Dust

A compulsive literary speculative debut for fans of R.F. Kuang and Jeff VanderMeer.

A fantastical adventure, an epic of the Plains, and a bittersweet exploration of faith and delusion, Dust is a unique and timeless literary fantasy classic. 1930s Oklahoma, during the Dust Bowl, is a time of profound upheaval, social, economic, ecological - and the supernatural. In the swirling dust, people see strange, otherworldly creatures as shadowy plants appear from human skin, and half-glimpsed creatures roam the dry prairie. The eerie, mesmerizing interactions with these 'duskin' disrupt lives, and a group who call themselves 'dust doctors', lonely wanderers, travel the Plains, braving dust storms and drought to help people and understand the duskin better. Draper, one of these dust doctors, is irresistibly drawn to an isolated town in need of his aid where he encounters more mystery, pain, and duskin than ever before, as well as forging strong bonds with the townspeople. One of these is Bobby Sue, a young half-Chinese white-passing schoolteacher, who is determined to protect the children in her care who appear to be able to hear and communicate with the duskin. Secrets and hidden conflicts bind this struggling town to the duskin realm. Draper, helped by Bobby Sue, races to reveal the nature of the town's enchantment and his own desire to discover and understand duskin.