Description

New Orleans, 1853. A young Zapotec man named Benito Juarez disembarks at a fetid port city at the edge of a swamp along with a small group of fellow political exiles from Mexico. Later, in 1858, he is to become the first indigenous Mexican president, but now he is as anonymous and invisible as any other migrant to the roiling and alluring city. He falls in love with the music and food, but unavoidable, too, is the trade in human beings.

A magnificent work of speculative history and a love letter to New Orleans.

‘One of the most original and prodigiously gifted writers at work today.’ Katie Kitamura

Publisher Review

‘As glorious and messy as the best New Orleans gumbo, the novel comes together as Herrera vividly depicts the chaos of Mardi Gras. It’s a triumph.’ Publishers Weekly, starred review ‘A sense of wonder and play, linguistic curiosity, and a knack for being both morbid and funny, contribute to an absorbingly pleasurable read, even amid the death and tragedy. Herrera offers another brilliant novella steeped in political and historical time and place.’ Julia Kastner, Shelf Awareness ‘The always thrilling and always remarkable Yuri Herrera has outdone himself here: reading Season of the Swamp is like being thrown into deep water only to open your eyes and find a haunting and haunted world, one full of magic and beauty, exiles and outsiders, longing and song. I didn’t want to surface – here I am still, in its great, brilliant light.’ Paul Yoon ‘Told in Herrera’s typically sparkling, form-exploding language, this one is screaming “modern epic.”‘ Brittany Allen, Literary Hub ‘This work of speculative fiction takes up a centuries-old mystery involving a young Benito Juarez, who was Mexico’s first Indigenous president, and his relatively unknown 18-month exile in New Orleans. Herrera imagines a colourful life during a turbulent time in a culturally radiant city at the edge of a swamp.’ Wilson Wong, New York Times ‘Virtuosic. . . . The Juarez that Herrera conjures with his muscular prose – translated with bravura by Lisa Dillman . . . is above all a pair of eyes and ears. He’s an observer alive to the world, endowed with the foreigner’s curiosity and the subaltern’s ironic scepticism.’ Nicolas Medina Mora, New York Times Book Review ‘Richly imagined, profusely written.’ Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal ‘The New Orleans depicted here is carnivalesque, and the surreal spectacle of bear fights, spontaneous parades, and clandestine meetings, added to Benito’s colourful dreams about liberation and justice, give the story a vibrant, almost hallucinatory feel. . . . A thoughtful portrait of one revolutionary’s remarkable resilience, far from home.’ Kirkus Reviews