?Ruff renders a very high-concept imaginary world with such vividness that you can't help but
feel it's disturbingly real.??Christopher Moore In this thrilling adventure a blend of
enthralling historical fiction and fantastical horror Matt Ruff returns to the world of
Lovecraft Country and explores the meaning of death the hold of the past on the present and
the power of hope in the face of uncertainty. Summer 1957. Atticus Turner and his father
Montrose travel to North Carolina where they plan to mark the centennial of their ancestor's
escape from slavery by retracing the route he took into the Great Dismal Swamp. But an
encounter with an old nemesis turns their historical reenactment into a real life-and-death
pursuit. Back in Chicago George Berry fights for his own life. Diagnosed with cancer he
strikes a devil's bargain with the ghost of Hiram Winthrop who promises a miracle cure?but to
receive it George will first have to bring Winthrop back from the dead. Meanwhile
fifteen-year-old Horace Berry reeling from the killing of a close friend joins his mother
Hippolyta and her friend Letitia Dandridge on a research trip to Nevada for The Safe Negro
Travel Guide. But Hippolyta has a secret?and far more dangerous?agenda that will take her and
Horace to the far end of the universe and bring a new threat home to Letitia's doorstep.
Hippolyta isn't the only one keeping secrets. Letitia's sister Ruby has been leading a double
life as her white alter ego Hillary Hyde. Now the supply of magic potion she needs to
transform herself is nearly gone and a surprise visitor throws her already tenuous situation
into complete chaos. Yet these troubles are soon eclipsed by the return of Caleb Braithwhite.
Stripped of his magic and banished from Chicago at the end of Lovecraft Country he's found a
way back into power and is ready to pick up where he left off. But first he has a score to
settle. . . .
