{"product_id":"babylon-south-dakota","title":"Babylon, South Dakota","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eTom Lin \u003c\/b\u003ewas born in China and immigrated to the United States when he was four. A graduate of Pomona College, he also holds a PhD from the University of California, Davis. His first novel, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu\u003c\/i\u003e, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. He teaches English and creative writing at the University of Iowa.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"I can't remember the last time I felt so lit up by a novel. Lin has built this wildly ambitious, deeply strange world with its own ecology and physics and sociology that is also, importantly, our world in all times past, present, and future. I love these characters. I love this prose. \n\u003ci\u003eBabylon, South Dakota\u003c\/i\u003e is a chilling diorama of what and how and who empire steals from us. There's also a dream-amplifying horn, light animal-whispering, a perfect dog named Santui. It's wonder-full, enchanted and enchanting. I'm getting goosebumps right now as I type. This is the most excited I've been about a new book in ages.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKaveh Akbar, author of Martyr!\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Tom Lin has written a flawless novel that belongs in a category all its own. The prose is so precise, so vivid, that even everyday objects seem fantastical, invented just for this world. I'll never be able to look at stained glass, or chrysanthemums, or even binoculars without being immediately transported back to \n\u003ci\u003eBabylon, South Dakota\u003c\/i\u003e. I'd die for--I'd go to another world for--Santui.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePaige Lewis, author of Canon\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"I loved this novel, which was so transporting that I forgot to look at my phone...Lin's gossamer prose is patient and full of wonders.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eEd Park, author of Same Bed Different Dreams and An Oral History of Atlantis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A strikingly original work of speculative fiction vibrating with extraordinary prose and heartbreaking poignance, Tom Lin's historical novel, \u003ci\u003eBabylon, South Dakota\u003c\/i\u003e, will stick in your mind for a long time...[A] remarkable literary journey as lush and abundant as the chrysanthemums that take over the Hsius' greenhouse.\"\u003c\/p\u003e-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eBookPage, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"This is a novel like no other. What begins as the story of a young couple homesteading in the American West becomes something much richer and stranger, a journey into the nature of time, space, and death itself. The saga of the Hsiu family will challenge what you think you know not just about the West but about the entire universe: reader, prepare to be transformed.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnna North, author of Bog Queen and Outlawed\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A thoughtfully written, genre-crossing novel of great ingenuity.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKirkus (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"I particularly loved how, on the surface, \n\u003ci\u003eBabylon, South Dakota\u003c\/i\u003e is a story of a family on a farm, and they stay there. In South Dakota. But the language and the love and the richness of the connection are so incredibly lush and propulsive. There is also a terrible magic to it all; one that gives, one that takes. It's greedy, and it's generous. Much like the Midwest itself. Much like survival. And love. What Tom Lin has written is a remarkable achievement. It's a story of land and family, of love and violence. It is also a story of holding on even when it's past time to let go. This novel is incredibly moving, imaginatively rendered, and astonishing in its depth of feeling. I am such a huge fan.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLyz Lenz, author of This American Ex-Wife\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Carnegie Medalist Lin ( \n\u003ci\u003eThe Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu\u003c\/i\u003e, 2021) returns with a spectacular second novel featuring three generations of a Chinese American family caught in a U.S. government cover-up.... Lin's magical epic proves to be an extraordinarily immersive literary labyrinth. Lin's unique imagination and storytelling prowess has readers eagerly awaiting his next book.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eBooklist (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Lin ( \n\u003ci\u003eThe Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu\u003c\/i\u003e) spins a beguiling tale of a secret U.S. military program and its strange effects on a family of Chinese immigrants...it's packed with intriguing fabulist turns. This offbeat novel will stay with readers.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"[Tom Lin] is back with \u003ci\u003eBabylon, South Dakota\u003c\/i\u003e, a novel just as colourful as his first. Where his first novel changed the landscape of the traditional cowboy story, his new book is a tribute to the American frontier.\"\u003c\/p\u003e-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eAsian Review of Books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Lin's ambitious tale is a page-turner from start to finish. Readers will see the American West through a radically new lens.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLibrary Journal (starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of the Carnegie Medal in Fiction winner \u003ci\u003eThe Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu \u003c\/i\u003ecomes a tantalizing, American West saga about a Chinese American family trying to survive on their Dakota farm as a powerful, mysterious, and morally dubious military secret shapes their lives.\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Lin's gossamer prose is patient and full of wonders.\"-- \n\u003cb\u003eEd Park, author of \u003ci\u003eSame Bed Different Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAn Oral History of Atlantis\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e When Saul Keng Hsiu and his wife, Mei Lee, move from China to the United States to take possession of a 160-acre homestead bequeathed to them by a distant relative, all they have are the possessions on their back, some hidden gold, and a pocketful of chrysanthemum seeds. After a rocky start and a long, harsh winter, the couple find themselves successfully raising chrysanthemums and livestock, and soon after, a daughter, Mara. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e But when representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers buy an acre of the Hsiu's farmland and begin building a missile silo, the inexplicable starts to occur: Mara can commune with the animals on the farm, Mei develops a hidden talent for augury, and the chrysanthemums become impervious to everything. When the Hsius learn that the project on their farm is an effort to make America's nuclear deterrent invulnerable, they see firsthand the long arm of power and empire. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In the years and generations that follow, increasingly impacted by the silo and its residue, the Hsius experience strange, wondrous, and tragic events on their farm. An ambitious epic and an ode to the beauty and glory of our connection to the natural world \n\u003ci\u003e, Babylon, South Dakota\u003c\/i\u003e upends the idea of \"strangers in a strange land\" to become a classic American story. It is a daring novel about how choices reverberate across generations and asks us what we owe to one another. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTIME \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine's Most Anticipated Books of the Year \u003ci\u003eTown \u0026amp; Country\u003c\/i\u003e's Best Books of Spring 2026 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review's\u003c\/i\u003e 32 Novels We're Excited About This Spring \u003ci\u003eThe Spokesman Review's\u003c\/i\u003e 12 upcoming books we're excited to read\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/27\/2026 pg. 1 (EAN 9780316576277, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/02\/2026 (EAN 9780316576277, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780316576277, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780316576277, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Little Brown and Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496190705942,"sku":"9780316576277","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780316576277.jpg?v=1783057157","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/babylon-south-dakota","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}