If the dead belong here

Faust debuts with an arresting tale of an Indigenous family haunted by ghosts and overwhelmed by loss. It begins in 1996 with the disappearance of six-year-old Laurel Taylor, while her family is asleep in the house. Her mother Ayita, whose older brother died years ago in a car crash and whose abusive husband, Barron, left her without knowing she was pregnant with Laurel, spirals into alcoholism and depression. Meanwhile, Laurel's 15-year-old sister, Nadine, who along with Ayita suspects Barron of abducting Laurel, searches with the townsfolk though the woods, hoping to find a trace of her sister. Nadine also sees visions of a "crooked mouthed woman" and hears unknown voices. The mystery deepens after the police find Barron without Laurel and Nadine's maternal great-aunt Rosebud Crowe guides her to speak with the ghosts of their ancestors, from whom they hope to find answers. Faust alternates the search with sprawling chapters devoted to the Crowe family, beginning with a man named Lyhue who was executed in 18th-century South Carolina for impregnating the wife of a French colonist. Though the novel stretches on a bit too long, Faust exhibits great range, whether in describing the coarse Barron, the tragic Lyhue, or the curious and impressionable Nadine. There is much to treasure in this ambitious epic. Agent: Annie Hwang, Ayesha Pande Literary. (Oct.)