Now Lila Knows

There is nothing like racial injustice in America to teach an outsider the differences between perception and reality

"The racial politics of a small town in Vermont, as seen through Lila's eyes, provides an illuminating counterplay between Caribbean and American Blackness."
--Publishers Weekly

"As a portrait of Lila's political and racial awakening, the novel is a grand success."
--Kirkus Reviews

"I fell deep, hard and fast into this book. The very first sentence slices clean and that energy continues throughout the entire story. I am amazed at Elizabeth Nunez's capacity to paint for the reader not only Lila's personal and political lives but her literary life, too."
--Write or Die Mag, 2022 Staff Pick

For Lila Bonnard, the opportunity to take a position as a visiting professor in the US has come at precisely the right time. Still nursing the wounds of one failed relationship and facing uncertainty over her current boyfriend's marriage proposal, spending a year at a small liberal arts college in a picturesque Vermont town offers her sanity a well-deserved rest.

Within moments of her arrival, Lila is forced to face anti-immigrant mentalities and becomes a witness to the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Black man--a fellow professor at Mayfield who was giving CPR to a white woman.

The three Black faculty members in the otherwise all-white, tight-lipped college expect Lila to testify in the case--but at what cost? Mistrust of outsiders, racial tensions, even outright condemnation of others who "don't know their place" . . . all of it comes crashing down around her as she confronts the dangers of speaking out against the police.

Now Lila Knows is a gripping story that explores our obligation to act when confronted with hatred and prejudice. A page-turner with universal resonance, this novel will leave readers rethinking the meaning of love, empathy, and even humanity.

Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 06/07/2022
Pages: 256
Weight: 0.7lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.60w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781636140247


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/18/2022
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2022
Booklist 07/15/2022

About the Author

Elizabeth Nunez immigrated to the US from Trinidad after high school. She is the author of ten novels and the coeditor of the anthology Blue Latitudes: Caribbean Women Writers at Home and Abroad. Nunez received her PhD in English from New York University and is a Distinguished Professor at Hunter College, where she teaches creative writing.

Nunez is cofounder of the National Black Writers Conference and was executive producer for the 2004 Emmy-nominated CUNY TV series, Black Writers in America. Her awards include the 2013 National Council for Research on Women Outstanding Trailblazer Award, the 2013 Caribbean American Distinguished Writer Award, the 2012 Trinidad and Tobago Lifetime Literary Award, and more.

Nunez's works have been nominated for numerous awards, including the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award, the 2012 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Fiction, an International Dublin Literary Award, the Trinidad and Tobago One Book, One Community selection, New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, Novel of the Year for Black Issues Book Review, an American Book Award, the Independent Publishers Book Award, and several others. Her titles have also received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal.