Abby Geni

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​When a Category Five tornado ravaged Mercy, Oklahoma, no family in the small town lost more than the McClouds. Their home and farm were instantly demolished, and orphaned siblings Darlene, Jane, and Cora made media headlines. This relentless national attention in the tornado’s aftermath caused great tension with their brother, Tucker, who soon abandoned his sisters and disappeared.

On the three–year anniversary of the tornado, a bomb explodes in a cosmetics factory outside of Mercy, and the lab animals trapped within are released. Tucker reappears, injured from the blast, and seeks the help of nine–year–old Cora. Caught up in the thrall of her charismatic brother, whom she has desperately missed, Cora agrees to accompany Tucker on a cross–country mission to make war on human civilization. 

Cora becomes her brother’s unwitting accomplice, taking on a new identity while engaging in acts of escalating violence. Darlene works with Mercy police to find her siblings, leading to an unexpected showdown at a zoo in Southern California. The Wildlands is another remarkable literary thriller from critically acclaimed writer Abby Geni, one that examines what happens when one family becomes trapped in the tenuous space between the human and animal worlds.

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Praise for The Wildlands​

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1 of 10 Books to Read in September (BBC Culture)

1 of 15 Books of September 2018 We Can’t Wait to Read (Refinery29)

1 of 13 Best New Fiction Books Coming Out in September (Bustle)

1 0f  20 New Books Your Friends Are Going to Be Talking About This September (PopSugar)

1 of 15 Upcoming Releases From Our Favorite Small Presses (Book Riot)

1 of 34 Fall 2018 Books We Can’t Wait to Read (HuffPost)

1 of 18 New Books We Think You’ll Wanna Backpack This Summer (Paperback Paris)

1 of 14 New Books You Need to Know This Week (Bustle)

One of the Best Fall Books of 2018 (Buzzfeed)

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"In this staggering tale of loss intimate and ecological, Geni joins T. C. Boyle, Barbara Kingsolver, Annie Proulx, and Hannah Tinti in portraying humankind as both the planet’s most dangerous predator and one of myriad species vulnerable to ecodisasters of our own unintended devising. Riveting, provocative, and unforgettable." ―Booklist (starred review)

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"Geni continues to create works of art with perfect voices that are simultaneously thrillers and meditations on nature. It is an incredible trick." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 

“Revealing its secrets gradually and dealing gracefully with tough issues, Geni’s work will satisfy a wide range of fiction readers.” —Library Journal (starred review)

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"From the moment Abby Geni’s second novel starts, you know you’re in good hands." —USA Today​

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"The Wildlands is a hypnotizing page-turner." —Hello Giggles​

 

"Disasters both natural and personal are at the heart of Geni’s bold and adventurous latest . . . The novel is particularly notable for its interrogations of human relationships with the natural world, in keeping with Geni’s previous works. This is a fast-paced, high-stakes novel that will keep the reader turning the pages." ―Publishers Weekly
 

"Geni is a masterful storyteller." ―New City

“You’ll be a better, wiser person after you read this book. You’ll also be thrilled, from first page to last.” ―Peter Geye, author of Wintering

 

"In exquisite prose, Geni renders the ecstasy and anguish of familial love, and the ways it can lead us to the edges of who we imagine ourselves to be. A savage, glittering novel." ―Megan Kruse, author of Call Me Home 

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