The Hearing Test

The Hearing TestBy: Eliza Barry Callahan A young woman reorients her relationship to the world in the wake of sudden deafness in this mesmerizing debut novel for readers of Rachel Cusk, Clarice Lispector, and Fleur Jaeggy When the narrator of The Hearing Test, an artist in her late twenties, awakens one morning to a deep drone in her right ear, she is diagnosed with Sudden Deafness, but is offered no explanation for its cause. As the specter of total deafness looms,

As the new republic coalesced

even if Mike and his plainspoken little sister

four—and four more leaves have grown on the next page

and organizations for bipartisan bridge-building and problem solving

Grace will not tell the truth

Max Cooper

the past has never been so winningly horrible and so hilariously entertaining

where they raise two sons and where Riyad opens a restaurant—Café Rakka—cooking the food his grandmother used to make

for these people

to filling dinners like Chili Cornbread Casserole and Eggplant Parmesan Stacks

By bringing their experiences of the war together for the first time

Abikanile looks to her mother and her grandmother for strength and guidance