Early Praise
“Pulse-racing.” — Booklist starred review
“Laskar’s stunning debut skillfully tackles … racism … in a mosaic.” — Publishers Weekly
“As narratively brutal as it is beautiful…” — Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
“A …. harrowing fever dream of a novel…” — Nayomi Munaweera, author of The Island of a Thousand Mirrors
“… [A] fiery honest reckoning with today’s cultural landscape…” — Elizabeth Rosner, author of Survivor Cafe
“An unforgettable exploration of what it means to be a woman of color in contemporary America…” — Jean Kwok, author of Girl in Translation
“…mining the most searing art out of a horror pulled straight from current events…” — Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling
Coming February 5, 2019
from Counterpoint (US) and Little, Brown (UK)
When a woman―known only as Mother―moves her family from Atlanta to its wealthy suburbs, she discovers that neither the times nor the people have changed since her childhood in a small Southern town… Mother's simmering anger breaks through one morning…during a violent and unfounded police raid on her home… As she lies bleeding from a gunshot wound, her thoughts race to decipher how she got here. The Atlas of Reds and Blues grapples with the complexities of the second-generation American experience, what it means to be a woman of color in the workplace, and a sister, a wife, and a mother to daughters in today's America.
For UK & Commonwealth, preorder here:
For US, preorder here:
Atlas in 2019 Most-Anticipated Lists
Marie Claire, Nylon, Electric Literature, Prose and Palate, Geek Sprinkles, The Millions, Hello Giggles, SheReads (Kate Olson), Big Other.
More Praise
Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy:
"Devi S. Laskar's The Atlas of Reds and Blues is as narratively beautiful as it is brutal. In prose that moves between cushioning characters' falls and ushering our understandings of characters' utopias, Laskar creates a world where the consequences of American terror never stop reverberating. I've never read a novel that does nearly as much in so few pages. Laskar has changed how we will all write about state-sanctioned terror in this nation."
Nayomi Munaweera, author of The Island of a Thousand Mirrors:
“Devi Laskar has written a beautiful, harrowing fever dream of a novel. This is a book that insists in no uncertain terms and despite horrific institutional and everyday racism that South Asian Americans are indeed, American. This is a book I have been waiting a very long time for. A monumental achievement.”
Elizabeth Rosner, author of Survivor Cafe:
“In her kaleidoscopic novel, Devi S. Laskar maps the wild pendulum swings of life in suburban America as experienced by a woman of color. From the quotidian to the epic, from traumatizing invisibility to mortal danger, the cumulative effects of racism are balanced against the narrator's relentless determination to persevere --- as a mother and as a human being. The Atlas of Reds and Blues provides a fiercely honest reckoning with today's cultural landscape, both its history and its future.”
Jean Kwok, author of Girl in Translation:
“The Atlas of Reds and Blues is an unforgettable exploration of what it means to be a woman of color in contemporary America. Laskar describes the climate of lingering racism that surrounds her narrator and family in a wealthy suburb of Atlanta with a poet's touch. A searing, powerful and beautifully written novel.”
Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling:
"A brown woman lies bleeding on the concrete. An agent of the state has shot her down in her own driveway. Her life—and the lives of her children, her whole family—spools out as she waits to find out if she will die. The Atlas of Reds and Blues is a triumph of book, mining the most searing art out of a horror pulled straight from current events. Devi S. Laskar announces herself as a brilliant, bold talent with her debut novel. This is a book that should be read, and discussed, and cherished.”