The novel truly
becomes novel again in Luiselli’s hands—electric, elastic,
alluring, new.” --Parul Sehgal, The New York Times
"Impossibly
smart, full of beauty, heart and insight . . . Everyone should read
this book." --Tommy Orange
From the two-time
NBCC Finalist, an emotionally resonant, fiercely imaginative new
novel about a family whose road trip across America collides with an
immigration crisis at the southwestern border--an indelible journey
told with breathtaking imagery, spare lyricism, and profound
humanity.
A mother and father
set out with their two children, a boy and a girl, driving from New
York to Arizona in the heat of summer. Their destination: Apacheria,
the place the Apaches once called home.
"Why Apaches?", asks
the ten-year-old son. Because they were the last of something,
answers his father.
In their car, they
play games and sing along to music. But on the radio, there is news
about an "immigration crisis": thousands of kids trying to
cross the southwestern border into the United States, but getting
detained--or lost in the desert along the way.
As the family
drives--through Virginia to Tennessee, across Oklahoma and Texas--we
sense they are on the brink of a crisis of their own. A fissure is
growing between the parents, one the children can almost feel beneath
their feet. They are led, inexorably, to a grand, harrowing
adventure--both in the desert landscape and within the chambers of
their own imaginations.
Told through several
compelling voices, blending texts, sounds, and images, Lost Children
Archive is an astonishing feat of literary virtuosity. It is a richly
engaging story of how we document our experiences, and how we
remember the things that matter to us the most. With urgency and
empathy, it takes us deep into the lives of one remarkable family as
it probes the nature of justice and equality today.