The Berlin Wall

A family of outsider artists roams the American interior in search of the New Jerusalem in David Leo Rice's new dream novel, loosely inspired by the hermetic worlds of Joseph Cornell. As Tobias Carroll writes, "The childhood of Jakob, The New House's young hero, is one unlike that of your typical coming-of-age narrative. His is a youth surrounded by prophetic dreams, religious schisms, and secretive conversations - plus some shocking scenes of violence. Rice's prose creates a mood abounding with mystery and dread, and The New House would fit comfortably beside the likes of Michael McDowell's Toplin and Iain Banks's The Wasp Factory in terms of disquieting portraits of sustained alienation."