"The Other Black Girl meets Midsommar in this spine-chilling propulsive psychological adult
debut from highly acclaimed author Vincent Tirado in which a married couple moves into a gated
"community" that slowly creeps into a pervasive dread akin to the social horror of Jordan Peele
and Lovecraft County-We Came to Welcome You cleverly uses the uncanny to illuminate the cultish
shocking nature of systemic racism. Where beauty lies secrets are held...ugly ones. Sol Reyes
has had a rough year. After a series of workplace incidents at her university lab culminates in
a plagiarism accusation Sol is put on probation. Dutiful visits to her homophobic father
aren't helping her mental health and she finds her nightly glass of wine becoming more of an
all-day-and all-bottle-event. Her wife Alice Song is far more optimistic. After all the two
finally managed to buy a house in the beautiful gated community of Maneless Grove. However
the neighbors are a little too friendly in Sol's opinion. She has no interest in the pushy
Homeowners Association their bizarrely detailed contract or their never-ending
microaggressions. But Alice simply attributes their pursuit to the community motto: "Invest in
a neighborly spirit"...which only serves to irritate Sol more. Suddenly a number of strange
occurrences-doors and stairs disappearing roots growing inside the house-cause Sol to wonder
if her social paranoia isn't built on something more sinister. Yet Sol's fears are dismissed as
Alice embraces their new home and becomes increasingly worried instead about Sol's drinking and
manic behavior. When Sol finds a journal in the property from a resident that went missing a
few years ago she realizes why they were able to buy the house so easily... Through Sol's
razor-sharp tongue and macabre sense of humor Tirado explores the very real pressures to
assimilate with one's surroundings to "survive " while also asking the question: Is it survival
when you're no longer your true self? Because in Maneless Grove either you become a good
neighbor-or you die"--