Behind the Waterline - by Kionna Walker Lemalle (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

WINNER OF THE LEE SMITH NOVEL PRIZE

Behind the Waterline takes readers to the home of a teenager and his grandmother in a New Orleans neighborhood on the eve of Katrina, where there are few resources and little warning of what is about to happen, in this novel that mixes magical realism with reality.

When Hurricane Katrina approaches New Orleans, teenaged Eric and his grandmother and many of their neighbors decide to ride out the storm. Kionna Walker LeMalle's masterful debut novel brings her readers, like the rising water, onto Eric's street in the Third Ward, where stranded dogs bark for a time, where neighbors are floating on doors, and where Eric and his grandmother must take refuge in his second floor bedroom. After days of heat, dwindling supplies, and relentless rising water, neighbors begin to disappear and Eric's grandmother, already known as an eccentric, begins to falter. It is then that Eric--in a dream, a hallucination, or something else--discovers a room beyond his closet wall, a place he has never seen. What he discovers inside will send him on a path to discover secrets to survival, bitter progress, and, ultimately, the history of his own people--those he sorely misses and those he never even knew.

Review Quotes

Longlisted for The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize

Featured in Ms. Magazine's Reads for the Rest of Us

Inaugural Southern Summer Reading Club pick, Southern Review of Books

Spring 2025 Reading Pick, Deep South Magazine

Books that Louisiana librarians are looking forward to in 2025, The Advocate

"[Behind the Waterline's] exploration of racism, the Civil Rights movement, found families, and coming-of-age, all with a touch of magical realism, make it a story with depth greater than the highest water line."--Southern Review of Books

"Behind the Waterline revisits two traumatic chapters in U.S. history, decades apart, but inextricably linked to the fate of one unforgettable young narrator. Catastrophes--natural, political, and familial--collide in this deeply moving, inventive, and surprising page-turner."--Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, and final judge for the Lee Smith Novel Prize

"Kionna Walker LeMalle has made history come alive in a strange and mysterious and fantastical way, while at the same time keeping the reader's feet firmly on the ground."--Bret Lott, author of Jewel

"Kionna Walker LeMalle's debut novel Behind the Waterline is set in post-hurricane New Orleans but is far from another Katrina novel, as it examines the racist history of New Orleans, Ole Miss, and the Jim Crow South, while showing readers that racism is as harmful--even as deadly--as a hurricane. In the end, however, education, love, and the fierce power of women triumph!"--Dr. Nancy Dixon, author of Voices and Visions: Essays on New Orleans Literary History

"Behind the Waterline is just what we seek in fiction: courageous characters plus a mystery that quickens our reading, demanding we keep going. LeMalle takes us inside Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath with flashbacks to the Civil Rights movement, one gorgeous sentence after another. This has moved to the top of my historical books clubs list for middle school. You must read it!"--Penny Kittle, author of Book Love and Micro Mentor Texts

"Seldom does a debut novel grasp the heart and soul with heart pounding thrills and tears. Behind the Waterline captures it all and more in a remarkable story of growth and survival. This is a must read for every teen and adult who has struggled with the tragedies of life."--DiAnn Mills, award winning author

About the Author

Kionna Walker LeMalle crafts stories and poetry from the distinct culture and history of the American South. Her work has appeared in table//FEAST, The Southern Quarterly, The First Line, and The Bayou Review. She earned her MFA at Houston Christian University, where she now teaches in the Department of Narrative Arts. Her debut novel, Behind the Waterline (Blair, 2025), won the Lee Smith Novel Prize, selected by contest judge Deesha Philyaw.