.png) First edition cover | |
| Author | Valeria Luiselli |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Valeria Luiselli[1] Kivlighan de Montebello[1] William DeMeritt[1] Maia Enrigue Luiselli[1] |
| Cover artist | Valeria Luiselli (photos; courtesy of)[2] Jenny Carrow (design)[2] |
| Language | English |
| Set in | New York,Virginia,North Carolina,Tennessee,Arkansas,Oklahoma,Texas,New Mexico andArizona |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
Publication date | February 12, 2019 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover andpaperback) and e-book |
| Pages | 400 pp |
| ISBN | 978-0-525-52061-0 |
| 863/.7 | |
| LC Class | PQ7298.422.U37 L67 2019 |
Lost Children Archive is a 2019 novel by writerValeria Luiselli. Luiselli was in part inspired by the ongoing American policy ofseparating children from their parents at theMexico–United States border.[3] The novel is the first book Luiselli wrote in English.[3]
The novel details a cross-country journey fromNew York toArizona in a car by a husband and wife, Mama and Papa, and their children, "the girl" and "the boy," both from previous relationships.[4][5] The novel incorporates fragments from the poetry of other poets, including from poems byAnne Carson,Galway Kinnell, andAugusto Monterroso.[2] The novel's climax, "Echo Canyon", consists of a single sentence that runs for 20 pages.[6][7] The novel ends with 24 Polaroid photos provided by Luiselli, credited to the novel's fictional stepson.[8]
The novel won the 2020Rathbones Folio Prize and the 2021Dublin Literary Award.[9][10] It was also longlisted for the2019 Booker Prize[11] and the 2019Women's Prize for Fiction.[12]
An unnamed documentarian lives in New York City with her husband and their two children, his son and her daughter both from previous relationships.
The couple meet while recording a project on languages though she is a journalist and he works inacoustemology. They live together for several years, however the husband tells the woman that he has decided to record a project on theApache that will take him toArizona. The woman does not want to go, but realizes her husband is willing to leave her behind. Reluctantly, to slow the breaking of her marriage, she decides that she and the children will go with him toArizona after which she and the girl, her biological child, will do research on her friend Manuela's daughters, two children who crossed the border seeking asylum and who have since gone missing in federal custody.
As they travel across the U.S. the father tells the children tales of the Apache andGeronimo, while the mother tells them of "Lost Children", Latin American migrants who travel across the border seeking refuge in the U.S. Both children begin to grow obsessed by these stories and combine them in their heads. The boy eventually believes that if he and the girl lose themselves they will be able to find Manuela's children and their parents, who will go searching for them, will be able to retrieve all four of them. The boy decides to leave with the girl, leaving behind a map for his parents to discover telling them they will reunite at Echo Canyon.
The boy and girl run off together, the girl unaware of what they are doing. While making the journey to Echo Canyon the boy reads a book his mother had been reading,Elegies for Lost Children. Eventually the characters ofElegies for Lost Children and the Boy and Girl merge; they meet in the desert where one of the Lost Children mocks the boy for believing he can find Manuela's daughters. The following morning the boy realizes the girl has given away all their supplies to the other children as they are close to being rescued. Miraculously they are, as they are near Echo Canyon.
After their scare the parents try their best to stay united as a family. However the Woman receives a call that Manuela's daughters were found deceased in the desert. The grief breaks the family apart and the mother and the girl depart.
The novel was translated into Spanish by Luiselli andDaniel Saldaña París with the titleDesierto sonoro. It was released in e-book format byVintage Español, an imprint of Knopf Doubleday, in September 2019 and in paperback format in October 2019.[13]
The book was named one of the top ten books of 2019 byThe New York Times Book Review.[14] It was a finalist for the 2019National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.[15]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Booker Prize | — | Longlisted | [16] |
| Kirkus Prize | Fiction | Shortlisted | [17] | |
| National Book Critics Circle Award | Fiction | Shortlisted | [18] | |
| Women's Prize for Fiction | — | Longlisted | [19] | |
| 2020 | Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence | Fiction | Won | [20] |
| Dayton Literary Peace Prize | Fiction | Shortlisted | [21] | |
| Rathbones Folio Prize | — | Won | [22] | |
| 2021 | Dublin Literary Award | — | Won | [23] |
In the second season ofThe White Lotus, the character of Harper Spiller (played byAubrey Plaza) readsLost Children Archive.