Thrust

Powell's Picks of the Month

Hot new releases and under-the-radar gems for adults and kids.

Lidia Yuknavitch breaks through every false barrier of genre in her writing, and here she does it like never before. Past and future bound together to uncover stories and save lives, possibly those of her readers. Recommended By Doug C., Powells.com

As rising waters — and an encroaching police state — endanger her life and family, a girl with the gifts of a carrier travels through water and time to rescue vulnerable figures from the margins of history

Lidia Yuknavitch has an unmatched gift for capturing stories of people on the margins — vulnerable humans leading lives of challenge and transcendence. Now, Yuknavitch offers an imaginative masterpiece: the story of Laisve, a motherless girl from the late 21st century who is learning her power as a carrier, a person who can harness the power of meaningful objects to carry her through time. Sifting through the detritus of a fallen city known as the Brook, she discovers a talisman that will mysteriously connect her with a series of characters from the past two centuries: a French sculptor; a woman of the American underworld; a dictator's daughter; an accused murderer; and a squad of laborers at work on a national monument. Through intricately braided storylines, Laisve must dodge enforcement raids and find her way to the present day, and then, finally, to the early days of her imperfect country, to forge a connection that might save their lives — and their shared dream of freedom.

A dazzling novel of body, spirit, and survival, Thrust will leave no reader unchanged.

"Yuknavitch is interested in the way the bodies of immigrants, refugees, and marginalized people have been the fodder used to keep the American project going...Complex, ambitious, and unafraid." — Kirkus Reviews

"Blistering and visionary...This is the author's best yet." — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“Thrust is alarmingly trenchant — and a hell of a wild ride. Daring, dazzling, and earth-splitting, this is a book to take in wide-eyed.” — Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers

Lidia Yuknavitch is the nationally bestselling author of the novels The Book of Joan, The Small Backs of Children, and Dora: A Headcase, the story collection Verge, and the memoir The Chronology of Water. She is the recipient of two Oregon Book Awards and has been a finalist for the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize and the PEN Center USA Creative Nonfiction Award. She lives in Portland, Oregon.