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by Jenny D. Williams
Vividly rendered by Jenny D. Williams, a fresh new voice in fiction, The Atlas of Forgotten Places delves deep into the heart of compassion and redemption. It spans geographies and generations to lay bare the stories that connect us all.
Two women from different worlds bound in a quest to save their loved ones.
After a long career as an aid worker, Sabine Hardt has retreated to her native Germany for a quieter life. But when her American niece Lily disappears while volunteering in Uganda, Sabine must return to places and memories she once thought buried in order to find her.
In Uganda, Rose Akulu - haunted by a troubled past with the Lord's Resistance Army and a family torn apart by war - is distressed when her lover Ocen vanishes without a trace. Side by side, Sabine and Rose must unravel the tangled threads that tie Lily and Ocen's lives together - ultimately discovering that the truth of their loved ones' disappearance is inescapably entwined to the secrets the two women carry.
"Gritty and intricately plotted...Williams's book paints the contours of the real-life conflict admirably, making the thrilling disappearance story relatable with nuanced characterizations and a wealth of strong subplots concerning reclaiming love, protecting family, and guarding hope for a new future when the present seems to be teetering on disaster." - Publishers Weekly
"In this, her debut novel, Williams skillfully sketches the emotionally ravaged remains of Rose's life, a life ruined by not only physical mutilation, but also social rejection; even her brother calls her a "rebel whore," blaming her for her own abduction. Entwining Rose's journey with Sabine's, Williams underscores the international scope of Uganda's plight. Politics exact a devastating personal price in this harrowing journey." - Kirkus
"Jenny D. Williams' Atlas of Forgotten Places is an extraordinary debut. Written with confidence and compassion, masterfully plotted, her characters drawn in swift, sure strokes - this was a book I could not put down." - Marisa Handler, Nautilus Award-winning author of Loyal to the Sky
"Every page of The Atlas of Forgotten Places resonates with an intimate knowledge of life in 'Africa'...the impossible beauty of the landscape, the depths of sorrows carried by ordinary citizens, the miraculous melding of violence and personal grace. Jenny D. Williams has written that rare thing: a page-turning adventure story that simultaneously goes deep into the heart of what it is to be human and present." - Malla Nunn, award-winning screenwriter and author of A Beautiful Place to Die, Silent Valley, and Present Darkness
"A young American woman gone missing in Africa, her German aunt forced to revisit her own past. From these elements, Jenny Williams has produced a riveting alchemy. In the vein of Paul Bowles and Robert Stone, The Atlas of Forgotten Places is part political thriller, part love story, always attuned to matters of the heart. It's a splendid debut." - Joshua Henkin, author of The World Without You, Matrimony, and Swimming Across the Hudson
"I think Jenny Williams is a wonderfully gifted writer, who is at the beginning of a long and distinguished career." - Richard Bausch, author of Peace and Before, During, After, winner of the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence, and a Guggenheim fellow
"A beautiful, heartbreaking story of civil war, family secrets, lost love and found hope. Unforgettable." - Lian Dolan, Los Angeles Times bestselling author
"The Atlas of Forgotten Places is a beautifully written, all-engulfing novel about our responsibility for each other and the faltering ways in which we try to help." - Erika Mailman, author of The Witch's Trinity
"The Atlas of Forgotten Places is a thriller that sweeps the reader into intrigue, adventure, and mystery. In the tradition of socially influential writers, from Shakespeare to Graham Greene, Jenny Williams employs exciting fiction to convey truths about the political, corporate, and economic systems that impact us all." - John Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire
This information about The Atlas of Forgotten Places was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jenny D. Williams has lived in the U.S., Uganda, and Germany. She holds an MFA from Brooklyn College and a BA from UC Berkeley. Her award-winning fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and illustrations have been published in The Sun Magazine, Vela, and Ethical Traveler, as well as several anthologies. A former Teachers & Writers Collaborative fellow and recipient of an Elizabeth George Foundation grant for emerging writers, she currently lives in Seattle with her husband and dog. The Atlas of Forgotten Places is her first novel.
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