***Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize***
***A Most Anticipated Book in The Rumpus***

A resistance group takes America's racial reckoning into its own hands in this powerful, stirringly original debut novel 

After the murder of an unarmed Black teenager by the hands of the police, protests spread like wildfire in Bliss City, New Jersey. A full-scale resistance group takes control of an abandoned housing project and decide to call it Hush Harbor, in homage to the secret spaces their enslaved ancestors would gather to pray.

Jeremiah Prince, alongside his sister Nova, are leaders of the revolution, but have ideological differences regarding how the movement should proceed. When a new mayor with ties to white supremacists threatens the group’s pseudo-sanctuary and locks the city down, the collective must come to a decision for their very survival.

Haunting, provocative, heart-pounding and tender, Hush Harbor presents a high-stakes world grounded on the thought-provoking premise: What would you sacrifice in the name of justice?

BIO

Anise Vance is a writer from the African and Iranian diasporas. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University-Camden. As a Mitchell Scholar, he received an MPhil in Geography from Queen's University Belfast. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and currently lives in North Carolina with his wife and two children.

REVIEWS

"Throughout, there’s a sense of edgy anticipation, and not just because of the content. Readers will also understand that they are encountering an exciting new voice in literature." -- Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal STARRED review

“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

[H]  Hanover Square Press  /  September 05, 2023

 0.93" H x 9.28" L x 6.35" W (0.87 lbs) 288 pages