Set in the post-post-racial South, We Cast a Shadow tells the story of a man—one of the few black men at his law firm—desperate to pay for his biracial son to undergo demelanization, desperate to ‘fix’ what he sees as his son’s fatal flaw. It is this desperation that haunts this novel and, in this desperation, we see just how pernicious racism is, how irrevocably it can alter how a man sees the world, himself, and those he loves. It is a chilling, unforgettable cautionary tale, and one we should all read and heed.”—Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist
“A full-throated novelistic debut of ferocious power and grace . . . a story that refracts the insanity of the world into a shape so unique you wonder how this book wasn’t there all along.”—Lit Hub, Most Anticipated Books of 2019
“Propulsive . . . We Cast a Shadow proves that the eeriest works of speculative fiction are those that hit closest to home.”—Vulture, 37 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2019
“One of the most anticipated debut novels of 2019.”—Los Angeles Times, 11 Authors to Watch in 2019
“A biting satire of anti-blackness in the US.”—Buzzfeed, 66 Books Coming in 2019 That You’ll Want to Keep on Your Radar
“A powerful novel of just how far one father will go to keep his son safe from the outside world.”—Parade, Debut Novels Everyone Will Be Reading in 2019
“An ambitious debut novel, We Cast a Shadow is a surrealistic satire about identity, race, and family relations. . . . [Ruffin] is a talented, genre-bending writer to watch.”—Garden & Gun, January Book List
“We Cast a Shadow is the latest in a stream of daring works that address America’s endemic anti-blackness through dystopian surrealism.”—HuffPost, 61 Books We’re Looking Forward to Reading in 2019
“Virginia Quarterly Review columnist and essayist Ruffin now publishes his debut novel, a near-futurist social satire about people in a southern city undergoing ‘whitening’ treatments to survive in a society governed by white supremacy.”—The Millions, Most Anticipated: The Great First-Half 2019 Book Preview
“Like Paul Beatty’s The Sellout and the film Get Out . . . a singular and unforgettable work of political art.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Brilliant and devastating.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Thrilling . . . We Cast a Shadow is haunted by the ghosts of Ralph Ellison and Victor LaValle. But Maurice Carlos Ruffin, as well as the terrifying racial landscape he renders, is a world unto himself.”—Naomi Jackson, author of The Star Side of Bird Hill
“A literary classic that will outlive us all, We Cast a Shadow is the finely crafted quake the American novel needed.”—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
