Here Lies - by Olivia Clare Friedman

About the Book

"Louisiana, 2042. Spurred by the effects of climate change, states have closed graveyards and banned burials, making cremation mandatory and the ashes of loved ones state-owned unless otherwise claimed. In the small town of St. Genevieve, Alma lives alone and struggles to grieve in the wake of her young mother Naomi's death, during which Alma failed to honor Naomi's final wishes. Now, Alma decides to fight to reclaim Naomi's ashes, a journey of unburial that will bring into her life a mysterious and fiercely loyal stranger, Bordelon, who appears in St. Genevieve after a storm, as well as a group of strong, rebellious local women who, together, teach Alma anew the meaning of family and strength. With poignance, poeticism, and deep insight, in Here Lies Olivia Clare Friedman gives us a stunning portrait of motherhood, friendship, and humanity in an alternate American South torn asunder by global warming. This is a stunning first novel from a unique and inventive writer"--

Book Synopsis

The debut novel from the "Munro-esque" (Houston Post) author of Disasters in the First World, Here Lies is Olivia Clare Friedman's visceral and portentous look at mourning, memory, and motherhood in an alternate Louisiana ravaged by climate change.

Louisiana, 2042. Spurred by the effects of climate change, states have closed graveyards and banned burials, making cremation mandatory and the ashes of loved ones state-owned unless otherwise claimed. In the small town of St. Genevieve, Alma lives alone and struggles to grieve in the wake of her young mother Naomi's death, during which Alma failed to honor Naomi's final wishes. Now, Alma decides to fight to reclaim Naomi's ashes, a journey of unburial that will bring into her life a mysterious and fiercely loyal stranger, Bordelon, who appears in St. Genevieve after a storm, as well as a group of strong, rebellious local women who, together, teach Alma anew the meaning of family and strength.

With poignance, poeticism, and deep insight in Here Lies, Olivia Clare Friedman gives us a stunning portrait of motherhood, friendship, and humanity in an alternate American South torn asunder by global warming. This is a stunning first novel from a unique and inventive writer.

Review Quotes

Praise for Here Lies:

"Friedman's poetic novel explores mourning, memory and motherhood in a future Louisiana that has been ravaged by climate change... [The reader] becomes immersed in Friedman's layered and luscious prose, the vibrant colors of Alma's world, the flowers so real 'you could smell their rankness, the air brimming with sweet, candied stink.' Most captivating, though, is the stillness and quiet -- lines that end abruptly and the images that conjure a deafening silence -- representations of the graveyards that no longer exist, but whose absence is haunting." -- New York Times Book Review

"A poignant portrait of the way grief can bring people together, uniting even strangers through a common pain and commitment to keep their loved ones alive in memory...Even in this place where 'we'd turned against the earth that now turned against us, ' where the struggle for survival has caused the country to turn its back on what made it a civilization, there is some beauty and mercy left. " - NPR

"Vividly imagined...Friedman's novel poses questions about the replacement of traditional expressions of grief and the possibilities of women to reimagine the future." -- National Book Review

"Stunning and evocative ...Exploring the potential physical ramifications of, and social reactions to, global warming, Here Lies is a tender examination of the enduring bonds of humanity amid a bleak and dystopian future." -- Atlanta Journal Constitution

"Friedman's use of language is simply stunning. She possesses a lyricism that mesmerizes the reader enough to simultaneously speed read and yearn to read at a glacial pace. Perhaps this is the ethereal beauty of a poet venturing into fiction writing. If so, I will henceforth be reading exclusively poet-written novels." -- Jackson Clarion-Ledger

"Illuminating and startling."--Publisher's Weekly

"Friedman follows up her lauded short story collection, Disasters in the First World (2017), with a debut novel set in Louisiana in the near future, when burials have been outlawed, and cremated remains have become the property of the state . . . A beautifully told tale of grief and loss made bearable by the unexpected creation of a found family."--Booklist

"Here Lies is a
novel of both big ideas and intimate moments. At the same time speculative and
familiar, the book sews patterns of longing and loss into a shape that anyone
who has ever needed and found a non-traditional family will recognize and
cherish. Like most great books to come out of the South, the relentless skill
and grace of the author makes a simple story of Louisiana transcend far beyond
its borders. Make no mistake: Olivia Clare Friedman is one of the most singular
voices in American literature and this book, like all of her work, belongs in
your hands."--M.O. Walsh, New York Times Bestselling author of My
Sunshine Away and The Big Door Prize

"Here Lies is a work of astonishing, exacting beauty that
captures both the pinhole longing of personal grief and the expansive pleasure of
closely observed, deeply felt moments between women. Friedman writes the kind
of prose you want to till and turn over with your hands--sentences so lush and
exquisite they deserve to be held up and cherished in sunlight."-- Kimberly
King Parsons, author of Black Light

"Olivia Friedman's
precision, earthy humor and clear-eyed tenderness for outsiders and oddballs
combine in this sparkling debut, as an isolated young woman finds
unexpected connection in her search to bury her mother, an act forbidden by law
in an alt-future Louisiana."--Janet Fitch, author of White
Oleander

"Here
Lies compounds past, present, and future, the universal threat of the climate
crisis with the more intimate storms of loneliness and loss. Here is a subtle,
surprising portrait of female friendship, of possibility in impossible times.
Clare Friedman, with a poet's ear, offers readers not just dazzling language,
but also a keen sense of empathy and a rich understanding of the human
heart. "--Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League

Praise for Disasters In The First World

"Insightful . . . so well crafted . . . makes me want to pick up whatever Clare publishes next." ―New York Times Book Review

"Lyrical and elegiac . . . Her stories unfold in wonderfully astonishing turns . . . Tender yet occasionally biting." ―Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"Olivia Clare is pure literary dynamite." --Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander

"Clare's fiction has a spryness and a wryness one could describe as Barthelme-esque, without so much of DB's arch, sometimes off-putting minimalism. Clare's fiction has closely observed sympathy that could be described as Munro-esque, with a tick-tock contemporaneity that evokes early '80s Beatty. What we're getting at is that there're a lot of ins and outs to this case." ―Houston Post

"Clare's debut short story collection explores the lives of varied characters―lovers, family, and tenants; the links they forge with others; and the odd, confounding worlds they inhabit . . . In these thoughtful tales, Clare, winner of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award and an O. Henry Prize, presents characters who, instead of begging for sympathy, seem to desire clarity." ―Booklist

"Intimate and incisive . . . Clare's characters are believable in their frailty and vulnerability, and the clarity and strength of her voice gives these stories a lingering power." ―Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Olivia Clare Friedman is the author of the story collection Disasters in the First World and a poetry collection The 26-Hour Day. Her fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, The O. Henry Prize Stories, Granta, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, among other publications. Raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she teaches Creative Writing at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she holds the title of Nina Bell Suggs Endowed Professor.