2021-03-08 Publishers Weekly

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Review_FICTION

Sasha is presumed to be the sole leader.
The author conveys Sasha’s dilemma in
rich prose and haunting images, using a
finely honed satirical lens. This notable
debut makes hay with the miasma of
contemporary culture. Agent: Marya
Spence, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (May)

Girl in the Walls
A.J. Gnuse. Ecco, $27.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-
06-303180-7
A young girl hides in her childhood
home in Gnuse’s disquieting debut. After
11-year-old Elise’s parents die in a car
accident, shortly after the New Orleans
family had moved to a new house, she runs
away from a foster home to her old house
on the West Bank. There, she hides in var-
ious crawl spaces, surviving on dry cereal
and snacks pilfered from the new residents,
the Masons, while they are away or asleep.
The two sons, antisocial, sensitive 12-year-
old Eddie and gruff 16-year-old Marshall,
suspect something is going on, but their
busy parents rebuff them. Meanwhile, a
younger boy, Brody, from the other side of
the levee, shows up at the house one day.
Initially Elise hopes Brody will be caught
by the Masons, pinning their suspicions of
an intruder on him, but eventually she
befriends him. When the Mason parents
leave for a weekend, Marshall and Eddie
contact Jonah Traust, a man Marshall met
through an online forum, to help them
search the house. The shaky premise doesn’t
quite convince, but Gnuse builds a good
deal of tension as the story reaches its
climax, involving a dangerous Jonah and
even more dangerous hurricane. This vivid
if melodramatic novel is worth a look.
Agent: Amelia Atlas, ICM Partners. (May)

Swimming Back to Trout River
Linda Rui Feng. Simon & Schuster, $26
(272p) ISBN 978-1-982129-39-2
Feng’s striking debut novel (after the
nonfiction work City of Marvel and
Transformation) chronicles what happens

to a young Chinese family in the wake of

the Cultural Revolution. In 1981, five-

year-old Junie, who was born without

legs, is sent to live with her grandparents

in Trout River, a small village. Junie’s

father, Momo, has left China for America

to seek a better future, with her mother,

Cassia, due to follow. Both parents bear

the weight of the Cultural Revolution:

Momo sacrificed his dreams of becoming

a violinist and his friendship with fellow

musician Dawn, whose own story forms a

minor plotline, while Cassia witnessed the

horrifying death of a man she loved while

under interrogation by revolutionaries.

The novel traces the adults’ attempts to

seek reconciliation within themselves and

with each other, while Junie’s closeness

with her grandparents—and ensuing

determination to remain in Trout River

despite her father’s wishes—lends brief

but emotional drama. Feng captures

humor and grief in equal measures, such

as a scene with an airport security official

who mistakes the ashes of Cassia’s still-

born boy for “baby powder,” and she ele-

gantly references Chinese concepts of fate

and luck while building toward a poignant

conclusion. This resonates from page one.

Agent: Caroline Eisenmann, Frances Goldin

Literary Agency. (May)

Angel & Hannah

Ishle Yi Park. One World, $18 trade paper

(192p) ISBN 978-0-593-13432-0

Poet Park (The Temperature of This

Danny Adams

Allen Appel

Gilcy Aquino

Leah Bobet

William Boisvert

Leigh Chandler

Nicola Cheong

Oline H. Cogdill

Stephanie Cohen

Hilary Kayle Crist

Nora E. Derrington

John DiBello

Glen Downey

Christina Eng

Bareerah Yousuf Ghani

Sara Grochowski

Marene Gustin

Patricia Guy

Tim Hennessy

Mary M. Jones

Michael M. Jones

Rob Kirby

Gary M. Kramer

Pam Lambert

Rose LeGrone

Mary Margaret Locker

Kaitlin López

Elyse Martin

JW McCormack

Alice A. McMurtry

Sheri Melnick

Elizabeth Morse

Olivia Morris

Julie Naughton

Dai Newman

Eric Norton

Nora Ostrofe

Leonard Picker

Norah Piehl

Isabella Pilotta Gois

Gwyn Plummer

Michael Quinn

Eugene Reynolds

Joseph L. Sanders

Alexandra Sanidad

Antonia Saxon

Liz Scheier

Matthew Seidel

Kira Sexton

Suzanne Shablovsky

Will Swarts

Erin Talbert

Marta Tandori

Sydney Weinberg

Erica Wetter

Kerine Wint

Erika Wurth

Eris Young

Ira Zarov

Cady Zeng

Our Reviewers

▲

★ The Other Black Girl

Zakiya Dalila Harris. Atria, $27 (368p) ISBN 978-1-982160-13-5

H

arris debuts with a dazzling, darkly humorous story

about the publishing industry and the challenges

faced by a Black employee. Nella Rogers, an

overworked editorial assistant, navigates white

privilege and microaggressions as the only Black

person in her department at New York City trade

publisher Wagner Books. That is until the arrival of chic

Hazel-May McCall. Nella withstands being mistaken

for Hazel, “the Other Black Girl,” and reviewing a

problematic manuscript written by a bestselling white

author with horribly one-dimensional depictions of a

Black single mom. Many of the company’s higher-ups

have the trappings of material success (Ivy League pedigrees, renovated summer

homes), and their attempts to cultivate diversity fall flat, notably with the publisher’s

“Diversity Town Halls” and its sheepish attempts to deal with racism (“the elephant

in the room,” Harris writes, “No one really knew what the elephant was. Or where

the elephant was”). When Nella receives an anonymous note reading “Leave Wagner.

Now,” her hopes for a career at the company begin to crumble. Meanwhile, Hazel,

seemingly undeterred by office politics, is not the ally she appears to be. While the

novel overflows with witty dialogue and skillfully drawn characters, its biggest

strength lies in its penetrating critique of gatekeeping in the publishing industry

and the deleterious effects it can have on Black editors. This insightful, spellbinding

book packs a heavy punch. Agent: Stephanie Delman, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (June)