First published 2021
A boy walks alongside his father through New Orleans streets, searching for work after prison release. Across the city, a couple hits financial rock bottom and turns to crime. An elderly woman who has lived in NOLA for generations battles to keep her house. Under a bridge, an Army veteran and a runaway teenager find unexpected companionship in shared homelessness. In the French Quarter, a young man works street corners, chasing a freedom that seems designed to exclude him. When Hurricane Katrina's waters rise, men race through flooding neighborhoods, desperate to reach an elderly gentleman before the storm does. These interconnected lives reveal New Orleans through its margins, where survival demands creativity and community forms in unlikely places. Each story captures the particular rhythms of New Orleanian culture while exploring universal struggles for dignity, connection, and belonging.
Genres: literary-fiction, family-life, contemporary, social-issues, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, interconnected-stories
Setting: New Orleans
Period: 21st-century
240 pages · Hardcover · One World