Visitation Street: Two girls disappear on the river. Only one of them comes back

(Paperback)

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Summer in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a blue collar neighbourhood where hipster gourmet supermarkets push against tired housing projects, and the East River opens into the bay. Bored and listless, fifteen-year-old June and Val are looking for some fun. Forget the boys, the bottles, the coded whistles. Val wants to do something wild and a little crazy: take a raft out onto the bay.

But out on the water, as the bright light of day gives way to darkness, the girls disappear. Only Val will survive, washed ashore semi-conscious in the weeds.

June's shocking disappearance will reverberate in the lives of a diverse cast of Red Hook residents. Fadi, the Lebanese bodega owner, trolls for information about the crime. Cree, just beginning to pull it together after his father's murder, unwittingly makes himself the chief suspect - although an elusive guardian seems to have other plans for him. As Val emerges from the shadow of her missing friend, her teacher Jonathan, Juilliard drop-out and barfly, will be forced to confront a past riddled with tragic sins of omission.

In VISITATION STREET, Ivy Pochoda combines intensely vivid prose with breathtaking psychological insight to explore a cast of solitary souls, pulled by family, love, and betrayal, who yearn for a chance to escape, no matter the cost.

Reviews

The dealings with the tragedy within the first few chapters, reminded me so much of Twin Peaks . . . with Pochoda's clever prose, it soon becomes evident that between each of the characters there lays a gulf of isolation . . . Pochoda's prose and storytelling skill has managed with a clear and beautiful tact, to turn the town of Red Hook into the most fascinating character within the book. This makes the story both enchanting and tangible. * Huffington Post *
A powerfully beautiful novel * New York Times Book Review *
Gritty and magical, filled with mystery, poetry and pain, Ivy Pochoda's voice recalls Richard Price, Junot Diaz, and even Alice Sebold, yet it's indelibly her own. * Dennis Lehane *
Skilful... nuanced... Ms. Pochoda aspires to join female suspense novelists - among them, Tana French, Laura Lippman and Kate Atkinson - who are arguably writing more serious genre fiction than their male counterparts. * New York Times *

Author Bio

Ivy Pochoda grew up in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn and lived in Red Hook for several years. She is the author of The Art of Disappearing. A former professional squash player, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband.