The Other Americans

This novel, which is contemporary and dramatic, is about the strange death of a Moroccan immigrant. Written by the Pulitzer Prize nominee and author of The Moor's Account, it is a murder mystery, a love story, and a family saga all influenced by the complex and dangerous fault lines that exist in American culture.

Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant residing in California, is killed by a fast automobile late one spring night while he gets crossing a darkened junction. A wide range of people come together as a result of his death: The people involved in this case are Guerraoui's daughter Nora, a jazz composer who returns to the small Mojave town she thought she had left behind; his widow, Maryam, who still yearns for her life in the old country; Efraín, an undocumented witness who is afraid to come forward because of his fear of deportation; Jeremy, an Iraq War veteran and old friend of Nora's; Coleman, a detective who is gradually learning her son's secrets; Anderson, a neighbor attempting to rekindle his relationship with his family; and the murderer himself.

Deeply separated by class, color, and religion, the people find common ground as they narrate their stories. Meanwhile, Driss's family tackles its secrets, a town confronts its hypocrisies, and messy, unpredictable love blossoms.