhythms. These dances. This beauty. This welcoming to a place where the people speak and are unafraid.” —Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois “A profound reflection on the intergenerational nature of cultural trauma… Hokeah’s characters exist at the intersection of Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican identity, which provides a vital exploration of indigeneity in contemporary American letters.” —The New York Times Book Review “Hokeah skillfully recreates the years leading up to and following Ever’s birth, capturing the traumas and complexities that shaped him into who he is and may determine who he becomes.” —TIME “Quaking with age-old righteous anger but nevertheless luminescent with hope.” —ELLE “Oscar Hokeah explores family and identity, past and present, in his debut novel… Above all, the book explores family relationships, obligation, resentment, and devotion.”—The Boston Globe “Hokeah’s prose is punchy and descriptive, filled with Native American words and phrases that come naturally to the characters. This blending of languages is still uncommon in contemporary fiction, but the current Indigenous literary and cultural renaissance promises that more voices will grow this singularity into a rich multitude. But of course, renaissance is the wrong word to use here. Hokeah, who is of Mexican heritage as well as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, shows that this tradition has been here the whole time, evolving and surviving.” —BookPage “This miraculous story presents a collective imagining not only of who its main character is, but who everyone else anticipated and dreamed he could become. It is a must-read.” — BuzzFeed “Drawing on a wealth of Indigenous tradition, Hokeah has produced in his debut a novel that underscores the quiet strength that arises when a family is true to its identity and the too common tragedy that results when identity is suppressed.” —The Millions “An auspicious debut . . . Recalling both Tommy Orange and Gabriel Garcia Marquez in its narrative structure . . . A book to deeply invest in.” —Chicago Review of Books “Remarkable.” —Shondaland “Told from a variety of voices, this story is one of love, loss, growth, tradition and evolution. Not to be missed.” —Ms. Magazine “[A] captivating debut . . . with striking insight into human nature and beautiful prose, this heralds an exciting new voice.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “What is wonderful about Hokeah’s debut is that each character gets to tell their own story, while also covering Ever’s life, who they each feel responsible for as part of their family and community. ... What we have with this book is a complete picture of one person as seen by others, and an entire community made up of Kiowa, Cherokee, and Mexican Americans, each with their own language, speech rhythms, and ways of seeing the world.” —Literary Hub “Hokeah’s debut will feel familiar to fans of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange . . . A novel that builds in richness and intricacy . . . Another noteworthy debut in what feels like an ongoing renaissance of Indigenous peoples’ literature, both reflecting this lineage and introducing an exciting, fresh new voice to the choir.” —Library Journal “As in the novels of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange, the chorus of voices—rendered in unadorned vernacular peppered with Indigenous words—evokes a close-knit Native community in all its varied humanity, anchored by tradition while marked by injustices past and present… Simply told and true to life.” —Kirkus Reviews “A masterwork of peripheral narration.” —Kirkus Reviews, "Best of 2022: A Year of the 'Fully Booked' Podcast" “Oscar Hokeah’s debut novel… reads like a Louise Erdrich novel. Yet, while this inspiration seems clear, Hokeah’s story is profoundly original.” —Chicago Review of Books “A moving symphony of voices, and a beautiful story about loss and belonging." —Book Riot “Hokeah's novel not only tells a story that is ultimately uplifting, but also immerses readers in Oklahoma's Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican communities… Ever and his family aren't looking for a way to define themselves within a larger national identity, but they are trying to pry their lives from the forces of generational trauma that shape their community.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “With beautiful prose and a deeply moving cast of characters, Calling for a Blanket Dance introduces Oscar Hokeah as an important and exciting new voice in literary fiction.”—Electric Literature “Speaking to a shared experience of many Indigenous peoples, this novel puts readers in the shoes of a people trying to make their way in a country that has stolen their place.” —Morning Brew’s Sidekick “A necessary and important addition to your TBR.” —The Young Folks “A coming-of-age tale that is uniquely Kiowa and Cherokee, and that celebrates connection, family and honor.” —Minnesota Public Radio / MPR News with Kerri Miller “A coming-of-age tale that is uniquely Kiowa and Cherokee, and that celebrates connection, family and honor.” —Minnesota Public Radio / MPR News with Kerri Miller “Riveting… Hokeah’s character’s work their way through and beyond so many obstacles. What emerges is an authentic cultural voice speaking on behalf of the many ways family bonds bend, break, and hold on forever.” —KCUR (Kansas NPR) / Up To Date “Filled with astonishing immediacy, and embellished with Hokeah’s authentic voice, these epic stories soar with indelible images of a proud, but challenged, people who find strength through their blood-lines and their enduring familial love. Some characters are so broken and bitter that I was moved to tears. But most characters persevere, and thrive, through the indomitable will and pride of their heritage. Hokeah has accomplished something unique here. In his quietly brilliant depiction of his Cherokee/Kiowa/ Mexican heritage he has dipped into his medicine bag and gifted us with a small but compelling masterpiece. This should be required reading for every American.” —Kiana Davenport, author of Shark Dialogues “The characters that populate Calling for a Blanket Dance are real, amazing, vulnerable and beautiful in their flaws and, even despair—Oscar Hokeah unveils their suffering and joy, their struggle to live with honor, care for family, walk right. What an accomplishment. Few writers have the courage or craft to pull this off. Oscar Hokeah beats the drum and stomps, announcing his power is back, the people have returned with powerful stories. He weaves a tale that is unforgettable and fortifying. I couldn’t put the book down.” —Jimmy Santiago Baca, author of A Place to Stand “Calling for a Blanket Dance is a stunning novel. Oscar Hokeah writes from deep inside the heart of his communities, bringing life to generations of voices who became so real to me they felt like relatives. The reader can’t help but invest in each character as they navigate bitter challenges, sometimes surprising themselves with their strength, their ability to survive and love. Hokeah’s prose gorgeously weaves authentic local vernacular with the lyrical notes of hard-won insight. This novel belongs on every recommended booklist for fans of literary fiction.” —Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer “Hokeah offers us a rich tapestry of interconnected narratives, a chorus of distinct voices battling against history, failing bodies, and barren landscapes. We move through decades, fall in love and despair with the Geimaussadle family. The scale and beauty reminds you of One Hundred Years of Solitude set in Oklahoma. Here’s a True American Epic.” —Gabriel Bump, author of Everywhere You Don’t Belong “As a plethora of voices accompany Ever Geimausaddle's upbringing, we learn of challenges and resilience, the multilingual language of hope and the grace of forgiveness. Their lives, tender and difficult, full of awe and learning, remind us that the borderlands are fluid regions where families have intermingled, overcome challenges, and danced together for centuries." —Cristina Rivera Garza, author of Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country “Oscar Hokeah is the real deal. A new voice with ancient music.” —Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels “Oscar Hokeah brings to life a kaleidoscope of characters from an unforgettable Native American family. His depiction of Indigenous cultures honors their strength of community with remarkable love and healing humor, sending out a vital drumbeat of hope for future generations.”—Christian Science Monitor “Calling for a Blanket Dance stitches an intergenerational quilt of rich themes… unassuming, accessible, and profound.”—PopMatters “[Calling for a Blanket Dance] crosses multiple generations and cultures, always with a generous eye, connecting every strand in an indelible vision.” —Spectrum Culture “Author Oscar Hokeah and narrator Rainy Fields both give vivid, emotional performances in this intergenerational drama… Together, Hokeah and Fields bring this multifaceted novel to life, drawing listeners into the messy web of community and family that Ever inhabits.”—AudioFile Magazine “A lyrical, unputdownable multigenerational tale rooted in family and love.” —Portland Public Library “Hokeah’s debut novel proves the impact of generational resilience—what it means to pass down knowledge, tradition, and values… What sets the novel apart from a collection is that the characters refuse to stand alone, choosing to quilt their stories together. Calling for a Blanket Dance becomes a blanket, and, just like the stitches that bind them, it’s the love for community that holds the novel together.”—World Literature Today “A compelling book about how our family shapes how we are seen and who we become... Honest and powerful, great storytelling.”—The Southern Bookseller Review “A collective story about familial bonds that readers won’t soon forget.”—Tribal College: The Journal of American Indian Higher Education “A story of love and resiliency that is hard to put down. Calling for a Blanket Dance is a novel sure to remind many readers of their own families, the individuality that each person brings, the crucial role that community plays, and our interconnection."—Latinx in Publishing “Generations of struggles, questions, and trauma all come to a head in the person of Ever Geimausaddle, the Native American protagonist of this far-reaching story by Oscar Hokeah. As Ever struggles to figure out his place in the world and what his future looks like, stories from his parents, grandparents, and other members of his community intertwine with his in a tale that reaches far beyond just one man’s life.”—LifeSavvy “Calling for a Blanket Dance stitches an intergenerational quilt of rich themes… unassuming, accessible, and profound.”—PopmattersWinner of the PEN America/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel Finalist for the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize/Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction A TIME Must-Read Book of 2022 A BookPage Best Fiction Book of 2022 A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction and Best Debut Book of 2022 “With intricate prose and unflinching vernacular, Oscar Hokeah chronicles a family and a community. We learn trials and aspirations for each generation, and witness what is woven into complicated arrival. We need these characters and their testimonies. But more than that, we crave –I crave—this kind of honest storytelling. These rhythms. These dances. This beauty. This welcoming to a place where the people speak and are unafraid.” —Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois “A profound reflection on the intergenerational nature of cultural trauma… Hokeah’s characters exist at the intersection of Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican identity, which provides a vital exploration of indigeneity in contemporary American letters.” —The New York Times Book Review “Hokeah skillfully recreates the years leading up to and following Ever’s birth, capturing the traumas and complexities that shaped him into who he is and may determine who he becomes.” —TIME “Quaking with age-old righteous anger but nevertheless luminescent with hope.” —ELLE “Oscar Hokeah explores family and identity, past and present, in his debut novel… Above all, the book explores family relationships, obligation, resentment, and devotion.”—The Boston Globe “Hokeah’s prose is punchy and descriptive, filled with Native American words and phrases that come naturally to the characters. This blending of languages is still uncommon in contemporary fiction, but the current Indigenous literary and cultural renaissance promises that more voices will grow this singularity into a rich multitude. But of course, renaissance is the wrong word to use here. Hokeah, who is of Mexican heritage as well as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, shows that this tradition has been here the whole time, evolving and surviving.” —BookPage “This miraculous story presents a collective imagining not only of who its main character is, but who everyone else anticipated and dreamed he could become. It is a must-read.” — BuzzFeed “Drawing on a wealth of Indigenous tradition, Hokeah has produced in his debut a novel that underscores the quiet strength that arises when a family is true to its identity and the too common tragedy that results when identity is suppressed.” —The Millions “An auspicious debut . . . Recalling both Tommy Orange and Gabriel Garcia Marquez in its narrative structure . . . A book to deeply invest in.” —Chicago Review of Books “Remarkable.” —Shondaland “Told from a variety of voices, this story is one of love, loss, growth, tradition and evolution. Not to be missed.” —Ms. Magazine “[A] captivating debut . . . with striking insight into human nature and beautiful prose, this heralds an exciting new voice.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “What is wonderful about Hokeah’s debut is that each character gets to tell their own story, while also covering Ever’s life, who they each feel responsible for as part of their family and community. ... What we have with this book is a complete picture of one person as seen by others, and an entire community made up of Kiowa, Cherokee, and Mexican Americans, each with their own language, speech rhythms, and ways of seeing the world.” —Literary Hub “Hokeah’s debut will feel familiar to fans of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange . . . A novel that builds in richness and intricacy . . . Another noteworthy debut in what feels like an ongoing renaissance of Indigenous peoples’ literature, both reflecting this lineage and introducing an exciting, fresh new voice to the choir.” —Library Journal “As in the novels of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange, the chorus of voices—rendered in unadorned vernacular peppered with Indigenous words—evokes a close-knit Native community in all its varied humanity, anchored by tradition while marked by injustices past and present… Simply told and true to life.” —Kirkus Reviews “A masterwork of peripheral narration.” —Kirkus Reviews, "Best of 2022: A Year of the 'Fully Booked' Podcast" “Oscar Hokeah’s debut novel… reads like a Louise Erdrich novel. Yet, while this inspiration seems clear, Hokeah’s story is profoundly original.” —Chicago Review of Books “A moving symphony of voices, and a beautiful story about loss and belonging." —Book Riot “Hokeah's novel not only tells a story that is ultimately uplifting, but also immerses readers in Oklahoma's Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican communities… Ever and his family aren't looking for a way to define themselves within a larger national identity, but they are trying to pry their lives from the forces of generational trauma that shape their community.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “With beautiful prose and a deeply moving cast of characters, Calling for a Blanket Dance introduces Oscar Hokeah as an important and exciting new voice in literary fiction.”—Electric Literature “Speaking to a shared experience of many Indigenous peoples, this novel puts readers in the shoes of a people trying to make their way in a country that has stolen their place.” —Morning Brew’s Sidekick “A necessary and important addition to your TBR.” —The Young Folks “A coming-of-age tale that is uniquely Kiowa and Cherokee, and that celebrates connection, family and honor.” —Minnesota Public Radio / MPR News with Kerri Miller “A coming-of-age tale that is uniquely Kiowa and Cherokee, and that celebrates connection, family and honor.” —Minnesota Public Radio / MPR News with Kerri Miller “Riveting… Hokeah’s character’s work their way through and beyond so many obstacles. What emerges is an authentic cultural voice speaking on behalf of the many ways family bonds bend, break, and hold on forever.” —KCUR (Kansas NPR) / Up To Date “Filled with astonishing immediacy, and embellished with Hokeah’s authentic voice, these epic stories soar with indelible images of a proud, but challenged, people who find strength through their blood-lines and their enduring familial love. Some characters are so broken and bitter that I was moved to tears. But most characters persevere, and thrive, through the indomitable will and pride of their heritage. Hokeah has accomplished something unique here. In his quietly brilliant depiction of his Cherokee/Kiowa/ Mexican heritage he has dipped into his medicine bag and gifted us with a small but compelling masterpiece. This should be required reading for every American.” —Kiana Davenport, author of Shark Dialogues “The characters that populate Calling for a Blanket Dance are real, amazing, vulnerable and beautiful in their flaws and, even despair—Oscar Hokeah unveils their suffering and joy, their struggle to live with honor, care for family, walk right. What an accomplishment. Few writers have the courage or craft to pull this off. Oscar Hokeah beats the drum and stomps, announcing his power is back, the people have returned with powerful stories. He weaves a tale that is unforgettable and fortifying. I couldn’t put the book down.” —Jimmy Santiago Baca, author of A Place to Stand “Calling for a Blanket Dance is a stunning novel. Oscar Hokeah writes from deep inside the heart of his communities, bringing life to generations of voices who became so real to me they felt like relatives. The reader can’t help but invest in each character as they navigate bitter challenges, sometimes surprising themselves with their strength, their ability to survive and love. Hokeah’s prose gorgeously weaves authentic local vernacular with the lyrical notes of hard-won insight. This novel belongs on every recommended booklist for fans of literary fiction.” —Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer “Hokeah offers us a rich tapestry of interconnected narratives, a chorus of distinct voices battling against history, failing bodies, and barren landscapes. We move through decades, fall in love and despair with the Geimaussadle family. The scale and beauty reminds you of One Hundred Years of Solitude set in Oklahoma. Here’s a True American Epic.” —Gabriel Bump, author of Everywhere You Don’t Belong “As a plethora of voices accompany Ever Geimausaddle's upbringing, we learn of challenges and resilience, the multilingual language of hope and the grace of forgiveness. Their lives, tender and difficult, full of awe and learning, remind us that the borderlands are fluid regions where families have intermingled, overcome challenges, and danced together for centuries." —Cristina Rivera Garza, author of Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country “Oscar Hokeah is the real deal. A new voice with ancient music.” —Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels “Oscar Hokeah brings to life a kaleidoscope of characters from an unforgettable Native American family. His depiction of Indigenous cultures honors their strength of community with remarkable love and healing humor, sending out a vital drumbeat of hope for future generations.”—Christian Science Monitor “Calling for a Blanket Dance stitches an intergenerational quilt of rich themes… unassuming, accessible, and profound.”—PopMatters “[Calling for a Blanket Dance] crosses multiple generations and cultures, always with a generous eye, connecting every strand in an indelible vision.” —Spectrum Culture “Author Oscar Hokeah and narrator Rainy Fields both give vivid, emotional performances in this intergenerational drama… Together, Hokeah and Fields bring this multifaceted novel to life, drawing listeners into the messy web of community and family that Ever inhabits.”—AudioFile Magazine “A lyrical, unputdownable multigenerational tale rooted in family and love.” —Portland Public Library “Hokeah’s debut novel proves the impact of generational resilience—what it means to pass down knowledge, tradition, and values… What sets the novel apart from a collection is that the characters refuse to stand alone, choosing to quilt their stories together. Calling for a Blanket Dance becomes a blanket, and, just like the stitches that bind them, it’s the love for community that holds the novel together.”—World Literature Today “A compelling book about how our family shapes how we are seen and who we become... Honest and powerful, great storytelling.”—The Southern Bookseller Review “A collective story about familial bonds that readers won’t soon forget.”—Tribal College: The Journal of American Indian Higher Education “A story of love and resiliency that is hard to put down. Calling for a Blanket Dance is a novel sure to remind many readers of their own families, the individuality that each person brings, the crucial role that community plays, and our interconnection."—Latinx in Publishing “Generations of struggles, questions, and trauma all come to a head in the person of Ever Geimausaddle, the Native American protagonist of this far-reaching story by Oscar Hokeah. As Ever struggles to figure out his place in the world and what his future looks like, stories from his parents, grandparents, and other members of his community intertwine with his in a tale that reaches far beyond just one man’s life.”—LifeSavvy “Calling for a Blanket Dance stitches an intergenerational quilt of rich themes… unassuming, accessible, and profound.”—Popmatters “[A]n electric debut… This is an honest, heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting book about the attempts of a young man to visualize a place for himself when the world hasn’t made room for him.”—The Daily Star“With intricate prose and unflinching vernacular, Oscar Hokeah chronicles a family and a community. We learn trials and aspirations for each generation, and witness what is woven into complicated arrival. We need these characters and their testimonies. But more than that, we crave –I crave—this kind of honest storytelling. These rhythms. These dances. This beauty. This welcoming to a place where the people speak and are unafraid.”—Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois“Calling for a Blanket Dance is a stunning novel. Oscar Hokeah writes from deep inside the heart of his communities, bringing life to generations of voices who became so real to me they felt like relatives. The reader can't help but invest in each character as they navigate bitter challenges, sometimes surprising themselves with their strength, their ability to survive and love. Hokeah's prose gorgeously weaves authentic local vernacular with the lyrical notes of hard-won insight. This novel belongs on every recommended booklist for fans of literary fiction.”—Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer?“With solid Tommy Orange vibes, the first novel from Oscar Hokeah is a coming-of-age tale told from a chorus of multigenerational voices . . . One to watch, for sure.”—BookPage, 2022 Preview: Most Anticipated Fiction​“With solid Tommy Orange vibes, the first novel from Oscar Hokeah is a coming-of-age tale told from a chorus of multigenerational voices . . . One to watch, for sure.”—BookPage, 2022 Preview: Most Anticipated Fiction“[A] captivating debut… With striking insight into human nature and beautiful prose, this heralds an exciting new voice.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review“Hokeah offers us a rich tapestry of interconnected narratives, a chorus of distinct voices battling against history, failing bodies, and barren landscapes. We move through decades, fall in love and despair with the Geimaussadle family. The scale and beauty reminds you of One Hundred Years of Solitude set in Oklahoma. Here’s a True American Epic.”—Gabriel Bump, author of Everywhere You Don’t Belong“The characters that populate Calling for a Blanket Dance are real, amazing, vulnerable and beautiful in their flaws and, even despair—Oscar Hokeah unveils their suffering and joy, their struggle to live with honor, care for family, walk right. What an accomplishment. Few writers have the courage or craft to pull this off. Hokeah beats the drum and stomps, announcing his power is back, the people have returned with powerful stories. He weaves a tale that is unforgettable and fortifying. I couldn't put the book down.”—Jimmy Santiago Baca, author of A Place to Stand“Oscar Hokeah is a storyteller for the ages. Wise and compassionate, Calling for a Blanket Dance is a gift. I couldn’t put it down.”—Debra Magpie Earling, author of Perma Red“Filled with astonishing immediacy, and embellished with Hokeah’s authentic voice, these epic stories soar with indelible images of a proud, but challenged, people who find strength through their blood-lines and their enduring familial love. Some characters are so broken and bitter that I was moved to tears. But most characters persevere, and thrive, through the indomitable will and pride of their heritage. Hokeah has accomplished something unique here. In his quietly brilliant depiction of his Cherokee/Kiowa/Mexican heritage he has dipped into his medicine bag and gifted us with a small but compelling masterpiece. This should be required reading for every American.”—Kiana Davenport, author of Shark Dialogues“Quaking with age-old righteous anger but nevertheless luminescent with hope.”—ELLE“Hokeah’s debut will feel familiar to fans of Louise Erdrich and Tommy Orange… A novel that builds in richness and intricacy… Another noteworthy debut in what feels like an ongoing renaissance of Indigenous peoples’ literature, both reflecting this lineage and introducing an exciting, fresh new voice to the choir.”—Library Journal“As a plethora of voices accompany Ever Geimausaddle's upbringing, we learn of challenges and resilience, the multilingual language of hope and the grace of forgiveness. Their lives, tender and difficult, full of awe and learning, remind us that the borderlands are fluid regions where families have intermingled, overcome challenges, and danced together for centuries."—Cristina Rivera Garza, author of Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country“Oscar Hokeah is the real deal. A new voice with ancient music.”—Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels

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Book SynopsisIn the early 1970s, in Stovall, Texas, seventeen-year-old Earl-a loner, a dreamer, a lover of music and words-meets and is quickly infatuated with Tina, the new girl in town. She convinces Earl to drive her to see her mother in Austin, where, after a hazy night of partying, Earl and Tina are separated. Two days later, Earl is being questioned by the police about Tina's disappearance and the blood in the trunk of his car. But Earl can't remember what happened in Austin, and with little support from his working-class family, he is sentenced for a crime he did not commit.Forty years later, Earl is released into an America so changed he can barely navigate it. Determined to have the life that was taken from him, he settles in a small town on the Oregon coast and works to overcome the emotional toll of incarceration. But just as Earl finds a chance to begin again, his past returns to endanger the new life he's built.Steeped in the music and atmosphere of the 1970s, I Am the Light of This World is a gritty, gripping, and gorgeously written story of the impulsive choices of youth, redemption, mercy, and the power of the imagination.Trade Review“I Am the Light of This World is as true and moving a book, as honest, as gripping, as any I have ever read. I continue to be haunted by this tragic novel--its note-perfect depiction of clueless youth, its bad breaks, bad choices, bewilderments and quirks, and, above all, the small moments of mercy that give hope in the midst of a hopeless situation. How do you piece together a broken life that wasn't much in the way of whole to begin with? With a career's worth of powerhouse fiction already in the books, Michael Parker has delivered his strongest work yet. I Am the Light of This World is a novel of truly singular beauty and wisdom.”—Ben Fountain, author of Beautiful Country Burn Again“I Am the Light of This World is as true and moving a book, as honest, as gripping, as any I have ever read. I continue to be haunted by this tragic novel--its note-perfect depiction of clueless youth, its bad breaks, bad choices, bewilderments and quirks, and, above all, the small moments of mercy that give hope in the midst of a hopeless situation. How do you piece together a broken life that wasn't much in the way of whole to begin with? With a career's worth of powerhouse fiction already in the books, Michael Parker has delivered his strongest work yet. I Am the Light of This World is a novel of truly singular beauty and wisdom.” —Ben Fountain, author of Beautiful Country Burn Again“Earl Boudreaux, the protagonist of Michael Parker's stunning new novel is one of the great inventions in recent fiction. Watching this beautiful dreamer get lost in a netherworld where fate, and drastic human error are disastrously intertwined, I realized that “Earl” is just another word for the hopeful, hopeless, yearning, worn-out soul of America. Parker is just flat out astonishing.” —Marisa Silver, bestselling author of Mary Coin and The Mysteries“I Am the Light of this World is a grimy, gutsy, glorious, novel and one of my favorite books in recent memory. Somehow, Michael Parker channeled the ghosts of Kent Haruf and Harry Crews (the good angel and the bad) to write this literary gem which is as lowdown and gritty as it is graceful and profound. An unforgettable novel that sings out on every page.”—Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Godspeed“I Am the Light of this World is a grimy, gutsy, glorious, novel and one of my favorite books in recent memory. Somehow, Michael Parker channeled the ghosts of Kent Haruf and Harry Crews (the good angel and the bad) to write this literary gem which is as lowdown and gritty as it is graceful and profound. An unforgettable novel that sings out on every page.” —Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Godspeed“A gut punch of a novel — lyrical, mordantly funny, and wrenching.” —Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble“A gut punch of a novel — lyrical, mordantly funny, and wrenching.”—Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble“From the opening sentence on, I was transfixed, locked into the phonic level of Earl’s world and somehow magically both rooted and flying. I don’t know how Michael Parker does it. There is the rhythm of the sentences and the deep attention to sensory details but there is also something even more ineffable going on here. This novel is incredible. Read it! Read it! Read it!”—Mesha Maren, author of Perpetual West“From the opening sentence on, I was transfixed, locked into the phonic level of Earl’s world and somehow magically both rooted and flying. I don’t know how Michael Parker does it. There is the rhythm of the sentences and the deep attention to sensory details but there is also something even more ineffable going on here. This novel is incredible. Read it! Read it! Read it!” —Mesha Maren, author of Perpetual West“Michael Parker’s latest is a haunting story of how easily life can go off the rails. This book made me thank my lucky stars on every riveting page, as it simultaneously had me outraged at the ravening gyre of uneven justice and circumstance. I Am the Light of ThisWorld finds Parker working in profundities both deeply spiritual and relevant.” —Smith Henderson, author of Fourth of July Creek

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Book SynopsisRecent Yale grad, Alice, wants to be close to her boyfriend in Paris, with enough space to sow a few oats. Rome fits, so off she goes. Her other goals? To make art and find a muse. Instead, she finds herself a muse to various men—including a TV-host dwarf, lonely banker, alcoholic playboy, aging prince, and the disillusioned Oscar-winning film director, Frank Colucci.The middle-aged Frank is in Rome to film the last of his famed movie series, but longs to get back to making art films. Alice, still wandering Rome, lost and confused, tumbles into Frank’s life, and he hires her as his philosophy tutor.Although at opposite poles of life with little in common—the bright but broke Alice is just getting started and has few prospects, and the married-with-kids Oscar-winner Frank bored and disillusioned—the two form a bond.Will this be an older, powerful man using his position to seduce a confused young woman, or something else entirely? And will Alice ever find her way?Trade Review"Marilee Albert’s roman a clef, The Tutor, is a charmingly lusty, hilariously funny, page-turner. This first-time novelist is clearly gifted. I can’t wait for more."—Jamie Rose, actress, author of Shut Up and Dance!"If you want to learn what really goes on behind the scenes of a glamorous star-studded Hollywood classic, shot in Rome by a world famous auteur, read Marilee Albert’s terrific The Tutor. It’s an education in itself on how showbiz works, and you will be very, very surprised.”—William Stadiem, author of Marilyn Monroe Confidential, Mr. S, and Jet Set"The Tutor is an astonishing first novel. Marilee Albert puts us in the shoes of a sexually awakening 21 year-old Yale philosophy major and ferries us from New Haven to Rome, meeting colorful characters along the way. So many trysts and turns, dollops Kant and Heidegger, we even get a peek behind the scenes of an iconic Hollywood mob movie shoot where our heroine tutors a famous director and learns even more in the process. Super smart, super sexy—a must read!”—Dottie Dartland Zicklin, Executice Producer, Younger"A perfect example of why every woman should start riffing on Heidegger in her stilettos. It cannot fail to enthrall even the most indomitable of men. A must read!"—Lauren Frances, bestselling author of Dating Mating and Manhandling: The Ornithological Guide to Men

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the National Book Award for FictionA wrenching debut about the causes and effects of poverty, as seen by a father and son living in a pickupEvicted from their trailer on New Year?s Eve, Henry and his son, Junior, have been reduced to living out of a pickup truck. Six months later, things are even more desperate. Henry, barely a year out of prison for pushing opioids, is down to his last pocketful of dollars, and little remains between him and the street. But hope is on the horizon: Today is Junior?s birthday, and Henry has a job interview tomorrow.To celebrate, Henry treats Junior to dinner at McDonald?s, followed by a night in a real bed at a discount motel. For a moment, as Junior watches TV and Henry practices for his interview in the bathtub, all seems well. But after Henry has a disastrous altercation in the parking lot and Junior succumbs to a fever, father and son are sent into the night, struggling to hold things together and make it through tomorrow.In an ingenious structural approach, Jakob Guanzon organizes Abundance by the amount of cash in Henry?s pocket. A new chapter starts with each debit and credit, and the novel expands and contracts, revealing the extent to which the quality of our attention is altered by the abundance?or lack thereof?that surrounds us. Set in an America of big-box stores and fast food, this incandescent debut novel trawls the fluorescent aisles of Walmart and the booths of Red Lobster to reveal the inequities and anxieties around work, debt, addiction, incarceration, and health care in America today.

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Book SynopsisThe shimmering, windswept first novel by the internationally acclaimed author of Out Stealing Horses. Echoland is the powerful and emotionally resonant first novel from Per Petterson. Written in the mold of his early story collection Ashes in My Mouth, Sand in My Shoes, it features a young Arvid Janssen, who is now twelve, on the verge of his teenage years and beginning to understand more about the world and his place in it. Set over the course of a single formative summer, the novel captures a series of episodes from Arvid's long visit to his grandparents' home in Denmark. He rides his bike around town, befriends other children on the beach, fishes for plaice, and weathers misunderstandings with his mother and grandparents, all of which Petterson imbues with the hope and yearning that come with this stage of life. Echoland is an assured and poignant beginning for an authorand characterwho would go on to be loved the world over.

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