From the award-winning author ofLand of Love and Drowning, an electric new novel that maps the emotional inheritance of one couple newly in love.

When Fly and Stela meet in 21st Century New York City, it seems like fate. He’s a Black American musician from a mixed-religious background who knows all about heartbreak. Shes a Catholic science teacher from the Caribbean, looking for lasting love. But are they meant to be? The answer goes back decadesall the way to their parents’ earliest loves.

Vibrant and emotionally riveting,Monster in the Middlemoves across decades, from the U.S. to the Virgin Islands to Ghana and back again, to show how one couple’s romance is intrinsically influenced by the family lore and love stories that preceded their own pairing. What challenges and traumas must this new couple inherit, what hopes and ambitions will keep them moving forward? Exploring desire and identity, religion and class, passion and obligation, the novel posits that in order to answer the question who are we meant to be with? we must first understand who we are and how we came to be.

• Publisher: Riverhead Books (October 19, 2021)
• Language: English
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• ISBN-10: 1594633606
• ISBN-13: 9781594633607
• Item Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Dimensions: 6 x 0.72 x 9 inches