A new novel from Marlon James is coming later this year.
Riverhead will publish the Jamaican-born author’s The Disappearers in September, the press announced in a news release. It describes the book as “a propulsive novel about the murder of a gay man in 1980s Jamaica and its tragic consequences.”
James made his literary debut in 2005 with John Crow’s Devil, about two men who both aspire to be the religious leader of their Jamaican town. He followed that up four years later with The Book of Night Women, about a group of enslaved women who see one of their own, Lilith, as the key figure in a planned revolt; the novel won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
He had a breakout hit in 2014 with his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings, which follows the fallout from the attempted murder of reggae legend Bob Marley in 1976. The novel won the Booker Prize and was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His most recent books, the fantasy novels Black Leopard, Red Wolf and Moon Witch, Spider King, were published in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
The Disappearers is set in Kingston, Jamaica, and follows a group of eight gay men who are attacked by a mob; one of them is murdered. The survivors contend with their physical and emotional trauma in different ways.
“Marlon James has written a riveting and deeply human story of men forced to make compromises to survive what the society they live in demands,” Riverhead says. “It is both a dramatic page-turner and an unflinching exploration of queer life in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s.”
The Disappearers is scheduled for publication on Sept. 1.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
