Chris Abani

A gritty novel set against the backdrop of East L.A. follows a struggling artist named Black on a journey of self-discovery that reveals important questions about poverty, ethnicity, and religion in modern-day America. By the author of the award-winning GraceLand. Original. 50,000 first printing.

The Virgin of Flames

Antonella Romani

A very interesting and compelling read.
It's the story of a man coming to terms with his sexuality, childhood trauma, and cultural influences in the backdrop of East L.A.
He has very eclectic friends who try to support him the best they can in his search for identity.
The ending doesn't clear anything up, but I don't think its meant to, since self-discovery is a forever evolving process.

For Black, a mural artist in East L.A., the city's tumbledown landscape is his canvas. Residing in a ramshackle apartment above 'The Ugly Store', he lives for his art and obsesses over Sweet Girl, the transvestite stripper who serves as his muse. Black navigates life alongside the Los Angeles River, 'iridescent in its concrete sleeve', enlisting his friends - Iggy, the beautiful tattoo artist who has beguiled Hollywood's elite, and Bomboy, a wealthy Rwandan butcher - as he confronts his past and struggles to find his place in the world. Chris Abani touches on the far reaches of psychic pain, religious and sexual, and takes the reader on an unforgettable journey.