The Travelers

An astonishing debut novel that bears witness to the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War and the first term of Obama’s presidency, The Travelers is both an intimate family portrait and a searing examination of America today.

When the boy was four, he asked his father why people needed sleep. His father said, ‘So God could unfuck all the things people fuck up.’

*LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2020*

As America recovers from the Second World War, two families’ journeys begin. James Vincent, born in 1942 to an Irish-American family, escapes his parents’ turbulent marriage and attends law school in New York, where he moves up the social ladder as a prosperous and bright attorney. Meanwhile, Agnes Miller, a beautiful black woman on date with a handsome suitor, is pulled over by the police on a rural road in Georgia. The terrible moments that follow make her question her future and pivot her into a hasty marriage and new life in the Bronx.

Illuminating more than six decades of sweeping change - from the struggle for civil rights and the chaos of Vietnam to Obama’s first year as President - James and Agnes’s families will come together in unexpected, intimate and profoundly human ways.

‘Regina Porter’s sprawling, sparkling debut novel. is an exhilarating ride. Porter is a wickedly astute chronicler of human foibles. In her hands, this series of glimpses feels something like life itself.’ Guardian