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Other Evolutions
“A phantom ache made real. Garcia vividly chronicles the fraught love within a splintered family, their isolated world rippling with a hint of the uncanny beneath her polished prose.” —Andrew F. Sullivan, author of The Marigold
With sharp human insight and unflinching prose, Other Evolutions is O. Henry Prize-winning author Rebecca Hirsch Garcia’s dark, speculative debut, perfect for readers of Iain Reid and Emily St. John Mandel.
Alma Alt, the sheltered youngest daughter of an interfaith, interracial Jewish-Mexican couple, rarely ventures far from her home on a wealthy tree-lined street in Ottawa, where nothing ever happens. The one time she did, striking out to visit her older sister, Marnie, in Montreal, things ended in disaster as she found out that beautiful, blonde Marnie had been lying about their family’s background, trying to pass herself off as white. The fallout from that betrayal leads to a devastating accident, one that claims Alma’s arm and someone’s life.
Alma is now stuck in a holding pattern, unable to move past her grief. But Alma’s life is turned upside down by an encounter just steps from home with an impossible person: the boy she watched die.
Other Evolutions is a literary debut with a dark twist that reveals the uncanny in the mundane, seeing us through the worst parts of our lives toward the weird and wonderful things right in our own backyard.
To readOther Evolutionsis to disappear through a hole in the fence into a world hidden within Ottawas neighborhood of The Glebe With Alma Alt Garcia has created an unforgettable main character with an honest and charming voice who walks the reader through the leadup and devastating also ultimately surprising fallout of a tragic car accident I was transported to Ottawa Montreal and Mexico but mostly into the fascinating inner lives of the Alt family membersOther Evolutionsis a piercing and haunting debut novel that I find myself still thinking about Teri Vlassopoulos author ofLiving Expense
On the surface Other Evolutions is a beautiful portrait of a closeknit family but it is also a story of alternate realities nonlinear time and portals to the unknown In this world memory is elastic love and grief are powerful inventors and anything is possible Inventive and uncanny Rebecca Hirsch Garcias debut novel will throw you for a loop Neil Smith author of Jones
A phantom ache made real Garcia vividly chronicles the fraught love within a splintered family their isolated world rippling with a hint of the uncanny beneath her polished prose Andrew F Sullivan author of The Marigold
In this debut novel HirschGarcias prose is unflinching and in some places difficult to read as she takes on heavy themes such as growing up in a mixedrace interfaith household racism and generational trauma The reader is left with a tragic yet profound sense of loss and its effects and how much work it takes to heal Booklist
Existing at a rich multicultural crossroads Other Evolutions is an enchanting triumphant novel about grief love and forgiveness Foreword Reviews
The prose is lovely and Garcia has a knack for capturing the surreality of loss Publishers Weekly
Smart Strange Sterling Other Evolutions is a reflection of the complexity of every life constructed from disparate experiences and charged emotions shaped in the end by unexpected turns Quill amp Quire starred review
Other Evolutions mutates and contorts in unexpected ways Even in the denouement the genre shifts a lifealtering crisis emerges Despite the complexity of the plot the culmination of Almas journey is a simple love letter to Ottawa Literary Review of Canada
A poignant illustration of familial connection and the spiralling nonlinear hold of griefs hand The Seaboard Review
Perhaps the most profound transformation is what takes place from the act reading Hirsch Garcias work After reading Other Evolutions you will never see the world in quite the same way and you will never be quite the same Fantastic Writer blog
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Details
Dimensions:
264 Pages
8.5in * 5.5in * 0.6095in
0.75lb
Published:
October 07, 2025
Publisher:
ISBN:
9781770417267
Featured In:
Language:
eng
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