Living Things

“The unforgettable characters . . . are trying their best, against the odds, to make their own good in a so-called nowhere town in rural South Carolina.” —Nicholas Montemarano, author of The Senator’s Children

Black Creek, South Carolina: a small town in the swamps that convinces itself that nothing bad has ever happened and nothing bad ever will. Black Creek is the sort of place where young girls roam the streets free to imagine who they are and who they’ll become. Where women sell pies and plants at the courthouse square. Where the fire department rescues cats from the tops of electric poles. And what trouble there is, they’ll tell you, stays past the town limits, in the run-down house-turned-strip-club and Lake Darpo, where certain birds are going extinct.

These eleven closely related portraits show that the real threats have long taken root. Black Creek is a place of poignancy and absurdity, love and loss, loneliness and the brief charges of connection. Its residents will do almost anything to protect what they think is theirs.

“I love the way that Landon Houle writes. She is a stunning painter of unforgettable images, and she creates characters that I can swear I’ve met before, that I’ve known my whole life. Living Things is just that—totally alive and as real as your own memories.” —Dan Chaon, New York Times–bestselling author of Ill Will

“Houle is a writer to watch. This stunning debut is filled with fresh, affecting stories connected by character and place.” —Barb Johnson, author of More of This World or Maybe Another