"From the opening chapter of Anise Vance's
Hush Harbor, I was totally engrossed. This powerful narrative strikes like a mighty python, wrapping itself around your heart and refusing to let go. At first, you think it's the rhythmic tale of race war in America, then you see it's far more complicated than that. It's about human suffering and who gives a damn; it asks the question 'Will you fight oppressions that have nothing to do with you?'; It's a song of redemption for a people and a nation too consumed with themselves to see each other. With this novel, Vance conjures black ancestral texts and voices such as Sutton Griggs's
Emperium in Emperio and Martin Delaney's
Blake. All I can say is, this book is
an absolute must-read. "–
Daniel Black, author of Don't Cry For Me and Black on Black "An emotional, conceptual, page-turning tour-de-force."–
Shelf Awareness "A tension wire crackling with electricity,
Hush Harbor dazzles with incredible writing and boils with righteous fury. I could not stop reading."
–Lauren Grodstein, author of Our Short History and A Friend of the Family "Taut, gripping, morally complex, and masterfully executed,
Hush Harbor could not be more timely. Anise Vance illuminates America's racial realities with unflinching, clear-eyed vision while also asking a timeless question. How do we remain humane to those who strip us of humanity? This is a marvelous achievement."–
Ye Chun, author of Hao and Straw Dogs of the Universe "At its fiery core,
Hush Harbor is about the nearly unspeakable: a 21st century American Revolution. Through the harrowing story of its inconsolable, if beautiful and potent, rebels struggling in sanctuary against the violence of racial inequity, Anise Vance has revealed nothing less than the secret fears and tender solidarities that reside in our nation's troubled heart. Agile, electrifying, a singular reading experience."–
Michael Zapata, author of The Lost Book of Adana Moreau "
Hush Harbor examines the monumental task of resisting empathy and confronting the brutal patterns that allow injustices to survive. Anise Vance delivers with a cast of vibrant characters who converge in a rich setting, each seeking the best way to correct some of the world's wrongs. In doing so, they give up their own comfort, dreams, safety, and peace, pushed into survival mode while wrestling with their own relationships and personal histories. Cinematically told, this debut takes off from page one and doesn't slow its pace, just as do the book's heroines and heroes."–
Diane Marie Brown, author of Black Candle Women "
Hush Harbor is an epic novel of utopian hope in a dystopian world."–
CrimeReads
