“With prose that is beautiful, precise, but never pretentious, she brings to vivid life a painful, seldom-explored part of L.A.’s past that should not be forgotten. “Compelling….never lacking in vivid detail and authentic atmosphere, the novel cements Revoyr’s reputation as one of the freshest young chroniclers of life in L.A.” “Fascinating and heartbreaking…An essential part of L.A. Moving in and out of the past, from the shipping yards and internment camps of World War II to the barley fields of the Crenshaw District in the 1930s to the means streets of Watts in the 1960s to the night spots and garment factories of the 1990s, Southland weaves a tale of Los Angeles in all of its faces and forms. It is also the story of an ever-changing city. Southland explores the fragile understandings and sometimes painful misunderstandings that occur across the lines of race and culture. In the process, Jackie unearths the long-held secrets of her family’s history - and her own. Along with James Lanier, a cousin of one of the victims, she tries to piece together the story of the boys’ deaths. While trying to fulfill a request from his will, Jackie discovers that four black teenagers were killed in the store during the Watts Riots of 1965 - and that the murders were never solved or reported. Frank was a veteran of World War II who, many years before, had owned a store in the Crenshaw District, one of the first racially mixed neighborhoods in the city and now the heart of L.A.’s black community. A young Japanese-American woman, Jackie Ishida, is in her last semester of law school when her grandfather, Frank Sakai, dies unexpectedly. In Southland, her award-winning second novel, Nina Revoyr brings us a compelling story of race, love, murder, and history against the backdrop of Los Angeles. Numerous Campus Reads and Community Reads Selections Libération (France) “50 Books for the Summer-2007”

Winner of the ALA’s Stonewall Honor Award Winner of the Ferro-Grumley Literary Award One of LAist’s “20 Novels That Dared To Define A Different LA”

Southland by nina revoyr