Description

* Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2020 *

* One of Barack Obama’s “Favourite Books of the Year” *

* A New York Times Critics’ Top Books of 2019 *

‘A superb book’ Max Porter, author of Lanny
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Stories of a young man finding his place among family and community in Houston, from a powerful, emerging American voice.

In an apartment block, the son of a black mother and a Latino father is coming of age. He’s working at his family’s restaurant, trying to dodge his brother’s fists and resenting his older sister’s absence. He’s also discovering he likes boys…

All around him his friends and neighbours experience the tumult of living in the margins. Their stories – of living, thriving and dying across the city’s myriad neighbourhoods – are stitched throughout the boy’s life to reveal a young woman caught out in an affair, the fortunes of a rag-tag baseball team and a group of young hustlers, a local drug dealer who takes a Guatemalan teen under his wing, and the fate of a camera-shy mythical beast. With brilliant and soulful insight into what makes a community, a family and a life, Lot is about love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms.

Publisher Review

Ambitious but never forced... Washington makes the place sing with his sharp, rap-style lyricism. * Irish Times * Visceral and raw... beautifully delicate prose... A terrific read! * Irish Times * Compassionate, observant, tough; often funny, always authentic * The Big Issue * Brutal, raw and blisteringly brilliant... Outstanding. * Attitude * Stellar... a remarkable collection from a writer to watch. * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review * [F]unny, sad, wise & very alive in the best way * Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Sisterland (Twitter) * Lot belongs foremost to its characters, who ask to be remembered, even long after their pages have turned. * Paris Review * Extraordinary * Southern Living * Empathetic and honest, tender and brutal at once, Lot quips with humour and explores grief and each stop in between. Lot feels like a living, breathing book... As debuts go, these characters and prose leap from the page. * Heather McDaid, The Skinny * Washington's debut reads like a love letter to Houston * New York Times * Depicts its author's hometown of Houston with empathy, tragedy, and exceptional specificity * Entertainment Weekly * Will stay with you for a very long time... powerful * Jamel Brinkley, author of 'A Lucky Man' * Raw, empathic and wise... achingly intimate and brilliantly panoramic * Stefan Merrill Block, author of 'The Story of Forgetting' * A thrilling new voice in American fiction and one to watch * Amelia Gray, author of 'Isadora' * Raw, soulful and moving * Jami Attenberg, author of 'The Middlesteins' * Unflinching... a prodigious talent. * Mat Johnson, author of 'Loving Day' and 'Pym' * A brilliant display of raw talent * Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of 'Here Comes the Sun' * Generous, powerful, deeply engrossing * R.O. Kwon, author of 'The Incendiaries' * Lot spills over with life - funny, tender, and profane * Entertainment Weekly * Phenomenal * Justin Torres, author of 'We the Animals' * Washington's prose sings with vibrancy * The Rumpus * Washington cracks open a vibrant, polyglot side of Houston about which few outsiders are aware * New York Times * Stunning... one of the strongest literary debuts in several years. * NPR * A treat and an inspiration to witness * Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous * A superb book * Max Porter, author of 'Lanny' * Gut-wrenching and powerful * Cosmopolitan * Enthralling... Subtle but bruising * Guardian * Audacious... Profound * New York Times *