JULY

Ruchika Tomar, A Prayer for Travelers
Riverhead, July 9, 2019

The Nevada-set debut novel from California writer Tomar is an indelible portrait of love, grief, and trauma. When Cale, a bookish loner raised by an ailing grandfather, reconnects with Penélope Reyes, a charismatic former classmate and all-around hustler, the two girls become inseparable—until one shocking act of violence upends their world. When Penny suddenly disappears, an already grieving Cale must set off on a dangerous trek across the desert to find her friend. (DS)

Selva Almada, The Wind That Lays Waste
Graywolf Press, July 9

Set over the course of a single, long day, Selva Almada’s debut novel The Wind That Lays Waste explores the tensions and connections that ebb and flow between people in a dire situation. The novel tells the story of Reverend Pearson, who is evangelizing across the Argentinian countryside with his daughter Leni when their car breaks down. The pair end up in the home of an aging mechanic named Gringo Bauer and a young boy named Tapioca. Through it all, a storm grows and finally bursts across the plain, forcing curiosity, intrigue, and eventually a sort of intimacy, to grow between these four characters. (MK)

Rawi Hage, Beirut Hellfire Society
W. W. Norton, July 16

Beirut, 1978. Pavlov’s father has just died, and Pavlov has inherited his undertaking business. Soon he is visited by a member of the Hellfire Society, a group that, among other things, arranges burials for those who have been denied them on grounds of religion or sexuality. Pavlov must take over for his father and bear witness to life, death, and other atrocities. (ET)

Lisa Sandlin, The Bird Boys
Cinco Puntos, July 16

In Sandlin’s second to feature her ex-con-turned-private-eye Delpha and her sympathetic boss Phelan, the two take on a case involving blood, brothers, and Beaumont’s darkest secrets. The Texan on staff is confident in saying that Lisa Sandlin’s series is the best thing to ever come out of Beaumont. You don’t believe me? Take a visit there. And try to breathe. (MO)

Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys
Doubleday, July 16, 2019

Even this far out I think it’s safe to say that The Nickel Boys—Colson Whitehead’s follow-up to the bestselling, critically acclaimed, prize circuit-dominating juggernaut that was The Underground Railroad—will be one of the most talked about books of 2019. The novel, sure to be another trenchant and compelling examination of racism and brutality in America, is the story of two young boys in Jim Crow-era Florida—one idealistic and hopeful, the other jaded and skeptical—sentenced to serve time in nightmarish reform school staffed by sadistic guards and corrupt officials, and the lives they go on to lead when they emerge from this crucible. (DS)

Maria Dahvana Headley, Beowulf: A New Translation
MCD x FSG Originals, July 23, 2019

It hasn’t been that long since I read Maria Dahvana Headley’s The Mere Wife, a searing feminist reimagining of Beowulf and I’m already hungry for more. If you’re one of the many people who feel the same way, there’s excellent news—among 2019’s literary offerings is a new translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahvana Headley. The new translation will highlight elements of the epic poem that are rarely brought to light, transforming it from a story of heroes and monsters into something far more complex. I was lucky enough to attend an event where Maria Dahvana Headley revealed that the translation also grapples with machismo and bro culture in the epic poem, and that it opens with the word, “Bro.” That’s enough of a hook for me, and as far as I’m concerned, July and the radical new Beowulf can’t come soon enough. (MK)