Other Evolutions

With sharp human insight and unflinching prose, Other Evolutions is a dark, speculative debut with diverse characters and searing insight, perfect for readers of Iain Reid and Emily St. John Mandel. Alma Alt, the sheltered youngest daughter of an interfaith, interracial Jewish-Mexican couple, rarely ventures far from her home on a wealthy tree-lined street in Ottawa, where nothing ever happens. The one time she did, striking out to visit her older sister, Marnie, in Montreal, things ended in disaster as she found out that beautiful, blonde Marnie had been lying about their family’s background, trying to pass herself off as white. The unintended fallout from that betrayal leads to a devastating accident, one that claims Alma’s arm and someone’s life. Alma is now stuck in a holding pattern, unable to move past the grief, trauma, and injury she suffered that night, all while the bonds that hold her family together crumble, the guilt and resentment between the sisters simmering beneath the surface. But Alma’s life is turned upside down by an encounter just steps from home with an impossible person, the boy she watched die. With keen human insight and stark and honest prose, Other Evolutions is a literary debut with a dark, speculative twist that reveals the uncanny in the mundane, seeing us through the worst parts of our lives toward the weird and wonderful things right in our own backyard.

Ideal for readers interested in literature & plays.