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Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Yaa Gyasi's first book, Homegoing, was an expansive, illuminating debut. And while her sophomore novel is decidedly smaller in scale — the story of a single family as opposed to a multigenerational saga — it is no less incandescent. Transcendent Kingdom is the story of Gifty, a young Ghanian American neuroscientist raised in Huntsville, Alabama, in the midst of pursuing her PhD at Stanford. Raised religious in the Pentecostal church, Gifty abandons her faith in favor of a career in science after the fatal heroin overdose of her beloved brother, Nana, while her mother drifts into a paralyzing depression. Gifty tells us that she chose her field "not because I wanted to help people but because it seemed like the hardest thing you could do, and I wanted to do the hardest thing." But we see the cracks in this explanation as it becomes clear that Gifty has thrown herself into her work studying reward-seeking behavior in mice as a desperate desire to find the logic behind, and a cure for, the addiction that killed her big brother.

Cut in with entries from Gifty's childhood diary, a journal dedicated to letters to God, and the present-day when Gifty's bedridden mother comes to stay with her bringing to the surface years of suppressed trauma, Transcendent Kingdom is a story about the immigrant experience in America, and how faith and family can be shattered by tragedy. With devastating observations about belief and the human condition that echo Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, Gyasi has solidified herself as an essential, emotionally observant voice in modern fiction. Get your copy. — Jillian Karande

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Texting with our favorite writers 📲

This week, we're chatting with Karen Russell, whose novella Sleep Donation — released in paperback for this first time on Sept. 29, after its digital-only publication in 2014 — imagines a world thrown into chaos by a deadly pandemic of insomnia, and the people chasing a cure by recruiting sleep donors.

This Week in Virtual Book Events:

Sept. 27–Oct. 3

Monday, Sept. 28

Rachel Howzell Hall (And Now She's Gone), Alyssa Cole (When No One Is Watching), Tiffany D. Jackson (Grown), and Tracy Deonn (Legendborn) in conversation for a Black Girl Mystery panel — hosted by Books Are Magic, 7 p.m. ET, more info.
David Chang discusses his memoir, Eat a Peach — hosted by Politics & Prose, 8 p.m. ET, more info.

Tuesday, Sept. 29

Ben Lerner celebrates the paperback release of The Topeka School, in conversation with Valeria Luiselli — hosted by McNally Jackson, 8 p.m. ET, more info.
Jasmine Silvera (Binding Shadows) and Olivia Waite (The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows: Feminine Pursuits) discuss their new books with librarian Robin Bradford — hosted by Seattle Public Library, 7 p.m. ET, more info.

Wednesday, Sept. 30

Karen Russell celebrates the paperback release of Sleep Donation, in conversation with Carmen Maria Machado — hosted by Powerhouse, 7 p.m. ET, more info.
Sarah M. Broome celebrates the paperback release of The Yellow House, in conversation with Natasha Trethewey — hosted by The Seminary Co-op, 5 p.m. CT, more info.

Thursday, Oct. 1

Jami Attenberg celebrates the paperback release of All This Could Be Yours, in conversation with Laura van den Berg — hosted by McNally Jackson, 7 p.m. ET, more info.
Deepak Chopra presents his latest book, Total Meditation: Practices in Living the Awakened Life — hosted by Harvard Book Store, 7 p.m. ET, more info.

Friday, Oct. 2

Tochi Onyebuchi (Riot Baby) and Christopher Paolini (To Sleep in a Sea of Stars) discuss world building in science fiction and fantasy, in a conversation moderated by Christina Orlando — hosted by the Brooklyn Book Festival and NYU, 10 p.m. ET, more info.
Helen Macdonald reads from and discusses Vesper Flights — hosted by Bookworks for their Albuquerque Public Library fundraiser, 5 p.m. MT, more info.

Saturday, Oct. 3

Brooklyn Book Festival hosts a full day of panels about YA, including Libba Bray (The King of Crows), Justin A. Reynolds (Early Departures), and Ryan La Sala (Reverie) on dreams, death, and destiny; Marie Lu (Skyhunter), Brandy Colbert (The Voting Booth), and Kim Johnson (This Is My America) on authoritarianism, voting rights, and the American justice system; Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed (Yes No Maybe So), Leah Johnson (You Should See Me in a Crown), and Kacen Callender (Felix Ever After) on life-defining relationships; and more. Full listing here.