The Newer World

From “one of the best writers in the English language” (The Washington Post), a sweeping yet intimate novel about one man’s life in the aftermath of the Civil War

“I knew as I made my way home that there was no home. All the old things…were gone forever.”

Born into bondage in Union-leaning northwestern Tennessee, Tennyson Bouguereau’s life revolves around his sister, Rosalee, his work in the Magan family’s tobacco fields, and keeping apart from his pro-Confederate neighbors. In the wake of emancipation, when a gang of defeated soldiers descends on the farm—now also home to Irish immigrant Thomas McNulty; his companion, John Cole; and their adopted Lakota daughter, Winona—Tennyson commits a deadly act. Tennyson will not now have the chance to till the ten acres Magan has given him and Rosalee as their own. Instead, he must leave everything he knows, and venture into the newer world.

Set against the rapidly shifting landscape of mid-19th century America, from a choir school in Nashville to an army camp in New Mexico, The Newer World is a lyrical, visceral novel about what it is to survive, and what might be lost along the way. Dreamlike and unforgettable, it is the work of a consummate storyteller at the height of his powers.