Sorrowland

Sorrowland

Summary

"A wonderland of fantastical and frightening, magical and real." Marlon James
"A fantastical, fierce reckoning... Sorrowland is gorgeous." Roxanne Gay
"Dark, magical and incredibly satisfying." Independent
"An exhilarating journey to the outer limits of science fiction." Guardian.

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Vern, a hunted woman alone in the woods, gives birth to twins and raises them
away from the influence of the outside world. But something is wrong - not with
them, but with her own body. It's changing, it's itching, it's stronger, it's... not
normal.


To understand her body's metamorphosis, Vern must investigate not just the
secluded religious compound she fled but the violent history of dehumanization,
medical experimentation, and genocide that produced it. In the course of
reclaiming her own darkness, Vern learns that monsters aren't just individuals,
but entire histories, systems, and nations.


Sorrowland is a memorable work of Gothic fiction that wrestles with the tangled
history of racism in America and the marginalisation of society's undesirables. It
is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in
American fiction.

Reviews

  • A fantastical, fierce reckoning ... Sorrowland is gorgeous, and the writing, the storytelling, are magnificent. This country has a dark history of what it's willing to do to black bodies, and Rivers Solomon lays that truth bare in a most unexpected, absolutely brilliant way.
    Roxane Gay

About the author

Rivers Solomon

Rivers Solomon writes about life in the margins, where they are much at home. In addition to appearing on the Stonewall Honor List and winning a Firecracker Award, Solomon's debut novel, An Unkindness of Ghosts, was a finalist for Lambda, Hurston/Wright, Otherwise (formerly Tiptree), and Locus Awards. Solomon's second book, The Deep, based on the Hugo-nominated song by the Daveed Diggs–fronted hip-hop group clipping, was the winner of the 2020 Lambda Award and was short-listed for the Nebula, Locus, Hugo, Ignyte, Brooklyn Library Literary, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Awards. Their work appears in Black Warrior Review, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Guernica, Best American Short Stories, Tor.com, Best American Horror and Dark Fantasy, and elsewhere. A refugee of the transatlantic slave trade, Solomon was born on Turtle Island but currently resides on an isle in an archipelago off the western coast of the Eurasian continent.
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