The Algonquin Reader

Genres: Literary Fiction

Synopsis

Get an inside look at Algonquin’s outstanding forthcoming fiction with the Spring 2018 Algonquin Reader. Discover the inspiration behind each book through an original essay by the author. Then enjoy a short preview of each novel. The books featured in this issue are:

The Optimistic Decade by Heather Abel
On Sale May 2018

Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories by Kelly Barnhill
On Sale February 2018

Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
On Sale April 2018

Remind Me Again What Happened by Joanna Luloff
On Sale June 2018

The Price of the Haircut: Stories by Brock Clarke
On Sale March 2018

Southernmost by Silas House
On Sale June 2018

Cover illustration by Mark Hoffmann.

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Print pages: 52

Sample

Dear Reader,

Our Spring 2018 list reminds us of literature’s steadying power in times of turmoil. After all, every work of fiction is fueled by conflict, but with their wit, heart, and insight into the human condition, these writers inspire hope, laughter, and empathy. In this issue of the Algonquin Reader, each fiction author contributes an essay discussing the inspiration behind his or her book. A short excerpt from the novel or story collection follows each essay.

The Optimistic Decade—hailed as “perceptive, funny, and utterly original” by Nathan Hill, author of The Nix—takes us to a piece of land in the Colorado Rockies that changes everyone who lives on it. Perfect for fans of Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings, Heather Abel’s impressive debut explores the complexities of idealism through five unforgettable characters and a wildly unpredictable, rewarding narrative.

You might remember Kelly Barnhill as the 2017 Newbery Medal–winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon. We could not be more excited that she has written a book of short fiction for adult readers: Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories. This stunning collection of acclaimed stories features bold, reality-bending fantasy underscored by universal themes. No wonder Barnhill has been called “a fantasist on the order of Neil Gaiman” (Minneapolis Star Tribune).

Jonathan Evison is back with a hilarious and surprising story of a young Chicano pursuing the American Dream. For fans of the works of Richard Russo and Matthew Quick, Lawn Boy is, as author Kristin Hannah praised, “at once a vibrant coming-of-age novel and a sharp commentary on class.” As you’ll see in his essay here, Evison is not only a virtuoso with a push mower; he’s also adept at making the reader laugh, cry, and completely empathize with his compelling characters.

In Joanna Luloff’s debut novel, much of Claire’s memory is erased after she contracts a rare illness. With the help of her husband, Charlie, and their best friend, Rachel, Claire attempts to piece her life back together, but she senses a mystery at the center of her fragmented past. As bestselling author Dan Chaon said, Remind Me Again What Happened “is both a haunting mystery story and a beautiful meditation on the questions of what, exactly, identity, love, and friendship are made up of.”

With The Price of the Haircut, Brock Clarke, bestselling author of An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England, returns with a smart, entertaining, and just plain brilliant book of short stories, perfect for fans of Tenth of December. No one writes absurdity like Clarke does, and no time but the present could be more appropriate for the release of this strange and wonderful collection.

In Southernmost, award-winning author Silas House delivers an arresting story about judgment, courage, and compassion. Asher Sharp, an evangelical preacher in rural Tennessee, offers shelter to two gay men after a catastrophic flood. This sets in motion a sequence of events that send Asher and his son on a journey to the Florida Keys, after which they will be forever changed. For fans of Garth Greenwell and Ron Rash, Southernmost illustrates our ability to break through the confines of intolerance and hate and move toward dignity, understanding, and grace.

We hope you enjoy these talented, dynamic voices and their entertaining works. Thanks for turning our pages.

The Algonquin Staff

Something Wrong

— AN ESSAY BY —

Heather Abel

“Class of ’36, I guess we did something wrong.”

I was in college when I first read that sentence, and its author—my grandmother—had just died. She’d been charismatic and uncompromising, equally critical of capitalism and sentimentality. In her life as a Westchester housewife/radical leftist, she’d planned protests, played tennis, and published mystery novels. When her children were grown, she moved to Manhattan, waking every morning at five to walk briskly around Central Park (mugged only a few times), spending the rest of the day writing and tending the ivy she’d planted to beautify the trees along her block. Every Saturday she organized against US atrocities in Central America.

Days before she died in 1992, she dictated the final paragraph of her eighteenth book to my mother while attached to an IV, a blood transfusion, and oxygen. The book was, she explained, the first in a new series she planned to write. At her memorial, a week later, held in a classroom at Barnard College, her five children yelled and laughed and interrupted one another. She’d taught them to rebel against society’s mawkish ceremonies, like memorial services, as well as its unjust institutions. Her children all inherited her radical politics, and they raised us, her twelve grandchildren, in the same mode. You can be anything, they joked, as long as it’s a public defender.. . .