A haunting, unforgettable novel of obsession, pride, and forgiveness, exploring the friendship and rivalry between two gifted boys in harrowing circumstances, from the acclaimed writer of The Removed

Milton Muleborn has envied Matthew Echota, a talented Cherokee artist, ever since they were locked up together in a dangerous juvenile detention center in the late 1980s. Until Matthew escaped, that is.

A novel within a novel, we read here Miltons dark, sometimes comic, and possibly unreliable accountof the story of their childhood even as, years later, he remains jealous of Matthews extraordinary abilities and unlikely success. Milton reveals secrets about their friendship, their families, and their nightmarish, surreal, experience of imprisonment.In revisiting the past, he explores the echoing traumas of incarceration and pride.

Filled with Brandon Hobsons swirling yet visceral writing, and punctuated with original artwork,The Devil Is a Southpawis an ambitious, elegant, and propulsive novel in the spirit of Vladimir Nabokov and Gabriel Garca Mrquez.