*Winner of the Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction*
A Heartland Booksellers Award Nominee
An NPR Best Book of the Year
A BookPage Best Book of the Year
A Library Journal Best Winter/Spring Debut of 2020
A Most Anticipated Book of 2020 from the Boston Globe and The Millions
A Best Book of February 2020 at Salon, The Millions, LitHub and Vol 1. Brooklyn
“A stunner—equal parts epic and intimate, thrilling and elegiac.”—Laura Van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel
The mesmerizing story of a Latin American science fiction writer and the lives her lost manuscript unites decades later in post-Katrina New Orleans
In 1929 in New Orleans, a Dominican immigrant named Adana Moreau writes a science fiction novel. The novel earns rave reviews, and Adana begins a sequel. Then she falls gravely ill. Just before she dies, she destroys the only copy of the manuscript.
Decades later in Chicago, Saul Drower is cleaning out his dead grandfather’s home when he discovers a mysterious manuscript written by none other than Adana Moreau. With the help of his friend Javier, Saul tracks down an address for Adana’s son in New Orleans, but as Hurricane Katrina strikes they must head to the storm-ravaged city for answers.
What results is a brilliantly layered masterpiece—an ode to home, storytelling and the possibility of parallel worlds.
© 2003-2024