Season of the Swamp

A major new novel set in nineteenth-century New Orleans by the author of Signs Preceding the End of the World

In 1853, a man named Benito Juárez disembarks at the fetid port of New Orleans. Later, in 1858, he is to become the first indigenous president of Mexico, but now he is anonymous. He falls in love with the music and food, but unavoidable, too, is the trade in human beings. A magnificent work of speculative history and a love letter to New Orleans.

New Orleans, 1853. A young Zapotec man named Benito Juárez disembarks at a fetid port city at the edge of a swamp along with a small group of fellow political exiles from Mexico. Later, in 1858, he is to become the first indigenous Mexican president, but now he is as anonymous and invisible as any other migrant to the roiling and alluring city. He falls in love with the music and food, but unavoidable, too, is the trade in human beings.

A magnificent work of speculative history and a love letter to New Orleans.

‘One of the most original and prodigiously gifted writers at work today.‘ Katie Kitamura