Fish in Exile — Vi Khi Nao

A couple loses their child in this poetic and devastating novel in which grief reaches “enthralling and mysterious pleasures” (Carol Maso). A couple named Catholic and Ethos struggle with the loss of their child. How? With fishtanks and jellyfish burials, Persephone's pomegranate seeds, and affairs with the neighbors. Fish in Exile spins unimaginable loss through classical and magical tumblers, distorting our view so that we can see the contours of a parent's grief all the more clearly. “The result is a novel that forges a new vocabulary for the routine of grief, as well as the process of healing” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).