*Finalist for two International Latino Book Awards*
*Selected as a Staff Pick by The Paris Review* *Shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award* *Finalist for the Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award (Multicultural)* *SILVER MEDAL winner in the Independent Publisher Book Awards in Multicultural Fiction**SILVER winner of the Nautilus Book Award*
"Ultimately, this is what makes "Subduction" so effective and gut-wrenching: The characters are human, capable of great kindness and great corruption. The story feels lived in, like an old house with secrets in every corner. It's a bold piece that crosses lines and doubles down -- much like the process of subduction itself."--KUOW Book Club
Fleeing the shattered remains of her marriage and treachery by her sister, a Latina anthropologist named Claudia takes refuge in Neah Bay, a Native whaling village on the jagged Pacific coast. Claudia yearns to lose herself to the songs of the tribe and the secrets of a spirited hoarder named Maggie. Instead, she stumbles into Maggie's prodigal son Peter, who, spurred by his mother's failing memory, has returned seeking answers to his father's murder. Claudia helps Peter's family convey a legacy delayed for decades by that death, but her presence, echoing centuries of fraught contact with indigenous peoples, brings lasting change and real damage. Through the ardent collision of Peter and Claudia, Subduction portrays not only their strange allegiance after grievous losses but also their shared hope of finding solace and community in the Makah Nation. An intimate tale of stunning betrayals, Subduction bears witness to the power of stories to disrupt--and to heal.