The Book of Chuck

An extraordinary new novel about family, legacy, and an inherited curse, from National Book Award–nominated author LaToya Watkins

Set across Texas and spanning four generations, The Book of Chuck is a gimlet-eyed investigation into birthright and belonging through the story of one family in which certain members have clairvoyant powers.

“Pa, no go. Him burn.” When baby Nannie utters these prophetic words in 1936, she marks herself as cursed. The ability to see death before it happens forever changes the course of her life, and the lives of her descendants.

Forty years later, Chuck is about to become a father. He intends to make a home filled with love, unlike the one he was born into. But when he begins paying visits to his estranged mother, Nannie, in search of answers, she starts pushing him away from the life he’s always wanted.

It’s the cusp of a new millennium, and Baby is on the precipice of major change. Her mother is packing up their home and moving them into a religious community that believes the world is ending. But when Baby begins to have surprising visions of death, she investigates her lineage, piecing together what she can about her father, Chuck, and her family’s deeply shrouded past. These visions, once seen as a curse, become an indelible link to her history—recasting what she thought she understood of love, parentage, and prophecy.