The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
Sorrowland

Sorrowland

Summary

"A wonderland of fantastical and frightening, magical and real." Marlon James
"A fantastical, fierce reckoning... Sorrowland is gorgeous." Roxanne Gay
"Dark, magical and incredibly satisfying." Independent
"An exhilarating journey to the outer limits of science fiction." Guardian.

---

Vern, a hunted woman alone in the woods, gives birth to twins and raises them
away from the influence of the outside world. But something is wrong - not with
them, but with her own body. It's changing, it's itching, it's stronger, it's... not
normal.


To understand her body's metamorphosis, Vern must investigate not just the
secluded religious compound she fled but the violent history of dehumanization,
medical experimentation, and genocide that produced it. In the course of
reclaiming her own darkness, Vern learns that monsters aren't just individuals,
but entire histories, systems, and nations.


Sorrowland is a memorable work of Gothic fiction that wrestles with the tangled
history of racism in America and the marginalisation of society's undesirables. It
is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in
American fiction.

Reviews

  • A fantastical, fierce reckoning ... Sorrowland is gorgeous, and the writing, the storytelling, are magnificent. This country has a dark history of what it's willing to do to black bodies, and Rivers Solomon lays that truth bare in a most unexpected, absolutely brilliant way.
    Roxane Gay

About the author

Rivers Solomon

Rivers Solomon writes about life in the margins, where they're much at home. Their work has appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. They are the author of An Unkindness of Ghosts, The Deep, and Sorrowland. A refugee of the transatlantic slave trade, Solomon was born on Turtle Island. They currently live in the UK.
Learn More

More from this Author

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more