The Magpie's Return

by Curtis Smith, Peter Wright (Editor)

Overview

Kayla perceives her world in vectors and variables, in quantities given and determined. She's a prodigy. A genius. Yet there are equations she can't solve.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781947041615
Publisher:	Running Wild Press
Publication date:	08/01/2020
Edition description:	First edition
Pages:	380
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Curtis Smith has published over one hundred stories and essays, and his work has been cited by or included in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best American Spiritual Writing, The Best Small Fictions,and the Norton anthology New Micro. His books include five story collections, two essay collections, and a book of creative nonfiction. The Magpie's Return is his fifth novel.

Editorial Reviews

"The Magpie's Return is one of the most original novels I've read in a long while. Curtis Smith's prose is kinetic and supple, and I found the narrative gripping from the outset. This is very much a book for these times, by a writer of considerable gifts. I urgently recommend it."-Steve Yarbrough, author of The Unmade World

"Curtis Smith is that rare writer who can tell a harrowing tale while honoring a love stronger than hurt. The Magpie's Return is a wild ride, a cry from the heart, and a remarkable achievement." -- Charles Holdefer, acclaimed author and Pushcart Prize winner.

"An affecting futuristic tale that manages to feel both urgent and timeless." -- Kirkus Reviews, Starred review. Named best of July 2020.

From the Publisher

★ 2020-04-30
A gifted girl finds her life thrown into chaos during a period of societal upheaval in this dystopian literary novel.

Math prodigy Kayla sticks out from the herd. The middle schooler takes high school calculus classes while generally trying to avoid being victimized by her peers. The rest of the country is not much friendlier than her middle school, particularly since the rise of Arthur McNally and his populist, anti-intellectual movement based on exclusionary Christian nationalism. After McNally wins the presidency and Russia and the nations of Asia destroy themselves in a nuclear war, America is forced to undergo “The Great Shut-In” until radiation levels return to normal. During the resulting social unrest, Kayla’s professor father becomes involved in the Movement, a nonviolent protest organization at odds with McNally’s government. Things come to a head when her father is pulled from their house by their neighbors and lynched in the street. Kayla’s mother and uncles are arrested, forcing the teen to go into hiding. After she is betrayed by a friend’s family, Kayla ends up in a school for girls who have lost their families during the government’s purges. Here, Kayla must learn how to keep herself from becoming a victim—and to plan her revenge on those who destroyed her family. Smith’s prose is lyrical and controlled, creating a dystopia that is realistic in its mundane brutality. Here, Kayla witnesses her father’s hanging: “Slater lifts his arm, and the shirtless man yanks the rope. Another man rushes forward and grips the rope, then another. My father rises, an imitation of fight. His hands claw the noose, the spastic kick of his feet, the rope’s wild sway.” The author masterfully depicts America’s crisis through the perspective of one girl even as he shifts the point of view through the novel—first person, second person, third—to highlight major reorientations in Kayla’s life. While there is no shortage of novels offering nightmarish visions of the near American future, this one manages to stand out both in its realism and its resistance to simple moralizations. It’s all the more frightening for it.

An affecting futuristic tale that manages to feel both urgent and timeless.

Kirkus Reviews