“A TENSION WIRE CRACKLING WITH ELECTRICITY, HUSH HARBOR DAZZLES WITH INCREDIBLE WRITING AND BOILS WITH RIGHTEOUS FURY. I COULD NOT STOP READING.”
- Lauren Grodstein, author of the New York Times bestseller and New York Times Editors’ Choice A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY and the Washington Post Book of the Year THE EXPLANATION FOR EVERYTHING
In a near-future America, the murder of an unarmed Black teenager at the hands of police ignites protests in Bliss City, New Jersey. A full-scale resistance group takes control of an abandoned housing project and decides to name it Hush Harbor, a term once used to describe the secret spaces where slaves would gather to pray. When a new mayor with ties to white supremacists threatens the group's pseudo-sanctuary and locks the city down, the collective must come to a decision for their very survival.
Haunting, provocative, heart-pounding, and tender, Hush Harbor presents a high-stakes world grounded on the thought-provoking premise:
What would you sacrifice in the name of justice?
Reviews
“Throughout, there’s a sense of edgy anticipation, and not just because of the content. Readers will also understand that they are encountering an exciting new voice in literature.”
- Library Journal Starred Review, (click here for the full review)
“Ultimately, this story demonstrates an awareness of just how important and powerful it can be to sustain peaceful and collaborative efforts in the face of a world bent on perpetual argument and acts of dominance. An emotional, conceptual, page-turning tour-de-force, Hush Harbor disrupts readers' expectations of violence, of revolutions, and of truly revolutionary leaders.”
- Shelf Awareness (click here for the Maximum Shelf Review)
“From the opening chapter of Anise Vance’s Hush Harbor, I was totally engrossed. This powerful narrative strikes like a mighty python, wrapping itself around your heart and refusing to let go. At first, you think it’s the rhythmic tale of race war in America, then you see it’s far more complicated than that. It’s about human suffering and who gives a damn; it asks the question 'Will you fight oppressions that have nothing to do with you?'; it’s a song of redemption for a people and a nation too consumed with themselves to see each other. With this novel, Vance conjures black ancestral texts and voices such as Sutton Griggs’s Emperium in Emperio and Martin Delaney’s Blake. All I can say is, this book is an absolute must-read.”
- Daniel Black, author of DON’T CRY FOR ME, a Most Anticipated Book in Essence Magazine, Bookish, and The Millions, and BLACK ON BLACK, a Southern Review of Books Best Book and a “Next Big Idea Club Must-Read Book
“At its fiery core, Hush Harbor is about the nearly unspeakable: a 21st century American Revolution. Through the harrowing story of its inconsolable, if beautiful and potent, rebels struggling in sanctuary against the violence of racial inequity, Anise Vance has revealed nothing less than the secret fears and tender solidarities that reside in our nation’s troubled heart. Agile, electrifying, a singular reading experience.”
- Michael Zapata, author of THE LOST BOOK OF ADANA MOREAU, an NPR Best Book of the Year and winner of the Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction
“Taut, gripping, morally complex, and masterfully executed, Hush Harbor could not be more timely. Anise Vance illuminates America’s racial realities with unflinching, clear-eyed vision while also asking a timeless question. How do we remain humane to those who strip us of humanity? This is a marvelous achievement.”
- Ye Chun, three-time Pushcart Award winner and author of HAO, a longlist selection for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and STRAW DOGS OF THE UNIVERSE
"HUSH HARBOR examines the monumental task of resisting empathy and confronting the brutal patterns that allow injustices to survive. Anise Vance delivers with a cast of vibrant characters who converge in a rich setting, each seeking the best way to correct some of the world's wrongs. In doing so, they give up their own comfort, dreams, safety, and peace, pushed into survival mode while wrestling with their own relationships and personal histories. Cinematically told, this debut takes off from page one and doesn't slow its pace, just as do the book's heroines and heroes."
- Diane Marie Brown, author of BLACK CANDLE WOMEN, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick
About Anise
Anise Vance is a writer from the African and Iranian diasporas. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University-Camden. As a Mitchell Scholar, he received an MPhil in Geography from Queen's University Belfast. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and currently lives in North Carolina with his wife and two children.
Contact
Anise is represented by Caroline Eisenmann at Frances Goldin Literary Agency.
Please contact Justine Sha at Justine.Sha@harpercollins.com and Sophie James at Sophie.James@harpercollins.com for inquiries and events.