Sorrowland: A Novel Hardcover – May 4, 2021 by Rivers Solomon

Description

Author: Solomon Rivers

Brand: MCD

Package Dimensions: 35x215x481

Number Of Pages: 368

Release Date: 04-05-2021

Details: Product Description
A TIME 100 Must-Read Book of 2021A New York Times Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of 2021The Stonewall Book Award winner of 2022Named a Best Book of 2021 by NPR, The New York Public Library, Publishers Weekly and more!A triumphant, genre-bending breakout novel from one of the boldest new voices in contemporary fiction. Vern―seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised―flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world. But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes.To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future―outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it.Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland is a genre-bending work of Gothic fiction. Here, monsters aren’t just individuals, but entire nations. It is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in American fiction.
Amazon.com Review
Rivers Solomon’s writing talent comes on like a firehose in this genre-bending Gothic tale. When Vern flees Cainland, the religious cult where she was raised, she is pregnant and desperate, but she might also finally be on the path to freedom. She gives birth to twins, raising them deep in the forest, until a confrontation with a being she calls “the fiend”—who has been haunting her for years—drives her to leave the forest and seek answers about her past. You will not meet a more memorable protagonist than Vern; this young Black albino intersex mother lights up the novel. So does Rivers Solomon’s writing.
Sorrowland is literature, horror, and fantasy—and the ideas and imagery packed into this book could fill half a dozen other novels. At times, it felt like Solomon was only just holding on to the reins of the story, and as a reader I found it thrilling to discover where that could lead.
—Chris Schluep, Amazon Book Review
Review
“Sorrowland is a tremendous, riveting work, sinking long, deep roots into the nightmare soil of American history in order to grow and feed something new.” ―Amal El-Mohtar, The New York Times Book Review”Sorrowland [is] a gothic techno-thriller in which the trauma of the past is parried with defiance and a thirst for understanding, as embodied by an electrifying young hero.” ―Hephzibah Anderson, The Guardian“Sorrowland is a fully engrossing story that fully embraces its characters and beautifully engages with their lived experiences of gender, queerness, disability, racialization, power and corruption, and relationship with the land.” ―Sarah Neilson, Shondaland “If you’ve read Rivers Solomon’s previous work, you’ll be familiar with their fearless explorations of transformation, identity, oppression and power, and Sorrowland continues this investigation with fantastic, terrifying sci-fi brilliance.” ―Karla Strand, Ms. “Sorrowland is a powerful story about motherhood, survival, and the cruel treatment of Black bodies.” ―Taiwo Balogun, Marie Claire “Riveting and harrowing . . . This novel vividly portrays how Black bodies have been used for unethical experiments while it also celebrates queer love, motherhood, and vengeance. It’s gorgeously written and sure to be one of my favorite books of the year.” ―Margaret Kingsbury, Buzzfeed“A story you simply won’t see coming. You might think you’ve figured out the pillars of its structure after a few chapters, or come to truly understand its protagonist after walking a few dozen pages with her, but to read this powerful, moving and terrifying novel is to enter into a constant state of change.